BIRDWALKERMONDAY

Tuesday, 18 April 2023

18-4-2023 MONTE CORONA, VALENCIA - HORSE CHESTNUT MOTH (Pachycnemia hippocastanaria)

https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/483346-Pachycnemia-hippocastanaria

Pachycnemia hippocastanaria, the horse chestnut moth, is a moth of the family Geometridae. It is found in most of Europe.

Larva

The wingspan is 28–32 mm. Adults are on wing from April to May, and again in a partial second generation in August, usually with fewer and smaller moths.

The larvae feed on common heather (Calluna vulgaris), although both the English and Latin names refer to the horse chestnut tree (Aesculus hippocastanum).

Monday, 17 April 2023

17-4-2023 CASTELLONET DE CONQUESTA, VALENCIA - LADDER SNAKE (Zamenis scalaris)

The ladder snake (Zamenis scalaris) is a species of non-venomous snake in the family Colubridae. The species is endemic to southwestern Europe.

The geographic range of the ladder snake includes Portugal, Spain, southern France and just into Italy, also Menorca and the Iles d'Hyères off Provence, but it is absent from northern Iberia including much of the Pyrenees, Galicia (although the species is found on Ons Island, in the Atlantic Islands of Galicia National Park, Cantabria and the Basque Country. The population on Menorca may stem from an introduction by humans.

The Ladder Snake enjoys scrub bushy cover, including orchards, vineyards, hedges and overgrown dry-stone walls; it is common in the maquis. Habitats with stones and boulders and low shade are preferred. Although known at altitudes over 2,000 metres (6,600 ft), this is a species which prefers altitudes from sea level to 700 metres (2,300 ft).

17-4-2023 CASTELLONET DE CONQUESTA, VALENCIA - BROAD LEAVED SWEET PEA (Lathyrus latifolius)

https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/61009-Lathyrus-latifolius

Lathyrus latifolius, the perennial peavine, perennial pea, broad-leaved everlasting-pea, or just everlasting pea, is a robust, sprawling herbaceous perennial flowering plant in the pea family Fabaceae. It is native to Europe but is present on other continents, such as North America and Australia, where it is most often seen along roadsides.

Lathyrus latifolius can reproduce vegetatively from its taproot and rhizomes, or by reseeding.

It requires partial to full sun, and loam or clay-loam soil that is moist, mesic, or slightly dry. Unlike the related annual sweet pea, Lathyrus odoratus, with which it may be confused, it has no scent. While grown as a garden plant it may be pervasive and difficult to remove. Because of this, this species is often considered to be a weed despite its attractive appearance.

18-4-2023 MONTE CORONA, VALENCIA - THERESIAN MOTH (Lamoria anella)

https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/324518-Lamoria-anella

It is found in most of Europe (except Ireland, Great Britain, Fennoscandia, Denmark, the Baltic region and Slovenia), the Canary Islands, as well as North Africa (including Tunisia, Morocco and Egypt), South Africa, India, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka and the United Arab Emirates.

The first confirmed British record was recorded in a garden at Hartford, Huntingdonshire on 5 October 2018, possibly as a migrant.

17-4-2023 MONTE CORONA, VALENCIA - WAVE MOTH (Scopula minorata)

https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/202588-Scopula-minorata

Scopula minorata is a moth of the family Geometridae. It was described by Jean Baptiste Boisduval in 1833. It is found in Africa south of the Sahara, the Arabian Peninsula and on the islands of the Indian Ocean. Furthermore, it is found in southern Europe. It can be distinguished from Scopula lactaria only by examination of its genitalia.

The wingspan is 15–20 millimetres (0.59–0.79 in).

17-4-2023 MONTE CORONA, VALENCIA - PEARL MOTH (Udea numeralis)

https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/466373-Udea-numeralis

Udea numeralis is a species of moth in the family Crambidae described by Jacob Hübner in 1796. It is found in Southern Europe and North Africa.

The wingspan is about 26 mm.

Sunday, 16 April 2023

16-4-2023 PEGO MARJAL, ALICANTE - IBERIAN BLUE DAMSELFLY (Ischnura graellsii)

The Iberian Bluetail ( Ischnura graellsii ) is a slightly smaller counterpart to the Common Bluetail – Blue-tailed Damselfly ( Ischnura elegans ) and is confined to Iberia and North Africa where it is again abundant on all types of water. Females of the former hybridise with males of the latter in northern Spain.

Males have a slightly shorter abdomen than the Common Bluetail – Ischnura elegans and also may have smaller (or even non-existant) postocular spots and antehumeral stripes.

Females again come in three colour forms with the immature thorax being greeny- yellow in Type A, pale lilac in Type B and orange in Type C.

The collared pratincole (Glareola pratincola), also known as the common pratincole or red-winged pratincole, is a wader in the pratincole family, Glareolidae. As with other pratincoles, it is native to the Old World.

The collared pratincole is a bird of open country, and is often seen near water in the evening, hawking for insects. It is found in the warmer parts of Europe, southwest Asia and Africa. It is migratory, wintering in tropical Africa, and is rare north of the breeding range.

