Thursday, 21 September 2017
Wednesday, 20 September 2017
20-9-2017 TANCAT DE PIPA, VALENCIA - WHINCHAT (FEMALE) (Saxicola rubetra)
The whinchat (Saxicola rubetra ) is a small migratory passerine bird breeding in Europe and western Asia and wintering in central Africa. At one time considered to be in the thrush family, Turdidae, it is now placed in the Old World flycatcher family, Muscicapidae. Both sexes have a strong supercilium, brownish upper parts mottled darker, a pale throat and breast, a pale buff to whitish belly, and a blackish tail with white bases to the outer tail feathers, but in the breeding season, the male has an orange-buff throat and breast.
The whinchat is a solitary species, favouring open grassy country with rough vegetation and scattered small shrubs. It perches in elevated locations ready to pounce on the insects and other small invertebrates that form its diet. The nest is built by the female on the ground in coarse vegetation, with a clutch of four to seven eggs being laid. The hen incubates the eggs for about thirteen days and then both parents feed the nestlings. Fledging takes place about eighteen days after hatching and the parents continue to feed the young for another fortnight. Moulting takes place in late summer before the migration southwards, and again on the wintering grounds in Africa before the migration northwards in spring. The whinchat is a common species with a wide range and the International Union for Conservation of Nature has classified it as being of "least concern".
20-9-2017 TANCAT DE PIPA, VALENCIA - MEADOW PIPIT (Anthus pratensis)
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The meadow pipit (Anthus pratensis ) is a small passerine bird, which breeds in much of the Palearctic, from southeastern Greenland and Iceland east to just east of the Ural Mountains in Russia, and south to central France and Romania; an isolated population also occurs in the Caucasus Mountains. It is migratory over most of its range, wintering in southern Europe, North Africa, and south-western Asia, but is resident year-round in western Europe, though even here many birds move to the coast or lowlands in winter.
This is a widespread and often abundant small pipit, 14.5–15 cm (5+1⁄2–6 in) long and 15–22 g (0.53–0.78 oz) weight. It is an undistinguished-looking species on the ground, mainly brown above and buff below, with darker streaking on most of its plumage; the tail is brown, with narrow white side edges. It has a thin bill and pale pinkish-yellow legs; the hind claw is notably long, longer than the rest of the hind toes. The call is a weak tsi-tsi. The simple repetitive song is given in a short song flight. Birds breeding in Ireland and western Scotland are slightly darker coloured than those in other areas, and are often distinguished as the subspecies A. p. whistleri, though it intergrades clinally with nominate A. p. pratensis found in the rest of the species' range.
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It is similar to the red-throated pipit A. cervinus, which is more heavily streaked and (in summer only) has an orange-red throat, and to the tree pipit A. trivialis, which is slightly larger, less heavily streaked, and has stronger facial markings and a shorter hind claw. The song of the meadow pipit accelerates towards the end while that of the tree pipit slows down.
It is primarily a species of open habitats, either uncultivated or low-intensity agriculture, such as pasture, bogs, and moorland, but also occurs in low numbers in arable croplands. In winter, it also uses saltmarshes and sometimes open woodlands. It is a fairly terrestrial pipit, always feeding on the ground, but uses elevated perches such as shrubs, fence lines, or electricity wires as vantage points to watch for predators.
The estimated total population is 12 million pairs. It is an abundant species in the north of its range, and generally the commonest breeding bird in most of upland Britain, but less common further south. Breeding densities range from 80 pairs/km2 (210 pairs/sq mi) in northern Scandinavia, to 5–20 pairs/km2 (13–52 pairs/sq mi) in grassland in the south of the breeding range, and just 1/km2 (2.6/sq mi) in arable farmland. A few isolated breeding pairs are recorded from south of the main range, in the mountains of Spain, Italy, and the northern Balkans. A general decline in the population has occurred over the past 17 years, most notable in French farmland, with a 68% drop.
Its food is primarily insects and other invertebrates, mostly small items less than 5 mm (3⁄16 in) long. It also eats the seeds of grasses, sedges, rushes, and heather, and crowberry berries, mainly in winter.
20-9-2017 SILLA, VALENCIA - GLOSSY IBIS (Plegadis falcinellus)
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The glossy ibis (Plegadis falcinellus ) is a water bird in the order Pelecaniformes and the ibis and spoonbill family Threskiornithidae. The scientific name derives from Ancient Greek plegados and Latin, falcis, both meaning "sickle" and referring to the distinctive shape of the bill.
The Glossy ibis is the most widespread ibis species; it breeds in warm regions of Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia, and the Atlantic and Caribbean regions of the Americas. This species is migratory; most European birds winter in Africa, and in North America birds from north of the Carolinas winter farther south. Though generally suspected to be a migratory species in India, the Glossy ibis is a resident in western India. Birds from other populations may disperse widely outside the breeding season. Glossy ibises inhabit wetlands with tall dense stands of emergent vegetation such as reeds, papyrus or rushes, and low trees or bushes. They show a preference for marshes at the margins of lakes and rivers but can also be found at lagoons, flood-plains, wet meadows, swamps, reservoirs, sewage ponds, paddies, and irrigated farmland. These birds are less commonly found in coastal locations such as estuaries, deltas, salt marshes, and coastal lagoons.
