THE UK'S FIRST SUSTAINABLE VILLAGE- THE CRANES HAVE ARRIVED

It has begun!

Previous stuff on this here.
http://peteralfreybirdingnotebook.blogspot.com/2010/09/hackbridge-project-creating-sustainable.html

Ring-billed Gull Gallery

A few more Azores shots. There is a regular winter flock of Ring-billed Gulls on Terceira (up to 50+) which presumably migrate to and from the US on a routine basis.

Here are some more photos from Vincent and Simon from the Azores winter 2011: http://www.surfbirds.com/cgi-bin/gallery/display.cgi?gallery=gallery11

Bonser, Olof and co are out on the Azores at the moment so expecting a big discovery soon. Latest news and more from the Azores here:

www.birdingazores.com

That's more or less it for the Azores winter now- back to Beddington next. There have been some interesting local developments.

A few more winter Azores photos

Top to bottom: 1. Male Lesser Scaup, 2. Bufflehead and 3. Female Greater Scaup (with Lesser Scaup and Tufted Duck)

American Herring Gulls on the Azores

Juvenile 'American Herring Gull' (Keijo Wahlross)
Markku Santamaa and Keijo Wahlross found this juvenile gull on Terceira a couple of days ago. Considering the location of the bird and the fact that American Herring Gulls are regular on the Azores, the various pro-AMHG features could be presented as a convincing argument to confidently label this bird as an American Herring Gull.

However if we were to apply strict criteria the undertail coverts on this bird have widely spaced barring and not the barcode barring which is generally regarded as an essential feature to secure a WP identification for American Herring Gull. Also is the bird a bit too pale - could that be a Glauc or Thayers influence?

What if this bird was seen in Northern Europe- would it get through a rarities committee with those undertail coverts? Also can we certainly exclude a gull from Iceland?

Does it make a difference that this bird is on the Azores? I think it does- which could mean that sometimes in gulling it may appear that.......'It's not what you see, it's where you see it'

More 'American Herring Gulls' from the Azores here:
http://peteralfrey.blogspot.com/2011/02/american-herring-gulls-on-azores-2003.html

RINGED MED GULL ON THE AZORES- RESULT.

This bird was ringed as a pullus on the 17/06/2010 at Hellevoetsluis, Slijkplaat, Zuid-Holland. The first sighting of this bird was then on 16/10/2010 at Great Yarmouth seafront, Norfolk and then not seen / recorded until last week when on Praia da Vitoria beach, Terceira (via Simon).

More on the BTO blog here: http://btoringing.blogspot.com/2011/02/mediterranean-gull-goes-way-of-little.html

Sandwich Tern or Cabot's Tern?

Click on image to enlarge.


Trying to work out if this bird can be identified as either a Nearctic or Palearctic bird. Simon and I came across it last week on the Azores. The answer is actually on the bottom of the left leg but I can't read it!
The identification of 'American Sandwich Tern' (also known as Cabot's Tern) has been dealt with by Garner et al in Dutch Birding Vol:29:5 but I still can't work it out :-)

Terceira, The Azores- Day Five

Common Buzzard

Blackcap

Starling

European Robin

Azorean Chaffinch

This morning was the last day for me- although Simon stayed for another day and there is a steady flow of observers twitching the heron over the next few weeks.

Of course it is not all rare birds on the Azores- in fact I worked out today that based on estimates from this trip- 1% of birds on Terceira (the east side of the island) are american vagrants. Here is the rough estimate:

Palearctic Migrants and vagrants
Black-headed Gull (500+), Lesser Black-backed Gull (100+), Mediterranean Gull (4), Common Gull (5), Common Teal (40), Tufted Duck (10), Eurasian Wigeon (2), Common Coot (8), Common Moorhen (6), Grey Heron (2), Little Egret (15), Greenshank (2), Spotted Redshank (1), Wood Sandpiper (1), Sanderling (50+), Turnstone (30+), Ringed Plover (10), Black-tailed Godwit (9), Little Stint (1), Common Sandpiper (1), White-winged Tern (1), Greylag Goose (3), Pink-footed Goose (1), Great Northern Diver (1) (Total 803)

Palearctic residents
Azorean Gull (1500+), Kentish Plover (20+), Starling (500+), House Sparrow (500+), Blackcap (50+), Atlantic Canary (200+), Azorean Chaffinch (200+), Robin (30+), Woodpigeon (300+), Feral Pigeon (100), Blackbird (30+), Cory’s Shearwater (50+), Common Buzzard (10+), Quail (10), Grey Wagtail (15), Goldcrest (5), Goldfinch (30+) (Total c3550)
Holarctic (either the Palearctic or Nearctic)
Greater Scaup (1), Slavonian Grebe (1), Sandwich Tern (1), Dunlin (4), Knot (5), (12)
Nearctic Migrants/vagrants
Ring-billed Gull (30), American Herring Gull (2), Lesser Scaup (1), Bufflehead (1), Ring-necked Duck (3), Blue-winged Teal (1), American Coot (1), Lesser Yellowlegs (2), Greater Yellowlegs (1), Semipalmated Plover (2), Spotted Sandpiper (1), Great Blue Heron (1), Yellow-crowned Night Heron (1), Pied-billed Grebe (1), (48)

That gives us 4353 Palearctic birds to 48 Nearctic birds and 12 either/ors.