Belted Kingfisher in Spain

[Colin Key]

This bird will be a first for Southern Europe:

http://www.rarebirdspain.net/home.htm

Colin :cool:

[Johnny X]

Heh! I wonder where it made landfall?

[birdingcraft]

Wow! What a bird for Spain!

[LeeEvans]

Not wishing to cast aspersions but the authenticity of this record really needs to be considered as its proximity to a whole host of Mediterranean escapees sends alarm bells ringing. There is such a history of escaped birds in this region with many zoos continuously flouting regulations (we had Egyptian Plover recently, Black-necked Stilt and so forth)

OK, this Belted Kingfisher is a fine first-winter female which bodes well with natural vagrancy but it could equally bode well with a 2009 hatchling in captivity. I cannot find any reference to any Belted Kingfishers in captivity but then again, I could not find any reference to Allen's Gallinules and we know, to my detriment, that at least five of these are held against their will in a Donanan Wildlife Park.

It could very well have arrived on its own steam this autumn mixed in with the Azorean headlining party and made its way far inland but it is somewhat questionable. It really does need to be firmy investigated, particularly as one of my contacts in Spain heard of exotic kingfishers being kept in the region.

[Colin Key]

It really does need to be firmy investigated, particularly as one of my contacts in Spain heard of exotic kingfishers being kept in the region.

Hello Lee,

I think that Ricard Gutierrez would be very interested in this information; the first thing that the finder of this bird (Antonio Hernández) asked was the possibility of this species being kept in captivity.

As to the Allen's Gallinule, "nuff said"!!! :laugh::laugh::laugh:

Colin :smile:

[LeeEvans]

Colin

One of Spain's top twitchers and leading lights sent me this cautionary note

''A guy saw an escaped Asian kingfisher (didnt say the species) in Malaga last year''

This perhaps may well be a red herring but in records as outlandish as this one, all avenues need to be explored and thoroughly investigated. I must admit at being more than a little concerned at the variety of species appearing in the region; even the recent African House Bunting is in a sorry state.

[mafting]

There is such a history of escaped birds in this region with many zoos continuously flouting regulations .

What regulations are those? There aren't many EU or domestic regulations about keeping legally-held species in captivity. And just about anything is available legally. Even Tufted Puffins.

[LeeEvans]

Belted Kingfisher being a cites species and restricted to North America in range is supposed to be a fully protected species with no legal trade or export allowed. It does not feature on the most recent lists published on bird exportation and is not a species I have ever seen advertised for sale.

However Richard, you are most likely right; it seems that any species of bird can be obtained if you are seriously seeking it

[Johnny X]

It doesn't seem that outlandish a record to me, Lee. This is a hardy and strong-flying species after all - witness the bizzare inland initial location and rapid relocation of our own UK bird in 2005!

The Spanish bird could have arrived anywhere in NW Europe and headed down. The French Atlantic coast did ok for american birds this autumn, and Murcia is pretty much due south of there. I can't imagine that travelling east from the Azores is that likely.

[LeeEvans]

Yes and what a very strange record that was - certainly an April Fool's Day joke that backfired. That really is one bird that I would have dearly loved to have seen in the UK - an absolute mega. Maybe one day....

[mafting]

Belted Kingfisher being a cites species and restricted to North America in range is supposed to be a fully protected species with no legal trade or export allowed. It does not feature on the most recent lists published on bird exportation and is not a species I have ever seen advertised for sale.

However Richard, you are most likely right; it seems that any species of bird can be obtained if you are seriously seeking it

You can legally trade or export a CITES species with a licence, although you'd expect a legally traded bird to be ringed and/or chipped. Breeding kingfishers is no easy feat though, and I'd be pretty surprised if any are in Western Europe. In that context, natural vagrancy might be more likely. Although a look round the Dutch or Belgian bird fairs are an eye opener.

Lee - are you saying that you don't think the 2005 trio of records (Staffs, E Yorks, Aberdeens) is genuine?

[Colin Key]

The bird is moving around and is now near the coast, and has been seen by more birders. The original finder/photographer has described the bird as "behaving wildly and trying to avoid human presence".

Colin

[mafting]

The bird is moving around and is now near the coast, and has been seen by more birders. The original finder/photographer has described the bird as "behaving wildly and trying to avoid human presence".

