7-10-2017 VILLALONGA RESERVOIR, VALENCIA - WESTERN CATTLE EGRET (Bubulcus ibis ssp. ibis)

The Cattle Egret, a member of the heron family Ardeidae, is a small white bird recognized for its association with grazing animals. It exhibits a stout build, with a wingspan ranging from 88 to 96 cm, and a body length between 46 to 56 cm. The species is relatively light, weighing between 270 to 512 grams. It is characterized by a short, thick neck, a robust bill, and a somewhat hunched posture.

Outside the breeding season, the adult Cattle Egret has predominantly white plumage, a yellow bill, and greyish-yellow legs. Come breeding time, the western variety develops striking orange-buff plumes on the back, breast, and crown, while the bill, legs, and irises turn a vivid red. The eastern variety differs slightly with buff coloration extending to the cheeks and throat during breeding, and the plumes taking on a more golden hue. Both sexes are similar in appearance, though males are marginally larger with longer breeding plumes.

Cattle Egrets are adaptable birds that exploit a variety of drier and open habitats more than other heron species. Their preferred environments include seasonally inundated grasslands, pastures, farmlands, wetlands, and rice paddies.

Originally native to parts of Asia, Africa, and Europe, the Cattle Egret has seen a significant expansion in its distribution, colonizing much of the rest of the world over the last century. It is now found in the tropics, subtropics, and warm-temperate zones globally.

Cattle Egrets are often seen in the company of cattle or other large mammals, benefiting from the insects and small vertebrates these animals disturb. They are known for their migratory behavior, with some populations moving seasonally, while others disperse post-breeding.

At breeding colonies, the Cattle Egret emits a soft, guttural "rick-rack" call but is generally quiet outside this setting.

Breeding occurs in colonies, often near water and in the company of other wading birds. The nest is a platform of sticks in trees or shrubs. Both parents are involved in nest construction and incubation, which lasts about 23 days. Chicks are born with some down and are dependent on their parents for warmth and food.

The Cattle Egret can be confused with other white egrets, but its shorter neck, more robust build, and behavior around livestock help distinguish it.

The diet is varied, primarily consisting of insects like grasshoppers, crickets, and flies. They also consume spiders, frogs, small reptiles, and occasionally bird eggs and chicks. They are known to forage in fields, often near grazing animals, and have been observed following farm machinery to catch disturbed prey.

The Cattle Egret is classified as Least Concern by the IUCN, with an extensive range and a large, stable population. Its successful colonization of new areas has led to it being considered an invasive species in some regions, though it has not yet been noted to have significant negative impacts.

5-10-2017 MONTE CORONA, VALENCIA - LEOPARD MOTH (Zeuzera pyrina)

30-9-2017 MONTE CORONA, VALENCIA - SPECKLED FOOTMAN MOTH (Coscinia cribraria)

Coscinia cribraria, the speckled footman, is a species of moth belonging to the subfamily Arctiinae within the large family Erebidae. This moth has a widespread distribution in the Palearctic.

Coscinia cribraria has a forewing which has a background colour of dirty white marked with black streaks along the wings and crossbands made up of dark dots, both of which vary in extent. The subspecies arenaria has an almost pure white forewing.The speckled footman has a wingspan of between 30 and 35 mm (1.2 and 1.4 in).

Coscinia cribraria has a wide Palearctic distribution being found from Northwestern Africa Iberia and southern Great Britain east to China and Mongolia. In Europe, north of the Alps, the speckled footman is typically found on sandy heaths and open sandy pine forests. To the south of the Alps, it inhabits on dry mountain meadows with stony or rocky areas and around the Mediterranean this species can be found in habitats like maquis and in open forests.

Coscinia cribaria is common in the southern part ofits range but in northern Europe it is vulnerable to the destrucion of the open sandy heaths it prefers. In the United Kingdom it is classified as nationally rare meaning that it has been recorded from fewer than 15, or fewer, hectads.

