A pleasant surprise

When we travel to places to photograph birds, obviously we need to choose some place that has birds. Not only do the birds have to be present in that location, we need them to be in a positon where we can photograph them; ie, they have to be close to us, usually within 25-50′ or so. While food can be a draw to bring them in close (like your backyard bird feeder), a more dependable draw in many places is water. Most birds require daily water for drinking and bathing. This spot, in NE Spain, is such a place. These are Red-billed Choughs, a relative of our Crows and Ravens. We did not expect to see this species, so were pleasantly surprised when a small flock arrived. This image has been processed in Photoshop with cropping (about 75% FF) and the background has been darkened slightly.