Nightjars & an Unlikely Pitfall to the Unaccustomed

Nightjars are one of my favourite birds. They are extremely rare in Ireland, but I'm lucky to have fond memories of a churring male as well as sightings of a female at an upland site in Tipperary some decade ago. On hindsight, this night is one of my all-time birding highlights. It was just magical - topped off with a supporting cast of roding Woodcock, reeling Grasshopper Warblers and the iconic song of the Common Cuckoo.

Living in Catalunya, now; I have ample opportunity to see and hear two species; Red-necked Nightjar and European Nightjar. It comes as no surprise that I am a keen Delta del Llobregat birder, and when a friend told me of a second-hand report of a singing Red-necked Nightjar, in the delta I was very interested. We drove to the spot one night and found ourselves in a sandy car-park by the sea, which skirted a lovely coastal pinewood. It looked nice. We weren't sure if we would see or hear anything but were ever-hopeful as it was a delta tick for us.

In the vicinity of the car park we had some migrants and found a lovely Balearic Flycatcher Muscicapa tyrrhenica balearica, with a nice Whinchat.

We walked along the coastal track with our ears pointed to the woodland and eventually we detected a distant Red-necked Nightjar! We waited a while and realised the sound seemed to be coming from the direction of the car, so we headed back to try to hear it better. Upon returning we realised it was literally singing its heart out just feet from the car. We listened in pure amazement and even saw it displaying several times. We enjoyed the bird for a good 20 minutes, before heading home, taking a route through the agricultural zone of Can Dimoni. 

This is where the catch comes in. As I drove back I had the windows rolled in case we heard an owl, a late singing Quail or another Nightjar. Then suddenly I stopped in excitement, listening to what I thought was a European Nightjar! Still on a high from the Red-necked I drove closer to the sound and took a recording. It had been at least a decade since I had heard a European Nightjar, but in the heat of the moment my memory told me that this was one. Fantastic. It even had the sudden pitch changes which I could vaguely remember the Irish bird doing that time back. 

A little later, having sent the recording to my good friend Harry Hussey, as sharp as ever, he expressed some concern and said it didn't sound quite right. Furthermore, I was told about an insect that can sound similar to European Nightjar. I googled it and listened to a recording and my heart sank. This was it! European Mole Cricket Gryllotalpa gryllotalpa! Wow. They really do sound quite like a Nightjar, and are thought to be the loudest insect on the planet (they are surprisingly loud). 

For someone who comes from a country where there really aren't any audible nocturnal insects, and certainly not at this volume, I think this could catch you out, at least momentarily. When you listen to both species online, side by side there is a noticeable difference, and in fact the similarities are only superficial, but in the field it really tricked me. 

In actuality the tone and rhythm are quite different between the two species, and the sudden change in pitch is represented as a slight momentary rise in Mole Crickets (see fig.1), with a slight drop in pitch in European Nightjar (see 2nd recording: XC326855). It won't happen to me again but it's good to know that this insect exists and can make sounds like that! Lesson learned. 

Figure 1. European Mole Cricket, with a slight, momentary increase in pitch at approx' 2.5s.

To compare, here is a recording taken in the UK of an actual European Nightjar. You can clearly see the momentary drop in pitch, about halfway through the file. This contrasts to the rise in pitch seen in the European Mole Cricket, above, in figure 1. 

Lleida Steppe

Lleida is a birder's paradise. It's a world away from the coastal marshes of the delta. It's much drier with some really interesting habitat and birds. The most important is the actual steppe habitat which is low-lying dry grassland and scrub. Nowadays it is integrated with rather intensive agriculture, but there are several zones which are managed for wildlife. As well as this, there are a few lakes and reservoirs, some rocky slopes which support the likes of Eagle Owl & Black Wheatear, and copses of woodland, to name but a few habitats. 

Typical Lleida steppe: dry, flat with short grass and some scrub

Ideal Little Bustard habitat! It seems that wherever there are red poppies there are bustards! The farming influence is apparent here but it does the job.

After some research online I decided to try Lleida on the 1st of May, after receiving some fantastic advice from Sergio Hoces (thank you!). My first visit was overwhelming to say the least. I had no idea of the scale and the amount of exciting birds to see! As I have been three weekends this month, I'm feeling much more confident with the site as a whole with each trip bringing new birds and increased familiarity with different zones. Here I will summarise some of the great birds that are available in this amazing area.

