The Birdman of Alcossebre (Spain)

Surprise, Surprise, Surprise

Weather.
For the first three weeks of January the average daytime temperature here was 17c (63f) being mild and sunny with light variable winds. However, all that changed in the last week , not only did the avearage daytime temperature drop to 11c (52f) but most days were accompanied by strong North West Winds. The night time temperatures dropped below freezing for the first time this winter.

Farming Scene : There was not much doing in the farming scene over January with the extended holidays here Fiesta´s and the like.

The Orange Groves were colourful as the fruit ripened – the strong winds didn´t do the farmers much good as loads of fruit was blown onto the ground, but there is always a bonus, this time for the birds.
Some more fields were ploughed up attracting a host of birds of various species. In one such field I counted 10 Cattle Egrets, 14 White Wagtails, 9 Black Redstarts, 6 Stonechats and lots of Greenfinches.

Birds : 60 species seen this month.

One of the exciting bits of birdwatching is that you never quite know what is going to turn up in your local patch next, and here is no exception. This month I got three surprise arrivals, all within 5 days, and to be honest I don´t know what bird surprised me the most!
First on the 18th January I saw a Blue Rock Thrush fly up into a tree in flat farmland?
Then on the 21st January I saw a winter plumaged Little Gull on the shore amonst the other gulls – I was just about to photograph it when a neighbour stopped his car and said Hi – the gull took off!
The third surprise was a male Pheasant of all things in my back garden. How this bird has survived around here with all the shooting that goes on I´ll never know, but hey another new and unexpected bird for my ever growing Alcossebre List – now stands at 148 species.

Seawatching/Seabirds :
2 Great Crested Grebes seen offshore.
Mediterranean Shearwaters peaked at 187 birds.
Single Shags were out numbered as usual by Cormorants – peak 75 birds.

Herons and Egrets : For the second month no Grey Herons were seen.
One or two Little Egrets seen along the shore line were again outnumbered by Cattle Egrets – peak of 10 birds.

Birds of Prey : Thankfully our wintering birds survived the shooters. Single Sparrowhawks and Commom Buzzards were outnumbered by up to 3 Kestrels.

10 Moorhens overwintered at the local sewage works.

Waders : another quiet month. Only a passing Whimbrel seen.

Gulls and Terns : A nice variety of Gulls seen. 220 Yellow Legged Gulls; 180 Lesser Black Back Gulls; 81 Mediterranean Gulls: 20 each of Audouin´s and Black Headed Gulls and finally one Little Gull.
Sandwich Terns reached 45 birds.

The first Razorbills of the winter were seen offshore, 2 birds. Strangly, Guillimots are rare here.

Pigeons and Doves : Collared Doves peaked at 36 birds this month.

Little Owls were beginning to get vocal again, that is until the colder weather came in!
Single Kingfishers were seen along the coast.
Hoopoes peaked at 5 birds.

Swallows and Martins : The only member of this group – the Crag Martin – reached 34 birds. Swallows will start to appear here next month.

Larks, Pipits and Wagtails : Skylarks continued to outnumber Crested Larks, at 13 and 43 birds. Single Water Pipits were seen along the coast and a maximum of 12 Meadow Pipits were seen inland on the fields. White Wagtails peaked at 27 birds.

Robins and Chats : Numbers are holding up well this winter with the generally mild conditions. Peak numbers were – Robins 12, Black Restart 29: Stonechat 13.

Thrushes : The obvious front runner here was the The Blue Rock Thrush – normally only seen in the mountain areas. Only a maximum of 3 Blackbirds and 4 Song Thrush seen. The latter species is prized here by the hunters!

Warblers : Still a nice variety of warblers around albeit in reduced numbers. Maximums follow – Cetti´s Warbler singles; Fan Tailed Warbler 3; Dartford Warbler 3; Sardinian Warbler 11; Blackcap 5 ; and Chiffchaff 13.

Penduline Tit – after my first record last month a group of 7 birds stayed this month in the reedbeds of a small seaside lagoon.
3 Southern Great Grey Shrikes were seen this month.
Magpies peaked at 19 birds.

