The island gangs

I believe this is the fist time I see this theme on the cool SMAP contest: Together! I might be mistaken though, so feel free to correct me. Anyway... of to the bird photos!

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I found these two groups while visiting Pico island, in Açores. They're very common species, just wasn't expecting to find them in these settings. See these guys, for example:

^{Common starling - Sturnus vulgaris}

Common starlings are rarely found alone, and here it wasn't an exception. But it was the first time that I've seen them on the rocks, near the sea! I usually see them in the cities, or more inland.

But here they were, watching the waves go by, and changing places back and forth. They weren't a quiet bunch, that's for sure! Given their plummage, they're probably juveniles.

Maybe that explains the restlessness a little bit, right?

There's actually an Azorean subspecies of the common starling, Sturnus vulgaris granti, and it might actually be these guys; but as far as I can tell, it's very hard to differentiate the subspecies from the more common bird so... let's leave it like this (I told you the geekiness would come back!).

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This second bunch seemed even more strange! I set to visit a lagoon called Lagoa do Capitão, in a central part of the island; fog is very common in these islands, so I was prepared to see the lagoon in the middle of the mist; and truth be told, there was mist... along with a gang of ducks!

^{Domestic duck - Anas platyrhynchos domesticus}

What the hell was a group of domestic ducks doing in the middle of nowhere?? There was relaxing in the asphalt near the lagoon, where cards park. There wasn't many visitors at that hour, but they couldn't care less about the cars that appeared, nor the people coming out of them and looking at them with a puzzled face (more or less like mine was).

Some were roaming around and a few were near the water margin, but most of them just stood in the concrete without moving at all.

I could think that they would settle there if the asphalt was warm because of the sun, but as you can see by the sky... it wasn't a warm place at all. Maybe they like to do... tourist watching! There's a hiking trail that passes by the lagoon so they're bound to do some sightings!

Regardless of the reason, there they were... all together. ;)

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