Never Mind The Finnsticks - Read The Blog!

Overlooking Long-eared Owls - (Asio otus), Búho Chico

2012-01-25T10:21:00.008+01:00

A Long-eared Owl leaves the roost at dusk

Finding Long-eared Owls has always been difficult for me in Cadiz province. Not just because they are nocturnal but they are quite scarce breeding birds here.
It now seems clear that they may have been overlooked by myself and others during our winters when Short-eared Owls roost together here in the south. The other day I spotted some owls which I though were all the same species, namely Short-eared, but there amongst them were three Long-eared Owls in the same tree. I've seen Long-eared Owls in winter in Northern Europe roosting together and always thought that different species of owl wouldn't mix in a roost. How wrong I was...

Here's a photo of a Long-eared Owl above and a Short-eared below

Perched owls (when you can see something of them) are fairly straightforward to identify especially with those ear-tufts of the Long-eared Owl compared to the very slight tufts and chubbier faced Short-eared Owls. Confusion often arises with owls of the same size and structure in flight which is clearly the case with Short and Long-eared Owls. Thier flight, profile and general structure in the air are almost identical.
Outside of the breeding season there are no calls to listen to to separate them and fleeting views of owls in flight, once you get over that 'Wow!' factor, move so silently and quickly that you barely have time to check on identification differences.

Comparison of Long-eared (L) and Short-eared Owl (R) in similar flight pattern. (click to expand)

Here are a few pointers that can help in separating these two beautiful species in flight.

Tail: The Long-eared has much finer barring on the tail compared to the broader bands on the Short-eared. This may be a good one to check first as birds flying away from you are more likely than ones coming straight to you - alas!

Wing - Primaries: Long-eared has finely barred primaries compared to the darker broader band and dark tips of the Short-eared

Wing: This finer barring shows up well on the upperside, although it's more apparent on the underside. *The underside will have better background contrast, especially at dusk, against a wooded area with lots of shadows.
(The light was starting to fade and using my set up of Canon 7D with 400 f/5.6, auto ISO, 2,000sec with central point focusing, hand held - was indeed stretching the equipment to it's max...)

Wing - upperside: There is also less lighter spotting on the wing coverts than in the Short-eared.
The Long-eared Owl doesn't show a white trailing edge to the wing as with Short-eared Owls

Eye Colour: You can't always see the eye colour but here the iris is a deep orange whereas in the Short-eared Owl the iris is bright yellow.

Body Markings: Here the neck, breast and flanks of the Long-eared Owl are much more boldly marked with 'fish-bone' streaking. The Short-eared Owl has less streaking to the lower body with much plainer streaks

This rear view shows the flank and tail - something to concentrate on for ID purposes if you only manage a fleeting glimpse

Both species have very similar structures and of course in flight, those ear tufts of the Long-eared Owl are invisible

From now on I'll be looking more closely at roosts and trying to get an idea of numbers of wintering Long-eared Owls.
If you'd like to watch a good little film about this topic then click here. It's worth it...

Short-eared Owl (Asio flammeus) Búho Campestre

2012-01-15T08:49:00.012+01:00

The Short-eared Owl (Asio flammeus) is one of my favourite winter birds in Spain. The Short-eared Owl breeds across much of Eurasia, North America and its also is resident on Cuba and Hispaniola, as well as parts of South America with all northern populations generally regarded as migratory. Their life span is around 5 years.
Although not normally covering huge migratory distances in Europe, they move south in winter from France and Germany. It could be that wintering birds could come from further afield but as yet I haven't been able to find any information on this It would be interesting to know more about them and I do try and check through any photos I've taken for rings or tags, but as yet I've had no joy. It's also really difficult to see their legs for rings, both perched or in flight.
A lot of studies have been done in North America on Short-eared Owls and there is some information on UK owls and migration on the BTO website but the papers published have to be bought. Here's a really good little film of a North American Short-eared Owl hunting beside a busy road on some marshland.

On the side of the main collector canal at La Janda the open grassed areas are thriving with colonies of small rodents and an ideal wintering area not only for the owls but for other birds such as the large influx of Black-winged Kites (Elanus caeruleus) that are with us right now. The kites have been nesting here in very good numbers over the last few years, although when there is a decline in rodent populations the kites will leave the area, often travelling a thousand kilometers or more to an area where they can find food and breed. Their nomadic behaviour would account for their success and spread into Southern Europe.
Black-winged Kites physical structure, nocturnal looking eyes, flight and hunting techniques are more like owls than any other raptor I can think of in the Western Palearctic.

You can trawl though the web and find information on a fair bit of research that has been done throughout Europe but particularly in North America, that investigates the effects on vole population dynamics. You can see a clear link between predators and specialised alterations in rodent breeding behaviour and their seasons. This seems to be apparent during some years, when Short-eared Owls and of course other raptors too, leave their wintering areas like La Janda, to return to northern areas to breed, thus allowing the Black-winged Kite population to profit by the Short-eared Owl's absence and coinciding with the prenuptual period of the kite's breeding season in the south.

Short-eared owls seek out and inhabit areas where small mammals, especially meadow voles are abundant. Effective food sourcing dominates their breeding sites, the number of wintering birds, the number of nesting pairs, and the number of eggs they lay and of course this affects the number of young they have. All of these factors can change from year to year based purely on food supply.
Breeding begins in March when both sexes begin defending territories and courting that involves elaborate flight displays, include wing-clapping, exaggerated wing-beats, and skirmishing.
Birds nest on the ground where the female creates a cup shape and lines it with grasses and her own down. Four to nine eggs are typical, but clutches as large as fourteen have been reported in years of peak small mammal abundance. Incubation, which is done by the female alone, lasts about a month. The eggs hatch asynchronously and fledging occurs about a month later.

Here are a sequence of photos I took this week of a Short-eared Owl hunting rodents. It was just getting dark as we watched the birds coming towards us, rising up and catching the last glimmers of sunlight and falling back into the shadows.

We came upon a roost of thirteen birds in a wild olive tree a few days ago. This was the largest number I have seen roosting together of this species.

I co-led a winter tour to Holland with Arnoud van den Berg a few winter's years ago and saw how the Long-eared Owls (Asio otus) roosted together in trees within villages in the colder north. Roosting together like this offers protection against predators such as Goshawk. Long-eared Owls are great birds to see at any time, but with up to a dozen or more birds in village front gardens in winter, was quite a sight to see!

Red-footed Falcon - Falco vespertinus and Pallid Harrier - Circus macrourus

2012-01-07T05:14:00.013+01:00

Red-footed Falcon (Falco vespertinus), another rarity on The Strait of Gibraltar
Happy New Year everyone!

It's good to be back home and out birding after our family holiday. I've been trying to catch up on a lot of work although the good weather we've been enjoying has helped keep the rarer wintering birds to stay with us and not head south. The warm days are particularly good for hunting with the Pallid Harriers and the other birds of prey finding plenty of food and I have been out catching up on what's around as well as taking some photos.

I received a text message on the 6th of January from Stephen Knapp, alerting me that he'd seen a male Red-footed Falcon close to where he lives between La Muela and Patria (Vejer area). I was down on the other side of The Strait at the time and came back up for a search of the area.
I've seen the closest groups to us of Red-footed Falcons in Hungary and Austria as well as the eastern birds out in Turkey and Greece but have never seen one in Spain before.

I searched the power lines and cables, knowing that Red-foots like to perch on such. I took my time and searched slowly around the open meadowland wooded dehesas of the Patria plateau and down through the undulating valleys, checking bare tree-tops and any likely flying bird. I did come across the local Common and Lesser Kestrels hovering as Red-foots often do. There were also two Black-winged Kites hunting in the area, always lovely birds to watch. It wasn't too long before I spotted the bird, a fine male with distinctive red-orange legs and vent. Just as expected, the falcon was sitting on a wire.

As was normal on the country roads there was no place to stop but I quickly reversed back and parked at an entrance to a field and went on foot. I managed to get some shots of the bird on the wire before a group of kids on bikes came past and scared the bird off. Yesterday was a fiesta of the epiphany here in Spain and there was a lot of traffic and people heading for lunch.

I did managed to get some flight shots and you can see from these more clearly that this young male, probably a bird that fledged in 2009, is retaining some juvenile primary and secondary flight feathers and other plumage.

In the photos you can see that the bird has been ringed on the left leg with what seems to be a normal metal band. I could not see any other signs that this could be an escapee from a private collection somewhere but still have a nagging doubt about an near adult bird turning up so late in the south. Juvenile birds would be more likely, but then perhaps I'm just being cautious as it's my first one in Spain and can't believe what a cracker that's flying around here!

The answer for such a bird turning up here in SW Spain may be that as Red-footed Falcons expand their range in central Europe westwards, there could be a more westerly migration movement with Austrian, Slovenian and (Western) Hungarian birds moving south in autumn through Germany and France, then on down through the Iberian peninsula.
The presence of Pallid Harriers (scroll down below) now wintering in Cadiz province Andalucia does show that this western trend could lead to other species becoming more common on the Iberian peninsula but probably more apparent down on The Strait of Gibraltar where there is an abundance of food, particularly with the enormous numbers of Meadow Pipits, White Wagtails and other wintering passerines. The sightings of Great Egrets in Spain ten years ago was considered quite rare. Now they are increasing in larger numbers and in fact breeding here and many other western European countries. Rose-coloured Starlings could be down in the south with us too amongst the millions of Common Starlings that winter here. I thought I saw one juvenile Rose-coloured Starling last year, a bird with a really pale rump and back, much lighter over all than juv Common Starling, but by the time I put down my bins to pick up my camera rattle off a few photo shots that I could later have a good look at back on my computer, the flock took off, spooked by a peregrine!
The few birders that are down this way, few that is compared to the UK or The Netherlands, will be keeping their eyes busy and keenly focused on any other rarities as well as noting what trends occur with the overall migration patterns and our wintering birds activity and numbers.

Eastern migratory birds usually make their way along the Danube River to the Black Sea, heading for Turkey and down through the Middle East. Red-footed Falcons have been massacred on migration in Cyprus and other Mediterranean countries and this is a particularly vulnerable raptor that needs all the protection and breeding help Man can give. Perhaps the on-going projects in Hungary and protection of new breeding sites in Slovakia and Austria will help populations that may eventually migrate through or winter in SW Spain.

Red- footed Falcon
Ricard Gutiérrez (Rare Birds Spain & Birds Spain Blogspot) has since written an interesting article outlining Red-footed Falcon records in Spain. The article also shows detailed maps indicating where the bird was ringed and the distance it's flown from Hungary to Andalucía.
You can read about it here

There are an incredible amount of birds feeding at La Janda this winter. More Common Cranes have been moving back and forth across the site of the ancient laguna at La Janda as well as a few Eurasian Bitterns present although getting decent photos is a challenge or a matter of being in the right place at the right time as you pass the rice-fields, the remnants of last year's harvest are being turned to mud as the tractors flail the remaining stalks and let them rot. The remaining stalks were a great place for bitterns to skulk and feed.

Warm weather is just perfect for larger birds of prey like this young Bonell's Eagle, one of at least seven Bonelli's in and around La Janda from Facinas to Los Naveros

Probably the commonest raptor at this time are the wintering Marsh Harriers. This young male takes off from his perch beside the main collector canal. Few trees are in the area and quite often
you can see six or seven such birds having an afternoon preen or nap.

Now for some more Pallid Harrier (Circus macrourus) photos

I've been spending quite a lot of time watching their behaviour, hunting techniques and flight.

Diving at speed after Serins

Some flight profile shots above and below

Stronger body not so far away from Hen Harrier but with four primary feathers not five as in Hen.

Underwing markings of the adult female Pallid

Deep chest, more prominent than in Montagu's but slighter than with the heavier Hen Harrier

A slight tussle with a young Marsh Harrier and as such air combat, the Pallid is much more nimble leaving the Marsh Harrier behind. A bit like a motorcyclist leaving a Ferrari in town traffic...Hmm..how do I know about that?

Heads down and off hunting again.

A Booted Eagle passes over Barbate Marismas.

In addition to the raptors previously mentioned, the Spanish Imperial Eagles, both from the re-intro programme and 'local' birds can still be seen with a fair degree of regularity, in and around La Janda. Same goes for Golden Eagles. You have to know where they are likely to be and what time to go to these areas as well as calculating previous weather patterns and present hunting conditions.

I had a sighting of a sub-adult Egyptian Vulture last month and there are a few that do stay on here during winter. Black Kites have been crossing back from Morocco seen in increasing numbers with five birds seen on the 4th January.

I found a roost of the Short-eared Owls last week and counted seven birds in two trees with two others flying and being mobbed by Common Magpies, another species on the increase here although the Great spotted Cuckoos do parasitize magpies nests. This could therefore give us an extended viewing season of Great spotted Cuckoos down this way as they normally stop off here to feed before heading where magpie populations and more numerous.