30-9-2017 MONTE CORONA, VALENCIA - HOARY FOOTMAN MOTH (Eilema caniola)

Eilema caniola, the hoary footman, is a moth of the family Erebidae. The species was first described by Jacob Hübner in 1808.

This species can be found in North Africa, in western and southern Europe, in eastern Europe up to south-western Russia, in the Near East, in the eastern Palearctic realm, and in the Oriental realm. These thermophilic moths usually occur in urban areas and as a caterpillar on old walls, roofs, shingle beaches, and rocky areas.

The wingspan is 28–35 mm. It is almost the same in colouring as Eilema griseola and Eilema lurideola but the forewings are much smaller, the outer margin is oblique, only slightly excurved; the colour is much lighter, more yellowish grey, so that the pale yellow costal stripe is less prominent. Hindwings are very pale, scarcely darker at the costal margin, with the apex much more pointed than in the two species mentioned, with which it might be confounded.

It is at once distinguished from Eilema complanum by the underside of the forewing, on which the pale grey colour extends to the margin, the latter not being broadly yellow as in E. complanum. - ab. vitellina Bdv. is a form with the forewing dusted with grey close to the distal margin and of a pale bright yellow ground colour in the male - ab. albeola Hbn. is considerably smaller, and, except for the bright yellow thorax, entirely white on the upperside; it occurs among ordinary specimens.

Larvae are grey or reddish brown with dark dorsal line, red subdorsal lines edged with black and occasionally spotted with white or black.

These moths are nocturnal and rest at day on shady rocks. They fly in two or three generations from July to September depending on the location. They are attracted to light. The larvae mainly feed on algae, especially on green films of Pleurococcus and on a variety of lichens growing on rocks, but also on the flowers of broom (Genista sp.), birdsfoot trefoil (Lotus sp.) and clover (Trifolium sp.).

30-9-2017 MONTE CORONA, VALENCIA - RUSTY WAVE MOTH (Idaea inquinata)

30-9-2017 GANDIA PLAYA, VALENCIA - BLACK HEADED GULL (JUVENILE) (Chroicocephalus ridibundus)

The Black-headed gull (Chroicocephalus ridibundus) is a small and one of the most abundant gulls in much of Europe and Asia, and also in eastern Canada. It displays a variety of compelling behaviors and adaptations. Some of these include removing eggshells from one's nest after hatching, begging co-ordination between siblings, differences between sexes, conspecific brood parasitism, and extra-pair paternity.

The summer adult has a chocolate-brown head (not black, although does look black from a distance), a pale grey body, black tips to the primary wing feathers, and a red bill and legs. The hood is lost in winter, leaving just two dark spots. Immature birds have a mottled pattern of brown spots over most of the body and a black band on the tail. There is no difference in plumage between the sexes. In flight, the white leading edge to the wing is a good field mark. First-year birds have a black terminal tail band, more dark areas in the wings, and, in summer, a less fully developed dark hood.

Black-headed gulls breed in much of Europe, Asia, and in coastal eastern Canada. Most of their populations are migratory and winter further south, but some birds reside in the milder westernmost areas of Europe. Some Black-headed gulls also spend the winter in northeastern North America. They breed in large reed beds or marshes, or on islands in lakes, rivers, lagoons, deltas, and estuaries. They may also occur in ponds, canals, and flood lands, nesting on the heather moors, sand dunes, or beaches. During the winter these birds are found in estuaries with sandy or muddy beaches, ploughed fields, moist grasslands, reservoirs, urban parks, farmland, and gardens.

Black-headed gulls are highly gregarious birds, both when feeding or in evening roosts; they also breed in colonies. They are rarely seen at sea far from coasts. Black-headed gulls are active during the day and feed mainly by taking prey from the surface while swimming, or by dipping the head under the surface. They also walk along the coasts and probe for aquatic prey or catch flying insects on the wings. Black-headed birds are noisy, especially in colonies, with a familiar "kree-ar" call. When feeding they utter a sharp “kek-kek”.

