Second record....

 

Hi there!

The past second of october I had the chance to locate a Grey plover in the northern shore of my local patch. This time it was accompanied with one ruff a two dunlins (I couldn't manage to take a photo).

This bird is the second record this year and as usually happens, a lonely bird that stays for a day or two. Not a very common wader to see around here and always a god treat in the postnuptial journey.

Grey plover (Pluvialis squatarola)(Zolina Reservoir/021020

Waders in the ricefields

 Hello wader friends!

The past week I had the chance of visiting the Arguedas ricefields located one hour driving from my hometown in the southern part of the county.

With no doubt is one of the best places for the postnuptial migration  and atracts a nice quantity of different birds including shorebirds if the land fields offer the adecuate level of water and tranquility.

Sadly tha majority of them were dry out and with any perspectives of water flodding from the local owners  I only prospected one small ricefield that shelter the few remaining birds.

As usual in this situations and time of the year, not great numbers of them but a nice diversity of species sharing the same location.

I could notice that the birds were feeding in a frantic way as if they were ready to depart very soon and continue their migration journey to their wintering quarters.

Ruff (Calidris pugnax).

Blac stork with a heron,at both side in swallow waters shorebirds feeding

A single ruff with a pair of dunlins.

They flew away and didnt come back

Little stint (Calidris minuta).

 One of the two birds that I saw in the windy morning.

(Actitis hypoleucos).

This time the bird behaviour was more sociable with the rest.

Ruff.

The variety in colors and sizes is incredible in this nervous wader.

Calidris minuta

This birds was much more clear than his companion.

Tiny little stint always restless in their food researcjh.

Juvenile birds(¿from were does it come from?)

Ruffs are easily overlloked in those muddy fields.

Ruff.

Ruff.

The common snipe was the most numerous wader in the place.

Ringed plover stretching an earthworm out of the mud.

Some migration notes...an a first record!

Hi there:

Here some notes that I had in the wardrobe about those magnificient birds;

 Dunlin (Calidris alpina).

Dunlin (Calidris alpina).

This time I used the camera instead of the telescope to capture those images.

Common snipes feeding. 

A nice group of more tha fifty birds has been lingering around the past days.

Laguna de dos Reinos. 20 september

Kentish plover.

The first record for the reservoir !! 

(Found by D.Mikeleiz ,identified by me afterwards)

(Laguna de Dos Reinos).20 september

In this human made reservoir is essential to maintain low levels of water in order to create safe islands and muddy shores for the waders that stop here on migration.

The muddy areas that appear with low water, make a very interesting place for shorebirds.

 Otherwise no birds will stop in this protected area.

Variety of shorebirds.

Ruff(1),Littele stint (4),Dunlin (3),Ringed plover (4).

A big surprise in the ricefields!!

 

Hi there!

Some days ago I had the great opportunity to observe a lifer for me and lucklily not far away from my home town, Pamplona.

It was a Buff breasted sandpiper, localized in Arguedas village,famous for its ricefields.

This neartic species breeds mainly in Northern Canada and Alaska so it was a wonderfull record.

Buff breasted sandpiper (Calidris subruficolis)

Descriptive picture.

The long moustard colored feet barely pertrude beyond the tail.

Quite remarkable the "C" comas of the neat clean underwing.

It keept feeding in the same flooded area the whole time I remained there.

Very similat to a female ruff, beware of the different character.

This has been the first historical record for the county.

Video.

Feather cleaning.

Video.

Feeding.

Various lapwings with a pair of glossy ibises flying around.

Those ricefields are a valious habitat in this period of the year.

I also saw twelve little ringed plovers and six wood sandpipers.

The bird is difficult to detect with the muddy background.

Three glosy ibis were also a nice treat in the mudflat.

The buff breasted sandpiper on the left,easily overlooked bird.

The bird has remained in the place for at least four days...

 The pectoral spotting quite obvious in this pic

Good day to everyone!

The rice the harvest in this area is sold with the Alcaravan brand name. 

An excellent product, healthy and produced with eco label!

Without those ricefields no waders around...........

Productos El Alcaravan

( web site )

Some birds in August

Hi there!

The last week of august has been quite dull in my local patch with not to many waders around.

As usual various common sandpipers,by far the most numerous wader around with the ocasional visit of ringed plovers in very scarce numbers.

(*) all pics with kowa 88 + smartphone hand held (a good way of staying far from migratory birds).

Ringed plover.

Ringed plover.