Sunset over Cabo Trafalgar

Sunrise over Cabo Trafalgar

Lesser Kestrels have been starting to flock around Vejer de La Frontera and becoming steadily more vocal especially in the mornings as the sun heats up the town.

More news and updates soon. Happy birding and have a great year!

Mongoose, Merlin and The Big Eagle

2011-12-22T07:44:00.011+01:00

Immature Spanish Imperial Eagle (Aquila adalberti) yesterday over La Janda

The Spanish Imperial Eagle is unique to the Iberian Peninsula. Almost the whole world population breeds in Spain, but recently a few pairs recolonised parts of Portugal, particularly in the Alentejo area near the border with Extremadura.
Spanish Imperial Eagles were thought to be no longer breeding in Morocco, but there was a report of a successful breeding pair in 1995. There could be a few pairs left and young birds do cross The Strait of Gibraltar each autumn. Normally their part migration does not exceed 350 kms in one-way distance.
The eagle was also known to have been a breeding bird in Algeria in the 19th century, but now extinct there.

Immature birds can look like juveniles especially from far off but closer inspection of the breast and wing coverts would suggest an older bird. The white trailing edge to the wing seems not to be present although difficult to see the colour of the primaries in the bright sky, the secondaries look as if they have dark tips and white tips, showing some moult. Same with the tail moult.

Spanish Imperial Eagles are always impressive birds to watch, especially at close quarters where the large size is apparent even without another species in the air for comparison.
Some statistics: Length: 78-82 cm, Wingspan: 180-210 cm, Weight: 2,500-3,500 g

They are known to live for over thirty-five years, older in captivity.

The coast line close to the Sierra de La Plata, looking down The Strait towards Bolonia and Tarifa with a very dramatic sky

Bluethroats were performing particularly well this last week. There must be a bit of competition going on with Common Stonechats this week...

Standing to attention

Bluethroat from behind

Two different male Common Stonechats with variable plumage

Irrigation rainbow

Merlin (Falco columbarius)

One of the smallest falcons but certainly a real bruiser for it's size. It has powerful flight, hence the deeper, muscular chest and is exceptionally agile and very fast flier.

Merlin showing all those lovely underside markings

I took this very poor shot of a passing adult male Pallid Harrier on the 21st December. I've still not managed to be close enough to the male for better photos. Still, there's always next year!

The Egyptian Mongoose (Herpestes ichneumon) is a very secretivie mammal and although there are lots of them around souther Iberia, you seem only to get fleeting views. They can weigh up to 4 kg although they are normally between 2.8 and 3.8 kg. They have long dark brown hair and have a slender, low-slung body with short limbs and strong claws on the forepaws for digging.

A Penduline Tit takes flight as the mongoose passes through the reeds

Back out onto the main track at La Landa

Here we are at the happy end to another great year with Andalucian Guides. It's been a fantastic year for me, travelling, experiencing lots of old favourites and new ones too. Some new birds, plants, insects and other wildlife and getting the chance to meet some lovely people.

Have a great holiday over Christmas and New Year, we have asked the Bald Ibis to decorate the local overhead cables as Chritmas decorations and they are doing quite a good job by the look of things!

Cold Nights, Sunny Days

2011-12-17T00:26:00.025+01:00

On the edge of La Janda is a classic example of a working Andalucian finca, the Cortijo de Trapatana. The farm and the surroundings just complement each other and each season shows different colours of the crops in the fields as well as the light and surrounding landscape.

You can find the Cortijo close to the best known track that takes you down to the main collector canal and into the body of this vast agricultural area.

Cortijo de Trapatana

I'ts been a busy week around my local patch, trying to take advantage of some free time and catch up with lots of wintering birds. I have taken so many photos and really need to go through and edit some of the better ones, especially some of the wonderful views of a variety of large raptors that have dominated the La Janda skyline. You can review the last couple of blog entries to see these photos and my own attempts to clarify identification of comparative 'ringtail' harriers with the influx of many Pallid Harriers in Cadiz province. Five different Pallid Harriers last week in the La Janda area alone is a real record for this essentially Eastern European bird of prey.

One of those very special birding days came along last week and happily I was able to share with fellow birdwatcher and friend, Mick Richardson. Mick and his wife settled some time ago further north in Andalucia at Loja, Granada province. Mick runs his own wildife guiding business in that equally rich area and can show clients much of the mountain and plains birds, orchids and other plants as well as butterflies, dragonflies and a whole lot more. Click above to find out what Mick does...

Mandrake (Mandragora autumnalis) was one flowering plant that Mick pointed out to me

Our day started with a coffee at the Bar Apollo at Tahivilla, we then headed down to the coast towards Barbate, looking for Northern Bald Ibis as early morning mist hung in the low-lying La Janda. It's just a short run from Tahivilla down to the sea and quickly we were seeing lots of birds driving past Prickly-Pear cactus fences that border the Military Zone of the Sierra de Retin.

A pretty pose from a male Common Stonechat

Corn Buntings, Common Stonechats, White Wagtails, Spanish Sparrows and Zitting Cisticolas flitted past and soon we were on the coast where hundreds of Crag Martins fed on the little estuary at Zahara de Los Atunes.

Crag Martin over the edge of Sierra de Retin at Zahara de Los Atunes, a wintering area for these fast and agile fliers

Northern Bald Ibis at Barbate

Driving along the Atlantic Ocean's coast we soon saw a few of the Northern Bald Ibis feeding in the rough grazing land on the Military part of the coast. A little further along at Barbate we came across about thirty birds feeding amongst cattle and sitting on electric wires and posts, preening themselves. These are all free-flying birds and there are around eighty of them now with some breeding success as they continue and colonise several sites on the coast and inland.

The morning passed quickly and we picked up some new birds for the day around Barbate bridge and estuary. Here we saw Greenshank, Common Redshank, Little Egret along with Lesser Black-backed, Black-headed and Yellow-legged Gulls. We had a quick look to see if we could find some Tawny Owls in woodland around Vejer but without success. An (Iberian) Green Woodpecker, some Black Redstarts, European Robins, Chaffinch, Cattle Egrets and Chiffchaffs were found though, always good to see.

Black-winged Kite guts a large rodent then swallows it whole

Back down to La Janda where by this time the mist had burnt off and the air was slowly starting to warm up. We took the western track entrance off the N340 road from Manzanette and Mick and I took our time scanning across the harvested rice-fields that were alive with the song of Common Cranes. Marsh Harriers are very common at this time of year and could be seen in every direction we looked, either sitting on the ground or paddy-field earth dykes or hunting with their heads down.
Reed Buntings, House Sparrows and a Blackbird flew around the reeds that line the main canal banks. The high pitched looping sound of Penduline Tits calling showed us where a lovely pair were feeding and we had some great views of these often elusive birds.
Night Herons, Grey Herons were also seen and a few hundred meters further along the canal, we happened upon what looked like a Purple Swamphen convention, with thirty or so birds all milling around the opposite banking and field.
The first of the day's Black-winged Kites showed up and Common Kestrels were around in good numbers. Mallards, Little Grebe were seen and a Cetti's Warbler called as we watched another Black-winged Kite hovering, hunting for prey. It wasnt before long that a a large rodent was caught in it's powerful talons. The bird carried it's prey to a nearby post and we watched it first eat the brain, then gut the animal and finally eat the whole rodent in one gulp.
Over the next thirty-minutes we watched it go straight back to hunting mode, obviously still peckish! We had excellent views of it hovering and flying pretty close to ourselves as we used the car as a hide. Both of us managed to get some really satisfying photos of this wonderful bird of prey.

Incidentally, the bird was tagged and ringed on the 13th of July by a local ringer in Cadiz, Rafael Sánchez Carrión.

Black-winged Kite ( Elanus caeruleus)

Mick and I continued birding after a short break for tapas and a beerette. During the afternoon the sun was warm and we thought that a search for larger birds of prey would be worthwhile. A short time later we saw a juvenile Spanish Imperial Eagle, looking very bright perched on top of an electric post showing the ochre and dark brown plumage juvs show when perched or in flight.

Not such a stunning view but interesting shot of it hovering, seeing how the bird controls air flow over its wings and tail

Some of my black and white photography. I'm attracted to the diversity of clouds and weather patterns on The Strait of Gibraltar where you can see some amazing cloud formations between the two continents

Peregrine Falcon (Falco preregrinus)

The Peregrine takes off showing the powerful body and long wings

A female Hen Harrier ( Circus cyaneus) passes by

More Common Cranes and some Calandra Larks called and flew in large flocks as we watched and a lovely male Hen Harrier ( Circus cyaneus) hunting, just as a young Bonell's Eagle passed quite high up, overhead. An older looking Spanish Imperial (Aguila adalberti) was also seen flying low over the woodland edge and a short time later a young Golden Eagle flew into view being later mobbed by a pair of Ravens. It was all happening at once and two young Bonelli's flew into view, one coming really close for some good photos (below)

Passing the coast at Barbate

Bonelli's Eagle (Hieraaetus faciatus). This fresh youngster comes really close, staring right at us Such a stunner!

Bonelli's Eagle (Hieraaetus faciatus)

Mick and I were delighted at seeing three large eagles in the sky at once and always on the fringes of the skyline were many Griffon Vultures as well as some closer views of Common Buzzards, some looking decidedly rufous in colour, visitors from the north that often confuse the observer, looking in some ways like Long-legged Buzzards. These birds are always worth a good look.

Back down towards the rice-fields again and out to Tahivilla to drop off Mick, we passed our Penduline Tits and saw a few other species that included lots of Northern Lapwings, a few Green Sandpipers, Common Snipe and hundreds of White Storks, egrets, gulls following the tractors ploughing the still sodden paddy-fields.

Bonelli's Eagle (Hieraaetus faciatus)

Bonelli's Eagle (Hieraaetus faciatus)

Bonelli's Eagle (Hieraaetus faciatus)

Looking across to Morocco as the setting sun lights up the mountains

Having seen so many great birds in one day was just wonderful but it wasn't finished yet. As we were passing a wild olive dehesa or wooded meadow, a juvenile Pallid Harrier (Circus macrourus) came gliding over the tree tops giving us great views in profile, showing that clearly marked collar or 'boa' on the neck.

Below are new photos of the adult female Pallid Harrier hunting. You can see all the photos so far of the Pallids on the previous blog entry.

Pallid Harrier (Circus macrourus)

Pallid Harrier (Circus macrourus)

Pallid Harrier (Circus macrourus)

Short-eared Owl (Asio flammeus)

Back down towards the rice-fields again and out to Tahivilla to drop off Mick, we passed our Penduline Tits and saw a few other species that included lots of Northern Lapwings, a few Green Sandpipers, Common Snipe and hundreds of White Storks, egrets, gulls following the tractors ploughing the still sodden paddy-fields.

Short-eared Owl (Asio flammeus) takes off

During the afternoon we also saw Sparrowhawks, Mistle and Song Thrushes, Jackdaws and one of the wintering Short-eared Owls. It was a great day out and I really enjoyed having another experienced pair of eyes with me. It made our day out such a pleasure and pretty soon I'm going to check out the Granada area where Mick lives.

Below are some photos of the Common Cranes at La Janda

Common Cranes (Grus grus)

As another low pressure system comes through The Strait from Morocco, the changing patters of light and dark make for an amazing light show, reflecting on the Atlantic's waters

Pallid Harrier (Circus macrourus), Aguilucho papialbo, December 2011

2011-12-15T19:04:00.010+01:00

Pallid Harrier (Circus macrourus)

There are at least five Pallid Harriers, Aguilucho papialbo (Circus macrourus), in and around the La Janda area at present. I have noted three individual juveniles and two adults - this adult female (above) and an adult male. I haven't seen the adult male for two days but then I couldn't access a large area for a couple of days where he's been regularly hunting.

Identification confusion between similar looking species
ie. Hen Harrier and Montagu's Harrier

1. Adult female Hen Harrier (Circus cyaneus)

2. Adult female Montagu's Harrier (Circus pygargus), again for comparison.

Please refer to these when I talk about plumage or other diffrences between all three (ring-tail) harriers. I tried to look out and show underwing views which will help with identification.

Back to the adult female Pallid Harrier

Pallid Harrier (Circus macrourus)

I think that the sunlight gives the bird a slight tinge, which threw me at first but you can see that this bird has all the diagnostic markings of an adult - probably fledged in 2009 or perhaps earlier. As ever, I'm open to suggestions or comment on aging. These are new birds for me and a lot of others as well and each time we get a chance to watch them or look at any worthwile photos, we gain little bits of additional information which makes identification in the field a little bit more confident and slightly easier

Pallid Harrier (Circus macrourus)

Female and immature harriers are tricky to identify. Let's have a look at comparative birds and where differences between these are apparent.

