Semipalmated Plover

 Semipalmated Plover (Charadrius semipalmatus)

Congratulations to Tom Brereton and Marcus John of Naturetrek for finding the mega-rarity featured in the present post: a juvenile Semipalmated Plover (Charadrius semipalmatus), discovered at the seawater pools next to the island's airport. I was tipped off by Tom yesterday evening (Oct 4) and managed to photograph the bird this morning.

There are presently about four Ringed Plovers (Charadrius hiaticula) at the same location, but the Semipalmated was not difficult to find. Note the very thin, pale orbital ring, and of course, the distinct webs between both outer and inner toes.

The photograph above, and the heavily-cropped version below show the webbed toes clearly.

Other identification features include the relatively narrow, dark breast band, unbroken in the centre, and the overall smaller size of this bird, compared to the nearby Ringed Plovers present at the same site.

I will submit this sighting to the Spanish Rarities Committee in due course, as second observer of this North American vagrant.

Juvenile Semipalmated Plover (Charadrius semipalmatus), discovered by Marcus John and Tom Brereton during a recent trip to La Palma
(All photographs by R. Burton)

September 2013 summary

 Northern Wheatear (Oenanthe oenanthe)

The highlight of recent weeks was undoubtedly the juvenile Citrine Wagtail (Motacilla citreola), found in an almost-empty irrigation pond in Las Martelas (see previous post). Otherwise, it was a pretty quiet September for migrants, with most of the main ponds in Las Martelas dried out and therefore providing hardly any suitable habitat for birds. Only a few common waders turned up in the first half of the month.

However, on Sep 29, on the road to the summit of the island at almost 2,300m altitude, I spotted the Northern Wheatear (Oenanthe oenanthe) shown in the two images above. The precise location was at Km 31, just below the peak known as Pico de la Cruz.

 Northern Wheatear (Oenanthe oenanthe)

There have been several sightings of this species on La Palma in recent years, most of them at much lower elevations. The bird shown in the  image above, and in the next two pictures, was discovered at what might be described as a "classic" location for ground foragers: Llano de las Cuevas in the high part of El Paso, at around 900m above sea-level. The pictures were taken on Oct 2.

I am hoping a Desert Wheatear (O. deserti 12 records on the Canaries), or an Isabelline Wheatear (O. isabellina only one record on the Canaries) will turn up on the island one of these days, but the very long primary projection shown below, reaching almost to the tip of the tail, discounts both of these rarer species.

At the beginning of the month, when several juvenile shorebirds and a few wagtails were foraging in one of the irrigation tanks in Las Martelas, a surprise visitor spent several minutes perched on the edge of the pond...perhaps scrutinising the larder, prior to sampling some of the recently-arrived, overseas delicacies. Sparrowhawks are not often seen in such urban surroundings on La Palma...

I assume the bird below is a juvenile of the  resident sub-species granti.

Sparrowhawk (Accipiter nisus ssp. granti)

Citrine Wagtail

 Curlew Sandpiper (Calidris ferruginea) with first winter Citrine Wagtail (Motacilla citreola)

The post-breeding migration season is already underway, and along with the regular shorebirds, what I take to be a first winter Citrine Wagtail (Motacilla citreola) has turned up in a partly-empty irrigation pond in Las Martelas (Los Llanos de Aridane). Seen for the first time on Sep 8, the bird was still present this evening, Sep 10.

The recently-published "Rare Birds of the Canary Islands" (Eduardo García-del-Rey & Francisco Javier García Vargas, Lynx Edicions, June 2013), gives a total of 6 records of Motacilla citreola on the Canaries: El Hierro 1, Tenerife 1, Fuerteventura 1, and Lanzarote 3. However, in early September this year, two more citrines were observed at the Tias golfcourse on the island of Lanzarote.

Despite the poor quality of the present photographs, several key identification features can be appreciated: the broad white wing bars, the pale eye-surround, the black legs, and the all black bill. Plumage on the upperparts is greyish, with no hint of olive-brown, as in immature Yellow Wagtail (M. flava).

As further evidence, this bird shows no hint of a black collar, as in the White Wagtail (M. alba), and also lacks yellow tones on the undertail-coverts, as in immature Yellow Wagtail (M. flava).

Any comments regarding identification of this bird would be appreciated: please email me at grajaland@gmail.com.

This sighting will be submitted to the Spanish Rarities Committee in due course.

Other migrants currently found in Las Martelas include small numbers of:
Curlew Sandpiper (Calidris ferruginea), Green Sandpiper (Tringa ochropus), Common Sandpiper (Actitis hypoleucos), Greenshank (Tringa nebularia), and Common Snipe (Gallinago gallinago).

Elsewhere on the island, I have seen solitary Dunlin (Calidris alpina), Sanderling (Calidris alba), Greenshank (Tringa nebularia ), and Curlew Sandpiper (Calidris ferruginea) at the Fuencaliente saltpans, and two Ringed Plover (Charadrius hiaticula) plus one Whimbrel (Numenius phaeopus) and a solitary Common Sandpiper (Actitis hypoleucos)  at the seawater pools near the airport.

Gull-billed Tern

 Gull-billed Tern (Gelochelidon nilotica)

A welcome observation after a quiet spell in Las Martelas, this Gull-billed Tern (Gelochelidon nilotica) was discovered on the evening of June 21. I managed to get a couple of acceptable pictures on that occasion, but have posted the slightly better quality ones taken today, June 22.