The Lleida dump is a true spectacle and holds incredible numbers of Griffon Vulture (150+), Black Kite (150+) and White Storks (difficult to judge but big numbers), with a few Red Kites also. Birds commute between the dump and the various fields and rocky ledges. If you can stick the smell you can get incredible views of all the aforementioned and it really is a sight to behold.

Lleida Dump, with surrounding agricultural zones where one can see resting raptors and storks in between feeds in the dump

Griffon Vultures, with a flyover Black Kite, sitting near Lleida Dump

Griffon Vulture - an impressive beast!

Griffon Vulture & Raven for size comparison

There are big numbers of White Stork to be seen at the dump. They can also be seen nesting on churches, old towers and even a disused crane in the surrounding vicinity.

The steppe lands themselves hold an impressive diversity of species, some of which cannot be seen outside of Lleida, without traveling to Spain. I found the best way to explore these were to drive slowly and carefully by car through the numerous sandy tracks. Larks are abundant, and I have seen Calandra, Crested, Thekla, and Greater Short-toed. For me Calandra is the most impressive of all of these, and in the right areas they are very common. They are really striking, especially in flight. What surprised me the most about this species was their song - they include some really impressive mimicry. Have a listen to the recording below and see how many species you can identify in the mimicry!

Calandra Lark

Crested Lark

Greater Short-toed Lark

Thekla Lark

I had a very pleasant surprise when scanning a dry field for Stone Curlew on my most recent visit. This came in the form of a stunning female Dotterel! There are sites which regularly get these on passage in Autumn, but in they are really rare in Spring, I've been told. What a bird! 

Female Dotterel - one of the nicest waders on the planet, in my opinion.

 

Corn Bunting are very common in general here and can be heard singing all around. 

A Corn Bunting living up to its name!

Melodious Warblers are to be found in areas with some shrubbery or trees and I was lucky to be able to approach very close to one singing bird, and again I was surprised to hear some very convincing mimicry of the likes of Bee-eater & Barn Swallow - have a listen below:

The area in general is teeming with raptors, with some areas better than others. So far I have seen 13 species of raptor in the area. Without a doubt, excellent views of Golden Eagle on every visit has been a real raptor highlight for me. Short-toed Snake Eagle are regular and are also really nice to watch.

2CY Golden Eagle

Roller is another typical bird of dry steppe and can be found in good densities throughout Lleida. The flash of iridescent blue is unmistakable and really adds some colour to your birding!

Rollers are relatively common in Lleida and can often be seen sitting on open perches like this.

Two more iconic Lleida birds seen over the previous 3 visits were both Pin-tailed Sandgrouse and Little Bustard. So far I have only had flight views (but very good ones) of the Sandgrouse but I'm getting closer to finding a reliable location to see them on the ground. Little Bustard is much easier and stands out amongst the short vegetation. It gives its presence away with it's odd wet fart-like song.The nice thing about finding Little Bustard is that Quail are often very close-by. In the Little Bustard image below, there was also a Quail singing simultaneously.

Little Bustard in all its glory. Unfortunately this field was totally ploughed when I returned a week later, but I found singing males in another field nearby where I hadn't seen them on the previous visit so it seems they successfully relocated.

Great-spotted Cuckoos can  found scattered throughout Lleida, usually in areas of scrub with trees nearby, as their main brood host is the Magpie. The bird below was actually photographed on the roadside.The Corn Bunting in the photo was mobbing it for most of the encounter, as is common with cuckoos in general.

It was nice to see this bird so well, at the side of the road.

Being closely watched by a Corn Bunting, which at times pecked at its feathers.

Outside the dry steppe habitat of Lleida there are other nice habitats which hold other scarce species. In the habitat below Ortolan Bunting were quite common. It is also a site for Western Orphean Warbler. However, I have not had much luck with those yet. This site also had Black-eared Wheatear, Western Subalpine Warbler, Western Bonelli's Warbler, Golden Oriole, Turtle Dove, Woodchat Shrike and many other nice birds. 

Ortolan Bunting & Orphean Warbler territory

This site, with its mix of woodland, open fields, and rocky hill scrub; I always find the bird song amazing. I took a general sound recording of the chorus and it is just packed full of different songs. Have a listen and see how many species you can identify:

I was pleasantly surprised to find a Roe Deer at this site and it allowed me to get relatively close views as I walked along the track. When I got too close for its comfort it started to give the typical barking call (see following recording), which was nice to hear. 

This buck Roe Deer allowed a relatively close approach and entertained with its barking call before disappearing into the woods. 