Pratincoles are unusual among waders in that they typically hunt their insect prey on the wing like swallows, although they can also feed on the ground.

16-4-2023 PEGO MARJAL, ALICANTE - WOOD SANDPIPER (Tringa glareola)

https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/3888-Tringa-glareola

The wood sandpiper (Tringa glareola) is a small wader. This Eurasian species is the smallest of the shanks, which are mid-sized long-legged waders of the family Scolopacidae. The genus name Tringa is the Neo-Latin name given to the green sandpiper by Aldrovandus in 1599 based on Ancient Greek trungas, a thrush-sized, white-rumped, tail-bobbing wading bird mentioned by Aristotle.

The wood sandpiper breeds in subarctic wetlands from the Scottish Highlands across Europe and then east across the Palearctic. They migrate to Africa, Southern Asia, particularly India, and Australia. Vagrant birds have been seen as far into the Pacific as the Hawaiian Islands. In Micronesia it is a regular visitor to the Mariana Islands (where flocks of up to 32 birds are reported) and Palau; it is recorded on Kwajalein in the Marshall Islands about once per decade. This species is encountered in the western Pacific region between mid-October and mid-May. A slight westward expansion saw the establishment of a small but permanent breeding population in Scotland since the 1950s.

This bird is usually found on freshwater during migration and wintering. They forage by probing in shallow water or on wet mud, and mainly eat insects and similar small prey. T. glareola nests on the ground or uses an abandoned old tree nest of another bird, such as the fieldfare (Turdus pilaris). Four pale green eggs are laid between March and May.

Adult wood sandpipers moult all their primary feathers between August and December, whilst immature birds moult varying number of outer primaries between December and April, much closer to their departure from Africa. Immatures are also much more flexible than adults in the timing and rate of their moult and refueling. Adults and immatures which accumulate fuel loads of c.50% of their lean body mass can potentially cross distances of 2397–4490 km in one non-stop flight.

16-4-2023 PEGO MARJAL, ALICANTE - EUROPEAN STONECHAT (MALE)

https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/201192-Saxicola-rubicola

The European stonechat (Saxicola rubicola) is a small passerine bird that was formerly classed as a subspecies of the common stonechat. Long considered a member of the thrush family, Turdidae, genetic evidence has placed it and its relatives in the Old World flycatcher family, Muscicapidae.

European stonechats breed in heathland, coastal dunes and rough grassland with scattered small shrubs and bramble, open gorse, tussocks or heather. They are short-distance migrants or non-migratory, with part of the population (particularly from northeastern parts of the range, where winters are colder) moving south to winter further south in Europe and more widely in north Africa.

European stonechats first breed when they are one year old. They are monogamous during the breeding season but do not pair for life. The nest is built entirely by the female and is placed in dense vegetation close to the ground. It is a loose unwoven cup of dried grass lined with hair and feathers. The eggs are laid in early morning at daily intervals. The clutch is typically 4–6 eggs, which are pale blue to greenish-blue with red-brown freckles that are more numerous at the larger end. The average size of an egg is 18.7 mm × 14.4 mm (0.74 in × 0.57 in) with a weight of 2.0 g (0.071 oz). They are incubated for 13–14 days by the female beginning after the last egg is laid. Both parents care for and feed the chicks. They are brooded by the female. The nestlings fledge 12–16 days after hatching but continue to be fed by both parents for a further 4–5 days after which the female begins building a new nest for another brood while the male continues to feed the young for another 5–10 days. The parents raise two or three broods in a season.

Saturday, 15 April 2023

15-4-2023 RIO SERPIS, GANDIA - CRETAN TREE MALLOW (Malva multiflora)

https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/501208-Malva-multiflora

This distinctive mallow with pale pink or whitish flowers is one of the few wildflowers of the Iberian Peninsula and Mediterranean region to survive the heat past May, which may be due to its ability to form deep roots that gain access to what little water remains in the soil once the summer temperatures soar.

This annual or biennial plant usually grows to between 0.3 and 1.5m in height but can sometimes reach 2m. Small Tree Mallow is also known as Cretan Mallow. Lavatera cretica is a synonym of Malva multiflora.

Small Tree Mallow, or Cretan Mallow, can be found throughout the Mediterranean region. This wildflower is also native to Britain, where is a rare find.

This member of the Mallow family of plants occurs mainly on cultivated and disturbed ground, along waysides and in waste ground.

15-4-2023 MONTE CORONA, VALENCIA - GROUND SPIDER (Subfamily Zelotinae)

https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/1076125-Zelotinae

15-4-2023 RIO SERPIS, GANDIA - SPECKLED WOOD BUTTERFLY (Pararge aegeria)

https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/52592-Pararge-aegeria

15-4-2023 RIO SERPIS, GANDIA - GREY HERON (Ardea cinerea)

https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/4954-Ardea-cinerea

Generally quite common and conspicuous in wetland habitats from marshes and tidal flats to small ponds, ditches, and wet fields; nests colonially in tall trees. Mainly seen as singles or in small groups, standing quietly in or at the edge of water, less often hunting in fields. Plumage mostly gray overall, with paler neck; adult has white crown, black eyebrows, and black shoulder patch. Like other herons and egrets, flies with neck pulled in to form a bulge.