This is my second record of this species on La Palma, the first being in September 2011 (see Sep 12 2011 post). However, both currently available field guides to the birds of the Atlantic Islands/Macaronesia, by Tony Clarke and Eduardo García-del-Rey, refer to the Gull-billed Tern as a "passage migrant with records from all main islands except La Palma".

Back in September 2009, I also saw 3 Whiskered Terns (Chilodonias hybrida) in the same area (Las Martelas, Los Llanos de Aridane).

What a spectacular bird to observe, as it glided and leisurely circled above this artificial wetland! The wings gave the impression of being much longer than the 76-86 cm quoted in the guides. The dark trailing edge on the outer primaries is clearly visible in the three photos above, and also the short, thick, all-black bill.

The tern was attempting to pluck insects from the surface and edges of some of the irrigation ponds, and only perched briefly once, on top of a plastic greenhouse, some distance from where I was standing. The next two shots, unfortunately rather blurred, illustrate the foraging techniques:

Above, the bird is seen scouting the banks of an irrigation pond, and below, a captured prey item, probably a recently-emerged dragonfly, is visible.

Barbary Falcon Nest

 

Often a target species for visiting birders, the Barbary Falcon (Falco pelegrinoides) is the scarcest of La Palma's four diurnal raptors. On the Canaries, this species is usually associated with steep, inaccessible sea cliffs, although it has been known to nest up to 20km inland. A few years ago, a pair successfully bred in the Caldera de Taburiente National Park on La Palma, also several kilometres from the coast.

The nest featured in the present post is another example of an inland breeding site, on the almost vertical sides of a ravine. In the photograph above, one of the parent birds can be seen perched on the rim of the ledge, while the other adult is just discernible some distance above it. All the photos shown here were taken from the bottom of the gorge using a handheld bridge camera.

I reported this recent discovery to the local nature conservation authorities (Agentes de Medio Ambiente), since cases of nest robbery by falconers are not unheard of on the Canary Islands. The site was subsequently checked by one of the environmental agents, who observed three fledglings, in addition to the parent birds; the brood can therefore be considered out of danger.

Above is another shot of the nesting platform, with no birds visible. It appears to consist of an almost perfect natural alcove, facing roughly north. On a recent visit, all five birds had already left the nest early in the morning, and the fledglings were being fed at different points along the valley, with raucous "begging" being heard.
 
To observe the locally-named Halcón Tagarote on the island of La Palma, it is best to inspect steep sections of the island's coastline from a clifftop vantage point. Persistence is required, but the good news is that the population of this species is believed to be on the increase: upwards of 20 breeding pairs are probably resident on the island, although no precise census figure is presently available.

Two Ring-necked Ducks

 Ring-necked Ducks (Aythya collaris)

The two Ring-necked Ducks (Aythya collaris) featured in the present post were discovered in an irrigation pond in Las Martelas (Los Llanos de Aridane) on the evening of March 20, and photographed the following morning. They came as a pleasant surprise during what has been a slack migratory season so far.

The paler of the two ducks

Regular visitors to this blog may recall two other recent records of this species: a female I discovered in the same pond in Las Martelas in December 2012 - and which was last seen there by a local observer on March 8 2013 - and a drake spotted in the Laguna de Barlovento reservoir by a visiting birder in January 2013.

The darker individual

Despite the slight difference in size and distinct plumage, I assume both the present birds are females, and are newcomers to the island. For comparison, below is a picture of the previous female monitored between December 2012 and the end of February 2013. Apart from the drabber plumage, the head appears to lack the peaked crown clearly visible in the two recently-discovered birds. As always, comments would be welcome.

Female Ring-necked Duck (Aythya collaris) and Tufted Duck (A. fuligula)

Photo: December 11 2012

 

The present sighting will be submitted to the Spanish Rarities Committee in due course.

Blackcap singing...

 Blackcap (Sylvia atricapilla)

Given the absence of migratory birds at the moment, here are a few photos of one of the commonest birds on the island, the Blackcap (Sylvia atricapilla). One of La Palma's four warblers, this species has already been shown in a previous post, carrying food to its nest (see 29 March 2011).

With spring in the air, males are presently singing from very conspicuous perches in all suitable habitat. The posted images were taken with a Fuji HS10 bridge camera, in an area of degraded scrub near a group of irrigation ponds in Las Martelas (Los Llanos de Aridane) - but the Blackcap is easy to find in gardens, orchards and even in public squares, where it frequents the dense foliage of planted Ficus microcarpa trees.

 Male Blackcap (Sylvia atricapilla)

Purely by chance, the following Osprey (Pandion haliaetus) was discovered this evening perching near an artificial pond in Las Martelas. Could this be the same bird first detected in 2010? Since my 26 March 2012 post,  a solitary Osprey has been reported in various parts of the island by several observers.

 Osprey (Pandion haliaetus)

This species no longer breeds on La Palma, but certain toponyms indicate that it once did; a glance at any large-scale map will reveal the local name guincho applied to a number of coastal features.

The bird spent over an hour on top of the same telegraph pole, and was only mobbed briefly, in almost routine fashion, by a Kestrel (Falco tinnunculus). Apparently at home in the far-from-idyllic, urban surroundings, this specimen seemed unconcerned about passing cars and people.

 Osprey (Pandion haliaetus)