I will be visiting Lleida again very soon, but next weekend I'm planning to go to the Pyrenees, in search of Rock Ptarmigan, Black Woodpecker, Citril Finch, Tengmalm's Owl, and more.

Migrant Muscicapa sp in Catalunya

Over the last few weeks I've developed a rather obsessive fascination with trying to discover/identify a spring overshoot/vagrant Mediterranean Flycatcher Muscicapa striata balearica (or M. t. balearica, depending on whether or not you accept the recent split) and it's been really interesting. It's been quite challenging but I found, what appear to my eyes, to be some really nice looking candidates. The taxonomy is rather confusing as is the field identification but I will summarise, to the best of my abilities what I have read/learned so far.

What are they?

To keep things simple, the IOC have recently split Mediterranean Flycatcher, from Spotted Flycatcher, and recognises two subspecies of Mediterranean Flycatcher, namely:

- M. t. balearica, which is known to breed only on the Balearic Islands

- M. t. tyrrhenica, which breeds primarily on Corsica & Sardinia

What are the field characteristics?

Here is a summary of features in my own words based on a series of papers, blogs and webpages I've found online. As I am birding in Catalunya, I'm focusing only on balearica for now.

• Crown streaking: Crown is often noticeably marked with prominent white streaks (ground colour), as opposed to the normal brownish/greyish streaks of Spotted Flycatcher. 
  
• General paler/greyer appearance. Spotted Flycatcher appears warmer/browner.
  
• Highly reduced/lack of streaking on breast: Typical Spotted Flycatchers tend to be heavily streaked in comparison to the clean white breast (some times with more blotchy minimal streaks in upper-breast) of balearica.
  
• Shorter primary projection: The 2nd primary falls between 5th & 6th in balearica, and 4th & 5th in striata
  
• White underwing coverts: Clean white underwing coverts seem to be an important clinching feature. This contrasts to the darker ochreous/brown tinged underwing coverts of striata. Just how important, and how variable this is, I do not know and I'm hoping to see some skins somewhere soon to make some sense of this in my own head. I think this is very difficult to judge in the field and good photos in correct lighting are absolutely vital. If the wing is backlit or the underwing coverts are at an angle whereby they are shaded, the resulting photo can be misleading and make them look darker than they actually are.  

Occurrence in Catalunya

Catalunya is well placed to receive overshoots of the species, and it does so every year. I can't give an exact figure but it seems there are a reasonable number of birds found each year, with 17 birds reported on ornitho.cat in 2019, at the time of writing. From mid-April of this year there was a steady passage of Spotted Flycatchers through Delta del Llobregat, and I photographed individuals which showed characteristics of M. t. balearica. I have isolated 3 individual birds, which in my eyes look promising.

M. t. balearica Candidate 1:

This bird was photographed on 30/04/19 at Remolar Filipines, Delta del Llobregat. Unfortunately the bird remained in the shadow of a pine tree for the short period where I could photograph it, at a moderate distance.

White ground colour, presenting white streaks on forehead, general pale colouration and general lack of streaking on breast first made my stop and photograph this individual.

White underwing coverts visible, although shade/lack of direct sunlight taking from true clarity of white

White underwing coverts visible again

M. t. balearica Candidate 2:

This bird was photographed close to sunset La Murtra, Villacecans on 05/05/19. Again, this was a very pale, clean looking bird which attracted further attention immediately. In the field, in failing light it was very difficult/nearly impossible to assess the underwing coverts, but the pictures appear to show a clean white underwing. 

A pale looking, unstreaked Muscicapa sp.

White underwing coverts apparently visible.

M. t. balearica Candidate 3:

This bird performed really well and looked really nice in the field. I recorded it on 09/05/19 at Can Dimoni, Delta del Llobregat. It allowed a close approach in good light and it seems to tick all of the boxes. It's pale, unstreaked, with an apparent short primary projection, pale head-streaking, and a white underwing. Unfortunately my underwing shots are not really good but they seem to illustrate the point.

A very promising bird: pale, unstreaked, with an apparent short primary projection & pale head-streaking

Underwing looking pale/concolourous with clean white belly

Again, underwing looking promisingly white

Conclusion:

I think, to claim these with any certainty outside of their usual range, at least until further studies are released one needs to be very cautious, and take good photos and/or notes. The potential for vagrancy into NW Europe must certainly be a possibility, if you consider the number of Catalan records per year, and the fact the badius Woodchat Shrike can and has made it, further strengthens this. If anyone has any thoughts on any of the birds featured here, I would love to hear from you! 

