Desperate for water

The long, dry, summer takes its toll. This year it hasn't been as bad as usual. In spite of no rain for three months, the heavy rains of last winter have kept a few pools alive. Clouds threaten but little water has fallen so far. It seems hard to think how much we wanted the rains to stop, and now everything alive needs the rejuvenating water. The surviving pools attract all manner of animals (below):

In Doñana the wild horses gather in the remaining lakes where they share the water with flamingoes and ducks.

...but not all of the lakes have retained water, so these animals have to wander across large areas in search of water.

Red Deer (above), just finishing the rut, warily approach the lakes while Fallow Deer (below), just starting the rut, set up territories on the edge of the marshes where there is some fresh grazing.

Patrolling drainage channels, close to large rivers and salt pans, is a favourite pastime of the heron family, particularly Little Egrets

Little Egrets (above) and Grey Herons (below) patiently stalk the water margin

But they are not always left to themselves. Sometimes a surprise (below) lurks out from the reeds

Hermit Crabs, which live on the muddy banks, seem to be a main target

but the herons don't have it all to themselves (below)...

though they try and get their own back, looking for an opportunity in the fish farms (below)!

when all else fails, waterbirds will gather between the locks on drainage canals (below)

where they have to keep a watchful eye on the predatory Marsh Harriers that incessantly patrol its edges (below)

the remaining lakes gather thousands of waterbirds

the pink Greater Flamingoes are among the most spectacular

their numbers are overtaken, though, by the tight flocks of Glossy Ibises (below)

...and there are the migrants. Thousands of waders arrive from the north-western Europe and the High Arctic, on their way south to West Africa or to remain here for the winter. They mix with the local waders (below)

Local and migrant Avocets mix with migrant Black-tailed Godwits (above) in salt pans

Flight of Black-tailed Godwits (above) and Avocets with Black-tailed Godwits (below)

Single Avocet feeding in salt pan

Bar-tailed Godwits (above and below) prefer to feed on the river's edge

Redshank

Common Sandpiper

Greenshank (left) with Bar-tailed Godwit

Ringed Plover

Temminck's Stint

Black-winged Stilts

Squacco Heron

...as I began to write these lines, itstarted to rain outside!

Travellers under the cover of darkness

Sunset over the Atlantic in south-western Iberia at this time of the year signals the start of a wave of small migratory birds that rise from the vegetation into the darkness above. They take a south-westerly heading which takes them out over the open ocean towards Africa. They reach land once again over Morocco. Some may land but others press on south towards the western Sahara Desert. Flying along its western margin minimizes an otherwise dangerous and tedious journey over a sea of sand dunes. This means that, even though many migrants overfly the Sahara, there is a real concentration of birds along the west, coming down the coast of Portugal and  making the most of the wetter Atlantic coast of Iberia. Predators have learnt that the coasts of south-western Iberia and Atlantic Morocco are a source of migrants at this time of year and they make the most of the bonanza. Eleonora's Falcons breed late in the year, on rocky islands, and feed almost exclusively on migrants. Less known but far more dramatic is the predation on migrants by noctule bats. These mammals fly high into the night sky and track down the migrants that are flying at night precisely to avoid falcons and other diurnal predators!

Willow Warblers are among the commonest of these migrants, many yellowish juveniles among them. These tiny birds were only born a few weeks ago and instinctively find their way to their winter quarters. When they come down during the daylight hours, they make the most of the time to feed and regain lost energy.

Some of these migrants, among them Pied Flycatchers, may remain in an area for a few days before moving on. They are fiercely territorial and may stick to a small clump of trees where they will spend the day pouncing on insects on the ground or flycatching others in mid-air.

Pied Flycatchers track a south-westerly route across Europe to reach northern and central Portugal where they spend time refattening. From here, many make a direct flight south to cross the Sahara Desert. They rely on fat reserves deposited in their bodies. These get broken down during the journey to produce energy and water.

Greenland Wheatears are among the greatest of these travellers. These birds make a long sea crossing from Greenland to the British isles, via Iceland. From there they travel south towards the Atlantic coast of Iberia and then move south into Africa from here. They move south later than their smaller European cousins and October is their month in Iberia.

