Summer on my local patch

[Vlad Cioflec]

Hi,

Oh man, it`s hard to find anything in a big city during July. Be it herp or bird. To be honest, i`d rather go out in midwinter than midsummer.

Very dry...

So to pass the time, i`ve started listing breeding birds on in my local patch. It gives me something to do so i don` t lose my mind till the migration starts, when the lifer and rarity hunt will begin once again.

Swallowtail

Anyway, bird of the day was the Lesser Whitethroat - Sylvia curruca. Small and delicate, beautiful and restless. No use trying to get a picture of any warbler with an old P&S of course.
Here are the only vertebrates that hang around long enough for a photo:

Cuckoo chick

Sand Lizard

``Hot town summer in the city
Back of my neck getting dirt and gritty
Been down, isn't it a pity
Doesn't seem to be a shadow in the city``

Bird on!

Vlad

[Sebastian Holzki]

Nice pics, especially the Cuckoo. I have seen and heared them often but they are so shy that I never got a so good picture.

[Mario Schweiger]

Vlad,
the exigua is a pretty nice one - although short tailed (you should be more carefull while handling ).
Do they stay all year round that nice green?

Mario

[Peter Oefinger]

I like the swallowtail pic: photgraphing this restless species sometimes can be tricky!

[Vlad Cioflec]

Dear friends,

I`m very glad you each found something of interest in this short report.

Mario, let me assure you that the lizard shot is in-situ. Very skittish critter, only got two shots of it, one of them a complete blur.

I`m not quite familiar with the subspecies of agilis. I used to think they were chersonensis here in southern Romania... But to answer the question, yes, they stay this beautiful and green all through the season.

Vlad

[Mario Schweiger]

Vlad,

sorry my fault!
These are ssp. chersonensis for sure!

Mario