I’m sitting on the sting of the Doñana wetland in south-west Spain. The ocean mists have pushed into the coast however it’s gentle. Because the day wakes up, birds begin flitting within the bushes round me. It’s a couple of minutes earlier than dawn however, already, the Chiffchaffs (Phylloscopus collybita) are actively leaping at unsuspecting bugs within the bushes. There is no such thing as a time to waste.
I go searching and there are just a few Shovelers (Spatula clypeata) sitting on the water, paired up, the males in splendid breeding plumage. Additional out is a flock of Pochard (Aythya ferina) and, in between them, a pair of White-headed Duck (Oxuyra leucocephala).
We’re not removed from the coast right here and the tide is rising. This pushes flocks of Mediterranean Gulls (Ichthyaetus melanocephalus) and Black-headed Gulls (Chroicocephalus ridibundus) inshore they usually are available in to wash within the freshwater of the pond I’m watching. Lesser black-backed Gulls (Larus fuscus) be part of the motion. The solar has risen and the Chiffchaffs begin flycatching, flying up from the bushes to catch bugs, now not within the vegetation however, as an alternative, in mid-air.
The gentle early morning temperatures, not having gone beneath 12oC, are rising quick. By mid-afternoon we have now reached 20oC. Acquainted shapes glide over the water and begin doing their very own model of flycatching – this time not by leaping from the vegetation however by swooping low over the water from the sky. They’re Crag Martins (Ptyonoprogne rupestris), perhaps twenty of them. They could be wintering birds which is able to head north in March however, right here and now, they’re exploiting a increase. The autumn rains have raised the water ranges and the gentle temperatures flip the marshes into breeding grounds for mosquitoes and different bugs. That is Crag Martin paradise.
Because the afternoon proceeds, we realise that that is actually hirundine paradise. Inside a couple of minutes we have now Barn Swallows (Hirundo rustica), Home Martins (Delichon urbicum) and Purple-rumped Swallows (Cecropis daurica) becoming a member of the Crag Martins. Solely Sand Martins (Riparia riparia) are lacking to finish the European hirundine species record. Learn any subject information and these hirundines are all meant to be in tropical Africa proper now however that’s only a northern European generalisation based on hypothesis. Down right here spring has arrived. The times are lengthening, there may be water and it’s gentle. Importantly, there may be meals in every single place and the hirundines are again to take advantage of the bonanza.
We glance up above the feeding hirundines and the diagnostic form of Little Swifts (Apus affinis) catches our eye. We’ve got a colony not too distant and these birds are resident. Europe’s solely resident swifts! Is that this world warming? No. These birds have been doing this for a very long time. I’ve seen January Swallows all my life and there may be nothing to recommend that something has modified. It’s simply that no one has checked out it this fashion. There are data of over-wintering hirundines in south-western Iberia, however these aren’t wintering birds. For these birds, that is spring and they’re returning to take advantage of the insect bounty.
I’m heading again house and I see White Storks (Ciconia ciconia) again on their nests. A little bit additional down a Black Stork (Ciconia nigra) flies low previous me on the aspect of the highway. One other arrival. Information will get to me {that a} Black Kite (Milvus migrans) and an Egyptian Vulture (Neophron percnopterus) have been seen within the space. All of it provides as much as verify that, in these latitudes, spring has arrived.