The Pallid female is a little bit more muscular looking and seems to be a stronger flier than say an adult Montagu's Harrier. It also doesn't have the bounce in the flight as in Monty's and looks more like a Hen Harrier. It can also move very quickly in a straight line with powerful, businesslike wingbeats.

Pallid Harrier (Circus macrourus)

The underwing markings of an adult Pallid may look like a female Hen but like the Monty's, Pallid has a slimmer wing and only four primary feathers, 'fingers' showing at the end of the wing or 'hand'.

Pallid Harrier (Circus macrourus)

Distant views out in the field with shadow as in the very top photo, may give the impression that the greater wing coverts and the secondary feathers appear to be quite dark, probably more so with juveniles. On closer inspection (isn't it great to have the digital photo age), you can see three darker bars running roughly in the secondaries to the armpit.
With the Pallid the inner two bars are narrower and less prominent on the terminal band than with Hen and Monty's which remains broader at the armpit. Both Monty's and Hen adult females have broader, bolder looking white-grey spacing between the brown barring on the underwing.
Female adult Hen Harrier has less white around the eye as here with the adult Pallid and the neck ring is just that little bit lighter but not always so easy to compare in the field.

On now to one of the other birds, the juvenile Pallid Harrier (below)

Underneath are a few photos of one of the juveniles I photographed a few days ago. Unfortunately I didn't manage to get closer, managing only a quck burst of flight shots. I have some more but it was in a very fast glide through a wooded area and these are the better ones

Juvenile Pallid Harrier with that very noticable collar or neck ring, some field guides refer to this as a 'boa'. Juveniles are much more rusty-ochre coloured and Juvenile Montagu's Harriers seem even brighter with no white neck ring. The undersides are paler in contrast to the juvenile Monty's darker appearance. The best indicator would be to look at the collar marking.

More news as it happens. Thanks for dropping by, Stephen

December's larger Raptors

2011-12-14T06:57:00.013+01:00

It's been a busy week with lots of birds around the La Janda area. With Pallid Harriers, Short-eared Owls, Black-winged Kites, Penduline Tits, Bluethroats and a few Eurasian Bitterns feeding in and along the cut rice-field fringes, making this birding area one of the best in Europe.

I want to share some of the larger eagle photos here on this blog entry. I'll post some other photos of what's happening birdwise later, once I sort out and edit more from this week.

One of the most attractive 'magnets' for a lot of birdwatchers is the sheer number and variety of raptor species. Leaving the local birds and other smaller birds of prey aside for the moment, I want to show some of my recent photos of larger eagles that are here, particularly young birds that can be seen with patience during the winter months.

All of the birds below are juvenile birds and often aging individual birds by plumage moult can be quite tricky. There are moult formulas of the wing and body that give a pretty good indication of a birds age and I am still learning to read the signs.

All photos were taken this week so the aging goes with the actual late autumn-winter appearance that you'd expect around December in S Spain and are shown in some field guides. Some terminology in some of the guides seems a bit baffling where some authors refer to stages of a young birds develpment in a number of ways using alternative adjectives and expressions. I will try and keep everything logical and fairly straightforward.

I'll start off with the darker Bonelli's Eagle (Aquila fasciata) below

This 'juvenile', going on to 'immature' Bonelli's, shows a typical moult pattern at this stage where some feather replacement is immediately evident. Look at the dark and light gaps particularly in the secondaries.

I like this photo because up until now, I haven't had the opportunity to take good images of such an example where you can clearly see all the feather groups, primaries, secondaries, coverts etc. With bins and camera on hand, it's usually been distant views resulting in poor photo images of such (slightly older) birds although I have been fortunate with fresher, younger juvenile Bonelli's Eagles that are wintering in La Janda.

This particular photo of a bird at this stage, I believe this particular photo shows the stage of going from juvenile to immature. The flight feathers are greyish and finely barred. Usually the greater wing coverts have dark tips that usually form a clear dark band, but this isn't so prominent at this stage.

After some debate on aging this particular bird, with local help and input from Javi Elorriaga and Rafael Sánchez Carrión, we agree that this juvenile shows all the points that would lead us to the conclusion that it's a 2nd year bird with second moult (third plumage). Looking at the innermost primaries you can see that they have moulted and been replaced. The bird will become progressively darker brown, loosing the original ochre tinge.

The next three photos are of a (younger) juvenile Bonelli's Eagle.

This birds plumage is particulary interesting. It's a first year bird with no moult with everything looking symmetrical and fresh. None of the coverts have mouted either and the darkest all seem to be still the original ones. There is a missing secondary on the right wing which could be the result of damage. Apart from that the clarity of the photos show good detail for such an examination.

The missing secondary gap showing better here

Now on to juvenile Spainish Imperial Eagle (Aquila adalberti)

These photos are a bit dark (like the bird) as it preferred to stay into the sun. Anyway, you can make out the much darker colouration in the underwing with what looks like a replacement moult having already taken place in all of the flight feathers. It is perhaps a 3rd year bird. Younger birds are much brighter tawny-ochre colour - see here on this blog.

Ravens chasing the Spanish Imperial Eagle yesterday afternoon

Top-side

Some photos show a radio antennae on birds from a Spanish Imperial Eagle breeding programme here in Cadiz province.

On to juvenile Golden Eagle (Aquila chrysaetos)

I may add some other notes here once I get some more time....

Back on The Strait...

2011-12-06T15:56:00.007+01:00

Lovely male Bluethroat taken this week in La Janda

Cooler weather from the north reduced temperatures here but what about those birds that head south when low temperatures finaly drop near freezing and don't seem like rising in the north of Europe before the coming March. Some of these birds have already headed south and ended up here. Now it's time to have a good look at them and take in all their their beauty.

There are huge flocks of Serins around including this flock of just one...er,

Red Kite was one raptor we saw yesterday

Andy Paterson joined Lucia and I for a morning's birding at La Janda yesterday morning. The weather was fantstic with some early mist that quickly burnt off giving us a beautiful cloudless sky with lots of birds.

Purple Swamphens learning to fly...

We started along the main collector canal coming in from the old Venta de Retin, at the Zahara road turnoff on the N340.

Great Egrets were amongst thousands of White Storks, Northern Lapwings, Common Snipe, Cattle and Little Egrets, Black-headed and Yellow-legged Gulls. The rice-field ploughing had attracted so many birds and the smaller passerines included hundreds of White Wagtails and Meadow Pipits. Spanish Sparrows and House Sparrows also fed on the fringes often rushing off to safety when another Marsh Harrier passed too close. Purple Swamphens kept mainly to the canal banks and reeds but were also seen out in the fields on the far banks.

Common Cranes, estimated to be probably over 1500 birds now in place at La Janda, kept us informed of their presence with continual calls that were coming to our ears from every direction.

Travelling along the track we managed to hear the calls of Reed Bunting and Penduline Tits. Stonechats and Zitting Cisticolas kept us company as we came across five Marsh Harriers circling a small bush on the other bank of the canal. 'I bet you there's an owl in there' I said to Andy and Lucia. Creeping along with the car, then getting out quietly, the harriers moved away. I was half expecting a Short-eared Owl but there sitting at the back of the tree was an Eagle Owl.

I think the bird was holding it's own with the harriers, but when three people came for a look, it was time to fly! Such a great sight and we all managed to get some photos. The next thing was the poor owl was then mobbed by a large female Peregrine Falcon and the five Marsh Harriers also decided to join in the harassment as did a few Common Kestrels

I took this early morning photo of a buck Fallow Deer behind the fence of the country and golf club of Montenmedio near La Janda

Black Redstarts are very common wintering birds and we have at least two females that roost on our property. This lovely adult male was out feeding this week at La Janda and proved to be a great choice of subject

More take-off shots with a wintering Chiffchaff from some dried thistle stalks

After gasping at the sight of the Eagle Owl in the tree, we came across one of the most sought after rarities in western Europe, with this very elegant juvenile Pallid Harrier. More and more Pallids are turning up in western Europe, particularly on the Iberian peninsula and they are such special birds to watch hunting over the open fields

Going about in search of flying insects, often unnoticed with all eyes focused on the ground, Crag Martins are here now in huge numbers with the roost at Zahara de Los Atunes bridge being quite a spectacle just before dusk

Some of the Common Cranes at La Janda this winter

Penduline Tits at La Janda. You can't help but love them...

Clanadra Larks have been more vocal and some birds just love to show off in the lovely weather

Black-winged Kites are now very easy to find...if you know where to look

I saw two Booted Eagles today (7th Dec) both looked fairly cold with their feathers puffed up. The daytime temperatures have been pretty high, but at night we pay the price for clear skies and breezes from the north with very low temperatures and often some frost in the first hours of daylight. The morning birds here in SW Andalucia, are starting to look like Lars Jonsson's 'Birds of Europe' book illustrations, where the illustrations are (mostly) of birds he's painted in Scandinavia, all puffed up and keeping warm. You tend to forget images you have of garden birds in the north like Robins with their tenis ball shape in winter.

Boufon hair do with this Booted Eagle

Loads of Marsh Harriers are around and more adults than normal, probably due to the good weather and less rain than the last few winters. It makes me think we could get lots of rain later...

A Booted Eagle was sunning itself when along came the Marsh Harrier

Most birds of prey will mob one another and this behaviour is typcial of Marsh Harrier who love to drive off any other larger raptor. They frequently go after a Golden or Spanish Imperial Eagle

A few more shots of a nice male Marsh Harrier at dusk

The other birds of note we saw were 1 juv Golden Eagle, 2 juv Spanish Imperial Eagles, 1 juv Bonelli's Eagle, 2 adult Black Stork.
This morning I saw two Short-eared Owls and a Great Bittern as well as some of the others from yesterday. Ideally I wanted to try and track down one of the juv Pallid Harriers or the adult male Pallid that's been reported.

Fuerteventua Tour, November 21st -27th 2011

2011-11-28T21:12:00.021+01:00

One of the most sought after and also one of the most elusive birds on Fuerteventura is the lovely Houbara Bustard (Chlamydotis undulata, fuertaventurae), here seen in flight near Cotillo

Fuerteventura in the Canary Islands, Spain is one of the best known birding destinations within this wonderful volcanic, Atlantic island group. I've been leading groups here with my own company, Andalucian Guides for a few years now and really have a deep affection for the grandeur and stark beauty of this special island. Some quarters are a pretty inhospitable looking at first glance, especially on the flight along the east coast to Fuerteventuras main airport at Caleta de Fustes. You pass over huge lava flows on the aircrafts final approach and the colours of what was once rivers of moulten rock look as if they are still coolong down. The last estimated volcanic activity on the island took place between four and five thousand years ago although the island 'core' is reconed to be twenty million years old.

Around Pared in the south of the island is one of the most popular spots to look for Houbara Bustard. This year in the Pared area, we only managed to see one distant bird in flight and with so many walkers, some even with dogs, cutting across country, we moved to the north of the island and looked at first light. Here we had success and managed to get some good flight shots as well.

There's a nice little digi-scoped film of a Houbara on Fuerteventura here from 'Bustersymes'

Hubara Bustard (Chlamydotis undulata, fuertaventurae) . Males are heavier than females with the average male weighing 2.2 kg, the lighter female average weight has been recorded at 1.2 kg, a significant difference. Their wingspan is 1.5 m.

Spectacled Warbler (Sylvia conspicillata orbitalis)

Great Grey Shrike (Lanius meridionalis, koenigi)

Berthelot's Pipit (Anthus berthelotii)

Ruddy Shellduck (Tadorna ferruginea)

Fuerteventura Chat (Saxicola dacotiae). I see that it's referred to as the Canary Islands Bush Chat now in the latest Dutch Birding list (Dutch = Canarische Rootborsttapuit).

Fuerteventura Chat taking a drink at Los Molinos Barranco.

Barbary Falcon (Falco pelegrinoides) can be another elusive bird of prey to get onto. We managed to see a pair at El Cortijo.

Linnnets and Trumpeter Finches feeding.

The Fuerteventuran form of Common Kestrel (Falco tinniculus, dacotiae)

A Great Bittern was an added bonus. This lovely adult bird had been at the small reservoir at Catalina Garcia, south of Tuineje.

Lesser Short-toed Larks (Calandrella rufescens polatzeki)

Intelligent birds like all the other crows, here a Raven turns over stones looking for food.

The race of Egyptian Vulture (Neophron percnopterus, majorensis) has a deeper ochre coloured hue and looks slightly more muscular around the neck and the top of the back than Spanish birds.

