And Piros left towards Africa [Y Piros se fue a África]

It was almost 100% sure it had to happen: Piros, the Saker from Hungary, not only visited Spain and Portugal (after crossing S Europe) but made its way to Africa. The bird crossed the straits on 19-20.9.2009 and even went S to Morocco and the Western Sahara! (Matyas Prommer in litt.). See a couple of maps of the whole Iberian journey and data until 24.9 of the bird, courtesy of LIFE project managers).


Era casi seguro que iba a pasar: Piros, el halcón sacre húngaro no sólo visitó España y Portugal después de cruzar el sur de Europa sino que se ha ido a África, atravesando Marruecos y llegando al Sáhara Occidental. El halcón cruzó el estrecho entre el 19-20.9.2009 (Matyas Prommer in litt.). Adjuntos hay un par de mapas del viaje por Iberia y su periplo africano hasta el 24.9, cortestía de los gestiores del proyecto LIFE. Hay que agradecer desde este blog la profesionalidad de diferentes ornitólogos españoles que han colaborado con el proyecto LIFE al seguir el ave y mandar datos a los gestores de su estancia en la península. Es un ejemplo a seguir y de agradecer.

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Ancient Murrelet (Synthliboramphus antiquus ), 1st for Spain, 3rd for the Western Palearctic

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On 24 May 2023, Roland Bekkers, photographed an Ancient Murrelet ( Synthliboramphus antiquus) at the Odiel river mouth , an important wetland in the Huelva province, in the Atlantic coast of Andalucia, S Spain. At 20:22 the same day the news came out and were broadcasted within the Rarebirdspain group. Despite the rarity of the record, a number of local birders decided to give it a try on 25 May morning.  Local birders asked to respect local colonies of Little Terns Sternula albifrons and Collared Pratincoles Glareola pratincola remaining within marked paths in any attempt of twitching the murrelet.  On 25 May, at 10:37 AM the bird was relocated c.400m from the mouth of the Mazagón Marina (José Luís Anguita, Manuel Bárcenas, Juanjo Cirpriano, Alfonso Barragán), UTM 37.138718, -6.841995 . See photos below (José Luís Anguita) and videos (José Manuel Reyes). Some boats flushed the bird c. 2000 m from the initial place and a bit later it flew a further 3000 m to the W remaining near the pl
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Grackles (Quiscalus) in the Iberian peninsula

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Quiscalus mexicanus , Mexico, 31.8.2007 © Ricard Gutiérrez Grackles (genus Quiscalus ) are birds from Icteridae family, typical of Neotropical region, but also present in the Holartic, including USA coast. Typical 'resort' birds known by many as those 'black' birds frequenting the tables of hotels in the Caribbean or Mexican coasts trying to steal food from customer's breakfast or lunch.  Not a typical long-distance migrant group, they are believed to be quite intelligent, in a rather Corvidae mood, so despite they cannot be considered as true vagrants to the Palearctic according to the uncapability of crossing by themselves the Atlantic, it is true that they (presumably) board on ships to do the crossing. And not only one species but, at least, two having been recorded in Gibraltar and mainland Spain.  E-listed in Europe due to the 'current rules', a review of the treatment of what A listing means regarding 'clever' birds such as Corvidae
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Rare Birds in Spain. Bird News 21-31 December 2023

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  Ricard Gutiérrez (editor). Data from eBird, ornitho.cat, observado.es, birdingemporda.com and Rarebirdspain whatsapp group   Ducks & Geese   26.12.2023 Branta bernicla hrota 2 ind, Santoña, Cantabria (Javier Train –photo-)   21.12.2023 Cygnus cygnus   2 ind Ría de Betanzos; A Coruña. Still present (Xabier Vázquez Pumariño; Cristina Soto); 22.12 (Javier Río); 23.12 (Daniel García Novo); 24.12 (Franqui Illanes –photo-; Ramón Ternero); 25.12 (Leticia Miranda); 26.12 (Javier Río; Jorge Vilas); 28.12 (Diego Montenegro);   29.12 (Carlos Durán; Francisco Rodal); 30.12 (Carmen Peñalver, Juno Toni); 31.12 (Xavier Parra).     24.12.2023 Cygnus cygnus 1 ind Urdaibai, Bizkaia. Still present (A.Galache).   30.12.2023 Spatula discors 1 1w Fuerteventura golf club, Antígua, Fuerteventura. Still present (Eliseo Reyes).   21.11.2023 Anas rubripes   1 male. Sada, A Coruña. Still present (Xabier Vázquez Pumariño; Cristina Soto); 22.12 (Javier Río); 28.12 (Diego Monten
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