Diurnal trans-Saharan migrants are also on the move down the western coast of Iberia and many of these make the most of the swarms of grasshoppers, locusts and other large insects on the way. The last of the White Storks continue to make their way towards the Strait of Gibraltar. It is the Lesser Kestrels that are now flocking in the open fields, as at la Janda, where they are actively hunting ahead of their journey to winter quarters in West Africa.

September feeding frenzies in the Strait of Gibraltar

September is the month of the flying fish in the Strait of Gibraltar. If they turn up in good numbers they unleash a chain of spectacular events as all kinds of predators converge on this rich food resource. It is the dolphins that get things moving by chasing the fish near the surface where seabirds also get a chance to have a go at them. Yesterday morning was a calm easterly, ideal for a feeding frenzy. It was also the end of the Calpe Conference on the evolution of bird migration, so what better time than to go out on a boat and see what was happening.

Rafts of Cory's Shearwaters Calonectris diomedea at the entrance to the Bay of Gibraltar soon have a hint that the morning would be a good one...

Once round Europa Point and into the entrance to the Mediterranean, a wonderful spectacle unfolded which combined dolphins, breeding shearwaters and migratory seabirds. A migrating Loggerhead Turtle Caretta caretta was a promising sign...

Soon we found the pods of Common Dolphins Delphinus delphis that were frantically chasing the flying fish...

Cory's Shearwaters flew over the pods keeping an eye for shoals of fish

Several thousand Cory's Shearwaters were about, having flown down the Mediterranean coast some 400 kilometres to feed in these rich waters where the Atlantic meets the Mediterranean. These are daily feeding movements as they have hungry chicks in their nests.

As soon as the dolphins have got going, the shearwaters get busy catching the fish that try to escape by gliding...

...and competition is severe among the shearwaters

but the shearwaters do not have it all to themselves as gulls try and steal the tasty meals...

but gulls are insignificant compared to the big bullies that, passing by on migration, get attracted by the concentrations  - Arctic Stercorarius parasiticus and Great Catharacta skua (below) skuas are more formidable opponents...

other migrants also joined in the fun. Among these were juvenile Gannets Morus bassanus, just arrived ftom the North Atlantic.

Black Chlidonias nigra, Common Sterna hirundo and Sandwich Thalasseus sandvicensis terns moving towards the Atlantic wintering grounds also got drawn in...

as were other locally breeding shearwaters - the smaller and browner Balearic Shearwaters Puffinus mauretanicus

but the day belonged to the larger shearwaters, adding plunge-diving to their hunting techniques until the food was gone...

My thanks to Tony and Angie Watkins of Dive Charters for taking us out on their boat

Honey Buzzards - the great travellers

European Honey Buzzards Pernis apivorus are amongst the most beautiful of raptors and they are great travellers

This species breeds in the western and central Palaearctic and is replaced further east by the Oriental Honey Buzzard P. ptilyorhynchus.

There is a third species, the ancestral form, which lives across many islands of south-east Asia - in Sulawesi and the Philippines - where the Oriental Honey Buzzard's range, which has populations across South and South East Asia, ends. It is the Barred Honey Buzzard P. celebensis. These tropical Honey Buzzards are sedentary but the Palaearctic populations of Oriental and all European Honey Buzzards migrate. Their specialised diet of bees and their larvae prevents them being resident away from the tropics.

Hundreds of thousands of European Honey Buzzards arrive in Europe and western Asia to breed in late April and May. They have a short breeding season, capitalising on the abundance of their favourite prey, and leave as soon as breeding is over. They cross the major flyways, avoiding long sea crossings, but are better able to cope with flying over the sea than most raptors and they even get across into Africa via Malta.

Even so flying over the sea can be hazardous.

The Honey Buzzards that are now peaking over the Strait of Gibraltar, with numbers exceeding 11 thousand on good days, are coming from western Europe, Scandinavia and western Russia. Many have crossed from Scandinavia into continental Europe at Falsterbo and the journey to Gibraltar takes them about a week.

These birds are heading for the forests of tropical West Africa, so they still have the big hurdle of the Sahara Desert - 1500 kilometres of sand without chance of eating or drinking - before arriving home.

The Honey Buzzard is typified by a variable plumage. Most birds are of the typically barred phase (above) but others are chocolate brown (below).

and others white (below).

I will keep an eye out for these migrants in the next few days and report back on their progress, along with that of other raptors...

thermal of Honey Buzzards on the move (above). These flocks may number in the thousands.