As soon as it started,
Wood Warblers (Phylloscopus sibilatrix) started to appear all along the country. While in a 'normal' spring we get really low numbers and the species is quite scarce and almost restricted to coast, in springs with easterly winds is possible to see a lot of them everywhere. Looking back to the past 4 years, 2012 and 2014 are what I would understand as variation in a 'normal spring'. 2013 was a good year, specially after the
strong eastern winds in late April.
This year, after continuous easterly winds during April, we got a heavy influx of
sibilatrix, and it was specially noticeable inland, were it was sometimes the commonest migrant passerine!
maps with data from 1st March to 1st June, all years
Source: www.ornitho.cat
So, where I use to ring inland, I trapped 2
Wood Warblers in different dates, The first one was trapped in a very interesting morning, specially for the variety of species.
This
Little Egret (Egretta garzetta) was the first one I trap in my place. I aged it as an adult (EURING 6) for the relatively fresh plumage, squared primary coverts, primaries and secondaries, and well-developed ornamental feathers.
Next days I mainly spent my time in the reeds,
ringing Barn Swallow (Hirundo rustica) roosts. I got some interesting other species too!, specially when I spent de whole day.
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Sand Martin (Riparia riparia) |
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Yellow Wagtail (Motacilla flava). Ssp.iberiae with some
'italian influences' |
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Second year (EURING 5) male Whinchat (Saxicola rubetra) |
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Adult (EURING 6) male Whinchat (Saxicola rubetra) |
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Whinchat (S.rubetra) & Stonechat (Saxicola rubicola) |
The second
Wood Warbler (P.sibilatrix) came on 25/04, when hundreds had been seen all along the country. But before it, I trapped two
Scops Owls (Otus scops), one adult (EURING 6) and a second year (EURING 5).
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Adult (EURING 6) |
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Second year (EURING 5) |
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O_O |
The eastern winds also provided some
Red-throated Pipits (Anthus cervinus) -a nice one in my local patch-, and some other typical eastern species, but the main affected, who knows exactly why, was the
Wood Warbler.
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