Ardeidae

 

Part of the group of herons, with the two Cattle Egret (Bubulcus ibis) visible in the centre

After a week´s absence from the island, I returned to Las Martelas this morning to find a mixed group of herons; the Pectoral Sandpiper (Calidris melanotos) featured in my previous post was nowhere to be seen.

The assembly of Ardeidae gave the impression of being a group of recently-arrived birds, made up of 14 Little Egret (Egretta garzetta), 2 Cattle Egret (Bubulcus ibis), a handful of Grey Herons (Ardea cinerea) and a single Squacco Heron (Ardeola ralloides).

Part of the group of Ardeidae, with the Squacco Heron (Ardeola ralloides) in the foreground

Part of the group of Ardeidae, with the Squacco Heron (Ardeola ralloides) in the foreground

Squacco Heron (Ardeola ralloides)

Of the four species, the Squacco Heron (Ardeola Ralloides) appears least regularly on La Palma, followed by the ubiquitous Cattle Egret (Bubulcus ibis), which breeds on the island of Lanzarote. Both the Little Egret (Egretta garzetta) and Grey Heron (Ardea cinerea) can be observed virtually all year round.

Records of Black-crowned Night Heron (Nycticorax nycticorax), Great White Egret (Egretta alba), Purple Heron (Ardea purpurea), and Little Bittern (Ixobrychus minutus) also exist for the island, though all but the first-named are very infrequent visitors.

Pectoral Sandpiper

 

Pectoral Sandpiper (Calidris melanotos)

I found this interesting wader in an irrigation pond in Las Martelas (Los Llanos de Aridane) this morning, Sep 11. 

Pectoral Sandpiper (Calidris melanotos)

The Pectoral Sandpiper (Calidris melanotos) breeds in the Arctic tundra, from Siberia to the Hudson Bay in Canada, and winters in South America, and to a lesser extent in SE Australia, Tasmania and New Zealand (Farmer et al, 2020).

Records in Europe, relatively numerous and on the increase, have traditionally been regarded as vagrants from North America, but it seems possible that a large proportion of the birds could come directly from Siberia, on a south-westerly course towards sub-Saharan Africa (Alström et al, 1991; Lees and Gilroy, 2004), perhaps due to a westward expansion of the species' breeding area (Farmer et al, 2020). Indeed, the species might be breeding occasionally in the far north of Europe (Keller et al, 2020).

Pectoral Sandpiper (Calidris melanotos) showing sharply demarcated gorget of streaks coming to a point in centre of breast, a diagnostic fieldmark

In Spain, records became annual from 1980 onwards and by 2015, when the species officially ceased to be classed as a rarity, the total had reached 382, of which 83% stemmed from the mainland plus the Balearic Islands, and 17% from the Canary Islands (Gil-Velasco et al, 2017).

Pectoral Sandpiper (Calidris melanotos) from rear,  with Common Sandpiper (Actitis hypoleucos)

Before the species was "declassified" from the rarity list, I notched up a total of 7 records on La Palma, mostly in the month of September, and in all but one case at the irrigation ponds in Las Martelas, with just one record from Las Salinas (Fuencaliente).

Pectoral Sandpiper (Calidris melanotos) 

My own observations thus reflect the general tendency throughout Spain, where autumn records outnumber those in spring. and many of the birds are juveniles, as the one shown here.

Pectoral Sandpiper (Calidris melanotos)