best birds

THE COMMONEST BIRDS IN EXTREMADURA

The Spanish Bird Common Survey scheme called Common Breeding Bird Monitoring Programme (seguimiento de aves communes reproducturas en España: SACRE) has thrown up figures on the commonest birds in Extremadura and we show below the ranking with the 20 commonest (individuals).

By way of comparison we also show the ranking of the 20 commonest breeding species in the whole of Spain, with many similarities (House Sparrow and Starling topping both lists) and some high-ranking idiosyncrasies of Extremadura (for example Azure Winged Magpie and Spanish Sparrow).

Reference: Carrascal, L. M. y Palomino, D. 2008. Las aves comunes reproductoras en España. Población en 2004-2006. SEO/BirdLife. Madrid.

Reference: Carrascal, L. M. y Palomino, D. 2008. Las aves comunes reproductoras en España. Población en 2004-2006. SEO/BirdLife. Madrid.

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WINTER HOTSPOTS

Winter is without doubt one of the best birdwatching times in Extremadura, with the thousands-strong flocks of Cranes joined by many other visitors from northern climes. Until now there has been no way of monitoring the distribution of these wintering birds, until the SEO recently published the partial results of the Atlas of Wintering Birds in Spain. The image below (species-rich areas in red and species-poor in blue) shows that Extremadura as a whole and the province of Cáceres in particular is one of the richest areas for wintering birds in the whole of Spain. It should be stressed that these results are still provisional.

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Back in Yorkshire

Andy having a good year for Owls this Year , the last two years have been very wet
and chicks have been found drowned in nest.
So far him and Pete have got 28 Tawnys on Eggs. LEO and Barn Owl numbers are going well.

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PRESENTATION

The blog of the local birdwatching group (grupo local SEO-Cáceres, Spanish Ornithological Society in Extremadura) came on line last May. Its remit was to deal with the more bureaucratic aspects of the local group, such as organising projects, announcing matters of interest and various calls for information and help. It was thought that the more purely birdwatching aspects of the group would be best dealt with elsewhere: hence the birth of this new blog, which aims to appeal to a wider public by giving the breaking news on Extremadura’s birdlife and nature as a whole.

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End of another Week

2 More Wheatears ringed this week at the point of Ayre bringing the total to 5 so far

Also some garden ringing with more Goldfinch, House SparrowGreenfinch, Robins and Coal Tits.

A Nice surprise on the Nyger feeders yesterday with 3 Redpoll and 3 Siskin feeding. It was to windy to put a net up and one of the Redpolls was already ringed Also in the Scotch Pines that run along my garden border there is a Rookery and Jackdaw nests . In the 20 ft net by the feeders i had a just fledged Jackdaw the other day and it was quite a character .

Wheatears