Innholdsfortegnelse for April 2023 i Birdwatch

MARCEL Gil Velasco: Band-rumped Storm Petrel is one of the least-known seabird species in the Canary Islands. Its breeding areas are restricted to inaccessible cliffs and islets free of introduced predators in the archipelago, making it difficult to keep track of its distribution and population estimates. Our work over the last few years in that respect has focused on the deployment of automated sound recorders at all historical sites and several potential areas. As a result, we’ve described some new colonies, but sadly we’ve also reported some local extinction events. In 2022, it was time to make another step towards the species’ conservation by describing the main foraging areas of the breeding population and propose their inclusion in the Natura 2000 network. We equipped some adult Band-rumped Storm Petrels incubating…

Portland came relatively late to the UK bird observatory fold. Having been inspired by the findings of Heinrich Gätke on Heligoland, Germany, visionaries such as Ronald Lockley at Skokholm Island and Leonora Rintoul and Evelyn Baxter at the Isle of May had established fledgling observatories as early as the 1930s. Spurn, Lundy, Fair Isle and Gibraltar Point were all recognised by the BTO’s newly constituted Bird Observatories Committee – the forerunner to today’s Bird Observatories Council – before the 1940s were out. Looking back, it seems extraordinary that at this time Portland was all but unknown ornithologically. There is historical evidence for the widespread trapping of Northern Wheatears on the island during the 18th century – the one man reported to have trapped 7,800 in 1794 unknowingly recorded more himself…

FEBRUARY’S Photo Target was Fieldfare. We received a brilliant range of shots and two of these are shown here. The first is a stunning portrait from Ray Pell. A pin-sharp image of a handsome bird in a perfect sideon pose, taken at the right angle in excellent winter light and on an exposed perch with a pleasingly diffuse background. Meanwhile, Barry Perkins has done an excellent job in capturing a Fieldfare leaning backwards and stretching every sinew to wrench a worm from the earth. The shot is taken from a nice low angle and the background is agreeably uncluttered.…

THE number of eggs laid by a bird in a single clutch or a whole breeding season will vary between species. A bird tends to lay sufficient eggs to ensure the survival of at least one youngster to breeding age and the actual number will relate to factors such as predation, longevity, breeding age and length of breeding cycle, and these usually also relate to the size of the bird. Larger birds tend to live longer, suffer less predation, breed at a later age and take longer to reach maturity, which means they can lay fewer eggs during their life. Smaller birds will suffer greater losses and will need to produce more eggs over a shorter time period. They may lay one large clutch each year, or several smaller ones,…

THE International Ornithological Committee (IOC) has confirmed that it will adopt the split of Lesser Sand Plover into two species in the next update to its World Bird List. A genetic study published in 2022 revealed that the two subspecies groups of Lesser Sand Plover – the mongolus group, comprising subspecies mongolus and stegmanni (often referred to as ‘Mongolian Sand Plover’), and the atrifrons group, consisting of subspecies atrifrons, pamirensis and schaeferi – were in fact not each others’ closest relatives, and that and that mongolus is actually sister species to Greater Sand Plover Charadrius leschenaultii. An update, posted on the IOC website on 12 February, confirmed that the body had accepted the split of Lesser Sand Plover into Tibetan Sand Plover (the atrifrons group) and Siberian Sand Plover (the mongolus…

Basic Principles Common Crane may be an increasingly familiar sight in Britain, but it is still unusual and spectacular enough to stop anyone in their tracks. No longer confined to its traditional Norfolk stronghold, the species has spread to several other areas and potentially can be encountered almost anywhere outside the breeding season. The same can’t be said for Demoiselle and Sandhill Cranes, both red-letter day vagrants with differing status on the British list, but autumn has brought both to our shores in the past and history has a tendency to repeat itself. Over the years I have seen all of these species in Britain, as well as an escaped Sarus Crane in Cambridgeshire back in the 1970s. Escaped cranes may be exceptional, but it’s worth being aware of such…

We're thrilled to announce the winners of the 17th annual Photo of the Year (POTY). From the 52 BirdGuides Photo of the Week winners of 2022, a shortlist of 10 was selected by each member of the Birdwatch and BirdGuides team. These top 10s were aggregated using a points system to achieve the final list. This was then put to the public vote. This year’s vote generated a fantastic turnout, with Dave Jackson’s stunning image of a male Eurasian Sparrowhawk carrying a Common Snipe that it had just caught crowned Photo of the Year 2022. Dave’s incredible photo garnered almost 30% of the vote and, quite extraordinarily, almost perfectly mirrors the inaugural POTY winner back in 2006. Not only did that image, taken by Richard Bedford, show the same species…