There are estimated to be only around 150 of these birds left on Fuertervantura with just one pair on nearby Lanzarote. It's estimated that there has been a population decline of 30% of these birds in the last twenty years (Source: Proyecto Life - Coservación del Guirre en ZEPA de Fuerteventura). You can download a poster about the aims of the project here of course most of the work is informing the public, asking the electricity suppliers to insulate and mark spanned cables and motivate and stimulate enough people to reduce hunting and poisoning.
Sadly, it looks like the funding for this project and for many other good causes has dried up after the initial four year grant.

This lovely sub-adult is showing off the ochre tinge on the inner wing and body. Come and see them now while there are some still around!

A few more Houbara Bustard (Chlamydotis undulata) photos. Birds colliding with unmarked power lines that span the countryside are thought to be one of the main factors in causing the deaths of these birds. Number estimates vary with continued reference to older statistics from a general population study which included the Canary Islands in the 1990's. More recent studies suggest higher numbers of the birds on the Canaries. More on-line facts at Birdlife, here.

Black-bellied Sandgrouse (Pterocles orientalis)

The good thing with the Black-bellied and most other sandgrouse is that you can always hear them calling in flight from a long way off!

The Barbary Ground Squirrel is quite a star at lots of island locations and will come and take food - athough this isn't to be encouraged!

The North African form of Blue Tit (Parus caeulus degener) has a deep blue, almost black cap and small white wing bar.

Island rainbow

Common Raven (Corvus corax) in flight. One of the commoner bids, seen in flight every day. Lovely birds, intelligent, with a life span of 10-15 years in the wild, weighing around 1.2 kg and like us a successful omnivore but continually persecuted by Man.

Trumpeter Finch (Becanetes githagineus, amantum). The 'squeaky toy' bird call is so amusing. Here's a really good film with some slow motion film from the BBC Natural History Unit. You can hear their contact calls where they are filmed drinking at a pool together.

Hoopoe (Upupa epops) fairly common and widespread.

Cream-coloured Courser (Cursorius cursor, bannermani). Really stunning, close-up views provided a very special morning for us on the tour.

Cream-coloured Courser (Cursorius cursor, bannermani)

This is Houbara Bustard, Short-toed Lark, Berthelot's Pipit and Trumpeter Finch habitat where Barbary Falcons hunt the smaller birds.

Looks like a rain shower coming in from the north. We did have mainly good weather with only two days where we had some light rain. The temperature was a bit lower than normal, around 18oC on a few days.

Time for lunch...

Typical 'tapas' lunch on Fuerteventura. Olives, freshly grilled sardines, chickpea stew, Spanish Omlette, and those lovely island small pototatoes 'papas arrugadas con mojo', 'mojo' is a red garlic spicy sauce!

Fuerteventura can be divided into two different areas with la Maxorata, forming the largest area where most of the island's inhabitants live. The Península de Jandía, which is an arid, sandy area, is the second largest municipal area. Fuerteventura used to live from agriculture and cattle raising and there is no great fishing industry. The agricultural area is located inland in Betancuria. The island's ports (Puerto del Rosario, Tarajal, Corralejo and Morro Jable) are usually very busy.
However, tourism is now the biggest earner for the island given that it has 152 beaches where tourists can go diving, do watersports or just relax. Fortunately most of the good birwatching spots are off the beaten track and early mornings can be quite productive.
Fuerteventura has some excellent hotels with great facilities.

Ruddy Shelduck showing those lovely colours that seem to blend in wonderfully with the landscape.

Black-bellied Sandgrouse better seen like this, free and alive, better than in this YouTube clip from Kuwait where attitudes are different regarding a whole range of varying subjects.

A small flock comes calling, dashing across the track in front of our group.

The very smart 'Berties' or Berthelot's Pipit

Sardinian Warbler (Sylvia melanocephala), shows quite a lot of yellow on the lower mandible, very similar to our own garden birds further north in Andalucia.

Close up of the Cream-coloured Courser

Spectacled Warblers (Sylvia conspiculata) were fairly common, seen most days.

...as were the Great Grey Shrikes

Fuerteventura is located between Lanzarote and Gran Canaria within the Canaries Islands. The island covers an area of 1658 km2 and is the oldest of all the volcanic islands that make up the the Canary Islands group. It also has the smallest population with approximately 70,000 inhabitants. Puerto del Rosario, the capital has the largest population with 24,175 inhabitants with Betancuria having a population of just 708.
The island’s climate is quite arid with very little vegetation and it is frequently windy with warm southerlywinds.
The average annual temperature is around 20oc.

A digi-scoped view of a herd of camels in the south.

Species List

Birds
Northern Gannet Morus bassanus (One seen from the plane on leaving the island!)
Ruddy Shelduck Tadorna ferruginea
Eurasian Teal Anas crecca
Blue-winged Teal Anas discors
Eurasian Widgeon Anas penelope
Grey Heron Ardea cinerea
Eurasian Bittern Botaurus stellaris
Great Egret Casmerodius albus
Little Egret Egretta garzetta
Eurasian Spoonbill Platalea leucorodia (Alastair & Christine)
Egyptian Vulture Neophron percnopterus
Common Buzzard Buteo buteo insularum
Common Kestrel Falco tinnunculus dacotiae
Barbary Falcon Falco (peregrinus) pelegrinoides
Houbara Bustard Chlamydotis undulata fuertaventurae
Cream-coloured Courser Cursorius cursor bannermanni
Black-winged Stilt Himantopus himantopus
Little Stint Calidris minuta
Ruff Philomachus pugnax
Common Snipe Gallinago gallinago
Little Ringed Plover Charadrius dubius curonicus
Greater Ringed Plover Charadrius hiaticula
Kentish Plover Charadrius alexandrinus
Grey Plover Pluvialis squatarola
Sanderling Calidris alba
Red Knot Calidris canutus
Whimbrel Numenius phaeopus
Common Redshank Tringa totanus totanus
Common Greenshank Tringa nebularia
Common Sandpiper Actitis hypoleucos
Ruddy Turnstone Arenaria interpres
Black-headed Gull Larus ridibundus
Lesser Black-backed Gull Larus fuscus graellsii & intermedius
Yellow-legged Gull Larus michahellis atlantis
Sandwich Tern Sterna sandvicensis
Black-bellied Sandgrouse Pterocles orientalis
Rock Dove Columba livia canariensis
Eurasian Collared Dove Streptopelia decaocto
Lesser Short-toed Lark Calandrella rufescens polatzeki
Berthelot's Pipit Anthus berthelotii
Common Blackbird Turdus merula
European Robin Erithacus rubella
Black Redstart Phoenicurus ochruros
Fuerteventura Chat Saxicola dacotiae
Blackcap Sylvia atricapilla
Spectacled Warbler Sylvia conspicillata orbitalis
Sardinian Warbler Sylvia melanocephala leucogastra
Common Chiffchaff Phylloscopus collybita
Canary Island Blue Tit Parus teneriffae degener
Southern Grey Shrike Lanius meridionalis koenigi
Common Raven Corvus corax canariensis
Spanish Sparrow Passer hispaniolensis
Common Linnet Carduelis cannabina harterti
Trumpeter Finch Rhodopechys githaginea

Mammals
Algerian Hedgehog Atelerix algirus
Barbary Ground Squirrel Atlantoxerus getulus
Brown Rat Rattus norvegicus
Rabbit Oryctolagus cuniculus

Amphibians & Reptiles
Gecko Tarentola angustimentalis
Haria/Atlantic Lizard Gallotia atlantica mahoratae

Butterflies
Greenish Black Tip Elphinstonia charlonia
Geranium Bronze Cacyreus marshalli
Monarch Danaus plexippus
Painted Lady Vanessa cardui

Dragonflies
Scarlet Darter Crocothemis erythraea
The Island Darter Sympetrum nigrifemur
Blue Emperor Anax imperator

Other
(Small) Green lacewing sp.Chrysopidae family

I'll be running another tour there in February if you'd like to join me. Click the link to have a look or download the pdf itinerary.

Busy Birding in November...

2011-11-19T20:40:00.011+01:00

Short-toed Eagles were very much in focus this week as I came back to Andalucia after visiting Scotland and 'giving away' my lovely eldest daughter Hannah to her new husband Johnat a great Scottish wedding at Aberlady

There were a couple of Short-toed Eagles seen close to Tarifa

Fishermen on the coast at Guadalmesi. The tracks and country roads are becoming a bit tricky to navigate after the rains

Marsh Harriers are very much the most abundant raptor in the La Jand area

Lesser Kestrels too are around in La Janda and in the white villages or 'pueblos blancos'

Looking down to Gibraltar with the Moroccan coastline behind 'The Rock'

Fan-tailed Warbler or Zitting Cisticola

The main collector canal at La Janda has lots of Purple Swamphens

Huge flocks of Calandra Larks gather to feed during winter

Black-winged Kites are very easy to see in La Janda and all along the inland countryside from Tahivilla to Jerez

We saw a few Booted Eagles and it's common for these birds and other raptors to winter in Cadiz province. This one is an intermediate form

Vejer de La Frontera

There are also a lot of Black Storks here and they will also stay with us during the winter

A Black-necked Grebe with those lovely bright red eyes!

Red-legged Partridge

The beach at Conil

November Passerines

2011-11-07T10:10:00.017+01:00

As autumn changes to winter and temperatures cool down, especially during the night, birds flock to rich feeding areas in the south of Europe. Millions of passerines that migrate or disperse from their breeding areas fill the maquis, woodlands and agricultural areas on The Strait of Gibraltar. Keeping alive by sourcing food in warmer areas is the soul motivation during this time.

The European Goldfinch is such a stunning little finch that it's no wonder that visiting birders from other parts of the world are so amazed by it's vibrant colours!

A 'Charm of Goldfinches'…Such a sight is always great to see. Here, Goldfinches feed on rice seeds after the harvest at La Janda

Our resident birds like this charming little Zitting Cisticola and the Goldfinches live their lives so quickly, moving around searching for food, hardly pausing in any one place for long. Observing these little passerines can be at times pretty frustrating and like a lot of birdwatching, you have to have patience

The Zitting Cisticola, formerly named Fan-tailed Warbler, is an inquisitive bird and likes to get up on a dried stalk and have a look at what's passing by their own patch

A captured moment as the tiny 'zitter' takes-off. Not only can they fan out their tails but the wing opens just like two Spanish hand-fans or 'abanicos'

Open grazing land that hold many species of passerines and can be seen out in the open, now that the main body of the raptor migrants have past south

Meadow Pipits, Chaffinches, Black Redstarts, Northern Wheatears, European Robins, Bluethroats, White Wagtails, Crested Larks, Thekla Larks, Greater Short-toed Larks and Skylarks, Eurasian Starlings and Spotless Starlings, Wood Pigeons in the hundreds of thousands and hordes of mixed flocks of House and Spanish Sparrows are all feeding and building up their fat reserves for onward travel or just to keep warm

A Penduline Tit. One of the part-migrants that we have along the reed beds and tamarisks in La Janda and other similar areas where they feed on insects

A view of La Janda's huge agricultural plain

Reed Buntings are found in greater numbers wintering with us

Meadow Pipits seem to be everywhere

Cetti's Warblers are resident birds and to be honest, they have such short wings they probably couldn't move any great distance at all! Heard much more than seen, Cetti's skulk about in the undergrowth feeding and letting our their explosive call when anyone approaches, as well as blasting it on a regular basis during the build up to their breeding season

Despite the cooler temperatures many insects are around and of course many migrate or move to warmer more sheltered areas as well

This is a European Wasp, sometimes called German Wasp or Yellowjacket (Vespula germanica).

Large Paper Wasps (Polistes gallicus), like this evil thing above, are the ones to avoid. Their sting is particularly painful and causes a large swelling around the sting site. I'm speaking from experience and even though I have been stung by them each year for the last ten years, the reaction I get is just as painful and the swelling is just as inflamed, hot and itchy for days. Gardening is usually the cause of an attack by these wasps.

Large Paper Wasps hate gardeners. They build their nests (above) on the underside of leaves or against the stems of bushes and quite often hoping to catch up with the gardener. You don't know they are there as you cut back some plants and incite them to set upon you. You can try and and run off but they will strafe you from all sides without mercy. They are bastards and we hate each other.
On a happier note and fortunately for me, Polistine nests are considerably smaller than many other social wasp nests, typically housing only around 250 wasps, compared to several thousand wasps in the the European Wasp's nest. The European Wasp is also referred to as the German Wasp or the Yellowjacket (Vespula germanica).

A few of the social wasps are omnivorous, feeding on a variety of fallen fruit, nectar, and carrion. You'll often see them feeding off dead flies or other insects on the front of your car.

A female Sardinian Warbler, another of our lovely residents, is another bird you hear 'scolding' with it's rapid 'che-che-che-che-che' call around our garden. Males often attack their own image in our car mirrors!

