These are pics from our road trip in the Normandie and Bretagne regions of France.
Thursday, 21st June, 2012
Roadtrip In France
Northern Gannet (Morus bassanus)
Atlantic Puffin (Fratercula arctica)
Lesser Black-backed Gull (Larus fuscus)
Almost everywhere we went on this coast, there were gulls and they seemed very comfortable in the company of humans. This one was shot at Etretat.
European Herring Gull (Larus argentatus)
Common Magpie (Pica pica)
House Sparrow (Passer domesticus)
There was a time when my house in Bangalore used to accommodate at least 4 families of sparrows. Now they're nowhere to be seen in my city. Unavailability of grains and of nesting spaces, increased noise and pollution, explosion in cat population, pesticides in the food chain, and reduced tolerance to their presence are all cited as reasons for their disappearance. There are other outlandish theories that suspect mobile phone transmissions, but I'm skeptical. Some mistakenly believe that House Sparrows are close to extinction. That is definitely not true. They are a fairly populous species. The one featured in the photo is a male.
