The Birdman of Alcossebre (Spain)

Moult, Hot Weather and Tourists make for hard birding in July.

Birds.It really was hard work this month getting a reasonable list of birds with the combination of Moulting birds, hot weather (see weather report) and tourists.
However,dispite these factors I did see a total of 54 species.
I even managed to get two new additions to the Alcossebre Bird List – Cory’s Shearwater and Common Shelduck. Which brings the list of species seen here to 162.

Seabirds and other birds passing along the sea.
Pride of place goes to the Cory’s Shearwater flying east past the fish farm on the 27th July (thanks to Roy for taking me out on his yacht for this one).
A single Gannet seen flying west on the 17th.
One to three Shags were seen throught out the month and one to two Cormorants.
Two Grey Heron flew east on the 10th and four Purple Heron flew west on the 4th.
12 Common Shelduck flew West on the 29th, my first record here.
One Little Egret flying east on the 3rd was the only one seen all month.
Two Curlew flew east on the 26th, the first this autumn.
29 Black Headed Gulls flying west on the 15th were out numbered by 374 Audouin’s Gulls flying east per hour on the 8th! Heading no doubt for the Ebro Delta to moult.

Herons and Egrets. Grey and Purple Herons were only seen on passage, as was Little Egret. 1 to 12 Cattle Egrets were seen in the fields up to the 12th of the month.

Birds of Prey
Another quiet month for these birds. A Black Kite flew north east on the 29th and a Kestrel was seen on the 9th.

The Moorhens at the sewage pond were bringing up their third brood of the season. I can’t remember seeing first brood birds feeding second brood birds before? See photo.

A single Mallard turned up at the sewage pond on the 15th.

Wading BirdsThree species seen this month. The Curlew passing through. A single Whimbrel at Capycorp Lagoon on 28th– see photo – and 2 Common Sandpipers on the beach on the 14th.

Gulls and TernsQuite a lot of activity this month.One adult Mediterranean Gull flying along the beach on the 27th. See photo.

Apart from the birds seen on passage there were usually 2 to 6 Black Headed Gulls seen at Las Fuentes Port and along the beaches.
Like wise Audoiun’s and Yellow Legged Gulls were seen daily on the beaches before the tourists took over.
Sandwich Terns started to build up numbers from the 13th until there were 80+ feeding off shore.Common Terns first appeared from the 17th onwards in smaller numbers 10+. See photo.

Pigeons and Doves.
Usual 3 species seen, with one to three Wood Pigeons, up to 52 Collared Doves seen feeding in the fields, while only one or two Turtle Doves were seen.

Great Spotted Cuckoo: unlike last month only single birds seen.

Little Owl. Only one or two birds seen.

Red Necked Nightjar. Singles seen and heard throughout, in fact I got quite used to one flying over my head as I swam in the pool at dusk!

Swifts, Swallows and Martins.
Common and Pallid Swifts were becoming scarcer by the day as their young got stronger on the wing. No more than 30 of each seen, maximum.
In contrast Swallows and House Martins were increasing in numbers daily as the third brood of young fledged. Both species now seen in their hundreds.

Hoopoe. Still keeping a low profile with a maximum of 5 birds seen.

Bee-eater. There appears to be mixed success with the four breeding pairs. One pair at Rio San Miquel have raised 2 young.
Two pairs in the farmland are still feeding young.
The pair near the sewage works have deserted because the farmer got lorry loads of top soil dumped on his field and it covered their nesting hole.

Larks, Pipits and Wagtails.A maximum of 10 Crested Larks were seen, usually in family groups of 3 or 4.
The only other member of this group seen was one or two juvenile White Wagtails seen at the sewage pond.

Thrushes. Only one species seen this month the Blackbird, and like most of the smaller birds keeping a low profile due to moult.Only the odd bird seen.

Warblers. Moult to blame again for the lack of sightings. Three species seen. Up to 6 Fan Tail Warblers see photo, one to two Melodious Warblers and up to 8 Sardinian Warblers seen.

Spotted Flycatcher. Family groups of 3 and 4 birds seen daily now.

Great Tit. Family groups of 3 and 4 birds seen daily now.

