BIRDWALKERMONDAY

Saturday, 28 September 2019

24-9-2019 PLASENCIA, ESPANA - EUROPEAN GOLDFINCH (Carduelis carduelis)

24-9-2019 GALISTEO, CACERES - HOUSE SPARROW (FEMALE) (Passer domesticus)

24-9-2019 GALISTEO, CACERES - WHINCHAT ( Saxicola rubetra)

24-9-2019 GALISTEO, CACERES - EUROPEAN STONECHAT (Saxicola rubicola)

24-9-2019 SALVATIERRA DE TORMES, CACERES - EUROPEAN STARLING (Sturnus vulgaris)

Tuesday, 24 September 2019

24-9-2019 GALISTEO, CACERAS - EURASIAN WREN (Troglodytes troglodytes)

The Eurasian wren (Troglodytes troglodytes) or northern wren is a very small insectivorous bird, and the only member of the wren family Troglodytidae found in Eurasia and Africa (Maghreb). In Anglophone Europe, it is commonly known simply as the wren. It has a very short tail which is often held erect, a short neck and a relatively long thin bill. It is russet brown above, paler buff-brown below and has a cream buff supercilium. The sexes are alike.

The species was once lumped with Troglodytes hiemalis of eastern North America and Troglodytes pacificus of western North America as the winter wren. The Eurasian wren occurs in Europe and across the Palearctic – including a belt of Asia from northern Iran and Afghanistan across to Japan. It is migratory in only the northern parts of its range. It is also highly polygynous, an unusual mating system for passerines.

The Eurasian wren is a plump, sturdy bird with rounded wings and a short tail, which is usually held cocked up. The adult bird is 9 to 10 cm (3.5 to 3.9 in) in length and has a wingspan of 13–17 cm (5.1–6.7 in).[18] It weighs around 10 g (0.35 oz).[19] It is rufous brown above, greyer beneath, and indistinctly barred with darker brown and grey, even on the wings and tail. The bill is dark brown and the legs are pale brown, the feet having strong claws and a large hind toe. Young birds are less distinctly barred and have mottled underparts. The plumage is subject to considerable variation, and where populations have been isolated, the variation has become fixed in one minor form or another.

24-9-2019 GALISTEO, CACERAS - WOODLARK (Lullula arborea)

The woodlark or wood lark (Lullula arborea) is the only extant species in the lark genus Lullula. It is found across most of Europe, the Middle East, western Asia and the mountains of north Africa. It is mainly resident (non-migratory) in the west of its range, but eastern populations of this passerine bird are more migratory, moving further south in winter.

There are two subspecies of woodlark, L. a. arborea and L. a. pallida. The former is native to northern regions of Europe, while the latter can be found in the south of the woodlark's range. Their diet is mostly composed of seeds but also includes insects during the breeding period. A comparatively small bird, the woodlark is between 13.5 and 15 centimetres long and roughly 20% shorter than the skylark. It is a brown bird with a pale underside and has a white-tipped tail.

Found mainly in Europe, the mountains of northern Africa and western Asia, the woodlark is present across much of its range. In Europe, the bird seems most at home in the sandy heaths of Belgium, where its density was 7.5 pairs per square kilometre (km2) in 1988. In the same year, densities in East Germany ranged from 0.29 to 5.0 pairs per km2 and between 0.1 and 0.25 pairs per km2 in southern England, with more optimal habitats being more densely populated. However, populations fluctuated across Europe in the 1990s and 2000s and more up-to-date density figures are unavailable. The extent of the woodlark's range is England in the west, parts of northern Egypt to the south, Iran and Turkmenistan to the east and the Scandinavian Peninsula in the north. Declining populations have resulted in the woodlark's range contracting, for example in Britain it once bred in Wales and central England but is now found only in southern England. Within its range it is mainly resident in the west, with eastern populations migrating south in the winter.

The woodlark's natural habitat is heathland and open spaces sparsely populated with trees. They prefer clearings in pine forests and heathland and like newly planted areas with pine saplings. Experimental work showed that annual ground‐disturbance can increase Woodlark abundance within lowland grass‐heaths. The bird can also be found more rarely in urban areas. For example, in 1950 a pair were recorded on a main road near Putney Heath, London.