The Birdman of Alcossebre (Spain)

October Bird News. The good news - plenty of birds. The bad news the shooting season has started.

Birds : A total of 76 species were seen this month. This was the second best monthly total this year – April had 83 species.
Two species were new to the area – Red Kite and Rose Ringed Parakeet.

There was a good passage of birds through- out the month.
Twelve species returned for the winter,overlaping with late summer visitors.
There was a substantial Swallow passage.
Winter visitors had increased substantially by the last week in October.

The bad news was the shooting season has started here again.
Now I am not against legitimate hunting but the kind of indescimate shooting that these guys do is inexcusable and they are not policed in any way. So the only hope in the long term is that the younger gerneration don’t follow on in their fathers footsteps?

Seabirds and other birds passing along the coast.One to four Gannets flew past on three days.
One to two Shags were seen off shore most days.
Apart from one or two Cormorants fishing off shore through out the month, a total of 182 birds flew past heading South.
34 Night Herons were seen heading South on the 6th October, out numbering Grey Herons – a total of 28 birds noted heading South.
36 Little Egrets flew South on the 10th .
Two single Arctic Skua’s was seen chasing Terns on the 25th & 31st October.
Passage Black headed Gull numbers peaked at 32 on the 7th.
Audoiun’s Gulls passed throughout the month with 45 on the 16th.
Sandwich Terns were noted daily with a maximum of 42 flying South on thr 29th October.
Herons and Egrets.
As well as the passage Little Egrets there were still single birds hunting along the coast line.
Wintering Cattle Egrets numbers had increased to 47 birds, and were seen foraging in the farmland areas.
Birds of Prey.A nice variety of birds of prey this month.
The only Black Kite flew East over my house on the 26th October.
My first record of a Red Kite on the 6th was followed by another on the 22nd.
A single Booted Eagle flying South on the 2nd was followed by two more on the 21st.
Apart from single wintering Kestrels, 4 birds flew South on the 7th.
A single Hobby flew South on the 12th October.

Wading Birds.
No exotic American waders to record just two Lapwings passing through on the 5th and 27th.

Dispite the return of the Shooting Season here,six Red Legged Partridge were still around on the 25th October.
Likewise a maximum of 18 Moorhens were seen on the only two freshwater ponds in the area, and yes they even shoot Moorhens!
Pigeons and Doves.
Flocks of Feral Doves around the farms in the area gave early warning of passing Birds of Prey.
A maximum of three Wood Pigeons were the most seen.
In contrast up to 60 Collared Doves were noted.
One to two Turtle Doves were seen up to the 16th October.

My first record of Rose Ringed Parakeet was on the 10th October when I saw a pair, unfortunatedly by the 23rd only one bird remained. The other bird was either shot or trapped.

Little Owls contintue to call night and day – up to three birds seen throughout.

Single Kingfishers were seen at the Torre de Capycorp pond on 3 days.

Up to five Hoopoes were seen throughout the month.

Swifts, Swallows and Martins.
Single Alpine Swifts were seen heading South on the 8th and 9th October.
One to three Sand Martins were seen heading South with Swallows on several days – this species is much less common than Crag Martin here.
The first wintering Crag Martins returned on the 22nd when up to four were seen.
Peak passage of Swallows was from the 12th to the 14th when a thousand birds an hour were passing through heading South.stragglers were still passing through up to the 25th October.
A single Red Rumped Swallow was seen flying South on the 5th October.
House Martin passage peaked on the 10th when a few hundred birds flew South with Swallows. They were last seen on the 21st October.
Larks, Pipits and Wagtails.
Skylarks returned to winter on the 7th October, maximum numbers so far 22 birds.
The most Crested Larks seen were 14 birds.
Meadow Pipits returned to winter on the 9th October with a peak of 23 birds on the 25th.
Single Blue Headed Wagtails were seen up to the 9th October.
Single Grey Wagtails were seen throughout, mainly at the Sewage Works.
Up to 24 White Wagtails were seen throughout the month.

Robins, Wheatears and Chats.A single Robin on the 1st October was the first of winter, by the end of the month numbers had reached 35 birds.
Likewise the first Black Redstart was seen on the 10th October and by the end of the month numbers had reached 19 birds.
The only Common Redstart was seen on the 8th October.
The only Whinchat was seen on the 6th October.
Single Common Wheatears were seen up to the 7th October.
Up to 16 Stonechat were noted wintering.

Thrushes.After the surprise of a male Blue Rock Thrush wintering last winter I was doubly surprised this month to find not one but two female Blue Rock Thrushes in the area! The first appeared on the 4th October and the second on the 14th. There was still at least one around at the end of the month.

A maximum of three Blackbirds were noted.
The first Song Thrush of the winter appeared on the 5th October with a peak of 15 birds on the 23rd.
Warblers.A nice variety of Warblers seen this month. Some on passage, some wintering and some resident.
Up to two Cetti’s Warblers seen and heard this month.
A maximum of eight Fan Tailed Warblers noted.
One Reed Warbler was seen on passage on the 1st October and two late birds on the 28th.
Single Dartford Warblers returned to winter from the 22nd October.
A single Subalpine Warbler was seen on passage on the 1st October.
Up to 12 resident Sardinian Warblers were counted.
Wintering Blackcaps increased to 15 birds.
Wintering Chiffchaffs returned on the 21st when three birds were seen, by the end of the month up to 11 birds were counted.
The last of the passage Willow Warblers were seen on the 14th October.

Flycatchers.
The last of the passage Spotted Flycatchers were seen on the 1st
October.
One to four Pied Flycatchers were seen up to the 8th October.

Southern Great Grey Shrikes were seen daily, with a peak of four birds on the 26th October.
Maximum Magpies counted were 17 birds.

Finches and Buntings.
Good numbers of Finches returning to winter, but smaller numbers of Buntings.
The first winter Chaffinch was seen on 10th October and by the end of the month numbers reached 137 birds.
Resident Greenfinches were augmented by winter visitors – peak 42 birds.
Likewise resident Goldfinch numbers reached 91 birds.

One to three Linnets were seen from the 16th October.
Resident Serin numbers reached 41 birds.
One to two Cirl Buntings were heard and seen daily.
The first wintering Reed Buntings returned on the 29th October.
Up to three resident Corn Buntings were noted.

Weather in the Alcossebre Area for October 2005

A mild month with more cloudy spells than normal – 20 days.
The remainder were fine and sunny.

The average daily temperature was 24C (76F) with a high of 28C (84F) on the 1st October.
The average night temperature was 14C (58F) with a low of 11 C (53F) on five nights.

There were seven days with rain. Heavy rain on the 6th gave 1.2 inches, while a three day spell of showers from the 11th to the 14th gave a total of 3.4 inches.
Torrential rain was by accompanied Thunderstorms on the 14th and 15th and gave 3.9 inches.
Finally overnight rain on the 23rd produced 0.3 inches.
Total rain for the month was 9.8 inches or 253.5 millimetres.

Winds were predominately light (21days) and mainly from the North/North Westerly direction. The other 10 days saw the wind direction from the East or South East.

For a change we only had moderate to strong winds on three days – the 2nd to 4th October.