Mid-March 2010

Pectoral Sandpiper (Calidris melanotos)
Pectoral Sandpiper (Calidris melanotos)

Three images of a juvenile Osprey (Pandion haliaetus)

On 17/03 a Pectoral Sandpiper (Calidris melanotos) turned up in an almost-empty irrigation basin in Las Martelas. This is the third example of this national rarity I have seen on the island, the previous two being observed in autumn 2009 (see corresponding posts).

The juvenile Osprey (Pandion haliaetus), photographed above, has now been on the island for over four months, and appears to have moved from the Dos Pinos area, in Los Llanos, to the banana plantations of Tazacorte, where there are dozens of irrigation basins stocked with carp.

In a water basin in Tazacorte, a pair of Moorhens (Gallinula chloropus) hatched a brood of 7 chicks in early March which all died within a couple of days when the basin was filled, swamping their nest. The tiny chicks were unable to climb the steps to reach safety. The parent birds have now abandoned the basin.

The first brood of Moorhens detected in Las Martelas in mid-February, which was featured in the March 2nd post, is now down to 2 surviving chicks.