Winter holidays

My winter holidays had already started! Last days I've been ringing and birding aroud my hometown.
My feeling is that, this year, there are less Fringillidae species than other winters. Actually, I've counted about 600 Chaffinches (Fringilla coelebs) less than 2012, but the numbers are on the average for a normal winter. As you can see, last winter was specially a good year, with also lots of Bramblings (Fringilla montifringilla) everywhere (this year I've just seen one).

Comparisation between winter counts doing my SOCC
 (the Catalan census part of the Pan-European Common Bird Monitoring Scheme).
'Primavera' means 'Spring' and 'Hivern' means 'Winter'.

Looking for Brambling's sightings in ornitho.cat, I've generated these maps: (click to enlarge)

The sightings are extracted from the period 1st October - 25th December in every year. I've also added 2011 and 2010 in the next analysis:

2011 was bad for Bramblings, 2012 a reaaly good year,
and 2013, as 2010, is like a 'normal' season for these species.
All information comes from www.ornitho.cat database.

Also, as Marcel Gil pointed out, in Falsterbo they had record numbers of ringing and migrating Siskins (Carduelis spinus), but in Catalonia we have just seen a few. Millions of them might be on the way, somewhere in central Europe!, but they hadn't reached Catalonia yet.

On the other hand, at least in my area, there are obviously more Chiffchaffs than other years. In my usual ringing places, I've already trapped more collybitas than the last year during the whole winter!

Last year I also started to ring in some roostings. My main targets were (and still are) Reed Buntings (Emberiza schoeniclus) and Yellowhammers (Emberiza citrinella). I've found a new place for schoeniclus and I've ringed about 40 these days. And I retrapped one with an Spanish ring! (ICONA ring; I still don't have any information about when and where was ringed).

Yellowhammers are sleeping in the same roosting as every year, a small reedbed in the middle of a big dry lands area. They prefer a corner without water on the floor and with some bushes around.

I've also trapped some typical winter visitorsin these reedbeds:

Adult Cetti's Warbler (Cettia cetti) male, wing length = 66 (!)
This bird was ringed 16th October 2011 as 1st year, with
wing length = 62 !

1st-year male Sardinian Warbler (Sylvia melanocephala),
easy to age even in the field.

1st-year Stonechat (Saxicola rubicola)

1st-year Dunnock (Prunella modularis)

There was a flock about 40 Meadow Pipits (Anthus pratensis) close to the reeds and I tried to play some calls close to a bush surrounded by nets. I finally trapped 3!, all of them 1st winters.

The biggest surprise came on 17th December, when while I was moving from a schoeniclus roosting to the yellowhammer's place, I received a call from Sergi Fernández. He said that was just found a Mergus in a big lake in a public park in Manresa. I went straight to that place and I could see it just after arrive: a Goosander (Mergus merganser)!, that is a rarity in Spain.

Winning streak

More than one month ago, I started a great winning streak. Last week's Tuesday, after the really nice birding weekend in the Ebre Delta, I decided to go to Aiguamolls de l'Empordà, in the northeast corner of Catalonia, because I had one day without university classes.

While I was in the Ebre Delta I received some 'bird alerts' about a Bean Goose (Anser fabalis) that had been found there. Also, a Goosander (Mergus merganser) and a Red-throated Diver (Gavia stellata) had been seen during the weekend, so I though it was a good place to go.

The Cortalet pond was full of ducks and geese, as it should be. I was surprised about the number of Wigeons (Anas penelope). I saw 86 birds, that is not a bad number. Most of geese were sleeping, but I started to look carefully each one. In the meanwhile, some Shovelers (Anas clyepata) were really close to the hide.

Some geese started to get closer...

Cortalet's vista from the first hide.

The first not-Greylag Goose that I found was the putative hybrid between Barnacle and Canada Goose (Branta leucopsis x canadensis). This bird was found for first time in 11th October, and it will be there until the end of the winter. It's interesting to see how the 'shape' of these hybrids remind features of hutchinsii.

