Come to think of it... I should have wrote in the title Get the flock IN here !! Because Flocks is this week's SMAP challenge! And what a nice challenge; after all, who doesn't enjoy a good flock? 😏 (I'll stop, I promise!)
Any flock is a nice flock; I do enjoy some more than others, and this one is one of the coolest I can get here:
Why the coolest? Well, because it's a flock you only get in a specific season of the year! Cranes are a migratory species, and they choose the Alentejo region of the country to spend the winter, so you can only see them at that time... and what a sighting it is! The flocks can reach hundreds of individuals, and they are huge birds! Seeing them in flight is amazing, but watching them roam in the typical Alentejo landscape is a close second best.
They do are quite shy, and from my experience they tend to flee as soon as they sense somone getting closer. Here I was using a big zoom and you can see some of them already with spreaded wings ready for takeoff.
These guys are also big, but less shy than the cranes. And seeing a flock of flamingos flying away is also quite the show! Fortunately for me, these ones are residents, and I can see them here all year round.
And in a few observations I could actually get pretty close to them! You do have to be reaaaaly careful and move slowly and quietly, but it pays to be able to see them so near you.
Not a fantastic flock, but one you can get often! Sterlings can appear in small groups or in very large numbers, and near my grandparent's village is common to see them hanging around the electricity poles. Funny that I tend to see them more and more in urban areas nowadays, albeit not in flocks as big as this one.
Leaving one of the most common flocks to wrap it up... recognize these cuties?
Reading the title doesn't count! But yep, our common seagulls, shilling in a sand dune somewhere in Morocco; It's the same species we commonly see in Portugal. Here, they were all juveniles - you can recognize them quickly due to the lack of smooth colours in the plummage. For now, they are all spotted, and by the third year (if my memory serves me, since different gull species take different times to reach the adult plummage) they will have their adult colours.
And you, which flocks do you fancy the most? 😉
Have a great weeks!
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