Black-headed gulls are monogamous breeders. This means that males will mate with only one female and females will mate with only one male. The breeding season usually starts in late March; during this time pairs become very territorial and defend their nests vigorously. Black-headed gulls nest in big colonies and build their nests on the ground in low vegetation close to each other. Females lay 1 to 3 eggs and both parents incubate them within 22-26 days. The chicks are precocial; they are hatched with eyes open and are covered in down. They are able to stand within a day, but usually stay in the nest for a week and are fed by both parents. The chicks fledge about 35 days after hatching and become reproductively mature when they are 2 years old.

5-10-2017 VILLALONGA RESERVOIR, VALENCIA - EURASIAN GREAT CORMORANT (Phalacrocorax carbo)

The Great cormorant is a large black bird, but there is a wide variation in size in the species' wide range. Males are typically larger and heavier than females. It has a longish tail and yellow throat patch. Adults have white patches on the thighs and on the throat in the breeding season. In European waters, the Great cormorant can be distinguished from the Common shag by its larger size, heavier build, thicker bill, lack of a crest, and plumage without any green tinge. In eastern North America, it is similarly larger and bulkier than the Double-crested cormorant, and the latter species has more yellow on the throat and bill and lack the white thigh patches frequently seen on great cormorants.

Great cormorants occur throughout Europe, Asia, Australia, Africa, and northeastern coastal North America. They may be both resident and migratory. Throughout the year in some areas, large groups remain within the breeding range. Greta cormorants frequent open marine environments and inland waters. They inhabit sandy or rocky sheltered coasts and estuaries and are rarely seen any distance from the coast. This species breeds on cliffs and inshore islands, among boulders and man-made structures. Birds that nest inland will breed on trees, bushes, and reedbeds, and even on bare ground.

Great cormorants are active during the day and are social birds, usually leaving roosts to forage early in the morning and returning within an hour. Little time each day is spent foraging, although parents with young tend to forage for longer. Much of the day is spent resting and preening near foraging areas or at roosts. Great cormorants generally are not aggressive towards one another, apart from at nest sites, where they exhibit territorial behavior. There may be dominance hierarchies. Outside of the breeding season, they usually gather in mixed-age, mixed-sex groups.

Great cormorants are monogamous, with pairs sometimes reuniting in subsequent years. The male chooses the nest site, displaying to attract the female by waving his wings up and down and flashing his white rump patch. He will also swing his head from side to side while holding his tail erect and calling loudly. The female responds by swinging her head slightly and “purring”. This species breeds at any time, depending on food resources. Breeding takes place in colonies of as many as 2,000 pairs, although colonies of a smaller size are typical. Colonies are often located close to other species, like darters, herons, and spoonbills. The parents build their nest with reeds, sticks, and seaweeds on a cliff, in a tree, or in a bush, according to the region. Often a nest is reused. 2 to 6 eggs are laid, with an average of 3-4. The parents share the incubation for 27 to 31 days. The altricial chicks hatch at intervals and fledge at about 50 days old. They remain with their parents for 50 or more days, relying on them for food. The young start to breed between 2 and 4 years old, typically when 3 years old.

5-10-2017 MONTE CORONA, VALENCIA - HOVERFLY (XANTHOGRAMMA MARGINALE)

Xanthogramma marginale is a member of the Typical Hover Flies Subfamily Syrphinae.

