Spain March 2010 (1 Viewer)

[birdieboy123]

Here is a brief summary of a recent trip to Spain. I was accompanied by fellow BF members Mike Richardson (skink1978), Mark Hows and his wife Anna. The trip was primarily to see the Iberian Lynx at Andujar but we also travelled to Gibraltar Tarifa and the Malaga Area
Full reports and photos will appear shortly on http://wildlifewanderer.co.uk/default.aspx and http://www.hows.org.uk/inter/birds/birds.htm and http://www.flickr.com/photos/jpsadler/

Birds

1. Shelduck
2. Ruddy Shelduck
3. Mallard
4. Gadwall
5. Pintail
6. Shoveller
7. Garganey
8. Pochard
9. Red-Crested Pochard
10. Scaup
11. Tufted Duck
12. Common Scoter
13. White-Headed Duck (Laguna De Fuente De Piedra, Guadalhorce)
14. Red-Legged Partridge
15. Pheasant
16. Black-Necked Grebe
17. Little Grebe
18. Great Crested Grebe
19. Balearic Shearwater (Tarifa)
20. Cormorant
21. Shag
22. Cattle Egret
23. Little Egret
24. Great White Egret
25. Grey Heron
26. White Stork
27. Spoonbill
28. Greater Flamingo (Laguna De Fuente De Piedra, Guadalhorce)
29. Griffon Vulture
30. Osprey (Gibraltar)
31. Spanish Imperial Eagle (Sierra De Andujar)
32. Short Toed Eagle
33. Booted Eagle
34. Bonelli’s Eagle (Sierra Nevada, Sierra De Andujar)
35. Black Kite
36. Marsh Harrier
37. Motague’s Harrier
38. Sparrowhawk
39. Kestrel
40. Lesser Kestrel
41. Moorhen
42. Coot
43. Purple Swamphen
44. Avocet
45. Black-Winged Stilt
46. Collared Pratincole
47. Little Ringed Plover
48. Kentish Plover
49. Lapwing
50. Sanderling
51. Green Sandpiper
52. Common Sandpiper
53. Redshank
54. Black-Headed Gull
55. Mediterranean Gull
56. Yellow-Legged Gull
57. Great Black Backed Gull
58. Lesser Black Backed Gull
59. Sandwich Tern
60. Gull-Billed Tern
61. Whiskered Tern
62. Feral Pigeon
63. Stock Dove
64. Wood Pigeon
65. Collared Dove
66. Cuckoo
67. Great Spotted Cuckoo
68. Little Owl
69. Scops Owl
70. Swift
71. Pallid Swift
72. Hoopoe
73. Bee-Eater
74. Iberian Green Woodpecker
75. Great Spotted Woodpecker
76. Skylark
77. Crested Lark
78. Sand Martin
79. Barn Swallow
80. Red-Rumped Swallow
81. House Martin
82. Meadow Pipit
83. White Wagtail
84. Yellow Wagtail (flavissima)
85. Blue Headed Wagtail
86. Robin
87. Redstart
88. Black Redstart
89. Black-Eared Wheatear
90. Black Wheatear
91. Stonechat
92. Song Thrush
93. Mistle Thrush
94. Blackbird
95. Blue Rock Thrush
96. Blackcap
97. Orphean Warbler
98. Sardinian Warbler
99. Spectacled Warbler
100. Subalpine Warbler
101. Sedge Warbler
102. Zitting Cisticola
103. Cetti’s Warbler
104. Reed Warbler
105. Willow Warbler
106. Western Bonelli’s Warbler
107. Chiffchaff
108. Wren
109. Great Tit
110. Blue Tit
111. Crested Tit
112. Long-Tailed Tit
113. Nuthatch
114. Southern Grey Shrike
115. Woodchat Shrike
116. Azure-Winged Magpie
117. Magpie
118. Jay
119. Jackdaw
120. Carrion Crow
121. Raven
122. Spotless Starling
123. House Sparrow
124. Spanish Sparrow
125. Tree Sparrow
126. Chaffinch
127. Linnet
128. Goldfinch
129. Greenfinch
130. Serin
131. Hawfinch
132. Corn Bunting
133. Rock Bunting
134. Monk Parakeet

Not including heard only, possibles and probables

Mammals

1. Iberian Lynx (5 Sighting of 2 Different Cats)
2. Common Genet (1 Seen Well Whilst Spotlighting)
3. Red Deer
4. Fallow Deer
5. Spanish Ibex (Sierra Nevada, Sierra De Las Nieves)
6. Otter (Mother and 2 Young At Rio Jandula)
7. Woodmouse (Trapping Session)
8. Garden Dormouse (5 During Trapping Session)
9. Wild Boar (La Lancha)
10. Iberian Hare
11. Rabbit
12. Red Fox
13. Mouflon (La Lancha)
14. Pilot Whale (Boat Trip From Tarifa)
15. Striped Dolphin (Boat Trip From Tarifa)
16. Barbary Ape (Gibraltar)
17. Greater Mouse Eared Bat
Also 2 species of bat in the process of been identified from photos
And a few possibles and probables


Herps

1. Horse Shoe Whip Snake
2. Viperine Snake
3. Montpellier Snake
4. Moorish Gecko
5. Iberian Wall Lizard
6. Vouchers Wall Lizard
7. Large Psammodromus
8. Ocellated Lizard
9. Natterjack Toad
10. Western Spade Foot Toad
11. Stripeless Tree Frog
12. Iberian Water Frog
13. Spanish Terrapin
14. Red Eared Terrapin
15. Sharp Ribbed Newt
16. Bosca’s Newt

Butterflies

1. Swallowtail
2. Red Admiral
3. Cleopatra
4. Spanish Festoon
5. Southern Orange Tip

 

[BirdFlower]

Amazing tally

 

[Hotspur]

Simply brilliant stuff. Well done lads and lasses.

