devastating fire hits Zino's Petrel breeding area

I had intended that my first blog after returning from the frozen north (ie. Yorkshire) would be about that not very profitable trip, but more of that anon, as the below, courtesy of BirdLife International, is of far greater importance. I urge you to donate, as I have done, this species is not just fantastically rare, and if you want to see any more shots (not great), go to my blog for 1 June where there are a few photos of this and other pelagic spp. at sea off Madeira as well as an account of the trip.

CATASTROPHIC FOREST FIRE DELIVERS
HUGE BLOW TO EUROPE'S RAREST SEABIRD

Donate at www.justgiving.com/zinos-petrel-disaster

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A massive forest fire on the island of Madeira has killed several breeding adults and 65% of this year’s chicks of Zino’s Petrel (Endangered). BirdLife International and SPEA (BirdLife in Portugal) have launched an urgent appeal for funds to carry out emergency conservation work needed before the winter sets in (copy and paste the address above) .

Zino’s Petrel Pterodroma madeira is Europe’s rarest seabird and one of the rarest birds in the world, nesting only on a few mountain ledges in the rugged central massif of Madeira island. Once on the edge of extinction with numbers down to a few tens of pairs, intense conservation action over the past 20 years, led by the Natural Park of Madeira (Parque Natural da Madeira - PNM) with support from SPEA, the Freira Conservation Project and Funchal Municipal Museum, has seen its population grow to almost 80 pairs.

In recent weeks, forest fires have ravaged parts of Madeira, and on 13 August they hit the heart of the central massif. This area (which is protected as part of the EU’s Natura 2000 network) comprises a very important habitat and supports several endemic plants and animals, including the Zino’s Petrel breeding colony, where many nestlings were still in their burrows.

On 15 August, as soon as the ground and soil had cooled down sufficiently, PNM staff visited the breeding cliffs to assess the damage. The results were shocking: 25 young and 3 adults were found dead, and only 13 young fledglings were found alive in their underground chambers. As well as the dead birds, the fire exacerbated soil erosion, with several nesting burrows having disappeared.

“The loss of 65% of this year’s potential young is a huge blow to Zino’s Petrel. Our immediate conservation efforts are focusing on helping the remaining 13 fledglings to survive and minimising the risk of further soil erosion on the breeding ledges" —Ana Isabel Fagundes, SPEA-Madeira Coordinator.

“The loss of 65% of this year’s potential young is a huge blow to Zino’s Petrel. Our immediate conservation efforts are focusing on helping the remaining 13 fledglings to survive and minimising the risk of further soil erosion on the breeding ledges,” said Ana Isabel Fagundes, SPEA’s Madeira Coordinator.

“All nests with surviving chicks have been reinforced, all corpses removed, and bait stations for rats around the now barren nesting areas established. Burnt bushes and trees have also been removed to avoid the risk of adult birds colliding with them on their nocturnal visits to feed the chicks,” reported Paulo Oliveira, PNM Director.

Encouragingly, the immediate conservation action taken by PNM at the breeding colony appears to be working: “Since our first visit to the breeding ledges, we have monitored the 13 surviving fledgings closely and can confirm that they are still being fed by their parents and appear to be healthy,” reported Paulo Oliveira following his latest visit on 24 August.

The PNM and SPEA have now developed an action plan for the breeding colony. Immediate measures needed include covering areas with anti-erosion materials and constructing artificial nesting burrows, both of which have proven successful on other seabird breeding colonies on neighbouring Bugio island. Other planned work includes taking steps to help the natural vegetation recover through seed dispersal.

The PNM and SPEA are now seeking financial help to cover the costs of the materials and manpower needed to implement these essential emergency measures. BirdLife International has set up a secure online donation web page to help collect the urgent funds to help Zino’s Petrel. Click here to find out more and to donate.

So, dear reader, dig down in the bank account (preferably a sterling one to avoid change charges) and donate a bit to help and thanks on behalf of the Zino's Petrels

Andy

30 July, Guadalhorce

As for once there were neither medics to be seen or blood to be sucked for analysis and the knees were behaving as knees more or less should, I rang Bob last evening and this morning we met by the church prior to going into the Guadalhorce, in a rather grey dawn at the early hour of 07.20, which is just about the only to beat the heat. Last evening, too,we had promised that we would be on our way out by 10.30 - not likely, no way if there are birds around and they were in quantity, and very nice too.

Very pleasant it was too to run into Ted Lord, then Patricia along with Birgit Kremer (she has a fabulous web with great bird shots) and Eduardo (whose surname I do not know,my apologies). So, where does one start?