Finches and Buntings : A good variety and numbers seen. Peak numbers – Chaffinch 35; Greenfinch 68; Goldfinch 48; Linnet 17 and Serin 70.
Single Cirl Buntings were heard singing on mild days; a single Rock Bunting was seen; Reed Buntings 27; and Corn Buntings appeared again with up to 14 birds.

December Muse

Weather.
Although the The maximum daytime temperature for December here was 65F degrees (18C) most nights saw it dropping to 40 degrees. We also had strong winds blowing down from the mountains on 13 days which kept temperatures low.There was light rain on 6 days.
Apart from the days with rain most days were fine and sunny with excellent visibility.

Farming Scene : The last of the Tomatoe canes were stacked away ready for another season. So Stonechats and Black Restarts lost their perches were less easy to see as they foraged on the ground.
A lot more fields were being ploughed and spread with chicken manure thus keeping Larks and Wagtails busy catching the flies etc attracted by the manure.
Orange groves were producing their crop of fruit soon to be harvested, although the strong winds shook a lot off. A bonus for Warblers and Finches feeding on the quickly rotting fruit.
The Almond groves were looking very bare as the surplus branches had all been burnt and the leaves had dropped off the trees. Most of the groves were ploughed to keep the weeds down, not so good for the Finches and Buntings, better for the Wagtails Robins and Chats.

Birds :
A quiet month with only 54 species seen.

Seawatching/Seabirds
A maximum of 3 Great Crested Grebes were noted off shore.
Mediterranean Shearwaters peaked at 190 birds on the 24th.This is the lowest December numbers in 3 years.
Only one Gannet was noted.
Cormorant numbers peaked at 21 birds.

Herons and Egrets.No Herons were seen this month which is about normal.
Cattle Egrets – could be renamed Tractor Egrets, as a maximum of 20 were seen following the tractors ploughing the fields!
Little Egrets were much scarcer with one or two birds feeding along the coastline.

Birds of Prey.
A single Sparrowhawk, the wintering Buzzard and two Kestrels were the total for this group.

Waders.A maximum of 6 Lapwing were the only wader seen.

Gulls and Terns.
Both Mediterranean Gull and Audouin´s Gulls with maximums of 51 and 43 outnumbered Black Headed Gulls (22) this month.
Yellow Legged Gull and Lesser Black Back Gulls were seen in their hundreds, either roosting on the beaches or following the fishing boats.
Sandwich Terns peaked at 28 birds.

Pigeons and Doves.
Collared Doves peaked at 47 birds.

Little Owls were very scarce this month with only one sighting.
A single Kingfisher was seen fishing off shore with Sandwich Terns – first time I’ve seen that.
Hoopoes peaked at 5 birds.

Swallows and Martins.
This group was only represented by Crag Martins this month with a maximum of 49 birds seen.

Larks, Pipits and Wagtails.
Resident Crested Larks with 9 birds were outnumbered by wintering s Skylark– peak of 56 birds.
A wintering Water Pipit and a peak of 11 Meadow Pipits were noted.
White Wagtails were seen in flocks of 18 maximum.

Robins and Chats.BlRobin, b>ack Redstart and Stonechat numbers were similar with peaks of 13, 15 and 12.
I had a male and a female Black Redstart in the garden this month, being constantly harassed by the wintering Robin!

Thushes.Both Song Thrush(3)and Blackbirds(1) were scarce this month.

Warblers.Still a nice variety of Warblers on show.
Single singing Cetti’s Warblers.
A peak of 6 Fan Tail Warblers.

The resident Sardinian Warblers(18) were outnumbering the wintering Dartford Warblers (4).

Chiffchaffs(12) were outnumbering Blackcaps(5), again winter visitors.
Two wintering Great Grey Shrikes were seen occasionally chasing warblers.
Magpies peaked at 12 birds.
Spotless Starlings were practising their range of mimic songs – one bird had a Golden Oriole call spot on, I had to look twice.

The winter numbers of Common Starlings seem to be increasing with flocks of hundreds seen.

Finches and Buntings.
Flock sizes of all the finches increased this month with 43 Chaffinch, 34 Greenfinch, 65 Goldfinch, 68 Linnet and 80 Serins.
Two Cirl Bunting and 12 Reed Bunting complete the list.