Ringed plover (young)

Those three were together in the same shore area.

And now I post some pics of a very nice afternoon I had in Laguna de Dos Reinos

I could tick ten species of waders,my record in this lake;

Green sandpiper 4

Avocet 1

Lapwing 1

Black tailed godwit 1

BWS 4

Dunlin 1

Curlew sandpiper 2

Wood sandpiper 1

Common snipe 6

Little ringed plover 1

Not very high numbers really but good variety.

BWS feeding surrounded by more than a hundred mallards.

 Avocet.

A pair of curlew sandpipers (young) in the distance.

Avocet probing in the swallow waters of  Dos Reinos.

14 aug 2020. Zolina reservoir.

Those green sanpipers were resting together in a mudflat area.

When they are in postnuptial migration they are much more sociable than in spring.

BWS

Here we see a nice group.

The beginning...

Hi there.

Yesterday in a very hot afternoon, I set off for a short walk to check what was going on in my LP in the last day of july as I expected something of  migration movement on the way.

I wasn't wrong and I detected six wader species with the special bonus of the first "peep" of the summer, with a nervous and solitary little stint lingering in the muddy flat east area.

Finally I saw three marsh sandpipers,two very wary ruffs,one bw stilt ,two green sandpipers and  more a dozen common sandpipers by far the most numerous shorebird in Zolina reservoir.

all pics with phone +kowa scope = far away from the resting birds

Tringa glareola

video. Tringa glareola

Harvested summer crop fields around the reservoir.

The solitary and nervous calidris minuta.

video. Calidris minuta

I found a dead Lesser BB gull .

See you in the next one!!

Deltebre july 2020

Hi there!!

Here some pictures of my holidays in Deltebre were I spent a few days in july with my family.

Not to many hours for birding so only a few pics to show.

In this time of the year everything very calm wih no migration in progress .

Sunrise in the bay.

Kentish plover.

One of the jewels in the site with the pranticoles.

I almost missed this avocet among the numerous bh gulls in the ricefields.

I also saw a few common sandpipers and a greensanks/redsanks.

Bw stilts in flying formation.

One of the commonest local breeders.

My son observing the horizon.

See you next year Deltebre!!

A common sandpiper over my house.....

Hello.

Here we continue staying at home with this covid problem that bother us all.

I have continued recording at night to evaluate the night migration that takes place around my house.

This time (other many sessions not) I could record a a common sandpiper, a quite usual wader in the areas and rivers nearby ,so it wasn't really a surprise but of course something to remark in my "home"recording list with a red tick.

Is the third type of wader that I record , before one stone curlew and green sandpiper flew around.

The call at night sounds equal to the one at day time.

Record picture.

Take care you all!!

Stone curlew at night!

Hi there!!

 Last night I had the chance of recording an overflying  stone curlew above my house ,probably in active migration at 04.00 a.m. 

The call line is a little bit "dirty" but with the espectogram fits perfectly with the species.

It has been a very nice discovery and I hope that this won't be the last one this month...!! 

Stone curlew flying (S.E:O)

Nocturnal flight recording

Nocturnal flight recording.....

Hi there!!

Nowadays with the coronavirus problem around the world, doing  nocturnal bird recording is an interesting option.

The past two nights, I had the chance of recording two green sandpipers in migratory active flight over my house (I live in a block in a seventh flat in Pamplona).

This has been a very nice discovery and I hope that many wader types will fly over my house in the coming prenuptial migratory period.....

As usual, greens, the first ones to move and also the first ones to come back,some even in mid june!!!


Green sandpiper. (clic to audio XENOCANTO)

Green sanpiper feeding in a waterpond

Nice groups coming.....

Hi there!

This week it's has been quite messy with the weather around here, with continuous showers and  very cloudy grey skies, forming a formidable barrier in the nearby Pyrenees mountain range that doesn't permit the migratory birds continue with their journey to the north of Europe. 

This is one of the main reassons to preserve those valuable biotopes!!

In this situation, numerous groups of BT Godwits gathered in Zolina's reservoir, counting more than a hundred (120) (the same two days in Loza's reservoir located 10 km away similar numbers were registered).

In my local patch, a few common redshanks (5),with a dozen dunlins and a solitary ringed plover were lingering between their "long legged" relatives in the northern shore crope fields.

 090320

 Some BTW stunning their feathers before roosting.

 090320

Different species feeding in the wet fields close to the shore.

100320

A nice group of nine avocets in the northern shore.

(*) the godwits pics are by Raul Pascual