March is the month once we get the prospect to watch the frilly shows of the male Nice Bustards (Otis tarda) as they try and dazzle the smaller females. The females seem unimpressed however they maintain an in depth watch, measuring and evaluating the completely different males earlier than deciding with whom to mate.
Not so way back, I might go and discover the final remaining Nice Bustards in south-western Europe, within the fields surrounding the outdated lake of La Janda. Alas they’re gone, having disappeared on account of searching and habitat loss, the final ones merely dying out as a result of they have been few and remoted.
Fortunately, we will nonetheless observe the Nice Bustards additional north in Spain. The plains round Caceres and in La Serena, in Extremadura, are favorite websites for birders to go and see them in good numbers however my favorite website is even additional north, across the lake of Villafafila, Zamora, in north-western Spain. With some 3,000 people in a comparatively small space, you simply can’t miss them. With telescopes you possibly can sit quietly alongside nation roadsides and observe the fantastic lekking shows which occur within the early hours, after dawn.
Photographing them is one other matter altogether. It’s a must to enter your cover at the hours of darkness after which it’s a matter of sit-and-wait. The issue is that the leks are usually not in the identical location from at some point to the following. The temperamental males select to do their dance in numerous elements of the identical area, and even completely different fields. The females observe. I’ve had nice days and terrible days making an attempt to {photograph} them. The mornings might be freezing within the cover however you possibly can soften within the afternoon warmth, caught inside a small field.
Some days I’ve had male Nice Bustards, frustratingly displaying a number of ft from me however to the suitable or left of the cover the place there wasn’t a lot I might do to {photograph} them. Alternative of lenses can also be an issue. Generally the lek is a few hundred metres away, different occasions the birds are so shut that you simply shortly want to regulate and get a brief lens on the digicam. With luck the birds received’t have moved away by the point you’re prepared.
All that stated, after they carry out, the Nice Bustards lekking are one thing particular, comparable with the frilly dance of the male Capercaillies (Tetrao urogallus). It’s fantastic to watch. In the event that they determine to oblige and lek in entrance of you within the fantastic early morning mild, then all of the hours and days with missed alternatives are shortly forgotten. I hope you want the images that attempt to do justice to the fleeting and ephemeral phenomenon that’s the lek of the Nice Bustard.