The European Robin, quintessentially and traditionally the Christmas card image in the north of Europe

Serins are flocking together for winter

Willow Warblers and Chiffchaffs are feeding all over the county

Here are a few images of a much sought after bird by birdwatchers, the Bluethroat.

It's another 'skulker' but will react to you 'pishing' and will come in very close..often a bit too close to focus!

That's better a more acceptable pose

Oh no, another skulker...

Pallids Performing Perfectly...

2011-11-01T18:06:00.017+01:00

The Pallid Harrier (Circus macrourus) up until now has been regarded as quite an exotic bird on the Iberian peninsular. Any sightings are fairly localised and take place during the migration seasons of spring and autumn. The increased number of sightings continues as this species expands it's breeding range into central Europe and Scandinavia. Pallids successfully bred in Finland this year.

There were two Pallids at La Janda the other day, one sat quite happilly preening as my friend Andy Paterson and I watched from the main track. The other Pallid was hidden from view by taller folliage on the edge of the rice-field. It wasn't until both birds took off that we realised that there were in fact two Pallids.
The head pattern is diagnostic showing this light ring or collar around the neck. We saw the yellow iris colour which told us that this one was a juvenile male. I didn't get close views or photos to tell the sex of the other bird.

The first thing that an observer may see is the general colour of the bird. It's a rich ochre over most of the body and the feathers on the trailing edge of the wing seem very even, typical of fresh birds. You may know this information from field guides and it is typical of juvenile birds, particularly with newly fledged harriers.
The head pattern is diagnostic showing this white ring or collar around the neck although head pattern can be quite variable.

You can also see the boldly barred primaries with pale bases on the underwing, another feature with Pallids identification.

One bird began to fly and hunt and the other flew off left and I did manage to some flight shots. During this short period we managed to see some of the other identification detail.
Males are smaller than females and move around in flight with a light dancing bounce, rather like a Montagu's Harrier. The females are heavier and more robust and just don't have that light agile performance and are more businesslike as with Hen Harriers.
The adult male Pallid we saw a few weeks ago had this flight pattern and now that more Hen Harriers are coming through the area, there have been some false alarms with adult male Hen Harriers that were thought to have been the lone adult male Pallid or even a second adult male Pallid turning up in our area.

Even at a distance you'd have to check out the wing tips or hand on both upper and under, then it would be clear even from afar. They are pointed black in Pallid on a thinner wing whereas adutl male Hen Harrier has broader wing, heavier in flight and the black hand is larger and almost squared off. Both are distinct and pretty straightforward unlike juveniles.

Now that I have seen more Pallid flight, there is a difference even at a distance. Females and especially juveniles at a distance can be extremely difficult, even to experienced birders. Just to complicate things there is the suggestion that hybridisation takes place between Hen Harrier and Pallid Harrier and that the offspring can show features of both species.

Dick Forsman posted a forum link about this very phenomenon here
and you can see one very interesting photo here

You might pick up some details from these rather distant shots that I managed to take.
See the black wingtip area and size of the 'hand' on the juvenile Pallid which is more open and less black on that of juvenile Montagu's (Circus pygargus)

You can see how loose the primaries are in this photo

Like the Montagu's the Pallid has four fingers with the Hen Harrier having five.

Juveniles have an unstreaked body and you can perhaps make out the irregular underwing barring to the primaries which is typical with Pallids (See the other photos of the underwing in of this hunting sequence above)

Some wing moult is already underway and normally there will be a first winter body moult too. Pallids moult quicker than Montagu's as well

The morning sun lights up this hunting Pallid giving a slightly lighter look in the underwing.

A view not often seen and you can see the obvious light collar

Narrower wing structure easpecially at the hand than with Hen Harrier. The collar shows up in stark contrast with juvenile plumage

It looks like the other bird has moulted the central tail feathers. You can see the pale edges to the primaries in this photo.

La Janda Food Frenzy For All...

2011-10-29T20:53:00.015+02:00

La Janda was once one of the richest feeding grounds for migratory and resident birds alike up until the end of the 1950's. Sadly this perfect stopover on one of the busiest bird migration routes from Europe to Africa was drained and the rich land turned to agriculture. True to say that poverty and famine as well as malarial outbreaks plagued the resident population around such a vast inland freshwater lake, but after the lake was 'sterlised' with DDT, the rest regrettably is history.

Hen Harrier pass through on migration. This lovely sub-adult male bird was seen this week

From the large Griffon Vulture colony at Aciscar, this young bird passes very close to the camera as it descends to a carcass feed near Sierra de Retin

Early flowering narcissus - Narcissus serotinus

Always a great sight to see, flocks of White Storks in every corner around the cut rice-fields

We saw a few Purple Herons this week and a Great Bittern was also seen

White Wagtails have been arriving in their hundreds this week

Black-winged Kite one of perhaps twenty birds in and around the La Janda area

A closer view of this beautiful raptor

Stone Curlews. Up to forty-five birds were seen this week at La Mediana

Always present and always tricky to photograph, the Common Kingfisher makes a dash along one of the many canals between the rice-fields

A few Spanish Imperial Eagles have been seen almost daily this week

This one has a radio transmitter and is part of the local Junta de Andalucia's monitoring programme in Cadiz province

Increased arrivals of Common Cranes from the Baltic and N Germany and Denmark have been seen this week. I counted approximately 180 cranes and there could be more in places I couldn't access due to the condition of the muddy tracks after the rain. The Cranes normally stay with us until the beginning of March. Many more pass through and head to N Africa. The largest wintering group on the Iberian peninsular is in Extremadura where up to 80,000 Common Cranes winter!

Great Egrets, looking large and splendid whether it's a contrast of white against the green rice-fields or a cloudless blue sky. They have spread in steady numbers westwards across central and southern Europe in recent years. Quite a remarkable expansion, but like Grey Herons they can decimate populations of ground nesting birds around wetland areas

More scenes from La Janda

Red Kites passing, hunting and watching all the massed bird activity

A juvenile Bonelli's Eagle from this weeks raptor photos

Top side of the Bonelli's Eagle. See how perfectly formed the trailing edge of the wings appear. In the coming months these lighter, softer first feathers will be replaced or moulted by stronger ones. Just like any youngster, good diet is essential for bone and feather development and during the the first years, larger birds of prey are quite vulnerable to all kinds of hazards including lack of essential nourishment. The arrival of thousands of duck from the north will help sustain them and other large eagles during the coming months

This photo shows the Bonelli's youngster at full stretch, ready to push down hard and launch foward into the wind to gain lift

The second and third flaps are equally vigorous to gain speed and height

A young Marsh Harrier surveys the landscape below. There are hundreds of Marsh Harriers, mainly juveniles here and lots will stay over winter

Andalucia Bird Society Outing - Guadalquivir

2011-10-23T06:23:00.019+02:00

Andalucia Bird Society Field Visit to the Guadalquivir
Saturday 22 October 2011

By Bob Wright - Membership Secretary

Up before daybreak and in time to see the Yellow-legged and Lesser Black-backed Gulls feeding on the shore as I breakfasted but it was not long before Micky Smith and I were on our way to Jerez to meet up with the other members of the Society for a day's birding along those marvelous sites adjacent to the eastern bank of the Guadalquivir. The journey produced a pair of Carrion Crows and a Buzzard plus a few Cattle Egrets before we twenty members, including three officers of the Society, set off in four vehicles under the impressive guidance of fellow member Stephen Daly from Andalucian Guides.

The previous night, local television had predicted thunderstorms, lightening, rain and all sorts of tempests. In the event, whilst we saw distant cloud and rain, the little cloud quickly cleared, there was no wind and the day grew warmer and warmer as each hour passed. What a cracking way to spend a day birding at terrific sites and in good company.

Travelling via Trebujena to the river we had many Northern Wheatears and Spotless Starlings plus a small party of Red-legged Partridges, Common Buzzard and Willow Warblers. The first pool produced the expected Little Grebes and Little Egrets and even a departing Snipe. Then, in the clear waters adjacent to the road, our first stop and the chance to see a wide range of water birds and waders; we even had a Red Kite pass over to see what was happening below. Lots of Mallards and Shovelers and, of course, very many Flamingos.

The great majority of the last were juveniles in their dull brown and white feathering but we were to see hundreds of handsome adults a little later on when we reached the salt pans. There were scores of Avocets and Black-winged Stilts plus Coots and Moorhens. More searching produced a sleeping Pintail, a pair of Black-tailed Godwits and a couple of Teal. Meanwhile, behind us in the fields, there was a very large flock of Calandra Larks and regular sightings of Stonechat.

Then it was on to the track that took us down past the salt pans and all the way through to Bonanza. Before long we were recording a variety of waders including Redshank and Common Sandpiper with Marsh Harriers all around and numerous small flocks of both Short-toed and Lesser Short-toed Larks. A Green Sandpiper flashed by and then, as well as both Little Egrets and Grey Herons, a solitary Great White Egret made its way over the fields. A small number of Spoonbills were disturbed up ahead and then we found our first of many Ospreys of the day. Rather lovely to see the bird perched on top of a dead tree and, later, flying, fishing and eating. No sooner had we tuned in than we had both a resting Kestrel followed by a rather leisurely departing Peregrine Falcon. Wow! The next raptor was a Booted Eagle, more of a "mid-range" rather than either light or dark morph.

Nearing the end of the grass and sand mix, as we approached the working salt pans, the first Black Storks. Not many but after lunch we were to see a flock approaching 90 in number plus a very large flock of Spoonbills. Also in the area was a small flock of feeding Lapwings whilst, over the river, we had first a Caspian Tern quickly followed by a Slender-billed Gull, Whiskered Tern and a Sandwich Tern.
The last stop before a well-deserved lunch in La Algaida was at a couple of near-empty salt pans which were heaving with small waders. Dunlin, Little Stint, Ringed and Kentish Plovers plus a couple of Grey Plovers for good measure soon had us drooling through our bins. The fact that we also had Black-headed Gulls, Greenshank and lots of Black-tailed Godwits seemed almost incidental!

Lunch at La Algaida was also impressive – and tremendous value for money. I am not sure when I last saw so many servings of fresh fish and chips! However, the lunch stop did produce one proverbial fly-in-the-ointment that needs to be addressed at future meetings. On sorting out the transport to keep car numbers to a minimum, we need to make sure that the birding expertise is also equally shared out. On this occasion, it would appear that some members were left without sufficient experience in their particular car given the expertise available on the day. My apologies to those members and it is certainly some thing that we need to be aware of on future visits.

Following lunch, we moved on to the back of the Laguna de Tarelo rather than view the water from the hide accessed through the woods.

This certainly gave a much better impression of the whole pool (I always thought, based on viewing from the hide, that it was a relatively small sheet of water) and revealed just how much was to be seen. Not only Mallards, Teals and Wigeon but, to cap the lot, at least ten Marbled Ducks.

All three Grebes (Little, Black-necked and Great Crested) were present along with the Moorhens and Coots and in the reed at the back a couple of individual Night Herons. Barn Swallows fed over the water and a Kingfisher flashed by on two occasions. There were both Yellow and White Wagtails plus Chiffchaffs and Willow Warblers in the trees at the side of the water. Some were fortunate enough to see the Spanish Sparrows in the tree on the island whilst others had a good view of a small number of Common Waxbills. Back to the water and we were able to locate a Shoveler plus a few Gadwall and, as hoped for, a number of White-headed Ducks!

A Penduline Tit was heard by a few and seen by one member; the rest of us content with more Goldfinches and Lapwings. But all the time, the ever-present Ospreys and Marsh Harriers circling around. One little extra; just to make a change from the birds we all had a very close-up with a rather large Mediterranean Chameleon(Chamaelon chamaeleon) which Steve had found in a nearby bush. Lots of photographs taken so there may even be full body shots out there waiting to be published...

Our final stop took us back to the pools where we had seen all the waders just before lunch. Whilst many of the birds had moved on, we soon found more at a neighbouring pan. Much the same as before until we found a Redshank, Greenshank and Whimbrel together; great for comparing sizes, etc. At this point, a male Hen Harrier, having completed his slow flight along the top of the fence bordering the road, decided it was time to cross the track. Never mind close, if Stephen Fletcher had left his back doors open the bird could have easily flown straight through! For most of us, it was as if the bird was too close to even get into the camera's view finder. But for me, watching a Sardinian Warbler feeding on the bank is one thing but when the bird is suddenly replace by a Dartford Warbler then things can only get better. We even managed to find the missing Little Ringed Plover in a mixed plover flock and a group of a dozen Bar-tailed Godwits feeding in front of us.

