Our bird-spotting list over the last two days reads like a roll-call of exotica.

First, D spotted a male Golden Oriole [above] flying across our terrace: it’s rare to see them so close to the house, but it was early in the morning so perhaps he was feeling brave [the oriole, not D].

Then an hour later in the car we drove past a Little Owl [above] sitting on a telegraph wire, looking like a ball of fluff, more like a soft toy than a living thing.

On our way home in the evening, only a mile from where we saw the owl, we passed a gathering of 14 Rollers [above]. Along 200 yards they were lined up on telegraph wires in groups of twos and threes, preparing to head south?

As dusk fell and we cooled down in the pool, the Bee-Eaters [above] circled high above the valley. Sadly, they were too high to see their true colours: bronze with a yellow throat.
So, none of the exotics have gone home to Africa… yet. But it can only be days away. And yes, I know owls are hardly ‘exotic’, but it was cute and made us smile.
And that’s not to mention our ‘everyday’ birds: the Griffon vultures, the jays and blackbirds, the larks, wagtails and hoopoes, plus the tiny wren who lives on the terrace amongst the oleanders and protects his territory very noisily every time we go near.
5 to remember
exótico/a – exotic
la lista – list
tan cercano – so close
la pelusa – fluff
un muñeco de peluche – a soft toy