Ringing at home

This Saturday, Joan Pujol and Miquel Batriu came to l'Aiguamoll de la Bòbila in order to do a ringing session. The day before, I prepared the nets with Bernat Ferrer, Joan Manubens and a nice Redwing (Turdus iliacus), who was migrating and probably stopped for a moment to see us.

Before the sun rose up we were 'opening' the nets and we heard another Redwing in migration. The fog dissapeared quickly, all indicates a great day.

We caught 22 birds of 13 species, some of them very interesting because it was only the fifth time we ringed there. For example, we caught for first time:

Adult male Black Redstart (Phoenicurus ochruros)

1cy female Reed Bunting (Emberiza schoeniclus)

Chaffinches (Fringilla coelebs)

2 Kingfishers (Alcedo atthis). In this photos, a 1cy female.

Male Yellowhammer (Emberiza citrinella), a big surprise

Magpie (Pica pica)

Another birds were...

A female Blackbird (Turdus merula), ringed for first time
in May 2012

3 Song Thrushes (Turdus philomelos)

2 Blue Tits (Cyanistes caeruleus). This one is a juvenile,
look the  juvenile primary coverts contrasting
with the moulted GC.

Yes, Joan Manubens can speak with birds...

Llobregat Delta in November

Today I were to Llobregat Delta with Josep Ramoneda and his girldfriend, Maria Soto. We've passed a good birdwatching morning in this great place. The Delta is situated in the influence area of Barcelona. Inside the delta you can find an airport, some shopping centres... This important area resists the human pressure and we must preserve it.

We went to Remolar-Filipines zone, a big marsh just to the side of the coast.

We saw some duck species, including 10 Eurasian Wigeons (Anas penelope), 2 Northern Pintails (Anas acuta) and an interesting female/1w Garganey (Anas querquedula) an interesting sighting because of the month that we're. The light was so bad to take photos so I only 'shot' the closer Northern Shoveler (Anas clypeata).

We saw +200 Northern Lapwings (Vanellus vanellus), 3 Golden Plovers (Pluvialis apricaria) and 2 Greylag Geese (Anser anser)... besides commoner birds.

We went to the beach about 20 minutes. We saw +15 Balearic Shearwaters (Puffinus mauretanicus) and 19 Gannets (Sula bassana), flying to N; and 13 Greylag Geese more in migration to S.

Typical (but nice) November day...

Post-inornatus days

The Yellow-browed Warbler (Phylloscopus inornatus) was observed until 7th November, after 10 days of daily sightings. The following days were so quiet, with 3 Eurasian Penduline Tits (Remiz pendulinus) as the most interesting birds. Although this, they were so nice and I could take some photos.

Of course, my great friend, the Kingfisher (Alcedo atthis), was there helping me to not miss the inornatus...

The Yellow-browed Warbler's week

A week ago, a fantastic Yellow-browed Warbler (Phylloscopus inornatus) appeared in l'Aiguamoll de la Bòbila, my local patch. I saw it almost every day, enjoying it, hearing how it calls, taking lots of photos...

The pictures will say the rest.

These days, I also saw 2 Dunnocks (Prunella modularis) and 4 Kingfishers (Alcedo atthis).

Dunnock (Prunella modularis)

Adult male Kingfisher (Alcedo atthis). Look at the black bill,
the blue tone (not greenish) and the orange feet and underparts.