I think that it's probably best to start with the waders, as at last we had waders, at least 23 and possibly as many as 30 Curlew Sandpipers, a few still in fulll breeding plumage but the majority starting to moult out, plus a few juvs.. They really are charmers. There weren't many Dunlins, I think our maximum count was 3, but they too were still showing the world that they had been sitting in soot with their black bellies. We saw and heard a single Greenshank and there were at least 5 Redshank and singles of Little Stint, Whimbrel and Spotted Redshank, plus at least 2 Common Sandpipers. The vast majority of these were on the wader pool, in front of the sceond hide on the east bank, and with more further down along the río Viejo, where there were a lot of plovers of all three species, Ringed, Little Ringed and Kentish and still fair numbers of the now less hysterical Black-winged Stilts, these including a flock of c.20 on the laguna grande. So, if my maths is right (doubtful) and assuming that I've not missed anything (possible), that should make a total of 12 wader species, which is not bad but things should get better yet.

There was a reasonable showing of ducks and grebes, always taking into consideration that the former are in moult now and are not in the mood to show off very much, although we did see a few White-headed and Pochards, as well as the ubiquitous Mallards.
What was of interest was the presence of a brood of Little Grebes on the laguna de la Casilla, Mum, dad and 4 young. Actually, if one stops to look at the adult Little Grebes in breeding plumage, they


are really rather attractive little birds, in spite of the god-awful noises they make. We also commented on the absence of Purple Bog-hens (a.k.a. Swamphens/Gallinules) this year.

By 10.30 the putative leaving time came and the temperature rising, we hadn't even got as far as the laguna grande and that was a must, as we had seen 7 Spoonbills in flight - which turned out to be 8 when we saw them on the deck - and I wanted to check them out for colour rings-.

The laguna grande was loaded with Little Egrets, 64 counted this morning according to José Miguel Ramírez, a Medio Ambiente biologist who told me that they are gorging themselves on small shrimps -camarrones- in the shallow waters. He also told me that yetserday there had been both Little and Black Terns and also Slender-billed Gulls, but not today in spite of looking hard, so we had to be satisfied with 7 Whiskered Terns, a single juvenile Sandwich Tern and a mass of gulls composed mainly of Black-headed, Mediterranean - some still showing quite a lot of breeding plumage, a nice selection of Audouin's Gulls, a few Yellow-legged and a couple of immature Lesser Black-backs.

As for the remainder, well, the usual really. A single Hoopoe, a usual selection of finches, a few Zitting Cisticolas, the normal 4 species of hirundines (Sand Martin was not seen). I reckoned about 55 species.

Oh, and I
nearly forgot, the rather handsome chameleon which staggered across our path as we wended our way out and did not want to be photographed by Bob! By the way, these are very much protected and do breed in the Guadalhorce reserve. They are not suitable pets. The baby on the left was photographed by myself in 2008. The Whiskered Tern photo, which is also by Bob, did not seem to mind but it couldn't see him!

21 July, Cabo de Gata; 22 July, Guadalhorce

Just as well Dave and Gilly send me some stuff about the visits of the Arboleas Bird Group, as I'm too tied up to get out, plus it's too damned hot, so thanks to them, you have something new to read! Like Dave, I am amazedat the low levels of literacy by the Spanish when out in the country, they think that signs don't apply to them! My apologies to them for not getting this posted before, even though I received it Thursday,I was just just too tied up.

Following their account, there is a note of birds seen at the Guadalhorce on 22 July by Patricia and Birgit.

21 July, Cabo de Gata : To avoid the oppressive heat, Gilly and I left our house at 6 am to get down to Cabo de Gata shortly after sunrise. After a pick-me-up cup of coffee at Pujaire we headed for the first hide. Lots of birds, but mostly Avocets, Yellow-legged and Black-headed Gulls and quite a number of Black-tailed Godwits. The highlight was a single Greenshank. Little waders were few are far between, us seeing only a few Kentish Plovers. On the way to the second hide we came to the rescue of three spanish girls who'd got their vehicle stuck in soft sand near the beach and signs saying "beware soft sand"! The hide produced much of the same, with Black-winged Stilts and a single Stone Curlew. Gilly counted at least 550 Greater Flamingos. The view from the public hide was better.

Numerous Curlew Sandpipers, a Redshank and a single Little Tern. A passing Glossy Ibis made it the bird of the day. The track round the rear of the reserve was dry, but quite rutted & bumpy. We were rewarded with good views of more Curlew Sandpipers and Kentish Plovers. Also seen were a Ruff and a Reeve, a small flock of Dunlin and 20 odd Audouin's Gulls at rest. "Only" 34 species but good to beat the heat. Earned more brownie points as I got us to the shopping centre for the 10 am opening time!!

