March 4, 2008
Great Spotted Cuckoo beats Barn Swallow in Spring Record!
The Birdman of Alcossebre –February 2008 Bird News.
68 Species were seen in the Alcossebre area in February 2008.
Highlights this month were the earliest Spring date for Great Spotted Cuckoo, an unpredented passage of Crag Martins – 200 plus; another early Spring date for Red Rumped Swallow; confirmation of Woodlarks wintering for the first time. A first February record of Firecrests.
The mild winter had a good effect on the numbers of birds, with most surviving in high numbers.
See weather report.
Seabirds and other species passing along the coast.
One to three Great Crested Grebes were regular off shore.
Up to 145 Balearic Shearwaters were counted flying past, usually heading East.
Northern Gannets were regular off shore with a maximum of 9 birds counted, my highest February total.
With only two Shags seen this month, Cormorants easily outnumbered them. Normally up to 10 birds could be seen fishing along the coast, but a monthly total of 700 birds flew East in varies sized flocks. Continuing their year by year increase.
No Razorbills were seen this month, which is unusual.
Herons and Egrets.
Single Grey Herons were seen at Capycorp Lagoon twice.
Up to 8 Cattle Egrets were seen in the Farmland areas and one or two Little Egrets along the coast.
Birds of Prey.
While two Common Buzzards and two Common Kestrels continued to winter, and were seen almost daily. A single Merlin was seen only once.
Wading Birds and Moorhens.
No wading birds were seen this month.
Possibly the mild Winter weather persuaded the Stone Curlews of last month to move on.
Moorhens were surviving well at the Torre de Capycorp pond – maximum 20 birds, and the Sewage Works – maximum 7 birds.
Gulls and Terns.
Up to 45 Meditteranean Gulls were regular at Capycorp Lagoon, with smaller numbers on the other beaches.
Black-headed Gulls were present all month but in much smaller numbers, three birds usual. However, on the 17th 76 birds flew East, and on the 27th 106 birds flew East.
A maximum of 43 Audouin´s Gulls at Capycorp Lagoon, were quite low numbers for February.
Yellow-legged Gulls and Lesser Black-back Gulls could be counted in their hundreds on the main beaches, until disturbed by dog-walkers and the like.
A maximum of 34 Sandwich Terns counted were average numbers for here.
Pigeons and Doves.
Up to three Wood Pigeons were higher than normal numbers for February.
With only 41 Collared Doves seen this was quite a bit lower than normal.
Exotics.
One Patagonian Conure (a type of South American Parrot) was seen several times fling around the Farmland areas.
Like most Parrots could be heard long before being seen!
Cuckoos.
I recorded my earliest date for Great Spotted Cuckoo, on the 9th February, when a pair where heard and seen. Thereafter up to two pairs were seen.
Owls, Kingfishers and Hoopoes.
Up to three Little Owls could be seen and heard this month.
A Kingfisher put in an appearance at the Sewage pond on the 10th.
Hoopoes were surviving well in the mild weather with a maximum of ten birds counted.
Swallows and Martins.
This group provided a fair bit of excitement this month.
The first Barn Swallow was seen on the 21st with up to four birds thereafter.
While up to 20 Crag Martins could be seen on a daily basis, an unprecedented 200 birds flew North East on the 26th!
Amonst this passage of Crag Martins were the first Red Rumped Swallows of the year, two birds, and the first House Martin of the year.
Larks, Pipits and Wagtails.
One of the highlights of this month for me was confirming wintering Woodlarks! I had very brief views last month of five or six Larks, which didn´t call when flying? This struck me as unusual, because the resident Crested Larks and wintering Skylarks are very vocal.
Finally on the 10th February I got good views through the telescope. Unfortunately, dispite seeing them throughout the rest of the month, I never got that elusive photograph!
A maximum of 12 Crested Larks were counted and a maximum of 80 Skylarks. Both higher than normal numbers.
Up to 35 Meadow Pipits counted was more than double for February.
Single Grey Wagtails at the Sewage Pond were normal, while a maximum of 21 White Wagtails were above average numbers for February.
Robins, Chats and Thrushes.
The mild winter was helping this group of birds.
Robins peaking at 16 birds for the month, and 17 Black Redstarts were good numbers. However peak numbers of Stonechats at 19 birds was the best February total in six years.
Two male and one female Blue Rock Thrush were still wintering.
Three Blackbirds and 32 Song Thrush were above average numbers for February.
Warblers.
The mild winter was most evident in this group of birds.
All six species of warbler were well above average numbers.
Maximums of three Cetti´s Warbler, 8 Fan-tailed Warbler, two Dartford Warblers, 22 Sardinian Warbler, 16 Blackcap and 40 Chiffchaffs.
Two Firecrest that put in an appearance at Torre de Capycorp on the 29th were my first for February.
Up to 5 Great Tits were heard calling and setting up territories this month. Normal numbers.
One of the few species to show a decline in their winter numbers was Southern Great Grey Shrike, with only one bird regularly seen. Usually three or four birds hold winter territories here.
Common Magpie numbers were down also with 13 birds maximum, but Magpie trapping is still popular in this part of Spain.
Spotless Starlings were back in their Summer breeding places, while the wintering Common Starlings were still feeding in the Farmland areas in big flocks.
House and Tree Sparrows were also back in their breeding haunts.
Finches and Buntings.
Although their were still sizable wintering Finch flocks to be seen, the resident birds were displaying and disputing territories.
Maximun numbers were 96 Chaffinch, 20 Greenfinch, 40 Goldfinch, only single Siskins, 15 Linnets and 68 Serins.
The mild winter weather had the reverse effect on the Buntings with lower numbers ssen than normal.
Maximum numbers were single Cirl Buntings, two Rock Buntings, 11 Reed Buntings and single Corn Buntings.
Alcossebre Weather for February 2008.
The first ten days of February continued with the settled type of weather we had in January, and gave us our warmest day of the month on the 7th with 24C (76F).
The rest of the month was much more mixed for weather with a series of depressions with sunny spells in between.
We had eight days with rain, mainly light showers or drizzle, with the wettest day on the 24th, when prolonged heavy rain gave us 1.4 inches (36mm).
Total rainfall for the month was 3.7 inches or 94mm.
Which made this February the driest in the last six years.
The average daytime temperature was 18C (64F) with the warmest day being the 7th with 24C (76F).
The average nightime temperature was 9C (49F) with the coldest night being 5C (41F) on the 1st, 2nd, 8th and 10th.
The temperature for February continues to rise year by year.
We usually expect strong winds in February, but this year wind strength was predominately light or gentle, with only three days with moderate winds.
Wind directions were mainly North or North West in the mornings and Easterly or Southerly in the afternoons.