Dinosaur of the week: Red-wattled Lapwing

We saw this Vanellus indicus a few years ago in Thailand. The good news is that this species of lapwing is doing quite well (http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/22694013/0).

Dinosaur of the week: Eurasian Hoopoe

This Upupa epops is our neighbour in Oran. ‘The species is declining throughout its range as a result of habitat destruction and over-hunting‘ (http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/22682655/0) but I’m glad that there seem to be a few others to keep our friend company.

Dinosaur of the week: Pallid Swift

Having a swift around is a sure sign summer is coming, and I was amazed last week to wake up and to find the skies above our quarter of Oran filled with both Common Swift and Apus pallidus. They are tricky to tell apart, and tricky to take photos of – so my thanks to the people on birdforum.net who helped me out with identifying my terrible shots.

Dinosaur of the week: Black-winged Stilt

This Himantopus himantopus was looking for food in Neusiedler See, Austria. I’ve only ever seen them in that area, but apparently the species is doing OK.