Pagney 17/10/2026 - Pallid Harrier

         It was cold, rather wet, and the place was crawling with hunters - all in all rather an unpleasant Saturday. A Cetti's Warbler was calling from the Northeast corner and I'm wondering now if there aren't two birds like last year. There was also one Reed Warbler. Six Great White Egrets are back in the fields around. The two Mute Swans present came closer and we could confirm that the male is the usual bird we've named Kevin. He can be recognised as he has a notch missing from the left side of his upper mandible. One Teal and about 15 Lapwings were present. Bird of the day was going to be a Coot which is the first present since the 17th of September, but then a juvenile Pallid Harrier flew through, also the first present since the 17th of September. Théo managed to get a photo of it during the fifteen seconds it was there. I hope he doesn't mind me publishing his photo - if he does then I'll stop finding nice birds for him! One day we hope there will be a nice bird and we'll all be able to spend time actually looking at it!

Not my photo! Merci Théo!


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