Today the temperature was back to a more 'normal' mid-20s for the middle of May. Just a single Honey Buzzard over the village at lunchtime plus at least 2 Alpine Swift amongst a large flock of Pallid/Common Swift over Calle del Pino from 1830hrs.
The main story, however, comes from last week......and involves Red-footed Falcon!
The first report, of '5 small falcons' flying north between El Hacho and Gaucin village, came from Tim Birkhead at 1115hrs on 11 May; although they were moving through at a fair height, he thought they were Red-footed Falcon, including 2 adult female and 1 immature. At 1450hrs on 14 May Tim picked up a further 15 falcons, on at least some of which a rufous vent was seen; this time Tim was sure that they were Red-footed Falcon. A couple of days later a search of the internet revealed that a female Red-footed Falcon was seen in Osuna, not so far away in Sevilla province, on 15 May; also, there were reports of an influx into Morocco and the Iberian peninsular, including 'several sightings in Andalucia' over the previous few days. Finally, a report from Girona in north-east Spain from 16 May noted no fewer than 18 birds together!
This species is infrequent here at the best of times, although there was
an influx in Spring 2008, so an event such as this, though not unprecedented, is pretty spectacular - shame I failed to see a single one (I'm still looking, though, just in case)!
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