Field ID notes Black Kite breeds widely across southern and central Europe and Asia east to Japan, and also in Africa and Australia. It is a common bird throughout much of its range and is classified by BirdLife International as Least Concern. The birds breeding across most of Africa, Madagascar and south-west Arabia, formerly regarded as belonging to the subspecies aegyptius, are now considered to be a separate species – Yellow-billed Kite. Black Kite populations The Black Kite subspecies under discussion here are the migratory northern forms – nominate migrans, known as ‘Western Black Kite’, and lineatus, known as Black-eared Kite. Note that some authorities (but not IOC) treat Black-eared Kite as a separate species. Other non-migratory Black Kite subspecies occur as follows – govinda from Pakistan and India to…

Deep in Brazil’s Atlantic Forest lives one of the world’s most threatened birds – Cherry-throated Tanager. With its warning-sign red throat and bib, its stunning markings are hard to miss. Yet the chances of ever encountering this striking bird are extremely slim. Endemic to a small patch of Atlantic Forest habitat in south-eastern Brazil, the population currently stands at fewer than 25 individuals, according to conservationists’ most recent estimate. The range of this distinctive passerine of theThraupidaefamilyencompasses only a sparse scattering of localities in the Brazilian state of Espírito Santo. With a head masked in black, an orange iris and grey back there is so much more to be understood about this intriguing tanager. This includes uncertainties over its taxonomic position. Cherry-throated Tanager spends most of its life high in…

ONE of the first things a photographer must learn is the relationship between aperture, shutter speed and ISO: the ‘exposure triangle’. Each of these elements has an impact on the exposure, and can be traded off against each other to achieve the optimal settings available in the light conditions in which you’re operating. As bird photographers, our subjects often move quickly and/or require us to operate in poor light, so steering away from the camera’s automatic options to get the settings right for our needs is particularly important. Aperture, shutter speed and ISO are all adjustable in increments known as ‘stops’. A stop of light deals with doubling or halving the amount of light in an image. A one-stop increase means the amount of light doubles while a one-stop decrease…

I will start this month’s column by asking you to do something. If you are lucky enough to have a lawn (a real one, not a plastic one – heaven forbid!) go outside and take a look at it. A really close look. What do you see? ‘Just grass’, you might be thinking. If you’ve recently turfed it or just moved into a new build then you may be right, but if you’ve lived in the same place for some time then you might be surprised just how much plant diversity is actually lurking in your lawn. A great deal of time, effort and money is spent on purging lawns of ‘weeds’ thanks to the horticultural industry constantly telling us we need to work hard at our gardens, especially in…

ONE of the many features that are unique to birds are feathers. Unlike the fur on mammals, feathers are not distributed evenly across the skin of a bird. Instead they are arranged in tracts, or rows (pterylae), with spaces between (apterylae) that have either no feathers or some down feathers. These bare areas of skin are all covered by the adjacent feathers and can be seen when examining a bird in the hand. The only birds which do not have feather tracts like other families are the flightless ratites, penguins and screamers, which have feather follicles that are spread evenly across their skin, although a few apterylae may be present. The distribution of these feather tracts varies between bird families and has been used in the past to draw relationships…

Get extra content in the digital edition! www.pocketmags.com/birdwatch Male Banded Cotingas are extraordinarily striking. Bright cobalt-blue and maroon-purple feathers combine to make a visually stunning bird. This eye-catching appearance belies a shy, largely silent species that tends to stay high in the canopy. Unfortunately, said canopies are situated in Brazil’s Atlantic Forest – one of the most threatened ecosystems on Earth, largely due to logging and development, and one that has lost some 70% of original primary forest cover. Continued habitat loss and fragmentation has sent this species into a precarious decline – it’s estimated that fewer than 1,000 individuals remain. Needless to say, it is classified as Critically Endangered. Bahia supports the bulk of the Banded Cotinga population, with occasional records from the neighbouring state of Minas Gerais. Some…

