Spread your wings and... stand still? :)

I know, I know, maybe "cheating" a bit! This week's Show Me a Photo contest theme is Spread your wings and fly! But some birds also spread their wings... and stand still! So I will focus on the spreaded wings part, flying and perched alike: all are welcome in this post!

^{Changeable hawk-eagle - Nisaetus cirrhatus}

This magnificent bird of prey, for instance: she was perching in this piece of wood, scouting the horizon. I actually though she was fed up with me taking photos, but no, she was just changing positions. After she did, her wings went back to their tucked position.

Some birds, however, keep them open while perched.

^{Little cormorant - Microcarbo niger}

Cormorants are known for staying in this position, and it's an easy way to identify them from far away. Since they dive to feed, after they return to a dry surface they often keep their wings open, to help with drying their feathers.

And of course... there are also flying birds here! Now yes, spread you wings... and fly!!

^{White stork - Ciconia ciconia}

White storks are an emblematic bird here in Portugal, and after a good conservation project, they are very common in a good part of the territory. Although they are migrating animals, we have a lot of them that are resident.

This one had her nest in a chimney in an abandoned house, and was hovering above it, not that high in the skies, which allowed my best flying stork captures up to date.

More often than not, due to not having a proper reflex camera (and a lack of skill too, probably! 😅), I can't take those sharp photos of a flying bird, especially the faster ones. Nevertheless, I get happy with some of the results, as it was the case here:

^{Black kite - Milvus migrans}

A black kite was fleeing the scene, not that far from where the stork photos were taken.

Speaking of fast bird fleeing... look what I captured in my last summer vacations:

^{Iberian magpie - Cyanopica cooki}

Not the sharpest, but definitely one of the funniest magpie photos I ever took! And since I know they're a @melinda010100 favourite, it's more than enough reason to have them wrapping up this post!

Have a great weekend everyone!

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