The Blog
Here you can find all the posts we’ve added so far, for you to read and share if you dare. Search for a certain species, topic or location or just enjoy scrolling down and pick up a post of your interest. Also, feel free to contact us if you want to comment or contribute!
Oriental Curlews in Western Europe: identification and status
In this post, we review the geographical variation of Eurasian Curlew across its breeding and wintering range and show how orientalis of putative Central Asian origin regularly overwinter in West Africa, and a few of them pass through Western Europe on migration. We also discuss the identification of this Asian birds (both orientalis and intergrades) and show multiple examples from Spain.
Introducing the ‘Guilvinec Gull’: a commented gallery of presumed hybrids Herring x Lesser Black-backed Gulls from Brittany, France
In this post, I discuss the presence of hybrids European Herring x Lesser-black Backed Gulls (the Guilvinec Gull) in Brittany, France, and describe their identification, showing a commented gallery that includes ten different individuals of this interesting hybrid gulls. The main identification features and separation from similar looking taxa are also included.
Unprecedented spring arrival of Greenland Dunlin ssp. arctica to Northern Spain and a first approach to its identification
Greenland Dunlin is an endangered and quite unknown taxon that breeds in N Greenland and migrates to N Africa. In May 2022 there was a remarkable influx of Greenland Dunlins in N Spain, that allowed us to study this taxon in detail. This post deals with its identification in breeding plumage, describing the key plumage features separating Greenland and European Dunlins, and showing many examples of typical arctica as well as some birds of disputed identity.
Separation of 1cy Little and Least Terns and the first Least Tern for Spain
The identification of Little and Least Terns is usually considered extremely difficult, especially so in first calendar year birds. In this post we describe the upperwing pattern of Least Tern in juvenile plumage as a very useful character to easily separate both species. The head pattern is also an important character of use when separating this species-pair. The identification of the first 1cy Least Tern found in Europe, a bird seen in September, 2019 in N Spain, is discussed applying these criteria.
Complex ageing of Griffon Vulture as a result of different moulting strategies in immature birds
In this post, I describe the different moulting strategies of immature Griffon Vultures that migrate to Africa to spend their first years of life compared to resident Griffon that remain in the Iberian Peninsula. Migratory birds are able to moult during more extensive periods in Africa, replacing their juvenile plumage in less than 2 years (c.3 in resident birds in Iberia). The key factors explaining the different moult timing between resident and migratory Griffons are also discussed.
A Boyd’s Shearwater in a Barolo colony
Here I present a recent record of a male Boyd’s Shearwater that visited a Barolo colony on S La Gomera, Canary Islands. A discussion of this bird’ identification on sound only is included, along with a description of male Barolo Shearwater sound repertoire and a list of the previous Boyd’s Shearwater records on the Canary Islands.
An apparent hybrid Red x Black Kite in Spain
As a follow-up of the Siberian Black Kites post, we show some pictures of a presumed hybrid Red x Black Kite recently seen in Spain with excellent photographs by Javiar Parrilla. The bird shows a mix of features from both species, both in plumage and structure. These hybrid kites resemble West Siberian Black Kites due to the presence of white on the underwing, so it’s good to be aware of how they look like.
Eastern Black Kites in Europe: a new look
This post describes the geographical variation of the Black Kite across the Palearctic, from the European migrans to the Far Eastern lineatus, with special attention to the intergrades found in Western and Central Asia. We then analyze Black Kites that overwinter in huge numbers in the Middle East, typically originating from this intergradation area. Finally, we demonstrate that Black Kites from Western Siberia, which already exhibit some features reminiscent of lineatus, occasionally appear in Western Europe during the winter.
Iberian Chiffchaff identification: the state of the art
A compilation of pretty much everything we know about the identification of Iberian Chiffchaff. Focused on field views assessment of structure, plumage and moult, with a quick look through voices of pure and mixed singers. Finally, ‘Scandinavian’ Common Chiffchaff is described as the main potential pitfall in a vagrant context.