IN Shetland, a periodic survey visit to Yell Sound, between Yell and North Mainland, delivered a thrill on 13 February in the form of a Brünnich’s Guillemot. Described as a “mythical Arctic creature” by one of the finders, this individual defied the norm when it comes to this species in Britain, showing at close range and being well documented in a range of excellent photographs. The record also serves as a reminder of the potential riches that a northerly midwinter blow can provide across Britain. Of the 15 previous Shetland records, nine have occurred during the winter months – and four of those in February. Subsequent surveys the following day provided views of the long-staying King Eider off Fetlar. STATS & FACTS First recorded: Aberlady Bay, Lothian, 10 December 1908 Last…

It may come as a surprise to the British birder that Black-necked Grebe is the most numerous grebe species in the world. Although this is skewed somewhat by a huge North American population, it is nonetheless the second-most abundant grebe in Europe, after Little Grebe. Britain is very much at the periphery of its breeding range and here it remains a scarce and localised species, with around 50 breeding pairs and a wintering population of some 120 individuals. The bulk of the European population is found in central and eastern areas, with Ukraine and southern Russia hosting particularly large numbers. In fact, Black-necked Grebes only started to spread westwards during the 19th century due to the drying out of the Caspian region. The status of Black-necked Grebe in Britain pre-1904…

As islands at the north-western edge of the European landmass, Britain and Ireland are perfectly placed to receive vagrants from all points of the compass. While many look either to the east (see Birdwatch 352: 22-25) or west (Birdwatch 331: 46-49) for the next additions to either national list, you don’t have to cast your eye that far from home to identify an array of potential firsts. Europe, as well as neighbouring areas of Africa and Central Asia, offer a long list of possibilities, with more extraordinary feats of vagrancy coming to light on a regular basis. By far the most eagerly anticipated British ‘first’ is Black-winged Kite, which has undergone a stratospheric rise across Europe in recent decades. The species colonised France as recently as 1990, with breeding pairs…

THE arrival of spring migrants breathes fresh life into our local birdlife in April, and warblers in particular do a wonderful job of enriching the airwaves with their fantastic range of songs. Blackcap is one of my favourites. While you might hear snatches of song from them earlier in the spring as over-wintering birds begin to pipe up, a larger arrival during April brings them to many a woodland, park and garden across much of the UK. When it comes to photographing many of our warblers, early in the season the trees and bushes from which they sing have not yet sprouted their full complement of foliage, giving you a better chance of a clear shot of birds that often prefer to sing from thick vegetation. Their plumage is also…

I always look forward to April, with the promises of spring seawatching and the hope of skuas if the right wind and weather patterns appear. Sadly, it seems to be becoming more hit and miss at least in the Solent, my local patch, but we usually manage some good days (and I admit, it isn’t the best site to seawatch from!). Onshore wind is best for spring seawatching – south-easterlies on the south coast for example – and that should yield Little Gulls, Kittiwakes, Common, Little, Arctic, Black, and Sandwich Terns, Great, Arctic and hopefully Pomarine Skuas. If you’re lucky there’s also the chance of Manx Shearwater, Long-tailed Skua, Roseate Tern and maybe White-winged Tern, which turn up in small numbers in the UK. Some skua passage takes place overland…

THE International Ornithological Committee (IOC) has announced that it will recognise the split of Chaffinch into five different species as part of the next update to its World Bird List. The news will be welcomed by Western Palearctic (WP) listers, with four new species set to appear on the regional list as a result of the decision. A 2021 genetic study by Recuerda et al recommended that the Chaffinch complex should be divided into five separate species, namely nominate coelebs of Eurasia, African Chaffinch Fringilla spodiogenys (including subspecies africana and harterti), Azores Chaffinch Fringilla moreletti, Madeira Chaffinch Fringilla maderensis and Canary Islands Chaffinch Fringilla canariensis (including subspecies bakeri, ombrios and palmae). Announcing the news on 14 February, the IOC stated its intention to recognise the findings and accept the five-way…

OUR World of Birds reader tour programme is long-established and popular. Working in association with a select group of specialist birding tour operators, we offer destinations and departures with the promise of some fantastic birding and, importantly, excellent value for money. Several exciting new tours for 2023 and beyond have recently been announced, and you can find details below. We head to Bulgaria for some classic spring birding from 29 April-8 May 2023. Dividing our time between the mountains and the coast, we will search for breeding Wallcreeper in a spectacular gorge and should also encounter a wide range of raptors, including Cinereous Vulture and Levant Sparrowhawk, as well as track down newly arrived breeders such as Semicollared Flycatcher, Barred Warbler and Masked Shrike. Moving on to the coastal wetlands,…