Shrikes. The Southern Grey Shrike that appeared last month is still here see photo and single Woodchat Shrikes seen, all adults so far.
So I don’t know if they bred successfully this year.

Golden Oriole.One ot two birds still making their presence heard.

Magpie. Noisy family groups heard daily. Maximum of 16 birds seen.

Finches and Buntings.
Family groups of Finches starting to join together. Maximum numbers this month : Greenfinch 23 birds; Goldfinch 16 birds and Serin 10 birds.
The only Bunting seen this month was Corn Bunting, 2 on the 30th.

Weather. A hot month! The first ten days had an average daily maximum of 29c (85F), then from the 13th to the 30th it averaged 32c (90f) with some days reaching 34c (94f).
In the first ten days of the month there was some cloudy spells but it didn’t last long. There was a little overnight rain on the 9th and the 30th.
So most days were hot and sunny with a gentle east or south east wind.

Farming Scene. Hard work this month toiling in the fields.
The Tomato crops were ripening daily and fallen tomatoes were providing food for insects and birds.
The Artichoke fiields were being systematically scythed- see photo – leaving the fields looking like parched deserts. The Crested Larks were finding them good feeding grounds.
A variety of Marrows and Melons were also ripening.
Sugar canes were also maturing.
Not much ploughing going on so that explains the scarcity of Cattle Egrets and Wagtails.

Butterflies. The hot dry weather brought out a lot of Butterflies.
We have around 20 species in the Acossebre area.
See photos of two that fly in July. The Scarce Swallowtail and the Ilex Hairstreak. The latter feeds on the blue Scabious flower.

Finally, I couldn’t resist showing a photo of the flower called Morning Glory (Ipomoea purpurea) found along all our roadsides and wild scrubby areas. I know I would have loved it growing in my garden when I lived in Glasgow!

Hot weather cool birds

Birds
I saw 53 species in the Alcossebre area in June 2005.
Highlights for me were : First June records for Night Heron, HSquacco Heron, Quail and Southern Great Grey Shrike.

Seabirds and other birds passing along the sea.
Single Gannet, Cormorant and Shag seen.
3 Grey Heron flew East on 20th June.
8 Greater Flamingo flew East on 17th June.
One Mallard then 5 flew East on 6th and 28th June.
28 Black Headed Gulls flew East on 20th June.
140 Audouin´s Gulls per hour flying east on 30th June – this movement lasted most of the day!
Most of these birds would be heading for the Ebro Delta.

Herons and Egrets.
Grey Heron, only record as above.
One of the my local hotspots – the sewage pond – produced a juvenile Night Heron on the 3rd (see photo) and a Squacco Heron on the 4th June.
Maximum numbers of Cattle Egrets was 30 birds on 13th June, while only one or two Little Egrets were seen.

Birds of Prey.
June is usually a poor month for this group and this year was no exception. One male Montagu’s Harrier was seen hunting over the dry riverbed at Rio San Miquel, on 4th June.

Pheasant the solitary male was only heard once this month and might have moved on.
Moorhen. Still a few breeding pairs seen some with second broods.

Wading Birds.
Only one species seen this month. One to six Black Winged Stilts frequented Capicorp Lagoon from 15th to 18th June. See photo.

Gulls and Terns.
Another quiet month numbers wise for this group.
Black Headed Gulls were seen on 5 days with the biggest group reported above.
Audoiun’s Gulls were seen daily, mainly in small numbers, except on the 30th as reported above.
Yellow Legged Gulls were also seen daily mainly flying from there inland nest sites to feed out at sea.
Sandwich Terns were also seen daily off shore but never more than 12 birds at a time.

Pigeons and Doves.
One to three Wood Pigeons were seen daily.
This contrasted with the much bigger numbers of Collared Doves seen – maximum of 46 birds.
Turtle Doves were eratic in their appearances, seen on only 4 days with a maximum of 6 birds seen.

Great Spotted Cuckoo – having a good season. I saw up to 5 juveniles been fed by the local Magpies. 3 juveniles were haranguing one unlucky pair of Magpies at the one time!

Little Owl. Up to 6 birds could be seen hunting during my morning walk.

