The found feather

This feather was found on one of many lovely walks in the area. It is a just quick sketch using pencil.

I like to think it belonged to a Griffin Vulture, or similar large bird. It IS quite a large feather, and these birds are nearly always around, sitting on the rocks in the sun, or soaring above you on a hot air thermal. I managed to snap these with my new whizzy camera.

 

I have been very busy with my course, doing lots of sketching and painting but nothing really to put up on here. But I have been missed by at least one person, so thank you, the amazing Jo Freehand – always worth checking out what she has done each day! https://dailyrecord365.wordpress.com/ I am trying to keep up with all your blogs but with some of you posting daily, even several times a day, it can get overwhelming! But I am still here and will come and visit you soon 🙂

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The basura birds of Andalucia a.k.a. Griffin Vultures

Friend and photographer, Simon Haigh, managed to capture some great shots of these amazing birds as they feasted on a dead calf in one of the fields near Jimena. Sadly the mother cow was watching from nearby 😦 …but that’s nature and these birds are the bin (basura) men of the skies, cleaning up the road kill and keeping the campo clean for us. In flight they soar and climb gracefully together on the thermals of air, sometimes swooping low over our terrace (the cats always look nervous at this point…) On the ground they look scarier with their strange necks and sharp beaks and almost 3 metre wing-spans. Thanks, Simon, for letting me use your excellent photos.

 

The storks in Los Angeles

The storks have a nest just down the bottom of Jimena, in Los Angeles, aka Estacion de Jimena (They changed the name a few years ago, I guess they didn’t want to be just an extension of Jimena, the residents, that is, not the storks…) There is one nest high on the top of a telegraph pole and a lower one one the top of the palm tree. I’d been trying to get some photos for ages, as I wanted to draw storks but of course it has to be Jimena storks!  I snapped him/her early one morning, and it is the same stork  three times, it looked at me taking the pictures and thought I’m not having the paparazi snapping me this time of the morning, and slowly took off.  I used pen and wash for this picture.