Week 27: It was
an interesting week of birding which ended with a tally of 52 species. The
highpoint came on Saturday 8th when I acted as guide for a visiting
Canadian birder, Martin Gebauer. This 10 hour marathon birding excursion took
us from one end of the island to the next, from hotspots to little known
birding nooks and crannies ending that day with 47 species which included one
lifer – a mega-rarity for the island.
A Greater Blue Heron
on Thursday 6th and an Osprey
on Saturday 8th took me by surprise as I was not expecting to see
these birds at this time of year. What
it does emphasize is that the Southern Migration is well on its way.
Lifer 130, a Mega-rarity and the 74th Bird
One Bird encompasses all of these labels. It is a bird I saw on Saturday 8th
at SBRC while on a birding tour. The
bird was quite a distance away and at first sight I thought it was the Osprey I had seen just minutes before
but Martin said it could not have been as the underparts were not white. After changing position we had good looks of
it in flight and even better views with the help of a scope when it perched. The bird was mostly brownish in color, yellow
legs, and a sharp down-curved black bill which had a yellowish base.
It was without a doubt a Black Kite Milvus migrans. Black Kites are between 21 -23 inches in
length with a wing span of over 4 feet.
This raptor can be found in Europe, Asia, Africa and Australia and
winters in tropical Africa and the Middle East, migrating south Aug–Oct and
returning from mid-April. Saturday’s
sighting of a Black Kite represents only the second sighting for the island
with the first being on November 12th, 2008 in the parish of St.
Lucy.
The Black Kite made it to my 2017 Photographic Big Year
album weighting at number 74.
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| 74 - Black Kite Milvus migrans |
This has been an exciting start to the migration season;
stay tuned to this blog to see what else turns up.
Until then Enjoy your
Birding!!
Here are other images from that week.
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