I counted 260 Greylag Geese (Anser anser), and one of them was a bit weird. I was almost sure it was the Bean Goose, but the bird was 'sleeping' inside the lagoon, so I couldn't see the head neither the legs. I waited during some minuetes, and I was getting more and more sure that it was undoubtedly the Bean Goose. Actually, I had never seen one before (I tried it on Fasterbo but I left before they arrived), so I think that if I had some doubts, it was because I had never seen one. It's quite noticiable the flank colouration, with a more broad and well-defined white stripe, the darker centres of mantle feathers and the broad white marks intertials edges (as you might be suspecting, the bird was an adult). Also, primaries are a bit longer than Greylags, and when you see the bird resting, you can see that they're equal or longer than the tail feathers.

Finally, the Bean Goose raised the head and I could enjoy it. I think it was really nice to find it when it was sleeping, I think it was the best way to learn about this 'new' species for me. Minutes after, the 2 first-winters Greater White-fronted Geese (Anser albifrons) that appeared on 31st October. This species has became regular in this area, with some birds overwintering during last years...

When the Bean Goose showed me their head, I was invaded by an strange feeling. The orange are on the bill was restricted near the tip, like a rossicus, but we know that some fabalis can have this bill designs as well. This Siberian ssp. had never been seen in Catalonia, so this would be the first... I managed to check the bill shape but I had an impression that I was to longer for rossicus. Actually, the bird had a short and string neck, but I though it was normal...
Now it seems that this bird is an actual rossicus. I reccomend to read Marcel's post (he went there three days after me). When I went back home I remembered the same BF post that Marcel is talking about. Who knows from where this bird is coming...

We moved to another hide, looking still the Cortalet lagoon. There was a flock of 15 Flamingos (Phoenicopterus roseus), and also 5 Northern Pintails (Anas acuta).

  If in the other observtory I was distracted with Shovelers, then my pastime where Great Cormorants (Phalacrocorax carbo). If they show me their moult limits in this way... it's impossible to not take a look!

 We left Cortalet and we followed the way to the beach. We stopped to see some Fallow Deers (Dama dama) that were resting in a meadow. We saw 35 of them, mainly females and young deers but also two nice males.

Matà meadows were almost empty of waders, but plenty of Reed Buntings (Emberiza schoeniclus). I think we saw about 80 birds between the spider webs!

Besides the Reed Bunting flock, we saw just
1 Marsh Harrier and this Cattle Egret...

Asa every winter, we did a quick visit to the Common Teals (Anas crecca) in the Bruel hide. Some of them usually rest just in front of the observatory, and it's always nice to take a couple of pictures...

We reached the beach in the midday. The sea was really calm, almost flat, so perfect for Divers and stuff. Firstly, I saw a couple of Velvet Scoters (Melanitta fusca) that had been observed for some days there, and just after I found the RT Diver (Gavia stellata) that was found the last weekend. With the town of Roses in the background, I found 3 Black-throated Divers (Gavia arctica), that are always common in this Bay. Going back to the stellata, doing a quick check to the closest part of the sea, 2 RT Divers appeared, really really close! I got very excited then, but even more when I found again the same individual that I had seen before, and even more when a 4th bird appeared. Then, I saw another further Diver that at couldn't ID at first sight. It got closer, just behind the stellatas, and it was... a Great Northern Diver (Gavia immer)!

Two Stellatas...out of 4!

Keep the tradition

It's the third year in a row that, with some friends, I'm going to Ebre Delta in December. After the great success last year, I was extra motivated to find a ot of nice birds and to have a great time.
Sadly, the usual crew was affected by university stuff, and Josep, Joan and Ferran couldn't come. So, this year, we have gone just Bernat and me.

We arrived on Friday morning and we went straight on Sant Antoni saltpants, a typical place for waders and where a Long-tailed Duck had been observed some days ago. We weren't lucky with the Long-tailed, but we enjoyed a big flock of Dunlins (Calidris alpina) (526 birds), with some Sanderlings (Calidris alba) (126) and Little Stints (Calidris minuta) (69) mixed in. As the first surprise, a Red Knot (Calidris canutus) was also there. Knots are scarce during the winter, but there're always some in the Ebre Delta every year. As always, we saw a lot of Redshanks (Tringa totanus) (122 to be concise), Greenshanks (Tringa nebularia) (22), Grey Plovers (Pluvialis squatarola) (44), Kentish Plovers (Charadrius alexandrinus) (39), Turnstones (Arenaria interpres) (10)...

