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Tucked away at the extreme eastern end of the Mediterranean, Cyprus is regarded politically as part of Europe, but when it comes to birds it’s very much Middle Eastern in flavour, with a number of species that are hard or even impossible to find in Europe, plus a trio of endemics. The song is highly distinctive.
Between finishing one graduate program and begining another, he embarked on a whirlwind tour of Europe. Here’s his first stop: Before starting graduate school at the end of June, I planned a whirlwind trip this spring, visiting the major cities in Northern Europe. Of course, birding was on the itinerary!
This is my first visit to this area, known as the Madz Brod, where two new breeding species for the country were discovered a decade ago. But I cannot notice the breeder #2! I have observed it previously in India, but never in Europe… but will have to settle with a voice and no sight. It is somewhere in those willows.
My guess is, those nervous ones were some migrants, while the majority were locally breeding birds – the southernmost population of Europe! In all that swirling of swallows, I am not certain was there a third species, so I keep watching. The smaller part of the flock was nervous and soon took flight, while the majority remained.
To prove that point, this short series here will bring you plenty of pictures of three species which were formerly thought to be just one, the Herring Gull , with its former members Steppe Gull and Yellow-legged Gull. I’ll start with the Yellow-legged Gull Larus michahellis.
Africa has more than its fair share of storks, with 8 of the world’s 19 species gracing the continent. Storks are typically viewed as wetland species and whilst some storks are restricted to aquatic habitats, others are not. This is another wetland species that nests in sometimes huge colonies atop trees bordering rivers and lakes.
They are the first of our migrant breeders to go, and they are gone by the beginning of August. The Common Swift holds a unique position amongst the birds of Europe, a position that makes it particular and peculiar beyond its astounding adaptations to an aerial life: It defines a season. That is early. Here is why. And summer?
I was still telling the truth when I mentioned the four subspecies, species, taxa, forms, you name it, of the Great Egret: modesta (Asia), alba (Europe, Asia), egretta (Americas) and melanorhynchos (Africa). This is particularly interesting for birders in North America and Europe (duh!), Easy: legs, bill, size. This is easy.
Although it wasn’t the optimal period (most migrants already gone and wintering birds not there yet), we were looking forward to discovering a new and less birded region of Europe. Personally, I love exploring new hotspots and discovering new or unusual species when visiting a country. Search for my target species (i.e.
The only unstreaked pipit around here and a characteristic breeder of sand dunes is the Tawny Pipit and this one shows well, holding to the grass edge. They are quite a rare breeding species in Serbia, declining as we speak, but one pair breeds nearby. Two European Rollers await us on the wires, while one Eurasian Hoopoe flies by.
I haven’t yet been birding in Europe but whenever I occasionally skim a field guide about the birds on the other side of the Atlantic, I’m always encouraged to find that I’m already familiar with many species found over there, even though most of my birding experience has been limited to eastern North America.
As a result, I had 15 species in the first hour. Laight has recorded some 100 species here, including Slavonian (Horned) Grebe and Red-rumped Swallow (the first is a rare migrant/wintering species only, while the second one is an uncommon breeder). There are no waterlilies here, but perhaps in some unused mine pit?
are up next, with a wonderful Australian species: It is very hard to choose a Best Bird of the Year any year. The male of this species has a royal blue throat, a white chest and rump, and a long v-shaped tail with intermittent white patches that makes it looks like part of it are floating in space. Clare (and Grant!) Preposterous!
Only four species breed in Britain – the Yellowhammer, Reed Bunting, Corn Bunting and Cirl Bunting, but there are rather more in Europe, of which my favourite is the Black-headed Bunting. In my home county of Suffolk this species is a highly localised resident, and not a bird I see often.
The voices are different however and one can distinguish between the two species through their vocalisations. Very occasionally though, one might stray down the eastern seaboard of the USA, but for the most part, those that breed in arctic Canada migrate towards Europe and swell numbers there during the winter.
Snowy Owls are used in falconry, more so in Europe but they are legal for a few states here in the US. ” Most shrugged and said very few US falconers fly owls because they’re slow and some species you can only hunt at night, that wouldn’t be much fun to watch. Many get their birds from breeders.
The simple answer is monetary gain, there is a global black market for these items, regardless of the species’ vulnerability for extinction. He interviews breeders about rumors of raptor trafficking and egg smuggling, activities that have supposedly been stopped. He describes how white Gyrfalcons are prized for their beauty and power.
There is a Linnet at Kissena Corridor Park in Queens, and though I bird this park regularly, the Linnet, a bird regularly found in Europe, Asia, and North Africa and also named in a sweet song by Stephen Sondheim (Green Finch and Linnet Bird from Sweeny Todd) has eluded me. I needed a book showing a Linnet. A miscellaneous pot indeed!
There seem to be so many that some days the negative stories just seem to pile up in my reader, species lost here, habitat destroyed there, poisoning, illegal persecution, the list can seem endless. Further research revealed two more companies in Britain and several others across Europe all engaged in the same shooting tourism.
There had been works on falconry before Frederick’s time: treatises on falconry date back to the 10 th century in Europe, and King Harold of England (of Battle of Hastings fame) reputedly owned the largest collection of volumes devoted to the subject in all of Europe.
Personally, I wish the species the best of luck in this endeavor. (Of However, the fact that there are 30 subspecies seems to indicate that the species has a slightly overblown estimation of its own importance. This species has a relatively large number of calls – 12, to be specific, compared to the average of 7.6
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