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Avian squatters at the end of Europe

10,000 Birds

The White-rumped Swift Apus caffer , a tropical African breeding species, was only discovered breeding in Europe in the 1960s. This was in southern Spain, near the town of Zahara de los Atunes in Cádiz Province, on the northern shore of the Strait of Gibraltar. Curiously, they also breed in Iberia today.

Europe 286
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The Changing Fortunes of Europe’s Vultures – Part 3 The Egyptian Vulture

10,000 Birds

I couldn’t describe it better than Willoughby Verner did in his book “ My Life Among the Wild Birds in Spain ” published in 1909: “ It is when the Egyptian Vulture or Neophron, as it is also styled, is seen close at hand that it is revealed in all its hideousness. The most recent estimates suggest that some 1,500 pairs breed in Spain.

2004 226
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Closing in on the Magic Double Century

10,000 Birds

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. I see lots of Golden Plovers in the winter, but (like so many waders) they are birds transformed when in their breeding finery. Crakes are difficult to see on their breeding grounds.

Cyprus 205
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Birding from a Hide

10,000 Birds

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.

Serbia 241
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Just had my lifer Cinereous Vulture this morning

10,000 Birds

Before I was born, it used to be a rare breeding species in mountainous areas south of Belgrade, but became extinct after the 1960s due to intensive poisoning of wolves. There’s an eagle… a White-tailed Eagle , a relatively common and numerous breeding species of riparian forests along large water courses and fishponds.

Bulgaria 262
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When the sun beats down with anger

10,000 Birds

This is central Spain instead, and I am well into the worst time of year for birds. 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.

Africa 239
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Birding around Chaka, Qinghai, China

10,000 Birds

Citrine Wagtails are rare in Shanghai but apparently quite common around Chaka, though unfortunately most of the ones we saw were not in breeding plumage. ” According to the HBW, the diet of the Pine Bunting during breeding season is mainly invertebrates. I blame this on covid-19.

China 245