 

[John Cantelo]

Brilliant stuff, John. Apart from seeing Lynx, I'm particularly impressed with the reptile total!

 

[Stephen C]

Andujar

Hi guys

I was out in Andujar my self last week and have attached a photo of the (only) Lynx we caught up with.

Let us know when the full report is online as I'll enjoy the read I'm sure. A couple of questions...Surprised you didn't see Black Vulture as they seemed omnipresent. And Alpine Swift? And you had flavissima and flava but none of the endemic iberiae Yellow Wagtail it seems? Omissions may be?

And although southern Spain isn't my patch, it seems very early for Western Orphean Warbler so, without wanting to insult anyone, I wondered how sure you were about this species. Having said that, I've had a year of 'early birds' so far.

All the very best

 

[MarkHows]

Hi guys

I was out in Andujar my self last week and have attached a photo of the (only) Lynx we caught up with.

Let us know when the full report is online as I'll enjoy the read I'm sure. A couple of questions...Surprised you didn't see Black Vulture as they seemed omnipresent. And Alpine Swift? And you had flavissima and flava but none of the endemic iberiae Yellow Wagtail it seems? Omissions may be?

And although southern Spain isn't my patch, it seems very early for Western Orphean Warbler so, without wanting to insult anyone, I wondered how sure you were about this species. Having said that, I've had a year of 'early birds' so far.

All the very best

No problem with the Orphean warblers ID we had three seen well by a few people as well as us, looking at the photos we did also have iberiae wagtail, it was difficult at the time to ID them in a force 9 gale.

Just did not connect with the Alpine swifts or black vultures others saw them in different areas when we were not there.

we also had several other butterflies some still to ID

Mark

Mark

 

[Stephen Fletcher]

And although southern Spain isn't my patch, it seems very early for Western Orphean Warbler so, without wanting to insult anyone, I wondered how sure you were about this species. Having said that, I've had a year of 'early birds' so far.

I have to admit, i did wonder too, ( no offence meant to anyone ) but someone posted a report from your neck of the woods last week Stephen, and he reported Orphean too. None here yet for sure. Maybe they dont like Extremadura.

 

[John Cantelo]

My copy of the excellent 'Guia de las Aves de Espana' (Juana & Varela) suggests Orpheans arrive "fin mar/may" "Sylvia Warblers" (Shirihai et al) say 'return migration noted in NW Africa from late February and in Spain in the second half of March' so this seems a reasonable date for early arrivals in the south of the country. Rather earlier than I realised until I looked it up!

 

[Mike Richardson]

I'm pretty sure we can add Schrieber's Bat to the mammal list, and the Pilot Whales are the Long-finned species.

We missed several raptor species because we didn't spend too much time looking up!

I'm very happy with the herp list, especially as weather conditions were far from perfect for some of the trip. We also missed a couple of common species, perhaps because of the cold conditions in some areas.

 

[John Cantelo]

Mike,

I think I need lessons in how to find herps ....

 

[MarkHows]

Mike,

I think I need lessons in how to find herps ....

Lesson 1

 

[wolfbirder]

I think orphean have been seen by the cemetary at Loporzano (Huesca) in March previously ,obviously that being northern Spain.

 

[Mike Richardson]

Mike,

I think I need lessons in how to find herps ....

Whilst I would love to say I found all the herps, this would be a blatant lie. Anna Hows showed a remarkable talent in spotting snakes and lizards, especially ones barely visible to the naked eye. Mark and John also found good numbers. In fact, it was only later in the week when I started to get some credibility back!

The Horseshoe Whipsnake in the photo was found under a rock early in the morning so was easy to capture. It still tried to bite several times.

The other whipsnakes we found basking lived up to their name and disappeared within seconds of us spotting them.

Many of the amphibians were found on the road at night, while a farm pond produced the newts.

Notable by their absence include two species of skink, a legless lizard and Turkish Gecko. Obviously I didn’t flip enough rocks, boards etc. We also dipped Chameleon although to be fair, we didn’t visit any of the well known sites and the weather didn’t always play ball.

 

[Stephen C]

Orphean

someone posted a report from your neck of the woods last week Stephen, and he reported Orphean

Any chance you remember where Stephen?

It's certainly not usual up here in Catalunya as far as I know, although it is true to say that most birds are located through song so may be we miss early pre-singing birds. Still, I'd be interested in more details of March birds anywhere in Spain. I'll ask the ringers if they get any March birds.

Of course, any migrating population usually starts with a few early individuals so I have no problem believing people. I'm just interested to know.

All the best

 

[MarkHows]

A record shot is now available

Mark

 

[Stephen C]

Wow Hows

Very good. Can't wait for mine to arrive.

Actually I was hoping for an early one today. No luck, but managed Dupont's Lark, Short-toed and Lesser Short-toed Lark, Little Bustard, both sandgrouse, Lesser Kestrel, Spectacled Warbler (pair building a nest), Great Spotted Cuckoo and a year-first Whinchat.

all the best

 

[steve west]

I heard Orphean at Montsec in Lleida on the 20th March. Very early in my opinion, but tell that to the bird!

Steve
http://www.BirdingInSpain.com

 

[MarkHows]

The trip report from my recent trip to see the Spainsh Lynx and more is now complete.

http://www.hows.org.uk/inter/birds/2...ain/spain1.htm

Mark