In the country

The turtle dove is, in my opinion, the most beautiful of the columbids present in France.
Unfortunately it is also the rarest since its population has dropped by 80% in 40 years.
It is now the subject of a national and international protection plan.

We can see him everywhere. Its magnificent intense black plumage and its bright yellow beak make it a very beautiful bird.

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This bird of the same family as the warbler. It can spend hours singing without stopping
most often perched in the tops of trees. It has the particularity of imitating a large number of
birds and the multitude of its songs have earned it its melodious name.

The most beautiful of the warblers, with the pitchou, that I had the chance to photograph in the south of France.
Unfortunately, it is not present in my department.
His black mask brings out his red-rimmed eyes. This little bandit look suits him so well!

Like the swallow, the black kite heralds spring. Indeed, this raptor is a great migrator.
He returns from the sub-Saharan regions on sunny days.

Ahhh, the tits. These colorful passerines, accustomed to our gardens, enchant us with their colors and their songs. The great tit, the biggest of its family
is a regular at our feeders.

Another unloved. Many legends make her an unlucky bird.
But on closer inspection, does she really deserve this bad reputation?

No, these photos were not taken in Brazil, but in Marseille France, in the city center…

The black stork is much less widespread in France than its cousin the white stork. Only 70 to 90 couples listed in 2019. So when I’m lucky enough to come across it, my camera and I are the happiest!

I love seeing this veritable king of the swamp hover over the reeds when he goes hunting.

It is often confused with its cousin the Harrier Saint-Martin. They can be differentiated by size,
the Hen harrier being a little larger and beefier,
and by some differences in plumage.

The most common swallow in France. It is found almost everywhere.
Its apparent abundance nevertheless hides a particularly worrying decline.
The disappearance of its prey (especially insects) is unfortunately the cause.

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The male Bluethroat, as soon as it returns home in the spring, will devote all its time
to marking its territory and attracting the female by exposing its beautiful deep blue throat
enhanced with its white mirror and singing perched
on the highest branches of the bushes.

In my opinion one of the most beautiful waders in France and also one of the most common.
We see it everywhere, in the countryside, on the outskirts of cities, it is very widespread in France.
But for the photographer who will try to approach him, it’s mission impossible
because he is very shy.

It is also called night heron. This wading bird is smaller than its cousin the gray heron.
we recognize him in particular by his red eyes which give him a unique look.

Its stocky little body, its white, black and pink colors and its gaze give this little sparrow a very endearing physique, it’s not for nothing that many photographers like to take a portrait of it.

The dunnock is a very discreet bird that flies little. It is rare to see it fly higher than 1 m from the ground.
It is a very beautiful bird with its shades of brown and its head of an intense grey-blue.

The queen of the bushes, always perched on small branches waiting for an insect to pass by.

The little ringed plover, as its name suggests, is the smallest of the ringed plover. Much smaller than its cousin the Common Ringed Plover which is larger, compared to the little ringed plover which is smaller, yet it’s not complicated !

It is the largest of the peaks found in France. It reaches 50 cm in length.
And suddenly when he taps on his tree trunk, he is heard from afar.

This sparrow with nervous flight does not stay in place. Complicated to take a picture.
It is rather small in size and has lovely yellowish and olive green hues.

With its black plumage, its iridescent reflections and its shades of grey, this little corvid, adept at urban and old buildings, is one of the most beautiful representatives of this family in my opinion.

This great migrator that we see passing over our heads twice a year is one of the largest birds in Europe. She seduces with her pretty plumage with shades of gray, enhanced by a bright red eyebrow and eye. A magnificent bird!

Unfortunately bred and released into the wild for hunting, the red-legged partridge drags its magnificent red mask
and its colorful colors over almost all of France.

Congratulation ! You have won the title of least favorite bird !! By dint of regrouping on the tops of plane trees in the city center
and squawking at the top of your voice, not to mention the droppings on the hoods of cars…
You have won everything. And yet when we step back and observe you
in full light, we realize that you are superb with your pearly and colored reflections.

A magnificent sparrow all in colorful shades. The very soft pink tint of its belly contrasts with the more distinct colors of the yellow, white and black wings.