Xanthogramma marginale

Kingdom: Animalia

Phylum: Arthropoda

Class: Insecta

Order: Diptera

Superfamily: Syrphoidea

Family: Syrphidae

Genus: Xanthogramma

Species: X.Marginale Photo taken in Collserola (Barcelona)

5-10-2017 MONTE CORONA, VALENCIA - WESTERN CONIFER SEED BUG (Leptoglossus occidentalis)

The western conifer seed bug (Leptoglossus occidentalis), sometimes abbreviated as WCSB, is a species of true bug (Hemiptera) in the family Coreidae. It is native to North America west of the Rocky Mountains (California to British Columbia, east to Idaho Minnesota and Nevada) but has in recent times expanded its range to eastern North America, to include Ontario, Québec, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Michigan, Maine, Pennsylvania, New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Ohio, Indiana, and Wisconsin, and has become an accidental introduced species in parts of Europe and Argentina.

This species is a member of the insect family Coreidae, or leaf-footed bugs, which also includes the similar Leptoglossus phyllopus and Acanthocephala femorata, both known as the "Florida leaf-footed bug". Western conifer seed bugs are sometimes colloquially called stink bugs. While they do use a foul-smelling spray as a defense, they are not classified in the stink bug family Pentatomidae. In Chile, it has been confused with kissing bugs (Triatominae), causing unjustified alarm.

4-10-2017 MONTE CORONA, VALENCIA - ROUGH HAIRED LAGRIA BEETLE (Lagria hirta)

4-10-2017 PEGO MARJAL, ALICANTE - COMMON DARTER DRAGONFLY (MALE) (Sympetrum striolatum)

4-10-2017 PEGO MARJAL, ALICANTE - COMMON DARTER DRAGONFLY (FEMALE) (Sympetrum striolatum)

4-10-2017 VILLALONGA RESERVOIR, VALENCIA - GREEN SANDPIPER (Tringa ochropus)

Dark brown sandpiper with a snowy white belly; in flight looks black above with boldly contrasting white rump. Bobs tail when nervous, but not habitually like Common Sandpiper. Often climbs steeply when flushed and flies quickly with deep wingbeats, swooping around a little like a swallow. Breeds in clearings and marshes in wet forest and woodland; migrants occur in fresh and brackish wetland habitats, especially on muddy shores of lakes and small ponds. Mainly found as singles or small groups, not mixed with other species.

The Green Sandpiper is a wader whose dark, almost black, upperparts contrast with its pale underparts and white rump. It frequently bobs up and down when standing. It often appears nervous and will take off when disturbed. It looks like a large House Martin when in the air – look out for its low zig-zagging flight.

The green sandpiper is a very rare breeding bird in the UK, and is mainly seen on migration in autumn. Look out for it feeding around marshes, flooded gravel pits and rivers. It even likes sewage works!

The green sandpiper is a medium-sized, elegant bird that can be spotted feeding around the edge of freshwater marshes, lakes, flooded gravel pits and rivers. It rarely uses its bill for probing the mud, but prefers to pick invertebrates from the surface of the water. It bobs up and down when standing and will fly-off in a zig-zag pattern when disturbed.

 

Sandpipers can be a difficult group of birds to get to grips with. Green sandpipers are blackish-green above, with a bright white belly and a white rump. They are most similar to wood sandpipers and common sandpipers, but are much darker than both. They have medium-length, straight, black bills and dark green legs.

 

Mainly a passage migrant and winter visitor to inland wetlands in England and Wales.

   

Green sandpipers nest in trees, using old song thrush or crow nests, or squirrel dreys. Just a few pairs nest in northern Scotland.

4-10-2017 PEGO MARJAL, ALICANTE - SPOTLESS STARLING (Sturnus unicolor)

4-10-2017 PEGO MARJAL, ALICANTE - BANDED GARDEN SPIDER (Argiope trifasciata)

4-10-2017 PEGO MARJAL, ALICANTE - BOOTED EAGLE (Hieraaetus pennatus)

The Booted eagle (Hieraaetus pennatus) is a small mostly migratory bird of prey with a wide distribution. Despite its small size, the Booted eagle is a fierce hunter that usually captures and kill its prey in its powerful talons.

There are two relatively distinct plumage forms of the Botted eagle. Pale birds are mainly light grey with a darker head and flight feathers. The other form has mid-brown plumage with dark grey flight feathers.

