birding the costa: various, week 3-10 August

10/8/08

various, week 3-10 August

Apologies for leaving things to one side, life could be easier, so there are various bits and pieces of interest.
Perhaps the most interesting is the presence of a yellow-billed tern in a small colony of Sandwich Terns in the salt pans at Cabo de Gata for the past month although news really got out this week. There has been a lot of talk about this bird and after the possibility of it being a hybrid Lesser Crested x Sandwich (my own choice originally), I have just (Sunday) seen some video of it and now tend to think in terms of Elegant Tern, altho' the rump colour has yet to be seen. Definitely worth a look if one is near Cabo de Gata and if any kind observer can see it's rump colour clearly, do let me know. Pity I'm tied up tomorrow and off to England on Tuesday.
A Lesser Spotted Eagle was reported from up the Río Guadalhorce on Friday 8 August but given (a) the short view, (b) the lack of description (the observer never sends in descriptions) and (c) the known difficulties of separating this and Spotted Eagle with the added problem of hybrids of these two spp., this should be treated with caution. In the same place, yet another Eleonora's Falcon was seen and the same day another seen near the Parque Tecnológico near Campanillas (Málaga).
I have managed to get to the Guadalhorce ponds last Sunday (3 August), Tuesday (5 August) and today, 10 August. The outstanding feature has been the heat and relatively high humidity wich has resulted in an extremely 'heavy' atmosphere and made birding not very pleasant. On each occasion there have 11-12 spp. of waders, with nothing really outstanding although I always enjoy seeing Greenshanks and Curlew Sandpipers, 4-10 Dunlins and with singles of Ruff and Little Sint on each occasion, although yesterday (9 August) there were 11 present, and today a single Whimbrel.
There are good numbers of waders and birding around Doñana still, in spite of the heat.
Note: This will be the last posting for until at least 20 August as I'm off to get wet in England for a few days!

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THE BLOG AND ME

THE BLOG

'Birding the Costa' is a blog spot for English speaking birders anywhere in Andalucía whose Spanish is not up to scratch. It is not just about rarities, although details will be posted of these. You are welcome to send in reports to me for publication for the benefit of others, but please be brief, select the essential and most interesting, and give site, name of nearest town or village and province and date(s) of observation. All published reports will be attributed, so please give your name also. Photos may be sent for publication and will be acknowledged. Attributed reports (translated) from Spanish webs will also be given.

Information about the sites of rare breeding species will not be published.

ME
I'm a sort of Brit., although I've lived about half my life out of the UK, and have lived here on the coast for over 30 years and been birding for over 60.

The vast majority of my birding revolves around my garden area in Torremolinos (c.112 spp. last time I counted), my local spot at the ponds at the mouth of the Río Guadalhorce and less frequently the areas of the lake at Fuente de Piedra and the Tarifa-La Janda area.

I am NOT a twitcher and my main interest lies with seabirds, followed by waders. Little brown jobs, known by the French as les petites merdes, a sentiment with which I fully agree, do not rank high amongst my birding interests.

And in response to a request for more information, I have been a member of the Seabird Group since its inception in 1965, a founder member of the Filey Brigg Bird Group (UK), helped form and served on the Spanish Rarities Committee (Comité de Rarezas), helped found the Iberian Seabird Group (Grupo Ibérico de Aves Marinas) and am an insignificant member of the IUCN Flamingo Specialist Group.

Virtually all sites mentioned in this blog will be found in the 3rd edition of Where to watch birds in southern and western Spain by Ernest García and myself and published by Helm (London).

Sites in the Doñana area can be found in the excellent Where to watch birds in Doñana by Paco Chiclana and Jorge Garzón, published by Lynx.

PUBLISHED 1 AUGUST 2012
.

.... for the real seabirder who isn't afraid of doing his/her own active chumming! And it's on waterproof paper!

The BIRDBOOKER REPORT of Ian Paulsen says (12/08) 'In short, this is a must-have guide for serious birders on both sides of the Atlantic. RECOMMENDATION: Pelagic birders should find this waterproof guide useful.

PUBLICATIONS
Varias notas en la revista British Birds entre 1965-presente; 1968-72 en el Bulletin of the British Ornithologists Club; desde 1983 en La Garcilla y desde 1995 en Birdwatch.

1985. Interrupted migration and misorientation of Black Terns Chlidonias nigra during spring migration in Andalucía. Seabird 8: 69-73.

1986. Kleptoparasitic feeding by migrating skuas in Málaga Bay, Spain. Ringing & Migration 7: 51-55.

1986. (with E. de Juana) The status of the seabirds in the extreme western Mediterranean. In Medmaravis & Monbilliu, X.. Mediterranean Marine Avifauna; population studies and connservation, pp. 39-106. NATO ASI series G, vol. 12. Springer-Verlag, Berlin.

1987. Fenología de las aves marinas en la bahía de Málaga. Ardeola 34(2): 167-192.

1987. Birdwatching in southern Spain. Golf Area, S.A., Málaga.

1988. (with Bourne, W.R.P., Mackrill, E.J. & Yésou, P.) The Yelkouan Shearwater Puffinus (puffinus?) yelkouan. British Birds 81: 306-319).

1990. (with Yésou, P., Mackrill, E.J. & Bourne, W.R.P.) Plumage variation and identification of the 'Yelkouan Shearwater'. British Birds 83: 299-319.

1990. (with N.J. Riddiford) Does the Cape Gannet enter European waters? British Birds 83: 519-525.

1990. Aves marinas de Málaga y Mar de Alborán. (Seabirds of Málaga and Sea of Alborán.) Junta de Andalucía, Sevilla.

1990. Seasonal evolution of the gull populations in Málaga, Spain. Ardeola 37: 19-28.

1993. Development of head moult of Black-headed Gulls Larus ridibundus in southern Spain. Seabird 15:68-71.

1993. The status of the Northern Gannet (Sula bassana) in the Mediterranean. In Ahuilar, J.S., Monbailliu, X. & Paterson, A.M. (eds.) Status and conservation of seabirds, (Proc. 2nd Medmaravis Symp, 1989), pp. 161-171. SEO/Birdlife, Madrid.

1994. (with Dr. E.F.J. García) Where to watch birds in Southern Spain. Christopher Helm, Londres. (También publicado en España por Omega, Barcelona, 1995, Dónde observar aves en la España meridional.)

1995. Distribuzione degli uccelli marini nidificanti nel Mediterraneo, Mar Nero e Mar d'Azov. (Distribution of nesting seabirds in the Mediterranean, Black Sea and Sea of Azov.) In Monbailliu, X. & Torre, A. La gestione degli ambienti costieri e insulari del Mediterraneo, pp. 23-42. Collana Mediterranea, vol. 2. Edizione del Sole, Italia.

1997. Aves marinas de España y Portugal. Seabirds of Spain and Portugal.) Lynx Edicions, Barcelona.

1999. (with Pierre Yésou) Puffin yelkouan et Puffin des Baléares: une ou deux espèces? (Mediterranean Shearwater and Balearic Shearwater: one or two species?) Ornithos 6.

2001. (with Dr. E.F.J. García) Where to watch birds in southern and western Spain. (revised and enlarged 2nd edition of 1994 publication) (Christopher Helm, London).

2002. Guía a las aves marinas de Iberia. Ediciones Leonesas, León.

2003. Birdwatch, article on 'Prestige' oil spill disaster.

2008. (with Dr. E.F.J. García) Where to watch birds in southern and western Spain. (revised and enlarged 3rd edition of 1994 and 2001 publications) (Christopher Helm, London).

birding the costa

10/8/08

various, week 3-10 August

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