October 1, 2007
Not so much Quantity as Quality.
76 species were seen in September in the Alcossebre area.
No new species were added to the list this month, which currently stands at 200 species.
10 species of bird were seen for the first time in September. These were :-
Squacco Heron; Greater Flamingo; Great White Egret; Eurasian Teal; Honey Buzzard; Short-toed Eagle; Goshawk; Bonelli´s Eagle; Eleonora´s Falcon and Corn Bunting.
I managed a Bird Count Walk on 23 mornings this month. 7 days were missed due either rain, wind or domestic duties!
The following is a summary of the birds seen this September.
The month started queitly on the 1st with 6 Grey Herons flying S/W. Overnight arrivals were 2 Melodious Warblers and 1 Reed Warbler at the Sewage Pond.
The 2nd started the good list of Birds of Prey for the month, with a fine pair of Bonelli´s Eagles soaring over the mountains and heading south.
Overnight arrivals included the only Nightingale of the month, plus one each of Spotted and Pied Flycatchers, and a pair of Subalpine Warblers.
There was no visible passage on the 3rd, but there were some overnight arrivals. 4 Turtle Doves; The first Whinchat of Autumn; 3 Willow Warblers; two more Subalpine Warblers; two Reed Warblers and a Kingfisher at the sewage pond.
Birds of Prey were on the move on the 4th. 9 Honey Buzzards were making use of the thermals and heading south, followed by a Black Kite.
Inland a Short-toed Eagle was surveying the land from a plylon.
Several Common Kestrels were hunting over the farmland.
Finally a fine dark phase Eleonora´s Falcon flew over the Sewage Pond, putting the local Moorhens into panic mode!
There were still two juvenile Woodchat Shrikes and one Southern Great Grey Shrike hunting in the farmland. A female Pied Flycatcher appeared in my garden at 8pm.
Passage on the 5th was light with only 14 Grey Herons flying past.
Overnight arrivals were better with 9 Willow Warblers, 4 Subalpine Warblers, 5 Pied Flycatchers and a Blue-headed Wagtail seen.
It was the opposite on the 6th with more passage than arrivals. 20 Cormorants, 3 Grey Herons,12 Little Egrets, 12 Black-headed Gulls and 6 Bee-eaters flew south west.
The sewage pond was the Hot Spot for the small birds with 3 Reed Warblers, 4 Willow Warblers and 5 Pied Flycatchers seen.
The 7th was a fairly quiet day for passage birds with only one Grey Heron and 2 Little Egrets on the move.
Overnight arrivals included 5 Willow Warblers, 3 Spotted Flycatchers, one Pied Flycatcher and 2 Subalpine Warblers.
48 Audoiun´s Gulls and 17 Sandwich Terns flew south west on the 8th.
Inland the same migrants seemed to be hanging around with only a Whinchat being new.
The Short-toed Eagle showed itself again on the 9th, and Whinchats had increased to 3 birds. There was another Kingfisher at the Sewage Pond.
On the 10th, passage included 10 Grey Heron with 10 Little Egrets.
Although no Barn Swallows or House Martins were on the move 16 Sand Martins headed south west.
The 12th turned up some newcomers for the month. 3 Red-rumped Swallows were flying around with the local Swallows and Martins.
A Northern Wheatear was the first for Autumn and a Common Greenshank took a shortcut inland, calling loudly.
A Purple Heron flew east (Ebro bound no doubt).
The Sewage Pond still had Subalpine, Willow and Reed Warblers.
The 13th was another quiet day with only the Short-toed Eagle giving a bit of interest.
I was confined to the house and garden by the heavy rain on the 14th, however, during some dry spells a Squacco Heron and 26 Bee-eaters flew south. The Squacco Heron was the first this year!
Passage birds on the 15th were 6 Greater Flamingos flying East (Ebro delta bound) and 3 Alpine Swifts flying south.
Overnight arrivals included a Blue-headed Wagtail, 2 Whinchats and 1 Subalpine Warbler.
