On the fly / A vuelapluma

“Shooting birds on the fly”…    Take them very quickly, at the mercy of inspiration, without stopping to think, without hesitation or effort. 

Pin-tailed sandgrouse 

While driving slowly on a dirt-track, all of a sudden...,                  I notice something moving on the fallow fields... Pin-tailed sandgrouses (gangas)...

Binoculars are always at hand, so I quickly see a group of these beautiful birds, walking around, pecking grains and insects... two males and a few females...

Less rare than black-bellied sandgrouse (Ortega), still, in Europe this bird can virtually only be seen in Spain. 

A brief but rewarding session of photographs through the car window, before both: birds and I, continue with our tasks...  

             A male and a female, easy to identify through their back feather design.

La ganga

Se usa la expresión a vuelapluma, que indica que algo se hace deprisa y sin pensar:

...me sentí inspirado, cogí la cámara y fotografíe estas Gangas a vuelapluma...

Las gangas no son tan raras como las Ortegas (verdaderamente difíciles de ver) y aún así son aves esteparias cada vez menos comunes... 
las suelo ver bebiendo en verano en los charcones de algunas lagunas manchegas... por ejemplo en Pedro Muñoz...  

              In the first picture: two males...
           Second picture: a male, down and a female, up...
       Third picture: a male with two females...
  Fourth picture: again two males...