Available Resources:

Everything with this species/subspecies is still a work in progress but there are some nice papers and write-ups out there for those interested. Below is a summary of what I have found online, not organised in any particular manner.

Some very nice comparative pictures taken by Marc Illa:
http://birdingmarc.blogspot.com/2013/05/balearics.html

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Pons, Jean-Marc & J.-C, Thibault & Aymí, Raül & Marcello, Grussu & J, Muntaner & Olioso, Georges & Sunyer, Josep & Touihri, Moez & Fuchs, Jérôme. (2015). The role of western Mediterranean islands in the evolutionary diversification of the Spotted Flycatcher (Muscicapa striata), a long-distance migratory passerine species. Journal of Avian Biology. 47. 10.1111/jav.00859.  

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/283459683_The_role_of_western_Mediterranean_islands_in_the_evolutionary_diversification_of_the_Spotted_Flycatcher_Muscicapa_striata_a_long-distance_migratory_passerine_species

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A very brief summary with some nice images here:

https://norfolkbirdtours.wordpress.com/tag/mediterranean-flycatcher/

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A very informative writeup with excellent comparative images by Andy Butler, here:

https://andybutlerdiaries.blogspot.com/2018/07/some-observation-on-adult-mediterranean.html

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Viganò, Michele & Corso, Andrea. (2015). Morphological differences between two subspecies of Spotted Flycatcher Muscicapa striata (Pallas, 1764) (Passeriformes Muscicapidae). Biodiversity Journal. 6. 271-284.  

http://www.biodiversityjournal.com/pdf/6(1)_271-284.pdf

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Gargallo, Gabriel. (2019). Identificació de la subespècie balear de menjamosques (Muscicapa striata balearica). Anuari ornitològic de les Balears: revista d'observació estudi i conservació dels aucells; Núm.: 8. 

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/39387438_Identificacio_de_la_subespecie_balear_de_menjamosques_Muscicapa_striata_balearica

Easterlies and heaps of migrants!

Spring migration really took off for me on the 16th of April. My parents were visiting for the Easter holidays and we had plenty of spare time so we did a little bit of birding every day or two. The Easter birding started off really well with a very productive visit to Can Dimoni & Remolar Filipines. We had a really nice tally, consisting of:

20+ Common Redstart
25+ Pied Flycatcher
Lots of Whitethroat, Willow Warbler, Chiffchaff
1 Wryneck
1 Hobby
2 Western Bonelli's Warbler
4 Gull-billed Tern
1 Pomarine Skua

Later that day, we added a single flyover Spoonbill at Cal Tet, to our tally

On the 18th of April, a big easterly system hit the Catalan coast and it was the beginnings of some incredible Spring birding. I knew it would probably produced some good birds, but I had no idea of what was to come. The winds were really intense and it was something I had never experienced in Catalunya before. I was genuinely surprised, and it actually felt more like the weather I was used to back in Ireland. That day I visited Remolar to show my mother around, and we were nearly blown away by the wind. We had excellent views of two young Wild Boar, and enjoyed good views of 2 Slender-billed Gulls (scarce in the delta) and 3 Spoonbills (also scarce migrants)

 

The next day (19th) we paid a quick visit to Cal Tet, and I was really excited to find 2 Wood Warblers which showed really well in the canopy of a line of White Poplar. These were some of the closest views I'd had of the species and I didn't expect to see them in the delta like this. Little did I know what was to occur with this species the following days!

 

With the way the winds were, and the following day (20th) being my birthday, we decided to go birding for the first half of the day to see if the easterlies had produced much. We stopped off at Can Dimoni first thing, and realised there were lots of migrants. Decent numbers of both Pied & Spotted Flycatchers, Common Redstarts, a single Tree Pipit and to our amazement 15-20 Wood Warblers! It was then that I realised that the previous 2 were the start of something much bigger. At Remolar we had another 10-15 Wood Warbler, including one exhausted bird at our feet.

Over the next couple of days there was an unprecedented arrival of Collared Fycatcher all along the Catalan coast. In the end there were over 100 birds discovered, which is incredible when you consider that there are normally on a few records a year. Despite intensive searching I didn't find one myself but I did manage to go and see one at Remolar, where I saw three species of flycatcher lined up on the same fence-line! I did manage to find an Icterine Warbler and Can Dimoni though, so that was nice. To be honest, it has been non-stop here with migrants and I'm just catching up now! Other highlights include finding an Ortolan Bunting, and a Roller at Can Dimoni! 

More to follow!