15-4-2023 RIO SERPIS, GANDIA - EURASIAN COLLARED DOVE (Streptopelia decaocto)

https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/2969-Streptopelia-decaocto

15-4-2023 RIO SERPIS, GANDIA - EUROPEAN GOLDFINCH (Carduelis carduelis)

https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/9398-Carduelis-carduelis

Beautiful little finch with a sharp pink bil, cherry-red face, and brilliant black-and-yellow flashes in the wings. Western birds (Europe east to far western Central Asia) have a black-and-white cowl; eastern birds (rest of Central Asia) lack this cowl, and are grayer overall, with more white on the wing. Juvenile (seen in late summer and autumn) has a plain head but is told easily by bold wing pattern. Uses a wide array of wooded and open habitats, from forests and gardens to steppe grasslands and meadows; often feeds on seeding thistles. Forms flocks in autumn and winter, gathering at food sources. Can be inconspicuous, but often detected by pleasant bubbling and twittering calls and song.

15-4-2023 RIO SERPIS, GANDIA - IBERIAN GREEN FROG (Pelophylax perezi)

https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/66331-Pelophylax-perezi

15-4-2023 RIO SERPIS, GANDIA - YELLOW LEGGED GULL (Larus michahellis)

https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/59202-Larus-michahellis

The breeding range is centred on the Mediterranean Sea. In North Africa, it is common in Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia and increasing in places. Recent breeding has occurred in Libya and Egypt. In the Middle East, a few breed in IsraelPalestine and Syria with larger numbers in Cyprus and Turkey. In Europe, there are colonies all along the Mediterranean coast, and also on the Atlantic islands and coasts north to Brittany and west to the Azores. It also breeds on the western side of the Black Sea; here it overlaps with the Caspian gull but there is a difference in habitat, with the yellow-legged gull preferring sea cliffs and the Caspian gull flatter shores. In recent decades birds have spread north into central and western Europe. One to four pairs have attempted to breed in southern England since 1995 (sometimes hybrid pairs with lesser black-backed gulls), though colonisation has been very slow.

Many birds remain in the same area all year round, but others migrate to spend the winter in mild areas of western Europe or head south as far as Senegal, Gambia and the Red Sea. There is also extensive northward post-breeding dispersal in the late summer, with numbers in southern England high from July to October.

Friday, 14 April 2023

12-4-2023 MONTECORONA, VALENCIA - GEOMETER MOTH (Genus Dyscia)

https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/325560-Dyscia

12-4-2023 MARJAL DE MOROS, VALENCIA - MEDITERRANEAN SPOTTED CHAFER (Oxythyrea funesta)

https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/68328-Oxythyrea-funesta

Oxythyrea funesta is a phytophagous beetle species belonging to the family Cetoniidae, subfamily Cetoniinae.

Common name “White spotted rose beetle”.

This beetle is present in most of Europe, in the eastern Palearctic realm, and in the Near East.

Larvae are up to 30 mm long, they feed on plant roots and can remain until next spring in the soil.

The adults appear early in the spring, they grow up to 8–12 millimetres (0.31–0.47 in) and can mostly be encountered from May through July. They are considered an insect pest that do not just feed on pollen, but rode the floral organs, especially damaging light in color buds and flowers.

Their colour is black, more or less bronzed. Most of the specimens show six white spots in two longitudinal rows on the pronotum and many others on the elytra. They are completely covered with white pubescence (easily visible in profile). Older specimens usually have no hairs, as they are rubbed off with time.

14-4-2023 MONTE CORONA, VALENCIA - PHOENIX FLY ( Dorycera graminum)

https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/466525-Dorycera-graminum

Dorycera graminum is a species of picture-winged fly in the genus Dorycera of the family Ulidiidae found in Croatia, Corsica, the United Kingdom, Austria, Germany, Italy, Hungary, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, and Spain.

13-4-2023 CANAL LES FONTS OLIVA, VALENCIA - GLOSSY IBIS (JUVENILE) (Plegadis falcinellus)

https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/3756-Plegadis-falcinellus

13-4-2023 CANAL LES FONTS OLIVA, VALENCIA - LITTLE EGRET

https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/4943-Egretta-garzetta

13-4-2023 CANAL LES FONTS OLIVA, VALENCIA - EUROPEAN MOORHEN (Gallinula chloropus)

https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/201282-Gallinula-chloropus

The common moorhen (Gallinula chloropus), also known as the waterhen or swamp chicken, is a bird species in the rail family (Rallidae). It is distributed across many parts of the old world.

The common moorhen lives around well-vegetated marshes, ponds, canals and other wetlands. The species is not found in the polar regions or many tropical rainforest. Elsewhere it is likely the most common rail species, except for the Eurasian Coot in some regions.