The 17th saw the arrival of the first Cetti´s Warbler of autumn. 2 Common/Pallid Swifts flew south as did 4 Bee-eaters. Barn Swallows were going south all day at a rate of 200 birds per hour, so we are talking about thousands of birds.
Up to 4 Little Owls were seen or heard and 13 Hoopoes were counted in the farmland.
4 Night Herons flew east on the 18th, and 5 Cattle Egrets were inland.
A juvenile Woodchat Shrike was in the same area of farmland as an adult Southern Great Grey Shrike.
Overnight arrivals included 2 Northern Wheatears, 1 Whinchat and 1 Willow Warbler.
Pride of place on the 19th went to an obligling juvenile Goshawk – only my second record here. Unlike most birds of prey I managed to get a photo. The 2 Northern Wheatears were still here with 5 Willow Warblers.
A Spotted and Pied Flycatcher spent the day in our garden.
On the 20th I had the company of a Danish couple on my walk. Usually when you show folk round your Patch you don´t see much, but today luck was with us. 10 Grey Herons flew south before I met up with them.
Then an obliging Purple Heron flew over just as we met, and they got good views of it. So a good start. Further on 17 more Grey Herons flew over quickly followed by another Purple Heron. A couple of freshly arrived Northern Wheatears showed themselves along the coast, with 4 more at the sewage works later.
3 Honey Buzzards showed well and soared off to the south and then an Osprey flew by.
Overnight arrivals included 5 Willow Warblers,1 Reed Warbler, 5 Pied Flycatchers and 3 Whinchats. So a nice selection. We also missed out on a dark falcon – probably Eleonora´s – that disappeared very quickly.
Can´t win them all.
The bird that most impressed them was a Little Owl, their first.
So a photo especially for them.
I was rained off again on the 21st September.
The rain halted migration so that on the 22nd their was a good variety of birds around. I got the first autumn Stonechat and Linnets. A juvenile Gannet and a Corn Bunting were the first of the month.
Overnight arrivals included 3 Common Kestrels, 9 Blue-headed Wagtails, 1 Common Redstart, 1 Northern Wheatear, 3 Whinchats and 3 Subalpine Warblers.
More rain on the 23rd curtailed my morning walk.
On the 24th I counted at least 230 Barn Swallows held up by yesterdays rain. There were 4 Sand Martins with them but no House Martins.
There were still 7 Blue-headed Wagtails in the area.
The next three days were quiet bird wise with 2 Purple Herons flying east the pick of the highlights on the 27th.
The 28th provided some passage birds. One Osprey flying south west and 3 Great White Egrets in company with 3 Grey Herons fling east towards the Ebro Delta.
Local Hoopoe numbers were up to 20 birds.
The last day of the month was one of the best.
The only passage birds were 1 juvenile Gannet, 35 Audoiun´s Gulls and 22 Sandwich Terns. However, overnight arrivals included a female Teal, the first this year. A male Sparrowhawk, the first this autumn; 3 Red-rumped Swallows; a female Blackcap,the first this autumn; 1 Common Redstart; 1 Whinchat; 1 Pied Flycatcher and 1 Reed Warbler.
Thus rounding off a good month for birds.
Alcossebre Weather in September 2007.
A mixture of weather conditions this month.
The first half of the month was mainly fine and sunny, with light to gentle winds from the east. The exception was a thunderstorm on the 14th, with some heavy showers of rain.
The next four days were settled with some more fine, sunny spells.
From the 19th to the 23rd we had a series of overcast days with rain. The 22rd turned out to be the wettest day of the month, when 33mm (1.3 inches) of rain fell.
With the exception of the 26th and 27th when there was strong Northerly winds, the rest of the month returned to fine,sunny and settled weather.
The average day temperature was 26c (80F) and the average night temperature was 17c (63F)
The highest temperature was on the 2nd to the 4th at 29c (85F)
The coldest night was on the 28th when it was only 11c.(52F)
Total rainfall for the month was 85mm (3.1 inches).