Birds and the Bees

Nicosia

Birds and the Bees

One thing we have been pretty surprised with are the animals, or lack of,  that we have seen. Even though most of our travels so far have been during fall and winter, we figured we would still see plenty of birds and bugs but that has not consistently been the case.   Surprisingly, the  fewest animals/birds/bugs have been in the warmer areas- Croatia and Cyprus.  Although, the day we were commenting on how few bugs we had been seeing,   a spider the size of a Yorkshire Terrier's head showed up on Nick's shoulder https://www.whatsthatbug.com/2010/10/30/wolf-spider-from-cyprus/

Despite the lack of insects, Europe in general seemed to be very hospitable to bugs as indicated by the bee houses we saw just about everywhere.

Saarbrucken

Nicosia, Cyprus

For sale in Saarbrucken

Bristol, England

Saarbrucken

The Hague, Netherlands

Oxford, England

Limassol, Cyprus

Trogir, Croatia

Even a very nice worm composter in the middle of a park in Amsterdam.

Amsterdam Worm Farm

We did see snails, although in places we typically do not see them in.  in the water in Cavtat, Croatia

In the produce section in the market in Paphos, Cyprus (no we did not buy them.)

Most of the animals we saw were domestic like sheep, goats or horses

and birds. 
The most birds we saw were ones we almost did not see, the pheasants, grouse and other game birds hidden in the fields in Yorkshire and the Cotswolds.  The other birds, were primarily ones on the water.

Swan in Eastbourne, UK

Black and White Swan in Amsterdam

Seagulls in Pula, Croatia

Egret in Saarbrucken

Cormorants in Paphos, Cyprus

Mallards in Saarbrucken

Egyptian ducks in Trier, Germany

We are eager to return to Strasbourg to see the storks who will return to these chimney top nests.

Although Cyprus did not have many birds, they did have the flamingos.

Maybe the plethora of cats in Croatia and Cyprus had something to do with the lack of birds.