But, eventually, for most of us, all good things must come to an end and it was time to work our way back to Jerez, collect our respective cars and start the long journey home. But, all was not finished. No sooner had Micky and I got on to the new motorway south towards Los Barrios than we had another Carrion Crow and then, about half way, a quartet of Griffon Vultures passing overhead followed by a Jay near the reservoir at Medina. Finally, approaching Los Barrios, most of the stork nests seemed to have a pair of White Storks in residence.

Excellent birding with a final tally of 88 species seen during the day by the combined group.

Birds seen:

Greylag Goose, Gadwall, Wigeon, Mallard, Shoveler, Pintail, Teal, Marbled Duck, White-headed Duck, Red-legged Partridge, Little Grebe, Great Crested Grebe, Black-necked Grebe, Black Stork, White Stork, Spoonbill, Night Heron, Cattle Egret, Grey Heron, Great White Egret, Little Egret, Cormorant, Osprey, Red Kite, Griffon Vulture, Marsh Harrier, Hen Harrier, Buzzard, Booted Eagle, Kestrel, Peregrine, Moorhen, Coot, Back-winged Stilt, Avocet, Lapwing, Grey Plover, Ringed Plover, Little Ringed Plover, Kentish Plover, Snipe, Black-tailed Godwit, Bar-tailed Godwit, Whimbrel, Redshank, Greenshank, green sandpiper, Common sandpiper, Knot, Sanderling, Little Stint, Curlew Sandpiper, Dunlin, Slender-billed Gull, Back-headed Gull, Yellow-legged Gull, Lesser Black-backed Gull, Caspian Tern, Sandwich Tern, Whiskered Tern, Rock Dove, Collared Dove, Kingfisher, Jay, Jackdaw, Crow, Penduline Tit, Calandra Lark, Short-toed Lark, Lesser Short-toed Lark, Crested Lark, Barn Swallow, Cetti's Warbler, Willow Warbler, Chiffchaff, Dartford Warbler, Sardinian Warbler, Spotless Starling, Stonechat, Northern Wheatear, House Sparrow, Spanish Sparrow, Common Waxbill, Blue-headed Wagtail, White Wagtail, Goldfinch and Corn Bunting.

Pallid Harrier - Circus macrourus

2011-10-22T07:52:00.006+02:00

Pallid Harrier (circus macrourus), adult male at La Janda today...

The reason for such frequent and increasing sightings could be attributed to changes in agricultural use in the former eastern block countries, particularly those countries formerly controlled within the old Soviet empire.

The steady progression of new and available breeding areas for Pallid Harriers to the West is a direct result of such agricultural change.

Open steppe land has increased dramatically on what was formerly semi-usable farmland in areas along the great rolling plains of Kasakstan, Ukaraine, Poland Slovakia and Hungary. We can expect to see a progressive shift of breeding area and subsequent migratory birds taking routes southwards through Germany, France, Portugal and Spain via The Strait of Gibraltar to their wintering grounds in Africa.

In short, we will probably see more birds coming through this area in Spain, later than Monty's and perhaps like last year's Pallids may spend some time in Andalucia. I suppose the weather will have lot to do with such. Rain is on the way...

The Pallid, like the Montagu's Harrier has a very light and agile flapping flight, a bit like a long-tailed paper aeroplane when it glides. It's not as 'bouncy' as the Monty's and seems slightly more muscular.

Their size is: Length 40–50 cm (15.5–19.5 in), wingspan 97–118 cm (38–46 in), weight 315–445 g (12.5–18). The female larger than male as in most birds of prey

Pallid Harriers have very long and narrow wings and tails. Their fifth primary feather is shortened. They look light and lanky and although their flight is light it is heavier than a Montagu’s Harrier’s. Mature males resemble male Hen Harriers in colouring at a distance, except that the black markings near their wingtips are narrower and wedge-shaped (only black on primaries 2–6), and less glossy on their upper wings. Males also have light bellies with young males showing a grey shadow on the head with a light collar. This fades the older the adult male becomes.

Although I'm showing an adult male on this page, there is a blog entry covering another juvenile Pallid in Cadiz province last winter here, that shows a juvenile bird.

Mature Pallid Harrier females also resemble Hen or Montagu’s Harriers. They are best separated in the field from female Hen Harriers by their general structure, and from female Montagu’s by their almost uniformly dark brown primary coverts and the denser dark streaking across their underwings. The lighter colouring beneath the markings on their wing coverts also darkens gradually towards their body.

Juvenile Pallid Harriers are darker than mature females, and their underparts are an almost unmarked reddish brown (compared to brown and streaked in juv. Hen Harrier). They are best distinguished from similar young Montagu’s by their pale yellowish unstreaked neckbands. The sides of their necks are a uniform dark brown, contrasting clearly with the lighter markings around their eyes, although this is often not as pronounced as in juvenile Montagu's Harrier.

Descriptive ID tips of how to separate and identify birds in the field are often very difficult to put into words. It's all very personal and some of us can pick up on differences and comparison of similar species in structure, colouration, and all the other aspects of flight and bird behaviour. Quite honestly there is no substitute for seeing the same bird time after time and having the opportunity to relax, breathe and take in all aspects of the bird and try and store the image. If you do have time to watch a species for longer periods, you can then pick up on say, with a Pallid, the collar around the neck; the slightly more broader secondaries on the wing width, the more muscular wing-beats. Having watched endless numbers of juvenile Montagu's Harriers in flight over the years, that when a Pallid comes along even miles off, you just know that it isn't a Monty's...

Oh yes, there was something else of rarity value on this post that Brian Cox photographed when we were down amongst the scrub juniper and other bushes around Cape Trafalgar. I was walking ahead looking for migrant warblers when Brian and Anne heard a 'cheee-cheee' sound. Looking around they found this lovely bird perched in a bush. To me it looked like one of the many yellow and black weaver/bishop species that have colonised parts of Portugal and Spain. Sorry that there aren't any more photos. It could be a Southern Masked Weaver (Ploceus velatus) which are common in the Brazo del Este area, south of Seville.

Different Habitats, other birds...

2011-10-16T08:09:00.023+02:00

Hoopoe cottage, our small guest house has been occupied most of the year. True to say we attract many birders and lovers of nature from all over the globe, but of course friends and family like to visit as well, especially if there hasn't been too much of a summer to rave about in northern Europe. Our year's weather has been pretty good although rains do come in winter and wind can come at any time during warmer periods, but all in all we have a wonderful climate with fresh air coming off the Atlantic Ocean and lots and lots of warm sun!

Pied Avocets at Bonanza

A few years ago I met Brian and Anne who were with a group that came on a week's tour to Extremadura and the Coto Doñana in spring. This autumn they booked a week with us at Hoopoe cottage and I have been showing them some great birds and other wildlife during the continuing migration on The Strait of Gibraltar.

Greater Flamingoes on the Guadalquivir basin

We visited most of the 50 km coastline of SW Cadiz province from Cape Trafalgar to Gibraltar and saw much of the visible migration of Short-toed and Booted Eagles crossing or attempting to cross the narrow stretch of water to Africa. Huge numbers of Griffon Vultures and a couple or rarer Rüppell's Vultures were seen and we even came across a large party of 'Griffs' feeding at a carcass of a goat near Pelayo. Bonelli's Eagles both adult and the rusty tinged juveniles were watched at a few locations, Black-winged Kites too impressed us just as the dashing Sparrowhawks that are in plentiful supply.

Griffon Vultures at a carcass

Already there are around thirty-five Common Cranes at La Janda. They winter here and we can have up to two thousand from November to March

Griffon Vulture high above the land

The rice-fields of La Janda showed us the hunting techniques of Marsh Harriers as thousands of White Storks, Grey Herons, Great, Little and Cattle Egrets as well as black clouds of Glossy Ibis followed the rice harvest. Stonechats, Zitting-Cisticolas, Corn Buntings, Spanish Sparrows, Reed Buntings, Kingfishers, Green Sandpipers, Ruff, Common Snipe, Northern Lapwings, Yellow Wagtails and White Wagtails. Lesser and Common Kestrels caught crickets and grasshoppers while Common Buzzards flew around in search of a meal or sat on top of an electric pylon.

Black-tailed Godwits

A day to the huge river area called the Guadalquivir basin gave us a huge insight into the diversity of both habitat as well as the bird and insect species. Our drive cross-county started after a quick coffee stop at Trebujena, one of the inland agricultural towns specializing in growing the Palimino grape that is used for sherry production.
This huge grey-clay area from Jerez to Sanlucar de Barrameda specializes in sherry production and the undulating hillsides are covered in vines. Most of the larger Bodegas are in the bigger towns but there are still private ones out in the countryside as well as many co-operatives in towns like Trebujena, where you can bring your own bottle and buy the local sherry at a very reasonable price.

Ruff

We descended over the back of the town of Trebujena where the mighty Guadalquivir River meets the Atlantic Ocean at Sanlucar de Barrameda. Set out like a historical map before us we could see the towns of Algaida and Bonanza down river and Sanlucar on the river mouth. Columbus set off from Bonanza on one of his voyages of discovery and today the river is still navigable by ship to Seville, some 80 kms up river. On the west bank lies the Coto Doñana with it's many Parque Naturales including one large section on the east (Cadiz) side and other protected areas on both sides, but the National Park or Parque National is over on the Huelva side.

Black Storks, Great Egrets, Eurasian Spoonbills and Grey Herons feeding

Chiffchaffs and Willow Warblers were the first smaller passerines we saw, flitting through the now dried stems of fennel, searching for and feeding on aphids and other insects as the pressed south. Little and Black-necked Grebes were next, seen on the fish ponds as were some Greylag Geese, Black-winged Stilts, Redshanks and Common Sandpipers. A few Yellow-legged and Lesser Black-backed Gulls sat on posts at the river. Black-headed Gulls fed nearby on the water allowing themselves to be taken downstream by the current only to fly back to where they started. Some late migrant Whiskered Terns passed us by and the commoner Crested Larks were overshadowed by small flocks of Lesser Short-toed Larks that flew past and landed to drink. We had some great views of Greenshanks with many young birds allowing us to take some good photos. Such a lovely bird! Calandra Larks flew in the distance detected by their liquid burbling song. Great Egrets, Eurasian Spoonbills, Greater Flamingoes (too many to count) filled the many lagoons as thousands of waders that included Little Stints, Dunlins, Curlew Sandpipers, Marsh Sandpipers, Green Sandpipers, Common Snipe, masses of Black-tailed Godwits and Pied Avocets, Ringed and Kentish Plovers all searched for food.

Parched earth. The rains are long overdue as cattle get thinner as all animals search for food

A few Red Kites and distant Ospreys were watched but one of the highlights was a group of twenty-four Black Storks feeding out on the tidal mudfalts close to the river's edge.

Brian spotted a Mediterranean Chameleon climbing along a fence shortly after we had lunch and with White-headed Ducks and Marbled Teals as well as Black-crowned Night Herons seen we felt quite satisfied with our day by the big river.

Rice harvest sees thousands of White Storks and Glossy Ibis at La Janda

Cirl Bunting

Misty morning on The Strait of Gibraltar, looking to Morocco

Juvenile Black Stork on migration

Monarch caterpillar on it's foodplant, Milkweed

Scarlet Darter, male

Skimmer sp. I thought it might be an Epaulet Skimmer? (Orthetrum chrysostigma) but feel free to let me know. It had captured a butterfly

Scarlet Darter, female

Black-winged Kite, juvenile bird

Booted Eagles are still very much active and migrating

It's a long drive from Barbate to the the limestone peaks to Grazelema then on to Montejaque. But Bonelli's Eagles en route near Grazalema and a group of seven Spanish Ibex (Capra pyrenaica) were well worth the time and effort. We also had a flight of three Ring Ouzels heading in a southerly direction and during October and November many of these lovely birds spend time eating berries in valley from Montejaque to Llanos de Libar. It's also a place where you can easily watch Black Wheatear, Rock Bunting and a bit later in the season the Alpine Accentors arrive.

There are three races of Ring Ouzel, varying in the extent of white fringes to the (black/dark brown) body feathers. Britain and Fennoscandia have the nominate race torquatus which has the least white. The race alpestris of continental Europe have more extensive white fringes on the body and flight feathers that look like fish scales, whilst race amicorum of southern Turkey, Turkmenia and northern Iran, has a thicker white crescent and even more extensive white fringes to the feathers than the latter.
Incidentally, an old Scots name for the bird is Aiten Chackart chat of the juniper, aitionn, Gaelic for juniper and chackart, 'chacking' bird.

A few more Booted Eagle shots - not all are the commoner light form, some are dark or intermediate.

Not forgetting one of my favourites, the fabulous Short-toed Eagle. That stare says it all...