Colin

I think Lee's point is that you may expect that from it, if it arrived in Europe in a cardboard tube stuffed down someone's leg.

[Colin Key]

I think Lee's point is that you may expect that from it, if it arrived in Europe in a cardboard tube stuffed down someone's leg.

I suppose it could depend on whose trouser leg (or skirt :biggrin:) it was stuffed down!

I have to admit that my first reaction was to think along the same lines - any bird escaping from "captivity" would most likely shun human presence; but I do not think that that would always be the case, and is probably species dependent. I cannot possibly image how an incarcerated kingfisher sp. might react in such circumstances (or indeed why anyone would wish to keep a kingfisher in captivity).

In my previous post I was just relaying information; the finder does not speak/write English so some of the raw information posted quickly on the Rare Birds Spain website sometimes loses something in translation; the jist was that those who had seen the bird were of the opinion that it was exhibiting "wild" characteristics (take that for what it is worth).

Had I not woken up this morning with flu-like symptoms (I can barely sit here, let alone stand up) I would be on my way, at great expense (it is cheaper to travel from U.K. to Spain than it is from Portugal), to see and hopefully photograph this bird.

The torture became even worse because there was news put out this morning on the Portuguese Yahoo "Raridades" Newsgroup that a Red-breasted Flycatcher has been seen here in the Algarve yesterday by Simon Wates. Fairly "mega" (would be 7th record for Portugal and a lifer for me) but I cannot get any further news of where this bird is. I suspect that it has been trapped (just an assumption) and that it might be quite close to where I live.

Miserable day really :cry::twitcy:

Colin

[LeeEvans]

No Richard. I was in the Straits of Gibraltar at the time watching flocks of European Bee-eaters flying north towards Spain. I was receiving phone call after call on April 1st informing me of a Belted Kingfisher not far from the M6 in Staffordshire. Naturally I thought it was a wind-up - and so did many others.

This bird eventually flew east and relocated just north of the Humber then migrated north to Aberdeenshire and was most likely a bird that had overwintered either in Africa or southern Europe that winter (or perhaps was migrating from southern North America at the time and got caught up in some weather system). It was incredibly mobile, elusive and difficult-to-see and moving in a way that you would expect from a spring vagrant, so yes I would assume it is wild.

Re the Spanish bird, I was approached by some of Spain's finest and asked for comment and informed that Antonio Guttiarez had seen an escaped Collared Kingfisher in the Malaga area proving that exotic Kingfishers were being kept in captivity in the region. Couple this with the fact that this region of Spain is producing exotica at a frequent rate (eg, up to 7 Lesser Flamingoes, African Spoonbills, Yellow-billed Storks, Marabou, Allen's Gallinule, Black-necked Stilt, Egyptian Plover, African House Bunting, etc) and flocks of Ruppell's Griffon Vultures are now occurring, I felt that it was pertinent to maybe consider the possibility that it may be an escape. I am NOT suggesting that it is an escape, only raising the possibility, and if it is highly mobile and elusive and fearful of humans, then it has most likely arrived of its own steam and worthy of the investment.

It is certainly more worthy of merit than a certain male Chestnut Bunting I have accepted in North Norfolk.

[Colin Key]

Am I correct in thinking that the 2005 U.K. bird was relocated in Aberdeen in the garden of the guy whose father first found the bird in his own garden in Staffs or Yorkshire (can't remember which)?

If so, it puts "betting odds" in a rather different light, don't you think?

Colin :err:

[Johnny X]

Am I correct in thinking that the 2005 U.K. bird was relocated in Aberdeen in the garden of the guy whose father first found the bird in his own garden in Staffs or Yorkshire (can't remember which)?

It was not quite that random...but still pretty amazing! I think the son of the guy who found it on a canal in Staffs was one of the birders that ID'd it on the River Dee at Peterculter, I believe it was discovered by someone walking their mutt initially.

Incidentally I saw it at Peterculter....what a bird!!!

[Motmot]

The kingfisher was refound today at the same spot.

[Colin Key]

A couple more photos here:

http://birdscatalonia.brinkster.net/ReservoirBirds/index.asp

Colin