Red Necked Nightjar. Still one or two birds calling up to the 30thJune.

Swifts, Swallows and Martins.
While Pallid and Common Swifts were still bringing up their first broods, Swallows and House Martins were in most cases bringing up their second broods.
Maximum daily numbers for each were as follows. Pallid/Common Swift – 110 birds. Swallows – 78 birds. House Martins – 12 birds.

Hoopoe. A bit of a puzzle with this species? Last month there were 7 or 8 pairs nesting and yet this month I’ve only seen 4 birds maximum. Also, no young birds seen. They do nest in very vulnerable places i.e. low down in holes in walls and trees.

Bee-eater. Found another breeding pair since last month so now 4 breeding pairs in the area.

Larks, Pipits and Wagtails.
Crested Larks – Family groups seen and some males still singing, indicating second broods. Maximum daily numbers – 12 birds. See photo.
One or two White Wagtails seen, so possibly nesting.

Thrushes.
The only member of this group seen Blackbird, with possibly 4 pairs breeding.

Warblers. Only left with the breeding warblers now.
Nightingales stopped singing after the 15th June, which makes it much more difficult to judge their numbers. Maximum of 2 seen.
Fan Tailed Warbler. Thankfully, unlike the above, they are still calling their zip-zip-zip call. Up to 6 birds noted.
Reed Warbler. The solitary male was last heard singing at the sewage pond on 1st June.
Melodious Warbler. Much better news for this species, still up to five pairs holding territory. A few pairs heard anxiety see photo.
Sardianian Warbler. Still at least 9 pairs holding territory.

Spotted Flycatcher. One pair breeding locally represents a poor overall picture – many more pairs breeding in the areas with more trees.

Great Tit. Some of the 6 pairs have now fledged their young.

Shrikes. Usually I have only one species to report at this time of year but I saw a Southern Grey Shrike on overhead wires near the sewage works on 21st June.
Woodchat Shrike. One pair still nesting locally.

Golden Oriole. Another success story to report. Out of four breeding pairs, one pair have two young and another pair three young. It still doesn’t make them any easier to photograph!

Magpie. Not all of the 10 pairs locally are unlucky enough to fledging aliens! Some have ‘normal’ broods.

Finches and Buntings.
Most of the Finches are flying about in family groups plus there are second broods being attended still.
Maximum numbers seen. 15 Greenfinch; 40 Goldfinch; 16 Serin.Still one or two pairs of Cirl Bunting holding territory.
Corn Buntings, on the other hand have stopped singing and like the Nightigales are hard to count.

Weather. This June was mainly sunny and hot with the average daytime temperature reaching 29 C or 85 F. The last 12 days got warmer still reaching 33 C or 92 F some days.m
There were 5 days when thunderstorms developed and 4 days with some light rain.
Winds were mainly light to gentle and from the east to south east.
With only 2 days of moderate east to north east winds.
Nightime temperatures rarely fell below 21C or 70 F.

Farming Scene.
The Artichoke fields provided a vivid splash of colour as they burst into flower, looking like giant blue thistles – see photo – and thus signalled the end of their season.See photo
The main manual work was transferred to tieing up the Tomatoe plants as they reached for the sky.
Almond Trees were showing off this years crop as they ripened in the sun.
Some farmers were cultivating Marrows and others trying out Sugarcanes. Interesting to see the results.

Finally a tale about a snake!
My friend Peter arrived at the house one recent Sunday morning and said that he had a snake lodged underneath his car. He didn’t know what species it was, but he reckoned it was at least four foot long! He asked me if I would be interested in removing it for him because he didn’t want to get that close to it.
I said “sure, just wait a minute, and I’ll get a big box and my snake grabber.”
However, when I got to his car, it had decided to leave on it’s own accord. We did get a good look at it as it slithered into my neighbours garden, and then out again, before disappearing into a cavity in a rocky wall.
What kind of snake was it? A Ladder Snake which only has the ladder pattern when it’s young. The adult has two continous green stripes down it’s back. See the difference in the two photos.
Is it venomous? No. Will it bite you? Only if you are daft enough to pick it up with your bare hands.