Isn't Dave a good, selfless little birder? Or was it because the shopping centre wa air conditioned?

22 July, Guadalhorce ponds: This morning Patricia and Birgit were down at the ponds and Pat sent me the following abridged account. They saw an adult Night Heron and later 3 juveniles. At the laguna de la Casilla they saw two Little Bitterns and at the next hide, going towards the sea there was a Common Sandpiper. In the río viejo Pat saw an adult and a young Pied Wagtail. There were, of course, the stilts and plovers everywhere. There seem to be new baby stilts - the ones born first are now big. There are still swallows, house martins and swifts around.

At laguna de La Escondida they saw a Kingfisher, Little Grebes, Coots, Moorhens, White-headed Ducks. It appears that I appear to have brainwashed Pat as she remarks that she made a search for a 'purple bog hen' ... but nothing. (True, they appear to have been absent this year to all intents and purposes and I have had a similar level of luck - zero.) In a previous mail this week, Pat comments about an early Greenshank having been seen.

The Elliott-Binns & the Wrights visit El Hondo

El Hondo/El Fondo in Alicante is a superb wetland and Bob and Jenny Wright went over with Dave and Gilly, but in return (a) missed the mosquitoes - only one dared to bite Jenny, and (b) they had some good birding. The masses of dead carp that they saw is fairly common in shallow waters in an Andalusian summer, as warm (even hot) water holds less oxygen than cold. The only trouble is that it can possibly cause outbreaks of botulism which affect waterbirds very negatively. Any way, here is the account which Dave sent.

On Tuesday 13th Jully 2010, Bob & Jenny Wright travelled from their home near Malaga to ours in Arboleas. They stopped en route at Las Norias & Cabo de Gata. Bob will no doubt submit a report on his blog :- www.birdingaxarquia.weebly.com.

At the crack of the following morning (0530hrs) we departed for El Fondo Bird Reserve near Elche. After a reviving cuppa at Cox we arrived at the North Gate of the reserve at about 0800. The ranger arrived shortly afterwards and let us in, saying we were the only visitors today so had the reserve to ourselves.

Having already seen Cattle Egret and Marsh Harriers at the gate, we added Common and Pallid Swift, Green Sandpiper and Jackdaw by the time we'd driven down to the elevated hide. Thankfully there were no mosquitoes to worry about. From this viewing platform we saw Grey, Purple and Night Herons as well as numerous Little Bitterns. Great Crested and Little Grebes. White-headed Duck. Jenny then spotted two LBJ's in the reeds below us. Moustached Warblers, a first for them both I believe. A juvenile Great Reed Warbler was also seen together with a lot of Reed Warblers. We then walked to the next hide. Gilly guessimated there to be over 1,500 Greater Flamingos. There were also 100's of Avocets and Black-winged Stilts. Surprisingly no little waders at all. Families of Pochard were using the shallow waterway as a nursery. My photo of one such young Pochard is entitled " Swim or sink"!

When we got to the lane leading to the hide in the centre of the reserve we were extremely shocked to see hundreds of large fish, mostly Carp dead or dying in the canal. We later spoke to the Ranger. She said the water was shallow and therefore hot in the oppressive heat. They were dying from a lack of oxygen and the heat.....I suppose thankfully it was not poison.


The canal had numerous Purple, Squacco, Grey and Night Herons picking up the distressed prey. Over the water we could see small numbers of Whiskered and Little Terns feeding. There were a few Shelduck and Shoveler as well as a Black-necked Grebe. I then spotted a very distant grey and black coloured harrier, assuming it to be the male Monty's we'd seen on our previous visit. This was given more credence when we got back to the elevated hide as a female, closely followed by the male Montagu's Harrier flew past. As we waited for our time there to finish, Bob spotted a Purple Gallinule. As it was so hot we ere glad to see the Ranger arrive a bit early so we could "escape"!! We had a quick visit to the Information Centre where we saw a Kentish Plover on the pool....our one and only!!

We hope Bob & Jenny enjoyed their long distance birding. 50 species for the day. Not the best time of year to visit this reserve but still impressive.

30 June, Sierra de María, Almería

The inimitable Mr Noël Coward sang about mad dogs and Englishmen going out in the mid day sun and I'm sure he would have included birders if there had been more around in those far off days. However, the Arboleas Bird Group lets no mid day sun destroy their pleasures and boldly go where they have been before, and with good results and a lunch to follow too! Here is Dave's account and photos of the trip.