The king of our ponds, parks etc. We see it so everywhere that we sometimes forget that it is a very beautiful bird.

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Here is a diurnal raptor of extreme beauty with its slightly bluish gray tints.

Surely the most common raptor in our countryside. Its name comes from the fact that its plumage is extremely varied, the underside of the body and the head being able to vary from white to brown, while the rest of the body is brown.

Another amazing subject to watch. Its aerial combat with its congeners or overly curious birds of prey,
its mask surrounding its magnificent deep yellow eyes, make me adore this nocturnal bird of prey.
Not easy to observe it because it is only present in my region for 2 or 3 months in winter and there are very few individuals.

The Tree Pipit is part of the large Motacillidae family, like the wagtails. Its name comes from the fact that it uses trees to display during the breeding season.

I will not insult you by explaining where its name comes from. This pretty sparrow, like tits, loves to frequent feeders in winter. Try to place one in your garden in winter, you will surely see it coming to eat there many times.

The beautiful Yellow Wagtail is very similar to its cousin, the Gray Wagtail.
It lives in marshy areas in the countryside.
It has a greenish back while the Gray Wagtail has a gray back.

What about the blue tit? In my opinion one of the prettiest sparrows in France.

The Black-winged Kite is a truly magnificent diurnal raptor. Its white and gray plumage
and its red eyes make it one of the most beautiful birds of prey in France.
It is a real treat to observe and photograph it!

The Northern Wheatear is a very pretty migrant from our regions with soft colors and subtle shades of plumage.

The very elegant little egret, immaculately white, can be seen everywhere in France and around the world.
This wading bird is a formidable fisherman with its digging legs and dagger-shaped beak.

With its very contrasting colors ranging from orange to black (for the male), the black redstart is a magnificent little passerine bird.
And since he is not very shy, it is very easy to draw pretty portraits of him.

The european robin is one of the most common passerines in our gardens. We see so many of them that we no longer pay too much attention to them.
And yet with his flamboyant throat, he deserves to be admired a little more.

The ziting Cisticola is a rather discreet bird that lives in marshy areas planted with rushes or reeds.
His favorite position to wait for his future prey is placed on a stem of reeds.

The european stonechat in nuptial plumage offers colors with superb contrasts, orange, black and white.
It can be observed everywhere, in meadows, cultivated fields, wet valleys
and moorland and can be approached relatively easily.

The Kestrel, rather widespread in France, is distinguished by its small size and by its hovering hunting technique called the “flight of the Holy Spirit”.

The western cattle egret is a regular in our meadows and pastures.
It is the best friend of our cows because it spends all day with them and feeds on the insects that circle around them.

The white stork, one of our great waders, comes to reproduce in France at the end of winter and will leave for Africa mainly at the end of August and September.
More and more individuals do not migrate and now winter in France.
Fortunately, the white stork it is one of the few expanding birds in our country.

The red-backed shrike takes its name from the fact that the upper mandible of its beak ends in a kind of hook which allows it to carve up its prey, making it a sort of miniature raptor. To feed, it captures insects and small rodents and makes a real pantry.
It uses thorns or barbed wire to pin its prey and keep it for times of scarcity.

The wallcreeper, rather rare in my region, has taken up residence very close to my home.
It descends every early winter from the peaks of the Pyrenees or the Alps to the valleys to spend the summer in the warmth.
And sometimes as is the case with this one, it even goes to regions much further away from its native mountains.

The European bee-eater is, like the kingfisher, one of the top 3 most colorful birds in France, a real treat for the eyes.
The size of a large blackbird, it is present in France from April to the end of August.

This is a fun bird to watch! This little ball of feathers most often appears in the morning at dawn and in the evening when the sun goes down.
With her big round eyes and her small size (about 23 cm) she has become one of my favorite photo subjects.

Thanks to its oversized and powerful claws, it runs on the trunks, fast as lightning. A real acrobat this pretty nuthatch!

It’s hard not to recognize the great spotted woodpecker, with its powerful beak and its three colors black, red and white. It is easily distinguished in forests where it can be heard drumming on old trees hundreds of meters away.