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But in south-west Europe there is a bird that kicks out the sitting tenants and takes over the nest altogether. The White-rumped Swift Apus caffer , a tropical African breeding species, was only discovered breeding in Europe in the 1960s. Curiously, they also breed in Iberia today. The confusion was understandable.
When to go: breeding and migration seasons (April to June and late August to mid-September). The post Finding birds in Deliblato Sands, part 1/3: the largest sand dune system of Europe appeared first on 10,000 Birds. eBird list of the recorded species. To be continued.
The adventure of the second European Breeding Bird Atlas, or EBBA2, was the topic of one of my first posts here at 10,000 Birds: In a warm Catalonian March, Barcelona is filled with sunlight and full of Rose-ringed and Monk Parakeets. In a very short time, we get two responses, two birds calling from opposite directions.
When we look at the breeding birds, they are all Palaearctic, either mainland species or endemics that evolved from mainland species. Had this been the case we would expect the breeding birds of these islands to be dominated by trans-Saharan migrants. In fact, the breeding birds are overwhelmingly dominated by pre-Saharan migrants.
I want to alert you to a recent study (from April) that looks at the plight of bird populations under conditions of climate change in Europe and North America. The study looked at common birds, and used data divided by either state (in the US) or country (in Europe). Again, Europe is on the left, North America is on the right.
Perhaps the most curious thing about the Great Spotted Cuckoo is its distribution, for it is both a non-breeding Palearctic migrant to Africa, and a trans-Africa migrant. According to The Birds of Africa Volume III , “In much of the tropics present throughout the year, with breeding and non-breeding birds usually indistinguishable”.
Take a quick look at the breeding distribution of European birds and you will see that there are a surprising number of species that are restricted to the Balkans.
My target at the start of the year was 200 species in the UK and 300 in Europe, so I’ve achieved the latter, while the chances of reaching the former are pretty good. That trip was fun, as it reminded me of the delights of watching birds like Golden Plover and even Meadow Pipit on their breeding grounds. Wood Sandpiper.
The Collins Bird Guide covers Europe, North Atlantic islands, much of North Africa and the Middle East. may be more usual for northern Europe? Introduced breeding species and species recorded only as escapees now have all species illustrated (they were not in the #2) and those illustrations larger than before.
True, most of our migrant breeding birds start to return in April, but in May even the late arrivals – Turtle Doves, Swifts, Spotted Flycatchers and Nightjars – finally appear. Perhaps most spectacular of all were two fine Grey Plovers in full breeding finery, living up to their American name of Black-bellied Plover.
Adult Egyptian Vulture showing detail of its head The bird, a summer visitor to Europe from winter quarters in the Sahel, is in decline across the continent. The most recent estimates suggest that some 1,500 pairs breed in Spain. That’s about half of the entire European breeding population.
Serbia holds 13 per cent of the European breeding population of this “electrified” species which is not only Endangered in Europe but also listed as Globally Endangered on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Conservation Europe falcons Serbia' We were searching for the territories of Saker Falcons. Illustrations.
We drove for about 290 km through the 400 square kilometres expanse of Pancevacki Rit and found 8 breeding colonies with 252 occupied nests, or a density of 1.6 Birds city birds crows eBird Europe Serbia' Two years ago, I was counting active nests of Rooks in the flat agricultural landscape north of Belgrade, Serbia. nests per 1 km2.
While it might fall within the autumn migration, if you are in the south of Europe, it isn’t in full swing. This timing suites Britain and Netherlands well, I suppose, but Europe is somewhat larger than that.). Birding city birds Europe Serbia' October is a strange month. We met at 10.00 Photos (2): Nebojsa Pantelic.
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. They are common winter visitors, but this is my first observation of them in the breeding season. Madz Brod by Slobodan Puzovic. Still, it’s a new bird for my country list. We wait again.
Furthermore, another redpoll species found in Europe—the Lesser Redpoll—also had extremely similar DNA sequences. In nature, one of the key differentiators among distinct species is assortative mating , that is, members of a group breeding with each other more often than they breed with members of another group.
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. Hoopoes are common breeding birds.
And I am in the southeast of Europe. Well, this would be a fitting season for the second, then, this was the strangest Stonechat I ever saw (those birds in January already were in breeding plumage), and it’s either a 1st winter Common male or the Siberian Stonechat. Oh, who’d go back home now? My favourite poplar tree.
Add more than 350 pairs of White Pelicans to that picture, numerous herons and up to 700 pairs of Pygmy Cormorants breeding in the same reedbeds (cover photo)… It must be bursting with activity in spring, but I was there in mid-September. Have you heard of it? Can you pinpoint it on a map? and dual digits.
Other important breeding species include Black and White Stork , Lesser Spotted , White-tailed , and Booted Eagle. Also Dalmatian and Great White Pelicans are resident species, breeding successfully on artificial platforms (close to 300 pairs). Kerkini is one of the most important wintering areas throughout Europe.
You see, the Great (White) Heron/Egret is a polytypic species with four subspecies: alba in Europe, egretta in the Americas, melanorhynchos in Africa, and modesta in Asia and Oceania. The Intermediate Egret – by the way – now resides in isolation within its own genus Mesophoyx. Just so you know.
For the last two decades, Europe and the greater Mediterranean have been covered by one of the best field guides anywhere: “Collins Bird Guide” by Lars Svensson et al., published in the US by Princeton as “Birds of Europe”. Still, in this case CBG wins in the JIZZ category as well.
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. Trips Europe Iceland seabirds' Total Species: 37.