Then, we drove along the Trabucador beach. There was no wind, and the sea was really calm, perfect for seawatching. We started seeing 2 Bonxies (Stercorarius skua), and soon we find a Razorbill (Alca torda). In the usual place, inside the Alfacs Bay, we saw a flock of 18 Red-breasted Mergansers (Mergus serrator) eating, and as always, it was full of Crested Grebes (Podiceps cristatus) and some Black-necked Grebes (Podiceps nigricollis).

Trabucador beach

We were stopping in random places in the middle of the beach, just because of 'birding feelings'. We had got success in every stop when we decide to do it again. For first time, there was nothing on the sea... but suddenly, a Red-throated Diver (Gavia stellata) appeared, flying, just in front of us. I saw it pretty well with my scope when it decided to dissapear in the sea. This was probably the best moment of the weekend!

In the afternoon, we went to Alfacada, another typical but fantastic place. Looking at the sea, 11 Common Scoters (Melanitta nigra), another Bonxie (S.skua) and 1 Black-throated Diver (Gavia arctica).

  The lagoon was, as always, full of ducks. Hundreds, maybe thousands of Shovelers (Anas clypeata) and Common Teals (Anas crecca), about 250 Northern Pintails (Anas acuta), above 200 Shelducks (Tadorna tadorna)... We saw also a flock of 41 Eurasian Spoonbills (Platalea leucorodia) and 1 Moustached Warber (Acrocephalus melanopogon) as the best sightings.

The day after, on Saturday, we started early in the morning walking around some beaches. We saw lots of Reed Buntings (Emberiza schoeniclus), and sadly nothing special was mixed in. Nonetheless, we saw about 40 Lesser Short-toed Larks (Alaudala rufescens) displaying. During all morning we heard shots because it was a 'hunting day'. All the lagoons were almost empty, so we decided to check the see again.

We found the firsts Melanittas soon, 3 nigra swimming close to the beach we checked. We went again to the Trabucador beach, and we found one Red-breasted Merganser more (so 19). We walked to Punta de la Banya, where all ducks go when there're hunters around. All birds were too far, but at least we saw 39 Audouin's Gulls (Larus audouinii), a regular wintering species in the Ebre Delta and the southern coast but always in small numbers. We decided to spend the afternoon looking for the Pacific Golden Plover that has been in the Delta since last August. It would had been nice to see it again, already in winter plumage, I just saw it when I was ringing in the Delta on September. Durint the last quick look at the sea, we found a really nice Velvet Scoter (Melanitta fusca), relatively close to the coast.
  

Common Scoters (Melanitta nigra)

We didn't find any Pacific Golden Plover during the afternoon, but the views of the sunset in the ricefields, with lots of Calidris (basically Dunlins) flying, calling and running around were so nice.

Sunday was the last day, so we decided to start as early as possible to avoid hunters at least for some hours (yeah, two hunting days in a row...). We started at Alfacada observatory, with big flocks of ducks in the lagoon. There was just 1 Common Scoter in the sea, and we saw also 1 Bonxie. I checked carefully the flock of 188 Greylag Geese (Anser anser) that was resting on the beach, but anyone of them looked weird. The most unexpected bird was a Black-winged Stilt (Himantopus himantopus), really scarce in winter in Catalonia but with a few birds wintering every year in the Delta.

When first hunters arrived, we decided to go again to do some seawatching. We found again the Velvet Scoter in the same place, as well the 3 Common Scoters we had seen the day before. Then, we find a new group of 9 M.nigra. We did a quick visit to Riet Vell, where we saw some nice Bluethroats (Luscinia svecica), and also to Encanyissada ponds.

Already in the midday, we went to the northern part, Fangar Bay, to look for some waders. We found quickly a big flock of some species: Dunlins, Sanderlings, Redshanks, Grey Plovers... and between them, 6 Red Knots!

Red Knot (Calidris canutus)

Bar-tailed Godwit (Limosa lapponica)

We go back to the Velvet Scoter's place, and it was still there. This time, followed by 9 Common Scoters more, an unexpected Parasitic Skua (Stercorarius parasiticus) (also scarce but regular in winter) and 1 Black-throated Diver (Gavia arctica). As we had seen so many birds in the sea, we went to another beach. There, we found 9 Common Scooters more (I don't think the same flock was following me...). The sun was disappearing when we went to La Tancada laggon, where lots of Flamingos (Phoenicopterus roseus) roosts, to do the 'stardardised count'. We finally managed to do it: 4183 birds.

