სოფლის მერცხალი და ქალაქის მერცხალი: Barn Swallow (Hirundo rustica) and Common House Martin (Delichon urbicum)

If I could choose a bird of my childhood, barn swallow would be the one... It is the bird that reminds me of all the sweet summer days we've spent in the village with my grandparents. How I played in the yard of a neighbour's house and how I watched mother swallow bringing food to its little ones in the corner of a house, where they had the nest.
It continued year after year, again and again until I grew up and the house got almost completely abandoned. And the nest - unattended and destroyed...

How I would wake up at dawn and hear Barn Swallows whistling morning songs to the world; to all of us. But they sang to me, for they knew I loved them and they loved me back... They were not even afraid of me when I was staring at them from one meter distance. How easy it was for the mother swallow to fly in, sit on the corner of the nest, where microscopic, yellow like omelet beaks would appear, grab the worm from the mother's mouth and disappear again... I was trying to get a closer look at them by adjusting myself on the seat peeking up, but seeing nothing...

Barn Swallows are black on top with very distinct brown neck, white breast and a long, scissor-like tail. You can hear the morning song in the video below...

 

Common House Martins I med only once in my life and it was an astonishing experience. The group of blue-white, funny, fluffy and very shiny clean birds sitting in the middle of the almost dried mud hole, dipping their little beaks and collecting material for the nest. They were working in a big group, where two or three of them would fly in and out side-by-side... They are smaller than Barn Swallows and are also somehow different. Their lifestyle is also more wild; (at least) these House Martins (despite the name) were less social. Although very pretty!

House martin covered by a foreground yellow flower.

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ჩვეულებრივი კაჭკაჭი: Common Magpie (Pica pica) [aka thief]

I can meet zillions of different birds all over the globe, be excited and bewitched by their beauty and whistling, but Magpies and few other species from the same family are simply - outstanding. The way they stare, the way they croak and caw (not even sure this word works to describe their sound) are simply enjoyable and very hilarious. Look at the first one, it is sitting still and firm like a tin soldier, head bent, staring proudly - a real host of the situation and the mood!

Somebody please explain to this one, there's no king or queen passing by anytime soon!
But being moody and proud is not always the way they look. Once I met a magpie which was blind in its right eye and could not see me coming with the bike... It looked old and rusty. Unclean and bushy. Clearly an old fellow... I came close and tried to let it away from the road so that nobody could harm it... That's when I realized that I actually haven't seen many old birds in

my life... But here's one on the RHS. All scruffy and fluffy;  somehow thoughtful and bored... He is part of the thief gang that comes to visit our balcony for food larceny. And they even stare directly at you, wondering what are you after. What is your business in their food theft procedure. And they do come, and they do steal and they do bend their head in a funny manner.
Sometimes if there's no food out there on the balcony, they croak unhappily and fly away to the backyard, where we have a Rowan tree with some leftover rowanberries hanging in the tree-top. They sit on the tiny twig that shakes and bends, trying to balance themselves for five minutes, then jump up, open their wings slightly, pick the berry and go away... And so the life goes on around... And I am happy seeing these rusty thieves!

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ღაჟო; Red-backed shrike (Lanius collurio)

 I know very little about shrikes. But one thing I am sure about them is that they are nice and good tempered birds. I cannot recognize their sound nor have I seen shirkes much in my life, just twice. Although I have experienced something that made me very thoughtful...
Very first shrike I captured in my life was with my amateur camera (image on the left). The appearance of it caught my eye from a very long distance. Even with poor resolution photo, by then I realized that this was an interesting bird.
The shrike I captured last summer (actually in May, 2014) in Svaneti, looked very calm and relaxed from afar. Looking at the photo closely, on a big screen at home, made me discover that the poor thing has been severely injured. It had disordered leg and its beautiful tail was cut short...
Every time I look at this photo, I gain respect to this one particular bird.
To me, it represents great courage. It is an excellent example of a fighter spirit and even essence of life somehow. No matter how life turns on us, freedom that lives in each living being still brings us to great heights. Even with broken wings, but we are still - free!

