East to west

A mega raptor in Israel shared the limelight with a raft of incredible seabird records in the Atlantic. Sam Viles reports.

In a summer in which seabirds have broken records across the Western Palearctic, a whale-watching tour off the Azorean island of Pico scored big on 7th when a Flesh-footed Shearwater was photographed among a raft of Cory’s Shearwaters. Only the second regional record after a bird in the Red Sea off the Israeli and Jordanian coastline on 15 August 1980, it is also the first confirmed North Atlantic Ocean record.

Hot on the heels of the first for the Western Palearctic, which was seen in Ireland in June, the region’s second Short-tailed Shearwater was caught on camera in the Bay of Biscay during a pelagic trip off the Quiberon peninsula in Brittany, France, among a flock of 6,000 Balearic Shearwaters on 7th. Remarkably, an even earlier French record has also since come to light, photographed during a Balearic Shearwater survey in the Channel off the north coast of Brittany on 9 September 2015.

Enjoying quite a purple patch on land, too, this month, the country’s second Eastern Bonelli’s Warbler delighted on Hoëdic Island from 15-23rd, while the eighth French Sharp-tailed Sandpiper was at Ambon from 9th. The White-rumped Swift remained at Minerve to midmonth and a Western Swamphen was a long way north near Nantes at Donges on 3rd. A new Greater Sand Plover was at Etang David

Allègre, in the west of the country, from 12th and a Pied-billed Grebe was at Rocheservière from 23rd, with an adult Lesser Crested Tern at Portvendres on 20th.

A well-established seawatching site with a hefty track record of rare seabirds, Spain’s far north-western hot-spot of Estaca de Bares broke all fathomable records on 29th and 30th. A Great-winged Petrel – the first Western Palearctic record – spent several minutes passing the headland on 29th, along with two South Polar Skuas. A more than solid end to the month, the site topped this off with an Atlantic Yellow-nosed Albatross the next day, the second record for Spain.

Off the southern coast, a Swinhoe’s Storm Petrel was photographed near the Portuguese border from a boat off Isla Cristina in the Gulf of Cádiz on 22nd. Elsewhere in the country, a Blue-cheeked Bee-eater was a colourful find at Camarles on 3rd, while a rather lost Longlegged Buzzard was at Agón in the north-eastern province of Aragón from 29th. At least one Elegant Tern remained in the

Ebro Delta NP at the start of the month.

Away from the high seas, The Netherlands’ first Oriental Plover – a moulting adult male – was the star turn of August. Recorded on just three previous occasions in the Western Palearctic, it was keeping close company to a small flock of European Golden Plovers on the outskirts of Westkapelle on 15th. Managing to do a disappearing act for several

hours before being relocated in a nearby field, unfortunately it flew off alone high to the south-west that evening, never to be seen again. Elsewhere in the country, a mottled Black-winged Pratincole was at Sint Maartensburg from 11th, and a Black-headed Bunting was on Texel on 24th, while the female Amur Wagtail remained at Strype all month.

A small influx of Pygmy Cormorants into south and west Germany at the start of the month totalled five birds; another was in France towards the end of the month. Elsewhere, a juvenile Pallas’s Gull was on the Baltic Coast at Greifswald on 2nd. Neighbouring Switzerland’s autumn got off to a solid start with the first national record of Brown Shrike, an adult at Kerzers on 14-15th. An adult female

Paddyfield Warbler first trapped at Falsterbo, Sweden, in 2018 was re-trapped on 19th.

Two flirty Black-winged Kites at Sourbrodt, Belgium, looked set to become the country’s first breeding record, although they had mysteriously vanished by the end of the month. A Long-legged Buzzard over Oudenaarde on 16th is just the third national record.

In the far east of the region, Ukraine’s first Amur Falcon – a male – was photographed at Dnipro on 4th, while 9th saw a Polish purple patch, with the nation’s fourth Long-billed Dowitcher and ninth Pacific

Golden Plover at opposite ends of the country. Hungary’s seventh Pacific Golden Plover was at Hortobágy towards the end of the month. Near the Syrian border, Turkey’s fourth Crested Honey

Buzzard flew over Subası on 27th.

The Red Sea produced the goods, with the Israel’s 14th Swinhoe’s Storm Petrel off Eilat on 13th. A Yellow-throated Sparrow was trapped at Einot Tzukim in the Israel-Palestine West Bank on 25th, while an immature Bateleur was at the Golan Heights at the start of the month. Other long-staying African vagrants continued in the country – a Three-banded Plover at HaMa’apil fishponds and two Senegal Thickknees at Kfar Ruppin. ■

This immature Bateleur, Israel’s 14th, loitered in the Golan Heights from 4-16th, before relocating south, near Mevo Hama, on 30-31st.

The region’s third, although at the time thought to be only the second, Short-tailed Shearwater was photographed off the north-west coast of France early in the month.

The Azores scored heavily with a Western Palearctic second off Pico: a Flesh-footed Shearwater (top bird). Caption

In normal times this Oriental Plover in The Netherlands, only the fourth for the WP and a national first, would have sparked a Continental twitch.

This Eastern Bonelli’s Warbler was a smart second record for France, on Hoëdic Island from 15th until 23rd.