Rare Birds in Spain Blog

On 24 May 2023, Roland Bekkers, photographed an Ancient Murrelet ( Synthliboramphus antiquus) at the Odiel river mouth , an important wetland in the Huelva province, in the Atlantic coast of Andalucia, S Spain. At 20:22 the same day the news came out and were broadcasted within the Rarebirdspain group. Despite the rarity of the record, a number of local birders decided to give it a try on 25 May morning.  Local birders asked to respect local colonies of Little Terns Sternula albifrons and Collared Pratincoles Glareola pratincola remaining within marked paths in any attempt of twitching the murrelet.  On 25 May, at 10:37 AM the bird was relocated c.400m from the mouth of the Mazagón Marina (José Luís Anguita, Manuel Bárcenas, Juanjo Cirpriano, Alfonso Barragán), UTM 37.138718, -6.841995 . See photos below (José Luís Anguita) and videos (José Manuel Reyes). Some boats flushed the bird c. 2000 m from the initial place and a bit later it flew a further 3000 m to the W remaining near the pl

© Ricard Gutiérrez, 14.2.2015 And it was relocated. And hundreds of observers came to see it. And they all watched it... Not a religious reference, but true. The Brown Shrike ( Lanius cristatus) , the first for Catalonia and Spain, and the longest-distance known record from its usual breeding grounds, had been found on 31.12.2014 then on 6.1.2015 by Iain Hartley ( see this blog entry on the finding ). Many observers, even coming from Teruel, Girona or Barcelona, came in the immediate days after the 6th of January to attempt relocating the bird. Without luck. Despite the fuzzy photos of the original sighting, the description from Iain was good, particularly pointing out the key features of the bird, e.g. its tail structure, with the pointed shape due to the length of the central feathers. In order to accept the record into the official national list, it is widely agreed that having at least a couple of observers, or having supporting evidence, helps to get the record homologa

Aspect of the area where the bird was seen. Deltebre, Tarragona, 9.1.2015 (Ricard Gutiérrez) A bird was seen at the suburban areas of Deltebre, Tarragona, by the river Ebre, on 6.1.2015 (Iain Hartley). The bird was seen intermitently and was elusive. Many local birders visited the area until 10.1.2015 without further relocation of the bird. Until 9.2.2015 (see below). After contacting the observer, Iain supplied a full account of the observation included below plus record shots of the bird in the bushes which show a bird which looks like a medium sized shrike. 1st contact was made on 31.12.2014 . Iain Hartley account as follows with our capitals or bolds: Since there don't seem to have been any further records, I thought I should contact you around the circumstances of the finding of the brown shrike in Deltebre and explain why I was not able to release the news sooner.  On 31st December , I went for a short walk along the River Ebre from my wife's family hous

[No ha habido sorpresa . Desde el primer momento uno de los candidatos parecía el claro ganador de l 'más raro de los raros 2012' : el águila volatinera vista en Cádiz entre abril - mayo de 2012, primera para España y Europa continental ( hay un registro europeo anterior en Chipre). De los 191 votos , 93 votaron el 'Bateleur' , mientras que el 2º lugar fue para el cormorán Phalacrocorax auritus de la isla de El Hierro , también un primero de España . E l tercer lugar ha sido para el Cascanueces (desafortunadamente encontrado muerto ) de Teruel (26 votos). En los diseños futuros de la página web, el águila volatinera será el " más raro de los raros 2012 ' junto con las aves elegidas en años anteriores , que aparece en el banner de la web. Felicidades a todos, gracias por participar y, sobre todo , felicidades a todos los autores y colaboradores . ] Photo above:© Edward Eyles 21.5.2012   No surprise.

As in 2011 edition, we enclose a selection of perhaps the rarest sightings obtained in the country during 2012. Please vote  the poll (right side of the blog) to see which species sighting can be considered the rarest of the rare 2012!. You can choose several choices, not only one. If interested in the different sightings, follow the links to the original report of the species in the Rare Birds in Spain website. Happy rarest of the rare 2012 and a better 2013 year! [Como en la edición de 2011, se incluyen una selección de las citas tal vez más raras que se hayan obtenido en el país durante 2012. Por favor, votad en la encuesta (en el lado derecho del blog) para ver qué cita puede ser considerada la más rara de entre las raras de 2012!. Podeis escoger diferentes opciones dado que la elección es complicada. Si estais interesados en obtener más información de las citas en cuestión podeis seguir los enlaces a las páginas originales de la web Rare Birds in Spain. Feliz raro de los raros 2