Dutch Birding JAARGANG 29 NUMMER 5 2007 VOLUME 29 NUMBER 5 2007

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Artikelen / papers
273 Identification of American Sandwich Tern Martin Garner, Ian Lewington & Jason Crook
288 Lost and found: Laughing Gull ?Atze? in Europe Gert Ottens
292 Rotszwaluwen in West-Nederland in november 2006 [EURASIAN CRAG MARTINS IN THE WESTERN NETHERLANDS IN NOVEMBER 2006] Enno B Ebels, Rob G M Baars, Maarten Hotting & Cor Oskam
297 Moussier?s Redstart at Cabo de S?o Vicente, Portugal, in November 2006-January 2007 Ray P Tipper & Kev M Wilson

302 Greater Sand Plovers in Tunisia in November-December 2005 and November 2006 Manuel Schweizer & Raffael Ay?
303 Status of Cetti?s Warbler in Saratov region, Russia Evgeni V Zavialov & Vasily G Tabachishin

Varia
305 The Veracruz ?River of raptors? Garry Bakker & Remco Hofland

Aankondigingen & verzoeken
311 Volunteers needed in northern Greece

Masters of Mystery
312 Solutions of fourth round 2007: Steppe Eagle and Long-legged Buzzard; Fifth round 2007 Rob S A van Bemmelen, Dick Groenendijk & Jan Eerbeek

CDNA-mededelingen
314 Recente CDNA-besluiten

WP reports
315 late July-early September 2007 Arnoud B van den Berg & Marcel Haas

Recente meldingen / recent reports
330 Nederland: juli-augustus 2007 Ruud M van Dongen, Remco Hofland & Peter W W de Rouw
338 Belgi?: juli-augustus 2007 Gerald Driessens

DB Actueel
342 Succesvolle broedgevallen van Witvleugelsterns in Krimpenerwaard en Sliedrechtse Biesbosch [BREEDING WHITE-WINGED TERNS]; Vier Veldrietzangers op Vlieland [PADDYFIELD WARBLERS]; Withalsvliegenvanger geringd in Meijendel [COLLARED FLYCATCHER]

DBA-nieuws
345 Programma Dutch Birding-vogelweek in oktober 2007

Corrigenda
345

Voorplaat / front cover
Wilsons Stormvogeltje / Wilson?s Storm-petrel Oceanites oceanicus, Portim?o, Portugal, 26 augustus 2007 (Stefan Pf?tzke)
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[Colin Key]

297 Moussier’s Redstart at Cabo de São Vicente, Portugal, in November 2006-January 2007 Ray P Tipper & Kev M Wilson



Bird of the century for me (there he is in my avatar!) - Kevin told me about the bird and precisely where it was and I was the first to photograph it the following day.

Colin:biggrin:

[admin]

Well done Colin - looks like you got a great photo of it - any others you can attach?
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[Colin Key]

Well done Colin - looks like you got a great photo of it - any others you can attach?

Thanks. Yes, I have more shots somewhere (I am the world's worst "housekeeper" of digital images!) which I will dig out in due course and also relate the story about this bird. It caused quite a "stir", in more ways than one.

Colin :twitcy:

[Bobolink44]

would love to hear about this bird Colin when you can dig out a photo.

[Colin Key]

Well lads, I have looked everywhere for the original RAW files but no success (they are preciously archived on one of my external hard-drives, but where?).

Here is one which I submitted to SPEA Raridades (the Portuguese Rarities Committee):

http://i118.photobucket.com/albums/o100/Passarinhos/MoussiersRedstart-1.jpg

The best shot was the one which appeared in Birding World Vol. 19 No. 11 (issue239) on page 454.

Kevin Wilson (Warden at Gib. Point, Lins) who was staying at the A Rocha field studies centre (my neighbours) found the bird on 16th November 2006. He told me about it, including specific directions as to where it was, on the following day and on the 18th I set off with my wife to try and get some photographs. It was a 40Km drive to Fortaleza de Beliche, near Cabo de São Vicente, and the rain was coming down like stair-rods. Half way there I realised that in my excitement I had forgotten to pack my tripod and Wimberley head for the 500 mm lens; we almost turned back, but decided we would continue and just go and have lunch somewhere if the weather didn't abate.

Arrived and the weather improved a bit. I did a reccy and realised that we were in the right place but only Robins, Stonechats and Sardinian Warblers showing. Went back to the Land Rover and got the camera and lens after the rain stopped. We could hear some very aggressive Robin noises from within a bush about 50 metres away and suddenly Margaret said "there he is" and, magically, the sun appeared for a few minutes. I managed to get the lens resting on her shoulder but the adrenalin had cut in and I was shaking like a leaf and my heart was pounding. I just pressed the trigger and hoped (no real idea how the camera was set up or if the lens IS was turned on). What you cannot see in this shot is that in the background a car-load of German tourists had decided that they would get out and change into their shorts which attracted the AF on my lens to the point that I had great difficulty getting onto the bird. My language was incandescent! I had a quick "chimp" at the LCD review and saw that I had got enough to at least I.D. the bird and, as it began to pour again with rain we cut and ran. On downloading the images I was pleased that a couple of the shots were usable - not bad under the circumstances and considering that the bird was 50 metres away (we measured the distance on a subsequent visit).

The bird stayed until the end of January 2007 and during that time remained faithful to the site. I took great pleasure in taking quite a few people to see this superb bird, for most of whom it was a "lifer". I even met a couple of British expats living in France who were on holiday in Spain and had seen the photos I posted on my "blog" and made the journey specially to see the bird - I was at this stage giving away autographed 6x4" photos!.

The final episode is not so good. I took a good friend down to see the bird and was informed by others present that the day before a group of ringers (cowboys and scalp hunters, as they were described to me) had attempted to net the bird. My friend is someone who is "in the know" as far as licensed ringing in Portugal is concerned and after making a few calls on his mobile all hell was let loose. To say that the "pooh had hit the fan" was an understatement. The bird was seen again on one subsequent day, but then went off radar.

This paper in Dutch Birding by Ray Tipper (resident Algarve birder and great photographer) and Kevin Wilson is a nice little piece of history. As a footnote (and something I discussed with Ray Tipper before this went to press) I do know two birders who's credentials I would not challenge who claim to have seen male Moussier's (two separate birds) about five to seven years ago, but no accurate notes or photos recorded. Interesting to conjecture how many have gone "unseen".

Colin :certifiable:

[AndyB]

Colin, cracking photo and bird! Thanks for the story.