Already in the dark, we drove back home. We had a really nice birding weekend, and we also found lots of friends that did everything greater. As I said last year, 'Let's see if we can do thi every December!'

Blue wings

Some weekends ago I stayed with some friends in Bernat's 'country house', that is surrounded by typical mediterranean forests and drylands, where I decided to set up some nets to catch something.

I had bet that we were going to catch about 15 birds, but already in the first netround we exceed this number. In total, we trapped 41 birds, that is not bad for a 'completely random place' in the middle of a really extensive and almost uniform habitat.

The most interesting bird to examine was an Eurasian Jay (Garrulus glandarius).

Ageing is always interesting, at least for me, because I've only handled a few. Look at this adult that I trapped this summer (somewhere in the middle of the post). As in that bird, this one showed bright blue coverts with parallel and well-defined black bars. Also the distance between them is almost the same in every case.

With the wing closed, is easy to assess the distance
between bars and its 'quality'.

Secondaries are also glossy black contrasting with primaries.

It had a really broad R5...
Everything seems to fit with another adult!

When I took this photo I remembered that juvenile Carrion Crows
and Ravens usually have pink inside their mouth. I wonder if 1st-year
Jays also have this colour inside...

Following the 'Blue wings' title... Some weeks ago I trapped this Kingfisher (Alcedo atthis). It was already ringed, with one of my rings. As you can see, it's an obvious female. And as a good female, and with this greenish escapulars and mantle, it seemed initially first-year.

Looking at the crown, there were apparently two
 generations of feathers.

And the scapulars also had some more bluish feathers,
that seemed to be moulted... These last two features are
good for a 1st-year.

But feet were bright orange, with only a bit of black on
tarsus, that fit with an adult out of the breeding season.

Breast orange was also 'adult-type'...

The wing was really interesting. All primaries were really fresh and wing coverts very bluish.
Adult-type secondaries are more pointed than juvenile's, as in this bird.

But looking at the secondaries properly, I saw S3-S5.
They are retained! These 3 feathers are less black, shorter, and slightly less pointed. In fact, inner SS are more pointed, and this is because the inner web is more angular, and more rounded in first-years.

Usually I didn't look much at the tail, I find it a bit
hard to assess properly. Nonetheless, this bird had only
 one generation of rectrices.

Later, already at home, I checked the ring number in my database. I had ringed this bird in the same place in 20th May 2013, as a second-year female (EURING 5). So, that bird did a postbreeding (her first one) arrested complete moult. This would suggest that 2nd-year birds can be aged also in December, and therefore, as 3rd-years (EURING 7) in spring...! I'll try to catch more in the next days...

It's known that adult Kingfishers sometimes do an arrested postbreeding moult, and when this happen with second-years, we will be able to age them after this moult...

Castanyada

1st November is always a good moment for chestnuts. Although Halloween is the most popular celebration during these days, in Catalonia we celebrate La Castanyada, that means something like 'the chestnut party'. Traditionally, we eat chestnuts and sweet potatoes... Actually, this tradition is being moved by Halloween, specially between children, but we have to keep this fest.

It's also a typical date for Redwings (Turdus iliacus) migrating. Last weekend I heard my first for the season, and last Friday I heard the second. It's also the moment for Crane (Grus grus) flocks and some other stuff, but by that moment the weather has been a bit boring here. I'll be waiting for strong winds and some rain, maybe this will be a nice turning point in the autumn. Look what happened last year in 28th October!

Full moon, good migration night.

I'm still doing some ringing when I have a bit of time, and still catching some Chiffchaffs (Phylloscopus collybita). This bird with wing 64 shocked me. It was an adult, but nothing was more exciting than the relatively long wing...

P2 between P7 and P8...

Cirl Buntings (Emberiza cirlus) and Black Redstarts (Phoenicurus ochruros) had already arrived in my local patch. I trapped one cirlus and two ochruros last Friday, and I hope I can get some more the following days. I'm also waiting for the first Reed Bunting (Emberiza schoeniclus), that is already a common bird but is still skiping the nets.

 

1st-year malem with the outermost GC retained.

Next days are forecast as really windy days, so I hope some good birds will arrive with them...

In the meanwhile, I'll enjoy these nice autumn sunrises...