They time breeding so that the chicks are fledged before the height of the dry season. Adult Black Kites have just finished breeding and their plumage is abraded Many Black Kites are in moult while on migration. The Victorian naturalist Abel Chapman, describing Doñana, called it a little piece of Africa in Europe.
The toughest thing for me, as a local birder, was to choose the most attractive birds because those that attract my attention are generally all too common in the northwest of Europe, from where most visiting birders are coming. Cranes breed in very small numbers in UK but are always impressive en masse. Hence, I asked my friend B.C.,
For example, the White-headed Duck is nowadays a rarity in Europe (okay, excluding Spain, I know… that Spain …), but until some 50 years ago, it used to breed in Serbia. The hide overlooking the breeding colony of Red-footed Falcons. gmail.com or check the maps at birdwatching.rs , so far, only in Serbian).
The genus Passer has several well-recognized and recognizable species in Europe, and still holds several enigmas. Then there is the fact that indicus sparrows tend to avoid human habitations while domesticus doesn’t, leading to sympatric breeding with a disputed amount of hybridisation.
Males of this species are more brightly colored in their non-breeding winter plumage. It used to occur widely throughout South Africa, breeding even on Table Mountain which towers over Cape Town, but over the decades its range has contracted and is now centered around the Drakensberg Mountains and outlying rocky areas.
Yellow-billed Stork portrait (note the pink flush indicating breeding status), Ngorongoro Crater, Tanzania by Adam Riley The Yellow-billed Stork has a closely-related sister species in Asia known as Painted Stork. During breeding season, their white plumage turns a delicate pink color, a lovely sight indeed.
The pelicans are the real stars of the lake, with the Dalmatian Pelicans attracting bird photographers from all over Europe. This indicates peak breeding condition, but by May their pouches are back to pale yellow again. Both species of pelicans breed on the lake, with the Dalmatians the more numerous.
If you have been on the receiving end of any guided birding you know that a good guide can make or break the trip and João was up there with the best in terms of his knowledge of the local sites, breeding birds and visitors, coping easily with our constant questioning.
Few birds sport such magnificent breeding plumage as the male ruff, but not a single bird showed more than a hint of this plumage. These ruffs still had a 1,000 or more miles to fly to reach their northern breeding grounds. They were sharing the same habitat as the resident Kentish Plovers, the only wader to breed here.
This map shows the distribution of the World’s bird species, based on overlying the breeding and wintering ranges of all known species. I live in the southeast of Europe, for a while lived in the south of Africa and also have extensively birded western and central India. Map by BirdLife International.
Carmine bee-eaters occur throughout most of Subsaharan Africa, and many populations migrate widely post breeding. After breeding they also disperse over the rainforests and savannas of West and Central Africa, where they hunt for aerial insects. Two populations exist, the westernmost breeds in the western Sahara (e.g.
It can still be an entirely opposite end of a continent, but – if you are residing in Europe – the flight can be as short as one (from Germany) to two hours (from UK). I am talking of the very heart of the Balkans and the final birding frontier of Europe: Serbia. The country has one eBird hotspot with 200+ and 62 more with 100+ birds.
For example, I have birded 4 continents, Europe, Southern Africa, South Asia and Central America and have seen 200-300 species in every region, yet, due to overlapping, they do not even sum up to a 10% of all bird species! And there may be two thousand and quite possibly fewer birders who fit the aforementioned positions.
impressive for Central Europe. The Lake Neusiedl National Park is Europe’s westernmost steppe lake and an important breeding and wintering area, as well as a migratory stopover site. I am still trying to sort out my impressions and memories. It comes as no surprise that more than 350 bird species have been recorded here.
Perhaps because of threats to the ecosystems of the many places the Arctic Tern visits (Europe, Africa, South America, and North America), it may be on the decline. Some of those once-popular breeding spots now produce no chicks at all. For example, over the past decade, the population in the Gulf of Maine has dropped by 40 percent.
At a parking lot, Steve hears the song of a Sardinian Warbler (a species that I have rarely observed, often after the breeding/singing season, and as a rule, half-hidden in the foliage) and plays it back from his phone, so the warbler might be tempted to check which other male dares to enter his territory. Trips Catalonia Europe Spain'
Image by Adam Riley Of the 115 African species now listed as Endangered or Critically Endangered, nearly half occur on the islands surrounding Africa or are non-breeding migrants to Africa. This strange but beautifully plumaged bird was widely known throughout Europe as the Waldrapp (meaning “Forest Crow”).
Its natural range in Europe was restricted the the surroundings of the Baltic Sea and the Black Sea, and in Asia it ranged from Asia Minor to central China. Contradicting this relentless shooting were efforts to establish feral populations in many regions of Europe, both within and outside its natural range.
Pygmy Cormorant – winter (it breeds in Serbia, but overwinters in Belgrade). Goosander and Red-breasted Merganser – Belgrade in winter; otherwise, the first one breeds in Serbia. White-tailed Eagle – year round (breeds inside the city). Spanish Sparrow – still ill-numbered but, since recently, breeding near the city.
And in Shanghai, the situation is relatively relaxed now – a big difference from what I hear from my friends in the US and Europe. Others have wintered here and are now in the process of leaving for the summer, such as the Black-faced Spoonbill – already in breeding plumage so as to not waste any time once arriving in Northern China.
Black-bellied Plover: Known as Grey Plover in Europe and Asia. Eurasian Oystercatcher: Not all of them are breeding at Claire`s beach in Australia. As this is a coastal place, there are of course lots of waders, in larger numbers, and more variety than in Shanghai. Point for American birders, I am afraid.
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