Bandidos

 

The Bandidos is an international Harley Davidson motorcycle riding club. I ran into some of them this morning when I was at the seaside resort of Empuriabrava buying some cookies and marmalades and went to my favorite cafe for a coffee and croissant (in 90 degree weather). They were scattered around the terrace, sporting their tatoos and motorcycle club t-shirts and vests.

I approached one of them to ask about the club and where he was from. He was from Andalusia and the club is international he told me. I approached another and he told me the club originated in Texas but is now international with thousands of members including members who have come for this event from Australia. He was from France. Upon further questioning I discovered he was from Nice. I've visited Nice several times and told him that my parents had come to Nice after WW II and my mother became pregnant with me there. You were made in Nice! he exclaimed.

I didn't take any photos -- I felt too shy (a missed opportunity, I know). But I did find their club on the internet when I got home and this video. It is their formal club motorcade entrance to Empuriabrava the day when they arrived. In fact, they came whatever way they wanted from all parts of Europe, and it seemed that this was their last day and they would all be headed home.

Bandidos on the Street

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Twosies

When I was a kid we used to sing this song on the bus headed for summer camp up in the San Bernardino mountains. I was reminded of it when I started putting together the photos for this post, which consist of various pairs I saw at the wetlands. There were couples, mother and child, siblings, and oddballs, maybe you could call them twosies.

Rise and shine and give God your glory, glory!
Rise and shine and give God your glory, glory!
Rise and shine and (clap once) give God your glory, glory!
Children of the Lord.

The Lord said to Noah, "There's gonna be a floody, floody."
Lord said to Noah, "There's gonna be a floody, floody."
"Get those children (clap once) out of the muddy, muddy!"
Children of the Lord.

So Noah, he built him, he built him an arky, arky.
Noah, he built him, he built him an arky, arky.
Made it out of (clap once) hickory barky, barky.
Children of the Lord.

The animals, they came on, they came on by twosies, twosies.
The animals, they came on, they came on by twosies, twosies.
Elephants and (clap once) kangaroosies, roosies.
Children of the Lord.

Husband and wife

Mother and child

Siblings

Oddballs

Stork Chicks

The last time I wrote about the wetland storks was in early May. At that point, the adults were tending to their nests, but there weren’t any chicks yet.

It wasn’t until the 29^th of May that I saw the first chick. There it was, a little white head. You could hardly see it because the nests are large and high up, and the chicks were small, so if you were lucky you could just see the top of a little head or a black beak. Adult beaks are orange but chicks are born with black beaks that slowly change color until, after a year, they are orange.

Tending to the nest

There's a little white head below Mom
if you look closely

Two sets of little black beaks being fed

By June 10 things had developed. The chicks were bigger and you could see them more easily. At this point they were trying out their wings, but they hadn’t fledged yet.

By the 20^th of June they were a lot bigger – almost the size of an adult. It was the beak that was still black that gave them away as youngsters. I couldn’t tell if they had fledged yet, but I think not. The nearby horses don't have to learn to fly and were not concerned.

On the 24^th, the young storks didn’t seem to have changed much.

On July 4^th, there seemed to be a change. At this point you could hardly tell the difference between the fledglings and the adults, especially from the back. The park ranger told me most if not all had fledged, but I didn’t see any of the young ones flying. Even once they start to fly the parents will continue to feed them for a while until they are more capable of flying well and feeding themselves.

They all look alike from the back

What I did see was the sure sign of summer. And it’s gotten so hot that I probably won’t go back until the fall by which time the nests will be empty. But that’s OK, there will be a whole new cycle next year.