[Adin 92]

On Saturday 10-01-09 it was the best birdwatching day for the winter period on our little island.I arrived at the reserve at 11.00 at the first bird i saw was the 137 th lifer for Malta it was a Great crested Grebe in Winter plumage.The other birds were 1 Gadwall(male,the same one i`ve seen the week before which was the 1 st lifer of 2009) 2 Ferroginous duck(male,female), 1 Teal (female) 1 Greater Flamingo, (juvinile have been in the reserve since 17 th Sept 08 and it is wintering in the reserve) 4 Shelduck, 7 Black-necked grebe, 10+ Moorhen, 3 Coot, 1 Common sandpiper, 8 Meadow pipit, 3 White wagtail, 5+ Robin, 2 Stonechat, 1 Ziting Cisticola, 2 Cetti`s Warbler, 5 Sardinian warbler, 50+ Chiffchaff and 20+ Starling.But the day did not end there.I arrived at the Capital city Valletta were an annual activity of white wagtail roost counting organised by the Birdlife Malta.At 16.20 we took our position around the bastions of the city and i had one of the best places, at the beginning few birds started to arrive but the peak was at 17.00-17.15 were large flocks were seen the biggest flock i counted was 145 and my total was 1,090 between 12 participants we counted 7,448 which was a record other birds seen 3 meadow pipit, 1 grey wagtail, c 20 black redstart, c 10 robin, 1 Blue rock thrush(on the bastions), 8 sardinian warbler, 2 chiffchaff, 1 chaffinch (female) and 1 serin and 9 starling