Birds in Spain Blog

On 13.1.2015 an odd redstart was seen at Laguna de Fuentedepiedra, Málaga (Andy Paterson). It was initially thought to be a bird from an Oriental race of the Black Redstart ( Phoenicurus ochruros ), which show some reddish vent and underparts as in the photographed bird. However, after a careful observation, and after reading the paper by Laurens B Steijn from 2005 at Dutch Birding which is available online ( the full issue at issu online reader here ), it was clear that it might be something else. Despite the wing structure was not visible in any of the three photos, there was a clear white wing pannel and a wide and long white patch in the vent and middle of the breast, pointing towards an hybrid  ochruros x phoenicurus rather than an oriental race of ochruros . Find enclosed three photos from Andy Paterson of this, in any case, interesting and beautiful bird. Citation: Paterson, A. 2015 Presumed hybrid Phoenicurus ochruros x P.phoenicurus at Málaga, January 20...

On 20 November 2014 a female presumed hybrid Ferruginous x Tufted Duck was seen at Cal Tet lagoon, Llobregat Delta, El Prat de Llobregat, Barcelona (Ricard Gutiérrez, Ferran López, C.Llopis). The record appears in the 'Novetats Ornitològiques' Consorci Delta del Llobregat blog as follows: Aythya nyroca x Aythya fuligula Morell xocolater x Morell de plomall - Ferruginous Duck x Tufted Duck  1 ex. suposadament híbrid a cal Tet el 20.XI (R. Gutiérrez, F. López, C. Llopis). L'exemplar mostra característiques de les dues espècies: cap rectangular i plomall amb tons axocolatats, plomes del pit color xocolata, infracobertores caudals i posteriors de color blanc, flancs de color xocolata brut, etc... Ferran López, observer of the bird and manager of the blog quoted (see above in catalan): 'The bird shows characters of both species: rectangular head and the tuft with chocolate tones, brown tones in the breast, white undertail and rear coverts, dirty chocolate f...

by Toni Alcocer On 31 August 2014 Toni Alcocer found an odd Calidris minuta within Tancat de la Ratlla Nature Reserve, at Silla, Albufera de Valencia Natural Park. He was able to take four photos of what apparently recalls an adult Little Stint ( Calidris minuta ). Another obsever, Gonzalo, shared the moment. The bird however does not look as a typical minuta , and shows some subtle structural differences and plumage features such as overall colour, breast, flanks and undertail coverts spots. Interestingly, the bird was ringed. Any kind of plumage aberration would be discarded once there are characters, as the forementioned spots, that instead of fade or vanish, appear in this individual. And the case of a mistery stint featured in Dutch Birding back in 1996 (see the 18_1 issue of Dutch Birding with the Lars Jonsson paper here ) and considered as an hybrid temminckii x minuta came to mind. McCarthy (2006) Handbook of Avian Hybrids of the World  lists quite a few Calidri...

Cuculus canorus juv. L'Aufacada, Delta de l'Ebre, Tarragona 23.7.2014 © Ricard Gutiérrez 6.7.2014 Migjorn, Sant Jaume d’Enveja, Delta de l’Ebre, Tarragona: 4 Cuculus canorus juntos, parecen adultos. 14.7.2014 siguen 3 cucos en la zona 23.7.2014 Uno normal y un joven de fase roja cerca de l’Aufacada, Delta de l’Ebre, Tarragona ¡Cuánto cuco! Normalmente atribuimos la presencia de jóvenes de cuco, que pueden parecer en el caso de fases rojizas alguna pequeña rapaz en vuelo evasivo, a la población local que se habrá reproducido en los carrizales de las cercanías, parasitando a carriceros u otros. Ese podría ser el caso del joven rojizo, aún con boqueras, del día 23.7. Pero ¿es eso cierto? Cuculus canorus juv. L'Aufacada, Delta de l'Ebre, Tarragona 23.7.2014 © Ricard Gutiérrez   La noticia recogida en la web del British Trust for Ornithology ( BTO ) sobre el proyecto de marcaje de cucos británicos con emisores vía satélite está dando interesantes datos. En ...

Fons i peixos al Parc Natural Montgí, Medes i Baix Ter, Girona, Juliol 2014 © Ricard Gutiérrez Mercat d’Amposta, Montsià, Tarragona. Principis de Juliol de 2014. Vas a comprar sardines ( Sardina pilchardus ) i veus que no n’hi ha de fresques. I que els preus, de les que es veu que fa uns dies que hi són, volten els 8€. El seitó, l’anxova ( Engraulis encrasicholus ), en canvi, entre 4-5€. Com és que l’anxova, sempre més cara, està més bé de preu que la ‘humil’ sardina? Preguntem a la peixatera i ens ho confirma: 'no hi ha sardines i van caríssimes, a 9 €/kg. Us recomano el seitó' .   Ràpidament em venen al cap pensaments relacionats amb temes que havia vist al twitter o en directe el darrer més: ‘no hi ha peix a la Badia de Roses’ que em deia un naturalista local; ocells morts a hams de palangre aquí i allà i fins i tot l’anomalia ‘El Niño’ matant ocells marins al Pacífic. Té tot això a veure? Vaig començar a mirar coses aquí i allà i alguna cosa sembla té a veure. ...

Rangers of the Generalitat de Catalunya (Agents Rurals) searching for alive chicks in the colony 13.6.2014 © Ricard Gutiérrez 608 Audouin's Gull Larus audouinii nests. That was the 2014 count which marked a local record for the species in its 'new' breeding site at El Molí island of Llobregat river mouth. colonised by the species in 2009. Ringing of the colony was scheduled for June Friday 13. And the friday 13 reputation seemed to work again: almost no activity in the colony showed that something had went wrong. The colony had a great number of abandoned nests, some broken as 'crashed by something coming from the sky', some predated but probably 'after-death' according to the official Vet and Mammal expert that visited the colony. There were a few abandoned nests with very young dead chicks at least two weeks before the visit, according to the condition of the corpses . Failure was not complete, since 21 chicks could be found and ...

Por Albert Cama, Antoni Peco, Bàrbara Celada y Ricard Gutiérrez Larus audouinii. ad. Tarragona, 6.6.2014 © Ricard Gutiérrez Después de la colonización de una zona en obras del puerto de Tarragona por la gaviota de Audouin ( Larus audouinii ) en 2013, la especie ha vuelto a la zona en 2014, con las obras ya finalizadas y presentando un área sin edificaciones y cubierta por cantos rodados y tierra. Después de ser detectada la presencia de la especie por técnicos de la Autoridad Portuaria de Tarragona y del equipo de biólogos que efectuan un seguimiento de la avifauna de la zona (de acceso restringido), se constató lo que parecía ser la nidificación de un mínimo de treinta parejas en la zona (19 nidos en 2013), con presencia de abundantes ejemplares adultos, con cifras próximas a los 500 individuos (A.Cama). En primer plano, colonia de cría. Port de Tarragona, 6.6.2014 © Ricard Gutiérrez El dia 6.6.2014 se efectuó por parte de los autores y en una acción coordinada entre ...