Nerja Rob Nature

Nature photos and info: animals, birds, insects and more...all creatures great and small, here there and everywhere

[nerjarob]

Early doors by the riverbed

Although there is plenty of vegetation along our 'riverbed', there is rarely any water.

Early doors and there was plenty of noise from the trees and undergrowth from the smaller birds, such as sparrows, sardinian warblers and flycatchers.

Plenty of martins and swifts catching the early morning bugs. They do a particularly good job in town where they swoop up and down the street to grab the insects at this time of year...more importantly, they reduce the number that are likely to bite me!

A few monk parakeets squawked as they flew past before settling to feed, and there were quite a few blackbirds, Turdus merula. Some juveniles around, too.

[nerjarob]

Gulls at Sunrise

Up before sunrise, I wandered through town to the Balcón de Europa, Nerja, and spent some time watching the gulls on the rocks.

A pair of Yellow-legged Gulls were watching over two juveniles and, at times, seeing off anyone who got too close.

[nerjarob]

Red Colobus Monkey

I first encountered the endangered Red Colobus monkey in a forest in The Gambia.

The Red Colobus, Piliocolobus badius, is found in western, central and eastern Africa but has suffered through habitat loss, hunting and the fact that, for some reason, chimpanzees do not like them and will very often attack and kill these beautiful creatures.

[nerjarob]

European Stonechat

The European Stonechat, Saxicola rubicola, is a small bird (slightly smaller than a Robin) and we get quite a few of them where I live.

The sexes are quite distinct, the summer male having black upperparts, a black head, an orange throat and breast, and a white belly and vent. The female has brown upperparts and head.

[nerjarob]

Black-naped Fruit Dove

The Black-naped Fruit Dove, Ptilinopus melanospilus, is a medium-sized bird with a yellowish bill. The male has a pale grey head with black nape, yellow throat and a yellow and pink undertail, while females and juveniles have a grey head and entirely green plumage.

I have therefore deduced that this particular bird is the male of the species.

[nerjarob]

Snowy-crowned Robin-chat

Always love to see the Snowy-crowned Robin-chat, Cossypha niveicapilla, and enjoy watching them hop around on the ground or in the lower parts of bushes and small trees. They always seem quite friendly, come quite close and are happy to pose for pictures. Not at all skittish.

They are found in the tropical and sub-tropical areas of Angola, Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Republic of the Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ivory Coast, Ethiopia, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Sudan, Tanzania, Togo, and Uganda.