The interesting case of the Ipswich Sparrow
The Ipswich Sparrow is currently treated as a subspecies of Savannah Sparrow and included as such in the WP list as one was found in the UK back in 1982. This taxon is truly distinctive and likely deserves a taxonomic review, which could end up with a new species to be added to the WP list.
Underwing pattern in dowitchers
The underwing pattern of Long-billed and Short-billed Dowitchers is an excellent id feature, likely more reliable than all those described in the literature in the past. Long-billed most often presents a white patch at the leading edge of the wing, close to the body. Short-billed shows a darker underwing due to a thicker barring. In this post we explore this feature and study the variability in both species.
Female eider plumages in the western Atlantic
The identification of the different Common Eider subspecies has attracted considerable attention in the literature, and in Europe up to four subspecies have been recorded (Northern, Dresser's, Pacific, and of course mollisima). However most of these records involve adult males and indeed females have gone forgotten. In this post the identification of female Dresser's and Northern Eiders is reviewed.
Juvenile Semipalmated Plovers: variability of key features
The key identification features of Semipalmated Plover, such as the bill shape and the presence of white in the gape, are widely known and well described in several papers but the variability on these features is still not well known among European birders. In this post we revisit the main id features and show some examples of difficult birds.
Middle Spotted Eagle at Taqah, Oman
Despite hybridisation between Lesser and Greater Spotted Eagles is well documented, a close encounter with a 1st cycle hybrid in Taqah, Oman, in February 2019, offered an unparalleled opportunity to study the plumage of a fairly extreme example. Some photos of this bird are included and captioned, depicting every id feature found in the literature.
Shades of Grey
Strong Easterlies in April mean only one thing to Iberian Med coast birders: Collared Flycatchers. However, the Eastern galore we experienced in April 2019 exceeded all expectations. Over one hundred Collared Flys were reported only in Catalonia and of course some individuals arose the debate. A good chance to study females and presumed hybrids, both included here in this post.
Sykes’s vs. Egyptian Nightjars
Nightjars are famous for their camouflage and their night habits. Some species remain largely unknown and Sykes’s Nightjar is surely one of them. After the first for Oman, found by some friends in 2016, the species must be in every WP birder radar so it’s good to know how does it look like. We had amazing views of an Egyptian Nightjar in Muntasar Oasis, Oman, and started to wonder how to tell them apart when seen perched. Spoiler alert: after a very close scrutiny, I still don’t know yet.
Moult in early spring Saunders’s Terns in Oman
Little and Saunders’s Terns are very similar even in breeding plumage but at least there are some keys to follow. In wintertime, however, the identification relies mainly on the moult of flight feathers and still little has been done in that respect. The presence of a large flock of mainly Saunders’s Terns in Khawr Dhurf, Oman, in February 2019, provided prolonged views and photographs of this species, which were then used to perform this moult analysis.
First year Hudsonian Dunlin
Hudsonian Dunlin differs from Dunlin taxa that occur regularly in Europe in juvenile/first-winter plumage, the age class and time of year with highest likelihood of occurrence as vagrants. In this post we explore the main characters of Hudsonian Dunlin compared to European birds.
A nice flock of White-winged Scoters
In November 2016, a huge flock of White-winged Scoter spent a week feeding very close to shore, allowing for detailed study of a good number of birds. In this post I explore my pictures of the flock to review the ageing and identification criteria of this taxon.
South Polar Skuas at a Glance
We now know South Polar Skuas migrate south following a more easterly flyway but records from this side of the Atlantic are still scattered. However, according to recent experiences, the species could well be regular off Galicia, where some birds have been positively identified in recent years. I thought it could be useful to share here a captioned collection of ‘big-skuas’ photos taken during my surveys across this area, starting with the most obvious Great and ending with the real SPS, trying to depict pretty much everything in between.