Fluffed FeatheredFriends

Finally, almost at the deadline... but managed to squeeze another post to my favourite community! Times flies by these days, but still have hopes for more regular posting in the future. While that doesn't happen, I'll try at least to keep these SMAP post coming!

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So fluffed birds it is this time! It's not that common to find fluffed birds posing, but did remember some from my archive immediatly; not a hard thing, since it's a special bird!

Found this species a couple of years ago, visiting the island of Madeira for a friend's wedding. Madeira is a portuguese island in the Atlantic Ocean, and has some species that only exist on this island. One of them is a very tiny bird, that I was hoping to find. And...

^{Madeira firecrest - regulus madeirensis}

... I did!

Madeira firecrest was first thought to be a subspecies of the common firecrest, but is now considered a species. It has a funny name in portuguese: Bis-bis.

I saw the adults first, flying among the branches. And it was hard to find one perched enough time to take a photo.

While the adults were flying everywhere, there was a lot of chirping; it took a while to find where it came from due to the thick branches, and even more to snap a decent picture, but it was worth the effort.

Two juveniles! Fluffed, eagerly demanding their next meal!

It's amazing how tiny they are. Fortunately, they were somewhat noisy; it's great to see new species, especially if they don't exist anywhere else.

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This fluffed bird edition is going to be a full national, one, so moving on to the next species, and another noisy one too!

^{Spotless sterling - Sturnus unicolor}

Sterlings are normally found in large groups, and they rarely go unnoticed. I can't tell with these two were fluffed, but one thing I know for sure: it wasn't cold, since this photo was taken in Summer and in Alentejo. And summer + Alentejo = freakin hot! But glad they did, so I could share another photo for this contest. 😁

Another fluffed one spotted in Alentejo was this little guy.

^{Black redstart - Phoenicurus ochruros}

This was a strange location for this species; I normally see them in an urban setting; this one seemed to be enjoying the beack as much as I was, perched in one of the rocks and staring at the sea.

Well, I can't blame him; these are some of my favourite beaches in the country!

Let's see what other fluffed creatures are to be found it the other posts; happy birding everyone!

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