7 September 2014. Fuente de Piedra, Spain. Stone Curlews are not especially uncommon birds, not to birders in Spain anyway. But today I spotted one under what to me seemed the most unlikely circumstances. I was part of a small group under the capable and entertaining leadership of Bob Buckler visiting various good inland birding sites. We were coming to the end of a full day and driving through a red-earth olive orchard, a monotonous mono-culture of identical trees set in geometrically precise ranks. I was staring out the window looking at the ground hoping for Hoopoes when I caught a momentary (less than one second, I’m sure) view of a wide-eyed, cartoonish face that I instantly recognised but whose name I couldn’t place. I yelled at Bob to stop the bus, claiming a Cream-colored Courser, which was quite wrong (although not too far off). Sensing my urgency Bob humoured me, stood on the brakes and backed up. The bird flew as soon as it saw us return, fortunately others glimpsed it sufficiently to dispel any suggestion that I was hallucinating, although I missed it this time. But what amazes me is first, that I saw it at all and second, that I recognized the face (if not the name).
For obvious reasons, I did not get a photo of this bird but I’ve managed to find a couple of freely available shots on Wikimedia Commons. I described the face as cartoonish and the more I look at it the more I think it looks like Lisa Simpson, and if that name is meaningless to you, click this link for more. I was telling my son about this encounter and showed him the lower photo, he immediately recognized it as the bird that screams hideously and scares the slumbering daylights out of campers in Queensland Australia. (Actually it’s not the same species, he had encountered Bush Stone-curlews, but there is a very strong family likeness.)
There were many other great sightings that day. We started early at a dusty off-road track with a couple of juvenile Rock Thrushes. To Bob-the-leader they were a sensational find and although rather distant, Bob managed to get some good pictures. At that same site we found Blue Rock Thrushes, Thekla Larks, and Black-collared Wheatears all wonderful birds and new to me.
Frankly the Stone Curlew didn’t really impress the others all that much. I guess it was the novelty and improbability of the sighting that appealed to me and made it my Bird of the Day. Bob’s choice was the Rock Thrushes but I’d say a Whinchat, a handful of Greater Flamingos and a bunch of Griffon Vultures were pretty good too. Here is a gallery of shots from that day.
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