We often see Ring Ouzel migrating north in early spring after feeding mainly on the berries of Dog Rose, Hawthorn and Junipers and insects during the winter months in the Atlas mountains of Morocco. When they head back north and they land on the Spanish side of The Strait they are often exhausted after this flapping flight. To refuel they needing to feed after using up all that valuable energy and as luck would have it there are many ground junipers bearing fruit, growing wild on this side germinated from seeds in 'poop' brought across unwittingly by previous generations of Ring Ouzels and other thrushes!

On any long periods of migration, feeding on insects would be a quicker source of protein than berries or other fruits, thus re-charging their energy quicker and more effectively to enable them to continue their demanding journey and you can often see them doing just this.

Lunch at Vista Medina, Medina Sidonia, Cadiz province.

There have been lots of late Montagu's Harriers, probably due to the warm weather. Most are juveniles like this lovely youngster

Fighting Bull's line up

Black Redstart at Montejaque

There has been a huge fall of migrating Black Redstarts with hundreds of birds around in the mountains at the weekend. As the nights get cooler, particularly at higher altitude these birds will start dispersing and we already have our wintering birds at our house. A few years ago I put up a roost pole under our outside staircase to encourage Black Redstarts to roost with us and they found the perch straight away.

Male Common Stonechat

Country ruin

Other birds in the sierras included lots of Griffon Vulture, Bonelli's Eagle, Sparrowhawk, Meadow Pipit, Water Pipit, Grey Wagtail. Goldfinches Common Blackbirds, Linnets, Northern Wheatears, Mistle Thrush, Common Stonechats, Blue Rock Thrush, Crag Martins, House Martins, Barn Swallow and Red-rumped Swallow. A few distant Booted and Short-toed Eagles were also present in the areas albeit at some distance.

Penduline Tit at Laguna de Medina

Crag Martin. Essentially a mountain bird although we do have them breeding close to sea-level. Each winter hundreds of these lovely birds roost on the bridge and on the surrounding buildings at Zahara de Los Atunes

Spanish Ibex (Capra pyrenaica)

An adult male leads away his females

Rock Bunting

The square at Grazalema (Cadiz province) last Saturday morning

Southern Grey Shrike in the mountains

Ring Ouzels at Montejaque. Lots of berries at this time of year

The track from Montejaque to Llanos de Libar

Black Wheatear

Looking down towards The Strait of Gibraltar from behind Grazalema

One day of westerlies, now back to Levante...

2011-10-08T17:01:00.016+02:00

It's not just the smaller passerines that seem incredibly elusive during the autumn raptor migration, but other mammals are just as wary of Man and of course the continual passage of large birds of prey in the area. This young (Iberian) Hare makes a dash for cover as we came around a corner at La Janda

With only one day of calmer winds a lot of the Short-toed and Booted Eagles managed to cross The Strait. I led a Swiss group for three days last week, organised through Peter Wipraechtiger who runs www.naturus.ch and we took time on two days to visit different locations to observe the raptor roosts and on our day with calmer winds, travelled along The Strait to watch some of the migrants visibly crossing to Africa

At the forest roosts, activity amongst Short-toed Eagles impressed us all with their agility, speed and sheer grace as hundreds of birds flew around us in the more sheltered valleys.
I keep on saying this to people and have written lots about the impressions that I have, after witnessing this annual spectacle for many years, but I am always completely and utterly blown away by the sheer numbers of Booted and Short-toed Eagle activity and never get tired of watching this spectacle myself and of course sharing the knowledge and experience I have gained over many years living and working on The Strait of Gibraltar...and (here we go again...), if you haven't witnessed this stunning spectacle at least once in your lifetime, then do consider a trip down this way in September-October and let a huge grin break out across your face as the acrobats dispaly right before your eyes!

Short-toed Eagles over the Alcornocales Parque Natural near Tarifa

Sparrowhawks have been very much in evidence all through the county.

Hunting Corn Buntings, this young Sparrowhawk flies in at speed, skimming the tops of the cut rice-fields at La Janda. The Sparrowhawk missed getting a kill this time, as the strong wind buffeted us and the bird!

The bird landed and a few seconds later then took off again in pursuit of more Corn Buntings

One of my day tours group organised by Niki Renshaw from Vejer. What a great day out we had discovering new places, new birds and just enjoying being out with nature. Thanks for being so appreciative and allowing me to tell some dreadful jokes! What lovely people...

Several Preying Mantis were seen this week. It's such an unusual looking insect

The Banded Groundling can be found in southern Europe and there are quite a few sites around The Strait where it breeds

Red-veined Darters are a common dragonfly species in Europe. Set against a dark background this lovely female looks quite a stunning insect

Big and beautiful, the Lesser Emperor is an extremely agile hunter, coping well in strong winds

Epaulet Skimmers can be found close to woodland with mountain streams in SW Spain

I use a Tamron SP AF 90mm f/2.8 Di Macro Lens with my other Canon body, the D50 when taking such shots. This is a really fast and affordable lens. I took this hand-held which isn't always ideal but managed to get in quite close, particularly on the mandible

A Black Stork takes on this its timeless' autumnal migration while across the sky a modern passenger jet leaves it's signal in the sky

My Swiss group last week walking through the Alcornocales forest.

One of the projects for the foresters in the Alcornocales Parque Natural was the eradication of the Ecalyptus trees (as you see in front of the group), but they do offer height over the shorter cork-oaks and wild olives which is a great attraction for larger raptors and I think that control, rather than eradication would be a better policy

....and down on the main canal at La Janda

Last year we had a few Purple Herons over-winter. This juvenile bird makes a low flight along the canals and ditches of La Janda where there's always food to be found

Sunrise on another day near Tarifa

Camouflaged juvenile Northern Wheatears blend in with the parched countryside when on their southerly migration through Andalucia

Always a lovely bird to watch, the incredible Wryneck stops off at La Janda to feed

Often during winter birds like Wryneck, Great Bittern, Long-eared Owl, Bluethroat and Reed Bunting can be seen at various birding locations

We had a few late migrant Montagu's Harriers this week which we always scrutinise in case we find that it's a first year Pallid Harrier instead.
Last year there were a few sightings of Pallid and I expect lots to be seen from now on through the winter all over western Europe. The expansion westwards in Europe, of this essentially eastern species has taken most ornithologists by surprise and looks like set to continue with new breeding pairs reported in Finland, Denmark and Germany

Raptor watching at Pelayo, looking to Gibraltar

Booted Eagle. I didn't want to forget this lovely raptor but the Short-toed Eagles really did steal the limelight over the last two weeks with their sheer numbers, close views and fantastic aerial displays

I have another week of tour leading starting tomorrow with a lovely couple who've been with me before on tour in Extremadura and the Coto Doñana. They'll be staying with us next door at Hoopoe Cottage and if I find some time, I'll report on what's been seen.

Largest Ever Black Stork Migration Recorded

2011-10-06T06:10:00.011+02:00

Busy as usual with different groups and had the pleasure of meeting some lovely people from Portugal with João Jara who runs Birds & Nature Tours from his base in Lisbon.

We had some wonderful experiences with the autumn migration spending part of the time in the Alcornocales forest, watching the Short-toed and Booted Eagles being blown about by the continuing Levante. We also spent time down the coast watching the Northern Bald Ibis and then drove across the province to the Guadalquivir basin and explored the delights of the wetlands, lagoons and salt-pans.

One of the most impressive sights I've seen for a long time was a massive flock of over 300 Black Storks that was making progress towards the coast near Tarifa. They literally filled the sky and swirled and spiralled across the cork-oak hillside, drifting and being buffeted by the strong easterlies. Eventually they turned and headed back along the ridge to Facinas and the La Janda rice-fields. I'm sure that everyone who saw this incredible sight of so many rare birds together in a massive flock were in awe of such an impressive natural sight.

As the birds didn't cross The Strait or pass any observers on the coast, their presence wasn't recorded on the Migres statistics for the 2nd of October. The wind was gale force for the whole day (week!) and most of the observers had left the watchpoints by early evening.

I took these shots of part of this flock as they moved about looking at the sea, feeling and seeing for themselves the strong forces of nature that were preventing their southerly migration to Africa.

A larger view of the huge Black Stork group

This was a juvenile we came across the other day

Unfortunately a young Booted Eage was struck by a car on the main N340 road near Cazalla as it tried to progress down The Strait. The wind caught the bird and pushed it into an oncoming vehicle whereby it suffered a broken neck. We had been passing at the time and I recovered the bird from the roadway. We later handed it over to Migres for study purposes.

This shot shows the 'boots' of the Booted Eagle. The feathers continue down to the feet hence the name booted

This lovely rufous coloured or intermediate race of Booted Eagle was a very young bird with perfectly formed and uniform feather growth. The bird was in good condition and had been feeding well.

An intermediate form of the Booted Eagle in flight

A few rarities are still in the area. Alas no further sign of the White-backed Vulture (Gyps africanus) but a few Rüppell's Vultures are around and there were three Lesser Spotted Eagles (Aquila pomarina) recorded on the 5th of October. Similarly on Playa de Los Lances, the Royal Tern seems to have moved on and I haven't heard any recent reports of any Lesser Crested Terns

Some Short-toed Eagle shots

We had a bit of a scare yesterday(5th) on the edge of the Alcornocales Parque Natural above the town of Facinas. A fire started around noon and was quickly fanned into a raging inferno by the strong winds. A fire control point was set up on the main N340 below Facinas directing fire-fighting helicopters that scooped water from the sea down at Bolonia to the blaze. As I came past Facinas later that night, I saw that the blaze was under control and a large section of the upper forest on the mountain had been lost to the blaze.

Unperturbled by the commotion on the ground, an adult Egyptian Vulture makes its way southwards

The Strawberry Tree Arbutus unedo (Ericaceae) attracts the Two Tailed Pasha butterfly

This rather weatherbeaten specimen was sheltering in a quiet valley yesterday afternoon as we watched the Eagles...

Southbound Raptor Build Up on The Strait

2011-09-30T19:00:00.007+02:00

Short-toed Eagles (and other migrants) have literally been stacking up, unable to cross The Strait of Gibraltar due to the force of the continuous easterly winds from the Mediterranean called the Levante or Levanter

Here are some of the photos taken during the last two days.
With the weather set to change there will be an exodus across The Strait of mainly Short-toed and Booted Eagles very soon.

It appears that this bird sustained shotgun damages to its right wing

Over the parched terrain

Perched birds, waiting, hunting and preeening those important flight feathers

The Delights of Trebujena, Algaida and Bonanza

2011-09-29T17:50:00.013+02:00

Some of the rarest birds can be found across on the western side of Cadiz province. These include White-headed Duck, Marbled Teal, Slender-billed Gull, Black Stork & Osprey (autumn to spring), as well as lots more great birds, especially as the migration continues

Marbled Teal

Northern Wheatear juv

Hoopoe

Short-toed Eagle. I put up this side view or profile shot of the great bird to show how you can ID it from a great distance. Unlike Common Buzzards, Booted Eagles and Black Kites the Short-toed has a very distinct angled pose when perched on top of an electricity pylon or other post. They do favour electricity pylons though! This 45o perch-angle, you could call it, is what you should be looking for on a day without too much wind. The legs show in the centre, right in the middle of the body length of this bird and not towards the rear or tail in other raptors. The stronger the wind the less likelyhood to find them like this and sometimes they perch in strong winds like Ospreys...

A young Osprey passes by at the Bonanza Salinas (salt-pans)

Sheltering from the wind a Lesser Emperor

Red Kite

Black-winged Kite

Booted Eagle, light form

Booted Eagle dark/intermediate form

Marsh Harrier male

another younger male Marsh

Honey Buzzard

Greater Flamingoes

juveniles

Ruff (top left) with Redshanks

Curlew Sandpiper juv

Black-winged Stilts

Black Storks and Eurasian Spoonbills

Pied Avocets

Caspian Terns, part of a flock of 22 birds!

Slender-billed Gull

There's one Black-headed Gull in shot (left) for comparison

Look behind the Pied Avocets and notice the rosy glow to the Slender-billed Gulls in their Spring breeding plumage, compared to the first shot taken yesterday

Slender-billed Gulls in breeding plumage in March

Little Grebe

Black-necked Grebes

Rüppell's Vultures, Royal Terns and other Rarities

2011-09-24T08:15:00.011+02:00

Some pics of one of the Royal Tern seen this week at Playa de Los Lances, Tarifa.
Lesser-Crested Tern was also reported in the area but like all terns at this time of the year could be anywhere on any of the coastlines here or across the water...

A 'ringed' Sandwich Tern sits behind

This is probably the best example of why the bird is called the Royal Tern. The feathered crown really is quite remarkable

A good view of the undertail coverts of a juvenile Rüppell's Vulture at Cazalla this week. This is a good diagnostic feature as are the white spots across the back with an almost uniform brown upperside, darker secondaries and tail.

