Field diary

February 2006

In the first week of the month we received half a day's gentle rain - not a huge quantity but it did soak in to the damp soil. Please send us more! Normally this is quite a dry month with high pressure maintaining plenty of sunshine, and by the end of the week this pattern was restored. Unfortunately thick mists during the morning for several days running made observation unrewarding.

Once the sun had burnt off the mist there was some exciting birding on offer. The air is still cool - around 8° - but the sunshine in the clean air makes it feel warm, at least on good days! Spring is beginning to show itself, with Corn Bunting, Hoopoe and various finches beginning to sing. The cranes are showing signs of restlessness but no significant decrease in numbers is apparent yet.

On the 4th Feb. we saw the first Barn Swallow of 2006, and a few minutes later, the first Sand Martin.

5th-11th February

In an isolated spot near the southern edge of la Serena we saw Golden and Bonelli's Eagle. On one of the reservoirs near Vegas Altas there was a tremendous number and range of ducks - mainly Pintail, with Mallard, Shoveler, Teal, Gadwall and Wigeon - with a Spoonbill dropping in for a few minutes.

12th- February

On 13th we saw the first Red-rumped Swallow. The numbers of Swallow are building with over a dozen seen in the course of the day.

19th-26th February

The persistent cold weather seems to be slowing the influx of a number of species. Lesser Kestrel are overdue by some ten days; a single bird observed the previous week may have been an isolated overwintering case as they are normally gregarious. The cool conditions have favoured the continued presence of large numbers of Crane. When the weather turned better on Thursday, 12,000 departed the region heading north. The large concentrations of duck on the reservoirs have now dispersed.

Good numbers of Hirundines have now arrived despite the cold. The morning roost below the eaves of a house in Orellana facing the morning sun was made up of over 50 birds with Crag Martin, House Martin, Swallow and a single Red-rumped Swallow.

Good numbers of Bonelli's Eagle were seen during the week.