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ჩიტბატონა European goldfinch (Carduelis carduelis)

Ladies and gentlemen, meet one of the prettiest in the finch family...
The European Goldfinch is truly beautiful bird! It is also a good tempered one, with not so specific ill-manners or teasing intentions.
First time I met goldfinch was five-six years ago, when I first came across this exciting activity of photographing birds. Looking back, those were one of the most memorable days of my life - freedom for few months from early spring to late fall, spent in the middle of the forest with my amateur camera. Period, when snow melts down on the banks of hills and runs in tiny little streams exposing brown land and little green grass underneath, is when you meet most of these little birds. They are digging the land and chasing each and every piece of food.

Although you do not come across goldfinch so very often. And most of the time you meet them, they sit in the blooming trees or pass by the green grass banks. When it happens and you see them, you feel really lucky to experience this pure beauty; and you wonder how can mother nature be so awesome in creating such diversity of agile creatures.
I met few goldfinches this summer when travelling with my family across Georgia. Both, in high Caucasus mountains and also in the Minor Caucasus region of Samtskhe-Javakheti (both of these photos are from the Abastumani Observatory).
The moment is here. The beautiful bird is in my collection and I am happy I still have words and stories to share...

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Sardinian warbler (Sylvia melanocephala) - სარდინიული ასპუჭაკა

I would like to introduce a stranger bird. The one that I met only once in my life. Sardinian Warbler. It is a tiny little fellow, with great ability to mask itself among twigs and stony environment. Even though I could clearly hear its voice coming from the tree about 10 meters away in front of me, I could see nothing (and I must admit, I am quite trained in spotting birds by now). I started my camera and just took three shots of fortune. Two out of those three came out quite okay. Although it is a heavy-cropping and noise reduction, therefore quality of images are not super-exciting, but the bird itself is quite a treasure! As I haven't seen these species in my life ever before, I obviously lack any knowledge of their distribution or lifestyle. My encyclopedia for birds does not list Sardinian warbler among its many species. So, all I could figure out was from asking google about its distribution. Google says, the bird lives in some of the southern banks of Europe.

Source: http://www.birdguides.com/species/species.asp?sp=136351#

And it migrates to Northern Africa for winter. 

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We met Sardinian Warbler in Croatia during our quick visit to the beautiful island of Lokrum near Dubrovnik. Lokrum is an island of beauty, wilderness and peace. There are many, many interesting bird and animal species around. I am extremely grateful and happy for being able to travel to this beautiful place and looking forward to go back and of course... Try to take other shots of this masked bandit bird.

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კვირიონი Euproean bee-eater (Merops Apiaster)

Out of all the birds in the world, this is one of the prettiest, with a very specific cooing sound that I know by heart. And... Even more specific honey smell it is carrying around. The reason you ask? Well, it's literally hidden in its name.

As you could guess, bee-masters are not very fond of these birds. And I understand them. Although, there's nothing that could make an amateur photographer happier than shooting these colourful bastards with her/his camera... :-)

I remember first time I saw couple of European bee-eaters on top of the dried pine tree in my yard. Although the tree was skyscraper tall, so I could see very little and I was a very beginner knowing nothing about bird species by then. Took out my amateur camera and shot an image, which turned out to be real surprise on the computer screen.

This summer I met them again and this single one on the LHS photo, let me quite close to take a shot. I climbed an unstable rock and deserved a photo-session from this crazy one. :-) I could hardly breath of happiness and very little I could do with my camera setup as well. Overall, the photos are not very bad I think. And I am looking forward for another meeting with bee-eaters!

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მთის არწივი - The golden eagle (Aquila chrysaetus)

 And now... Time to introduce you to my favourite - the golden eagle. The one who is outstanding, lovely, smart, beautiful and powerful.

If one has to dream about something crazy, I would dream of being friends with an Eagle.

Having a photo of an eagle
was my biggest dream in photography. Thanks to my precious family, this dream came true. We met the golden eagle during our trip around Georgia, right outside Khertvisi village, not very far from the cave city ''Varzdia''.

What I experienced during this meeting, was real pleasure of meeting someone very powerful. He took off in front of our car. Lifted its heavy butt up in the sky, circled around the gorge from one hill to another, then came back. Gave us its vicious glance, gained altitude and flew away...

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