20-9-2017 TANCAT DE PIPA, VALENCIA - WILLOW WARBLER (Phylloscopus trochilus)
Willow warblers prefer young, open, scrubby woodland with small trees, including human-altered habitats such as coppice and young plantations up to 10–20 years old. High amounts of birch, alder and willow, with good lichen amounts, and water features (e.g. streams), fields with large amounts of bracken and mosses, and patches of low bramble (for nest cover) are preferred, but it will use a wide range of other species, including young or open coniferous forests. Incorporating woodland ride edge thickets of varying structure and height is beneficial. They prefer damp woodland areas. Thicket forming shrubs like blackthorn provide pockets of habitat. Deer browsing can degrade the required low cover.
The highest population densities are found in Scandinavia (where it is the commonest bird of any), with up to 1,100 pairs per square kilometre, and a total population in Sweden and Finland of 24 million pairs. Lower densities occur further east, with peak densities of 27 pairs per square kilometre in central Siberia. Even lower densities are found on the southern edge of the breeding range, with just 9 pairs per square kilometre in Switzerland, and a total of just 100 pairs in the whole of northern Spain.
Tuesday, 19 September 2017
20-9-2017 TANCAT DE PIPA, VALENCIA - WILLOW WARBLER (Phylloscopus trochilus)
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The willow warbler (Phylloscopus trochilus) is a very common and widespread leaf warbler which breeds throughout northern and temperate Europe and the Palearctic, from Ireland east to the Anadyr River basin in eastern Siberia. It is strongly migratory, with almost all of the population wintering in sub-Saharan Africa.
It is a bird of open woodlands with trees and ground cover for nesting, including most importantly birch, alder, and willow habitats. The nest is usually built in close contact with the ground, often in low vegetation. Like most Old World warblers (Sylviidae), this small passerine is insectivorous. In northern Europe, it is one of the first warblers to return in the spring, though later than the closely related chiffchaff.
Monday, 18 September 2017
Sunday, 17 September 2017
17-9-2017 PEGO MARJAL, ALICANTE - EURASIAN KESTREL (Falco tinnunculus)
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The Common kestrel (Falco tinnunculus) is a bird of prey species that belongs to the falcon family Falconidae. This species occurs over a large range and in Britain, where no other kestrel species commonly occurs, it is generally just called "kestrel".
Common kestrels are small compared with other raptors, but larger than most songbirds. They are mainly light chestnut brown in color with blackish spots on the upperside and buff with narrow blackish streaks on the underside; the remiges are also blackish. The males have fewer black spots and streaks and their cap and tail are blue-grey. The tail is brown with black bars in females and has a black tip with a narrow white rim in both sexes. All Common kestrels have a prominent black malar stripe like their closest relatives. The cere, feet, and a narrow ring around the eye are bright yellow; the toenails, bill, and iris are dark. Juveniles look like adult females, but the underside streaks are wider; the yellow of their bare parts is paler.
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Common kestrels are found in Europe, Asia, and Africa. These birds are sedentary but in the cold parts of their range, they migrate south in winter. Common kestrels live in open habitats such as tundra, taiga, grassland, shrubland, marshland, fields, and heaths. They can also be found in forested areas and readily adapt to human settlement, as long as sufficient swathes of vegetation are available. They also occur in wetlands, moorlands, arid savanna, and from the sea to the lower mountain range.
Common kestrels are usually seen alone but sometimes may travel in small flocks and nest in loose colonies. These birds hunt by day hovering about 10-20 m (35-65 ft) above the ground, searching for prey, either by flying into the wind or by soaring using ridge lift. Like most birds of prey, Common kestrels have keen eyesight enabling them to spot small prey from a distance. Once prey is sighted, the bird makes a short, steep dive toward the target. They often hunt along the sides of roads and motorways. Another favorite (but less conspicuous) hunting technique is to perch a bit above the ground cover, surveying the area. When the bird spots prey animals moving by, it will pounce on them. They also prowl a patch of hunting ground in a ground-hugging flight, ambushing prey as they happen across it. Common kestrels communicate with each other using various calls. When alarmed they utter 'kii-kii-kiikii' and in flight, the birds produce a 'kik-kik' call.
13-9-2017 BIOPARC, VALENCIA - HOUSE SPARROW (MALE) (Passer domesticus)
These noisy and sociable birds are found around the world, thanks to their cheerful ability to make the most of humanity's rubbish and wastefulness. But monitoring suggests a severe decline in the UK House Sparrow population, recently estimated as dropping by 71% between 1977 and 2008 with large falls in both rural and urban populations. Their numbers are still dropping in England, Breeding Bird Survey data indicates recent population increases in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
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