Booted eagles breed in many different regions in both the northern and southern hemisphere. These include southern Europe, North Africa, and across Asia, and also in western South Africa and Namibia. The northern populations are migratory spending November to February in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, while the small southern African populations are sedentary. Booted eagles prefer to live in wooded, often hilly countryside with some open areas. They breed in rocky, broken terrain but migrants may use almost any type of habitat except the dense forest. The birds of the Palearctic breeding population usually nest in coniferous or deciduous woodlands and often in trees.

Booted eagles are active during the day and are typically seen in pairs or as solitary individuals. They fly at relatively low heights, making them conspicuous. Booted eagles typically hunt on the wing, stooping quickly with wings folded in and feet extended. They can also catch insects while walking on the ground. The common call of Booted eagles is a shrill 'kli-kli-kli'.

Booted eagles are carnivores. Their diet includes small mammals, rodents, reptiles and birds. In Southern Africa, it has been noted that birds are their most common prey.

Booted eagles are monogamous. They form strong pair bonds that last for life. With the start of the breeding season, pairs can be seen circling high above in spectacular display. Egg-laying takes place between March and June. The female lays 1-2 eggs in a nest built from sticks and lined with green leaves in a tree or on a crag, or it takes over the disused nest of another large bird such as a Black kite or Grey heron. The female incubates the egg for around 45 days and is fed by the male during this time. After hatching she guards the nest and the young while the male provides all the food. The chicks fledge after 50-55 days and continue to be fed by both parents for another 2 weeks.

2-10-2017 BARX, VALENCIA - CARDINAL BUTTERFLY (Argynnis pandora)

1-10-2017 MONTE CORONA, ADOR - FLESH FLY (Family Sarcophagidae)

Sarcophagidae (from Ancient Greek σάρξ sárx 'flesh' and φαγεῖν phageîn 'to eat') are a family of flies commonly known as flesh flies. They differ from most flies in that they are ovoviviparous, opportunistically depositing hatched or hatching maggots instead of eggs on carrion, dung, decaying material, or open wounds of mammals, hence their common name. Some flesh fly larvae are internal parasites of other insects such as Orthoptera, and some, in particular the Miltogramminae, are kleptoparasites of solitary Hymenoptera. The adults mostly feed on fluids from animal bodies, nectar, sweet foods, fluids from animal waste and other organic substances. Juveniles need protein to develop and may be laid on carrion, dung or sweet plant foods (including fruit, nuts, and artificial foodstuffs).Members of the subfamily Sarcophaginae are small to large flies 0.16–0.9 inches (4.1–22.9 mm) with black and gray longitudinal stripes on the thorax and checkering on the abdomen. Other key features include red eyes and a bristled abdomen. Abdominal sternites II and III are free and cover the margins of tergites. The posthumeral bristles are one or two in number, with the outermost pair missing.

The presutural bristle is located lower than the notopleural bristle, and closer to the notopleural bristle than to the outermost posthumeral bristle. The presutural bristle is located higher than or level with the posthumeral bristle. The hindmost posthumeral bristle is located even with or toward the midline from the presutural bristle. Four notopleural bristles are present and arranged in the order - short, long, short, long - from front to rear.

Vein M1 +2 (anterior transverse vein, medial vein 1+2 ) is always present, and the cubitulus is strongly bent at right angles or acute; vein Rs is dibranched.

The eyes are smooth and very rarely hairy.

Flesh flies can carry leprosy bacilli and can transmit intestinal pseudomyiasis to people who eat their larvae. Flesh flies, particularly Wohlfahrtia magnifica, can also cause myiasis in animals, mostly to sheep, and can give them blood poisoning, or asymptomatic leprosy infections.

30-9-2017 GANDIA PLAYA, VALENCIA - HOUSE SPARROW (MALE) (Passer domesticus)