Still being tired from our last weeks early morning exploits, I did consider cancelling this week, but I'm really glad Brian phoned me to knock me back to my senses. Sierra de Maria was our destination and we met Brian and Mary from Chirivel at Maria's Repsol garage cafe. After a revitalising coffee we headed up to the Chapel car park. I spotted a distant Booted Eagle. We wandered around to the water fountain and trough. We heard and saw the moving shadow of a Golden Oriole, but not the actual bird. A Bonelli's Warbler made an appearance as did a Short-toed Treecreeper and an Iberian Chiffchaff. At the trough itself, Linnet, Chaffinch, Goldfinch and Crossbill came to drink. Got a good photo of a butterfly, which I've been informed is a Spanish Marbled White.

We sauntered up to the Botanical Garden in the hot sun. A pair of Cirl Buntings had a nest in one of the shrubs. In the forest walk itself birds were few and far between, but the commonest were Bonelli's Warbler. I managed to do the medium walk this time without too much strain, but Gilly was struggling with her dodgy knee. Melodious Warblers were still quite visible and vocal, but the rest of the warblers were skulking, including a juvenile Subalpine Warbler. Stopped for a rest at the seat at the far end, where I spotted my first Orphean Warbler of the year...and probably my last!!

Wasn't much at the La Piza forest cafe, so we carried on to the ruined farm buildings. Saw another pair of Booted Eagles and a few Griffon Vultures. Missing out the plains we climbed over the mountains, seeing Corn Bunting, Roller, Kestrel and Black-eared Wheatear on the way to Brian and Mary's house where they gave us lunch!

A wonderful day. 39 species in all.

23 June, El Fondo, Elche (Alicante)

The Arboleas Bird Group started very early to go a long way to El Fondo, also known as El Hondo, a very good and very important reserve, both for birds and mosquitos! Read on through Dave's report and be jealous of what they saw!

Note that Dave makes reference to the opening time of the reserve and he tells me that it is open Wednesdays and Saturdays only, between 08.15 and 11.15 and that reservations can be made by calling the information centre on 966-678-515.

5.20 am is a very early start in order to get to the North Gate of the reserve at the opening time of 8.15 am and have breakfast beforehand! Gilly and I had an old member, Stan, with us who was here on holiday. We met up with Brian and Mary and arrived at the entrance at 8 am, putting a Marsh Harrier to flight, so had time to put on anti-mosquito spray before one of the rangers opened up.

As we drove down the 1.5 km track to the elevated viewing platform down the far end, there was a pair of Rollers in the eucalyptus trees as were some Cattle Egrets and a Squacco Heron. A Common Buzzard flew passed.

We then walked back up up the track to hide overlooking a large expanse of shallow water, logging a Green Sandpiper as we went. There were 19 Greater Flamingos. On the waterfowl front, Shelduck were the most numerous, with a few Shoveler, Mallard and a single Marbled Duck. A flock of 30+ Collared Pratincoles gave an aerial display in front of us. I managed to get a fleeting glimpse of a Purple Gallinule.

We then walked to the hide further onto the reserve, "beating" a Hoopoe along the track in front of us. As we climbed the steps to the elevated hide about 20 Squacco Herons, some Little Egrets and a single Glossy Ibis took to the air from the reeds in front of us. They all circled 7 returned to the reeds....never to be seen again!! We overlooked a large expanse of shallow water to both sides and the front. There was a flock of over 50 Black-tailed Godwits in breeding plumage and a single Greenshank. Brian spotted some Ringed Plover as well.

We walked back to a hide we had missed as it had been occupied. Some Spotted Redshank had been seen. But before we could seen them. everything took to flight as a wonderful male Montagu's Harrier quartered over, making a few passes in front of us. To our left was an eucalyptus tree which was an insectfeeding station for numerous warblers....mostly LBJ's ! I think I did positively ID an Olivacous Warbler amongst them.

We headed back to the elevated viewing platform for the last half hour. As well as the numerous Little Bitterns reed top flying, a shout went up about a flying Bearded Reedling. I did manage to spot its bottom disappearing into the dense reeds.

As it was 11.15 am, kicking out time, we headed towards the information centre. On the way we noticed what appeared to be columns of water spray all over the verges and fields. Not water...mosquitoes!! Billions of them. There was a misty haze, billions of them...yes even more than the UK's deficit!! Being a bite magnet, Brian decided they'd try and find a new hide we'd been told about on the other side of the reserve whilst Gilly, Stan and I did the Information Centre. As Stan and I walked round the boardwalk there were no mozzies which was a blessing. Didn't see the Stone Curlew, which Gilly spotted from the Centres observation window, but did see the nesting Collared Pratincole on one of the islands.