It's been a really busy time for me since my last post, and I do apologise for the delay. I have been over on the Coto Doñana for three nights, as well as staying down near Tarifa with my Limosa group, accompanied by Richard Thaxton the RSPB's site manager at Loch Garten in Scotland. Richard joined me for the eight day tour and although we hadn't worked together before we got on really well and the time passed enjoyably and quickly, immersed in a pleathora of birds including twenty different raptor species. It was a great tour and we had a real feast of passing birds with some really close views of this (continuing) spectacular annual migration.
I have been out each day with other day tour groups since Richard and the Limosa group flew back to the UK and as usual have been enjoying every minute of the sight of so many birds in the skies over The Strait.

Rüppell's Vulture in flight above Algorrobo migration watchpoint

another Rüppell's Vulture at Cazalla

Same bird at Pelayo

A view of the rare Rüppell's Vulture head-on

A juvenile White-backed Vulture (Gyps africanus) was also seen near Pelayo/Algorrobo area this week and although I did have a look for the bird amongst the hundreds of Griffons, I didn't manage to catch up with it.

Goshawks are always lovely birds to watch on migration

...as are the fabulous Short-toed Eagles that have been filling the skies this week

Short-toed passing low through woodland heading for the coast

Booted Eagles have also been seen in very high numbers. This juvenile intermediate form has a rich ochre tinge and often looks quite dark in the bright sky

Europa Point on Gibraltar from Pelayo

Booted Eagle

Passing the coast at Tarifa

A lovely fresh looking juvenile Booted Eagle still with feathers in it's beak from a bird that it had taken

Quite a few Honey Buzzards have been seen this week although numbers are dropping each day

Not such an easy bird to find during migration, the nomadic Black-winged Kite. Still, we did find a pair of juvenile birds at La Janda

Algorrobo migration watchpoint taken from Pelayo

I didn't want to exclude some of the passerines that are also migrating through the area, so here are some photos of what we came across recently

Hoopoe

Penduline Tit

Whinchat

another Whinchat

About Eighty Black Storks roosted at La Janda this week

Spiralling on a large thermal at Bolonia

I know, I've posted lots of Montagu's Harrier photos on this blog but I can't resist the thrill of watching these very special raptors lightly and nimbly bounce, lift and turn as they hunt across the open fields and verges

Take-off

One or two melanistic Montagu's are still around but the main group of eight seem to have departed south. This will be a spectacular winter for Pallid Harriers as their breeding success and western expansion continues at speed and birds are already turning up in most European countries including the Iberian peninsula

A few more Melanistic shots

More news and photos soon...

Forest Butterflies and some birds...

2011-09-13T23:47:00.008+02:00

The stunningly beautiful Two-tailed Pasha is a small member of the family Nymphalidae, but it is a typical member of the genus Charaxes which is predominantly an African species. This is the only Charaxes in Europe.
The butterfly is brown and orange with blue, white and grey spots. Hind wings have two tails.

The distribution of the Two-tailed Pasha includes whole Africa except the Sahel and the Mediterranean areas. This large and colourful butterfly can occur up to 800m above sea level in Spain.

These were photos I took in the Alcornocales Parque Natural, here in Cadiz province. The Alcornocales is the largest natural Cork-oak forest in the world and is a working forest with many diverse insect species.

This flight shot shows up the upper-wing and body. The butterfly usually closes it's wings on landing.
I found this very informative site on the web from Paul Harcourt Davies which gives a wonderful detailed account and excellent photos of the butterflies metamorphosis

Monarch Butterfly (Danaus plexippus). The very bright Monarch's too are a real joy to watch.
A few theories are talked about as to how they spread. It's known that they originate from the Americas and it's thought that their strong flight allowed their crossing to the Canary Islands then expanded into Africa.

This one's a Plain Tiger (essentially an African species - Danaus chrysippus)

A Monarch feeding

Plain Tiger (Danaus chrysippus)
On the edge of the forest 's open spaces you can find many different plants where Monarchs and Tigers rest. It seems that they prefer types of Euphorbia's, particularly Milkweed for depositing their eggs. I haven't seen their caterpillars on any other plant here in Andalucia.
Some time ago I wrote a piece on this blog about the Monarch in our garden and it's metamorphosis. You can read about it here

As the Bonelli's Warblers leave the forests for their winter in Africa, the sedentary birds like these amazing Firecrests can be seen feeding through the Cork-oak canopy. Small, fast and extremely active, they are one of the trickiest birds to photograph.

These two shots of this very obliging male taken this week, show his vivid crest with that lovely bright red stripe and the yellow tinge that runs down the neck making an incomplete bright collar. The Goldcrest doesn't have this neck marking and of course the crest lacks the red stripe.

I have to sign off now and organise my kit for another eight day tour which starts with quite a large group arriving at Gibraltar airport this morning. At least I'm on home ground on part of the tour with a Limosa Holidays/Travelling Naturalist group, visiting the Coto Doñana and The Strait.
Happy birding,
Stephen

Migration, 2nd Week of September - 2011

2011-09-10T07:58:00.019+02:00

What I took to be a very fresh looking young Lanner Falcon (Falco biarmicus, erlangeri), turned out to be a juvenile bird of the northern race of Peregrine Falcons (Falco peregrinus). This beauty was seen hunting a Zitting Cisticola at La Janda late Friday evening (10th Sept). Peregrines, Lanners and Barbary Falcons are amazing birds and extremely agile large falcons. They often turn up in SW Spain, usually around autumn and winter

Identification of Peregrines can be quite a challenge and I'd be the first to admit that I have been thrown by confusing appearances of juvenile birds as well as birds of other races turning up in other parts of Europe, particularly here in Andalucia. One website focusing on Peregrine biology gives a fairly comprehensive breakdown of the races or groups of the Peregrine with fair descriptions of each can be found here: The Peregrine Foundation
I also found this image of a Peregrine Falcon (Falco peregrinus tundrius), on Flickr taken in British Columbia, Canada by Guy Monty which shows the difference in structure and markings of this, one particular sub species or race of the Peregrine Falcon

Some statistics on the migration from Fundación Migres for the 8th of September. Strong levante (Easterlies) all week prevented most of the arriving Egyptian Vultures from continuing south across to Africa, therefore there was a backlog and huge roost of up to 200 birds of all ages feeding, patrolling and sheltering against often gale-force winds. Now they are moving south!

More falcon pics

The very strange looking Peregrine landing showing those very light 'trousers'

Here we have a good view of the wing, tail and back plumage showing their typical brown-tinged colour and white tips to the tail feathers on juvs. The light edges to the feathers on the back and wing will eventually wear off.

Most of the Honey Buzzard movement (lots) was pretty high up this week but we managed a few close shots on Friday as the wind started to change from easterlies to westerlies. Honey's seem to be unperturbed by easterlies and in my opinion are one of the most intelligent raptors we have. They are unique in many different ways compared to other birds of prey and show a more disciplined and well-ordered movement on migration, crossing at higher altitude thus avoiding the quite local and lower blast of air from the Mediterranean that keeps other species pinned down and left to wait until the wind direction changes

A migrating Honey Buzzard showing their typical longer neck and tail

Graceful, intelligent creatures

A migrating Sparrowhawk

We unexpectedly came across a sheltering Short-toed Eagle eating a rabbit. Of course the large eagle took to the air straight away and still had a chunk of meat in its bill!

Close up of Eagle and bunny...

There are plenty of Booted Eagle around and more arriving each day

The top-side of the smaller Booted Eagle

Look at the lovely clean lines of this juvenile Booted Eagle

Red-legged Partridge in the rice-fields. This is also a young bird in serious moult...

It's always lovely to see Little Bustards in La Janda. We saw two juvenile birds this week

Skulking, scolding swift little sylvia...The Sardinian Warbler (one member of the sylvia group of warblers) is always active and searching out food during the dry season. This little male was quite happy to have his photo taken

Whinchats don't breed in our area and it's always lovely to see them on passage

Getting brighter with fast plumage moult, Yellow Wagtails will be really bright yellow when they return in spring. This one was heading south for the winter

Onwards across The Strait to Africa...

Penduline Tits are lovely little birds and their whistling 'ptissiü' call lets you know they are around reed-beds and river banks

Northern Wheatears are passing though in huge numbers this week

Fresh and lovely, this first summer Northern Wheatear's colours blend in beautifully with the terrain

A juvenile Purple Heron stops off to feed on crayfish in the flooded paddy-fields

Glossy Ibis moving across the skies above La Janda...

...as are these Eurasian Spoonbills. You can spot the juvenile birds by their black wing tips

Quite a good movement of Black Storks was also recorded this week

A first year bird, showing duller grey-pink bill and legs, compared to bright red in adults

I don't like the fact that so many horses are hobbled in this way in the south. The horse was jumping on hind legs with the front tied together. The only way to move forward quickly is to leap and against the morning light and I thought this action shot would show their plight better as well as showing the beauty of such a lovely mammal

Here are some shots of some of the melanistic or dark brown form of Montagu's Harriers that are slowly passing through Cadiz province at present. There may be up to eight melanistic birds of the delicate Monty's around La Janda this week.
I took time with my friend Simon to get some shots. Dark or near black birds are very difficult to photograph properly, so we were altering our camera settings quite a few times and saying some words that perhaps we shouldn't...

Very special birds and quite rare too

A melanistic Monty's with a large grasshopper in the left talon

The sun was going down and we found it difficult to leave the area with such a lot of birds putting on a fantastic and dazzling aerial ballet as they hunted all around us...

Twisting and turning, diving and rising, all with what looked to be perfect control from this first year juvenile Montagu's Harrier

An adult male Montagu's Harrier checks out other migrants keeping a keen eye out for Goshawks

Head pivoting

A first year Montagu's showing that lovely ochre tinge on the underside

an adult female cruises past us above the Sierra de La Plata

Bleow on the limestone face the resident Blue Rock Thrushes below, move around like blue bullets!

Next week I'll be leading another Limosa/Travelling Naturalist holiday. I'll be over on the Coto Doñana for three nights then back to the Tarifa area at the end of the week as the migration hots up. More news as it happens... Happy Birding, Stephen

Back home on The Strait

2011-09-07T07:02:00.014+02:00

First of all, here are the migration statistics from some of the areas covered on the 5th (Monday) of September by Fundación Migres. The weather was noted as 'Poniente' (Westerly winds), F 2-3
(Click to enlarge)

On Sunday I went out with our daughter Lucia and my friend Bob Wright to see the Rollers that were migrating through the Tarifa area. Fortunately there were three juvenile birds visible near to the Trafico migration watchpoint above the town of Tarifa and we managed to get some photos. Lucia is getting really good, and seems to have the nack of following birds in flight through the camera's viewfinder. Not always a straightforward task...

Honey Buzzards continue to arrive in the southern section of Cadiz province and all along the 50 km coastal stretch of The Strait of Gibraltar you can see them passing overhead. Hundreds went over very high yesterday at Algorrobo

The weather or should I say the wind direction has changed again. On Sunday it was a pleasant cooler westerly or 'Poniente' breeze. On Monday eveything changed and the 'Levante' or easterly wind from the Mediterranean came in at gale-force strength, forcing a lot of migrating birds to wait it out on the Spanish side of The Strait

Down on the rice-field and fringes of the ancient laguna of La Janda, Montagu's Harrier feed on crickets, grasshoppers, dragonflies and small birds and mammals

We had this distant view of the lovely melanistic form of the Montagu's Harrier on the Guadalquivir River on Monday afternoon

Hunting views of juvenile Montagu's Harrier at La Janda

As the wind changed, physically preventing many birds to continue over The Strait, Egyptian Vultures are now 'stacking up' waiting as more and more birds arrive in the area. Yesterday (Tuesday) we watched a group of sixty patrolling Egyptian Vulture of all ages, searching for fallen carrion along the hills and valleys between Facinas and Pelayo.

I expect more to arrive in the coming days as the forecast is for more easterlies

A spalsh of colour as a flock of Greater Flamingoes take off from the lower end of the Guadalquivir pools

First year juvenile Greater Flamingo

Like a scene from Africa

Glossy Ibis can be seen in large numbers on the Coto Doñana, Guadalquivir River near Bonanza, Brazo del Este, south of Seville and at La Janda

This group was preparing for the annual 'crazy-wing drying competition' which takes place each year at La Janda...

We photographed this Booted Eagle taking a young Black-winged Stilt on Monday near Algaida on the Guadalquivir River

Black-winged Stilts take off in panic

Juveniles below and adult above

Black-crowned Night Heron adult

Black Stork at the Salt-pans

I'll be out again every day and will tweet reports and rarities on twitter as well as updating the blog when I can. Happy birding, Stephen