Various Birds, Seville and Donana - Spain (1 Viewer)

Alexjh1 · Nov 7, 2011

I just got back from a five day trip to Seville on Saturday and I managed to get a bit of birdwatching in. Unfortunatly, as I've never really done birdwatching in Spain before I'm not familiar with a lot of the species there, and while I think I've got a fair idea on most of these, I'd just like to get a second oppinion to be sure. This will unfortunatly have to go over several posts on my part:

Part 1:

1: Seen at Italica near Seville - Spotless Starling?
2: Seen at El Rocina, seen in a small flock I have no idea - possibly some sort of feral Waxbill?
3: Seen at El Rocio - a Zitting Cicola/Fan Tailed Warbler?
4: At El Rocio - I'd personally say Red Kite, but as I'm not familiar with Black and there apparently are far fewer Reds than Blacks in Donana, I thought I'd check.
5: A Kestrel seen in the gardens of the Real Alcazar in Seville, not sure if is a lesser or a common?

Thanks for the help, part 2 coming in a minute...

Andrew Whitehouse · Nov 7, 2011

For the first three I think Spotless Starling, Common Waxbill and Fan-tailed Warbler are all correct.

Cristian Mihai · Nov 7, 2011

1 - Spotlless Starling
2 - ?
3 - ? (maybe simply a Sedge warbler?)
4 - Red Kite
5 - Common Kestrel

Jhanlon · Nov 7, 2011

I'd agree your i/d's - spotless starling, common waxbill (I think - can't remember what ferals are over there), FTW, red kite. Think the kestrel is common but if it has white claws (hard to tell) it could be a lesser

Parker · Nov 7, 2011

1, Spotless Starling.
2, ?
3, Zitting cisticola or Fan Tailed Warbler (Different names for same species)
4, Red Kite, looks to have a deep tail fork & white panel in outer primaries & shape & structure look better for Red Kite.
5, Probably Lesser Kestrel, it looks to have white/pale claws.

Geert Custers · Nov 7, 2011

2 common waxbill
4 red kite
others I have to pass at this moment

Alexjh1 · Nov 7, 2011

Part 2:

6: Just an oddly lit female black redstart? Seen at Italica.
7: El Rocina again - it looks like a common buzzard to me, but a flight pattern a bit different to what the oens around me do and not being familiar with the large raptors in Spain made me want to double check it.
8: A lark seen along the riverbank in Seville and I really am not familiar with Spanish larks - crested or thekla?
9: See above - there were two larks present, this may be the other or the same, I lost track
10: Another possible Zitting Cicola/Fan-Tailed? Seen on the riverside in Seville.

Alexjh1 · Nov 7, 2011

Part 3:

11: Italica - crested lark?
12: As I can never even differentiate Willow Warbler/Chiffchaff on sight, and I have no concept of how to differentiate an Iberian Chiffchaff, I thought I'd put this one up on the offchance. I've got a photo of an entirely different bird with yellowy green on the wings and rump too, but as its practically literally just wings and rump you can see I'm not sure how useful that would be.

Parker · Nov 7, 2011

6, Would like to see others pics the light is not good with this pic.
7, Certainly a Buzzard species.
8 & 9, Crested lark, lower edge to bill slightly concave.
10, Another Fan Tailed Warbler indeed.

Parker · Nov 7, 2011

11, Either Crested or Thekla. The image is not good enough to id positively.
12, Chiffchaff.

al-Natural · Nov 7, 2011

Alexjh1 said:
Part 2:
6: Just an oddly lit female black redstart? Seen at Italica.
7: El Rocina again - it looks like a common buzzard to me, but a flight pattern a bit different to what the oens around me do and not being familiar with the large raptors in Spain made me want to double check it.
8: A lark seen along the riverbank in Seville and I really am not familiar with Spanish larks - crested or thekla?
9: See above - there were two larks present, this may be the other or the same, I lost track
10: Another possible Zitting Cicola/Fan-Tailed? Seen on the riverside in Seville.

Hi Alexjh1,
I am now going to check if Short-eared Owls have already arrived... tonight I tell you about your pictures! (Both parts!)
Saludos!

Jorge

John Cantelo · Nov 7, 2011

Right -
1 - Spotless Starling - note the 'oily' plumage
2 - Common Waxbill
3 - Fan-tailed Warbler
4 - Red Kite
5 - Common Kestrel - the wings look too short for Lesser, what to me seems to be a claw looks black and the bird seems a bit 'bulky' & head pattern looks better for Common, but this is a tricky angle
6 - Black Redstart
7 - Common Buzzard
8 - Crested Lark
9 - Crested lark
10 - Fan-tailed Warbler
11 - given the quality of this photo I think it's not possible to say with 100% certainty, but I think it's probably a Crested Lark
12 - Chiffchaff - I'm not sure Iberian can be ruled out 100%, but the rather dull plumage and time of year suggests this species,

Alexjh1 · Nov 8, 2011

Thanks for the help everyone! (I'm also fairly pleased to see that I was fairly accurate with my IDing, which is kind of surprising!) I really wish I'd had more time over there as there were tons of things I caught glimpses of I didn't even have time to photograph - at least one mystery raptor, tons of finchy/sparrowy/buntingy things from the coach and dozens of larks at Italica.

I've actually just found two last photos for inspection if you don't mind...

13: Seen over Seville on a different time - no chest spots - male lesser kestrel?
14: This is the one I mentioned earlier in the chiffchaff post - the ellow bit on the wing is the odd one for me.

Thanks again for all the help!

Alexjh1 · Nov 8, 2011

Just a quick bump to get these last two done.

While I'm thinking about it though, is it possible to identify hirundines/swifts by distant silhoette at all, or would pallid/common swifts or barn/red rumped swallow just look the same from a distance?

Thanks again!

Jon Turner · Nov 8, 2011

First one is probably a Buzzard (but I would completely rule out Short-toed Eagle) and the second half-hidden bird could be a Chiffchaff

If you have pics of the Swifts/Swallows, try posting them - there are experts on here who can often come up trumps. (I'm not including myself as an expert!)

Swallow/Red-rump can be quite distinctive in silhouette.

Various Birds, Seville and Donana - Spain (1 Viewer)

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