Bird life

The days are really drawing out know and the local bird life is bursting with life. The noise from small birds in the cypress tree out front is unbelievably loud. We saw a lone magpie today and believe we spotted some house martins down in Blanca. One bird however has been a familiar sight right through the winter as it flys back and forth along the course of the river from Blanca  to Cieza. The bird in point is a cormorant, well I guess there is more than one though we cannot be sure. Its to be seen early in the morning,  and late afternoon  regular as clock work. We do see cormorants at other times but there is always a lone bird around theses times along the same course. It seems to go towards Abaran then come back to Blanca hours later.
Years ago we thought you only saw cormorants on the coast but having seen them in many places in the world we now know they are common inland where there is water. I love the silhouette they make as they stand drying there wings, its so prehistoric looking  rather like a mini pterodactyl.
The Great Cormorant to give it its full name, is a large black bird, but there is a wide variation in size in the species . They can weigh in at anything from  1.5 kg (3.3 lbs) to 5.3 kg (11.7 lbs). Length can vary from 70 to 102 cm (28–40 in) with wingspan being  from 121 to 160 cm (48–63 in). It has a longish tail and yellow throat-patch. Adults have white thigh patches in the breeding season. have to admit we are not totally sure which species the cormorants are here, there are about 40 types, one thing is for sure though its not a pigmy one! We have seen some white breasted ones but we think they are immature ones not the ones indigenous to Africa.
It seems that cormorants are prey to hunters here and in many other parts of the Europe. Many fishermen try to erradicate them. In China and Japan however they use cormorants to fish with, though its not so widespread as it used to be, a snare is tied near the base of the bird's throat, which allows the bird only to swallow small fish. When the bird captures and tries to swallow a large fish, the fish is caught in the bird's throat. When the bird returns to the fisherman's raft, the fisherman helps the bird to remove the fish from its throat. In fact cormorants are eaten by some people. Cannot say I fancy one myself. I have seen warnings about eating them because of pollution. All cormorants are fish eaters, they go for small eels, and would you believe water snakes.

Well, will not be seeing Scottish Cormorant hotpot or roast breast of cormorant on the Middleton family menu anytime soon, think we will stick with rabbit casserole when it comes to game dishes thank you very much.
We will however continue to enjoy the sight of our lone bird on its daily journey along the valley floor and hey its nearly spring maybe some day soon it wont be alone but will bring its mate alone for the commute.

Despite some unseasonal weather, we do do need some rain after a particularly dry winter though, it does feel like summers if hot on the heels of spring. When the sun is out its got some real heat in it, Johns been in the sea already and nature is showing us a few well loved signs too. We particularly like to see the Swifts and Swallows arrive. A couple of weeks ago we were in the gardens of the old palace at Jacarilla and house martins along with one or two swallows were busy collected mud to build nests on surrounding buildings. Not a sight John will forget in a hurry as one house martin deposited a little reminder on his head, no don't laugh. I tried to convince him it was lucky, and we have won a weekend for two in Madrid this last week so....
As I say though we love to see, and hear, the swifts at this time of year. The first time we every saw them in great numbers was a few years ago when we were working on a hotel barge in france, now that was interestingway to spend a summer.

The swift is a medium-sized aerial bird, an amazing flier. Even sleeping on the wing! Although it is a plain sooty brown, in flight against the sky it appears black. It has long, scythe-like wings and a short, forked tail. It is a summer visitor, that winters in Africa. As the daylight goes they can be seen wheeling across the sky as the take insects on the wing. They look as if they are related to the swallows but in fact are in same family as hummingbirds. As one of the fastest fliers around they reach speeds of 18–50 km/h,
Guess they are the original members of the mile high club as not only do they feed, drink, and preen in flight the are the only group of birds known who actually mate on the wing.
We have read lots of theories as to why and when they make there evocative screaming call, whatever the reason it heralds summer to us.