Final week I wrote in regards to the scorching and dry situations that now have an effect on a lot of the Iberian Peninsula. My very own resolution in terms of birding right now of the 12 months is to focus on the coast. At Gibraltar, the place I dwell, I spend many hours at its southernmost tip, Europa Level. If the winds are blowing from the west, the afternoons will be spectacular. Because the land heats up, a recent south-westerly sea breeze units in. Many birds heading in direction of the Atlantic, whether or not migrating or performing feeding actions, are pushed inshore. Sea-watching has all the time been thrilling for me as a result of there may be all the time the possibility of one thing sudden turning up. It’s a bonus however merely standing on prime of a cliff feeling the cool sea breeze in your face is enough reward.
I coated the primary species in my twenty third June article “When the ocean turns into a desert”. Actually, the migration of Audouin’s Gulls (Ichthyaetus audouinii) out of the Mediterranean is now gathering tempo and it’s a nice time to look at these birds of their array of plumages, based on age. Europa Level, Gibraltar, needs to be one of the best place to look at and {photograph} these gulls at shut quarters.
One other gull that has develop into common and whose numbers have elevated in recent times, is the Mediterranean Gull (Ichthyaetus melanocephalus). These additionally present up, usually in household teams, from the east and steadily method the purpose earlier than turning south-west in direction of the Atlantic.
Much less frequent, but additionally displaying is the Slender-billed Gull (Chroicocephalus genei). If I actually need to see these elegant gulls, then I can all the time drive as much as the Atlantic coast and the estuary of the Guadalquivir River the place they breed.
Not all birds displaying up now are gulls. Two waders move by in affordable numbers. These are Oystercatchers (Haematopus ostralegus) and Whimbrels (Numenius phaeopus), birds coming from the Excessive Arctic within the latter case or from extra southerly latitudes within the case of the previous. Each are heading for wealthy wintering grounds off the West African coast.
Final week I wrote in regards to the Black Kites (Milvus migrans) that at the moment are heading south. With recent south-westerlies good numbers of those kites are drifted out to sea, east of the Rock. They then make an exhausting flight again in a north-westerly route to search out land. Many evenings I’m watching seabirds and flocks of kites arrive from the south-east and fly north again in direction of the hinterland. These fortunate ones have lived to battle one other day, maybe when situations enhance. I’m positive that many others will not be so fortunate and drown away from sight of land.
I all the time exit within the hope of seeing one other very particular chicken that exhibits up right now. That is Eleonora’s Falcon (Falco eleonorae). These are scarce however they do present up persistently in July and early August. They’re birds that enterprise inland in quest of concentrations of bugs which they feed on previous to shifting to their island colonies to breed. Others are non-breeding people wandering in quest of meals. The birds that I see, virtually invariably, are available in from the south, very in all probability the Moroccan coast simply 21 kilometres away.
Sea-watching from the coast is nice enjoyable proper now and it retains me cool. Subsequent week I’ll take a step additional. In recent times pelagic journeys have develop into more and more fashionable and so they supply a unique window, one in all seabirds which have all the time been on the market right now however that now we have by no means been in a position to see from the coast.