What a great day we had. 50 species in all and most of them good 'uns! Yes, an early start, but well worth it.

18 June: two for the price of one

Sounds like the sales, doesn't? Either that or some barrow boy in a street market. But no, it simply refers that at last not only have I managed to get out birding this week but two consecutive days in a row, yesterday, Thursday 17 June, and today, Friday, 18 June. And very pleasant it was too!

17 June, Guadalhorce : A fairly lateish start given the way the mercury is starting to rise up its capillary, around 10.00, with Ann and David from Nerja. A very pleasant morning's birding, but with some rather disturbing aspects, although how much is due to the vast quantities of water that we had earlier in the year or other causes remains to be seen. I have my own ideas but shall not air them all here.

There was a very nice female Pochard with her ducklings (I like the word ducklets too) and as the photo shows, she was very wary of this thing poking a camera lens at her from the hide. There were also several White-headed Ducks on several of the ponds,

There was a single Ringed Plover (I see that some publications are calling it the Greater Ringed Plover but they can what they like with that idea), but most notable and disturbing was the virtual absence of small plovers, Little Ringed and Kentish, and the total absence of any plover chicks (I looked and didn't see one) , while there are lots of Stilt chicks of all ages, the adults of these being extremely aggressive- they gave merry hell to a single Redshank which was literally harried from one pair to the next and probably shoved off, I know I would have done. I strongly suspect that this, allied with the lack of shore along which the plover chicks can disperse, is a major factor- they and the adults have been harried so much that they just haven't had a chance against thei bigger stilts. Plus the area just to the right of the seawatch mirador , which supposedly is for Kentish Plovers, is covered in too much vegetation and bits of wood and detritus from the winter storms which provides cover for predators such as rats, snakes and possibly even the ocellated lizards of which there are a few. Kentish Plovers like little cover and lots of uneven sand. I have spoken about this today (Friday) with a member of the administration, plus other things to do with the Guadalhorce.

But to go on to more pleasant things, the bird of the day was, without doubt, a Great Spotted Cuckoo which sat in tree and rested and preened, allowing us to admire it at leisure. Thera re interesting in that they arrive vey early,as early as December, and return southwards early, just asthe normal Cuckoo does, having played at parasitising the nests that they like.
At the laguna Escondida we watched the male Black-headed Weaver stripping green reed heads and actually managed to locate the round suspended nest he was so busily building. On the other hand, he didn't allow even a half-way decent photograph, unlike the male White-headed Duck shown here which decided to suddenly wake up and show-off, certainly making it easy to understand why these belong to the so-called'stiff-tailed' group of ducks (the infamous Ruddy Duck is another).

And finally, on the laguna Grande, a couple of Slender-billed Gulls to round off the morning and off a decent comparison with Black-headed Gulls present. I didn't make a species list, but there wasn't a vast number of species.

18 June, Fuente de Piedra
I had been intending to go tomorrow, but when Federico rang to say that he was coming down from Córdoba, the chance for us to meet up was too great to miss and we had a very pleasant morning's birding. At the same time, and this has implications for the Guadalhorce, I was able to meet my old friend Manolo Rendón, big chief of Fuente de Piedra and thoroughly nice chap, and Federico and I were able to express some of our worries about the Guadalhorce, so be patient and there will be news later after the flamingo ringing has taken place. But things will happen.

On the way up the A-92, near Humilladero, a female Montagu's Harrier flew across the road in front of me, auguring well (I hoped).

Of course, there were Flamingos everywhere and lots of Avocets too. We read the rings of 4 flamingos of which 3 were from the Camargue, France, ringed respectively in 1993 - this is the digiscoped photo taken by Federico of the ring coded yellow BPAT (read upwards and yes,I know it's faded and dirtybut it was yellow), also birds ringed in1995 and 2004, and the other a native of Fuente de Piedra. Both birds on the left are ringed.

I was rather surprised by the apparent lack of Gull-billed Terns, although we saw a few there were not the numbers I would normally expect but they may well have been feeding elsewhere. There was a single Redshank, this one not suffering the attentions of the Stilts, while most of the Avocets were asleep on the sandy spit, while round at the laguneta del Pueblo, the lake behind the centre, a female Red-crested Pochard flew in to a very fast landing, stayed 30 seconds and vanished again and an early/late/non-breeding (take your pick) Green Sandpiper was present. A Lapwing was not a species I really expected to see there, although they have bred nearby at the laguna Dulce at Campillos in past years. And finally, on the way out, a pair of Pratincoles flew across in front of me.