Gibraltar Spring 24 - March update

 

Those who know me will know that I spend most of the early part of the year as the "Ringer in Charge" at the Jews' Gate Field Centre on Gibraltar. I ring birds daily, when the weather allows, on behalf of the Gibraltar Ornithological and Natural History Society or GONHS for short.

I started in 2023 and decided that I would try and do the same three month period every year, the 15th January to the 15th April. This would allow me to compare my first ringing dates for each species and species totals on a year by year basis. My own little bit of citizen science.

During the spring we have up to 5 other ringers or birders staying at Jews' Gate. More to follow on this in another blog entry.

In 2023 the team of ringers caught 1468 birds of 31 species. The top five; Blackcap (847), Willow Warbler (150), Chiffchaff (66), Greenfinch (59) and Robin (56). The least ringed birds with just a single example of each; Goldfinch, Wren, Bullfinch, Grasshopper Warbler, Wood Warbler and Turtle Dove.

The 2024 season has seen a marked decrease in numbers. Truthfully, we are not sure why, it is probably a combination of many factors, but this important data is one of the reasons that we do it.

Here are some highlights from the last few weeks.

In the month of March the nice spring migrants start to appear and the 2nd saw the first Iberian Chiffchaff. This is a species that I have been looking at closely and have created a ready reckoner for the other ringers. A difficult species to separate in the hand from Common Chiffchaff (another future blog entry). On the 5th we had our first Serin, a bird that usually appears in February, but the numbers have been low this year. The 6th saw the first Willow Warbler, in 2023 this wasn't until the 14th.

The 15th proved a strange day with a Linnet, a bird that we didn't trap at all last spring and a Sedge Warbler, a Gibraltar rarity. This is only the 6th ringing record since 1991. This species obviously passes over Gibraltar in large numbers but with no suitable habitat, very rarely occurs.

Sedge Warbler, Jews' Gate, Gibraltar, 15th March 2024

The 18th March saw the first Western Bonelli's Warbler, a great little Phyllosc that we catch in small numbers. This was two days later than in 2023.

Western Bonell's Warbler, Jews' Gate, Gibraltar, 18th March 2024

On the 22nd I had a most pleasant surprise. One of my fellow ringers returned with a bird and stated "I am not sure what this is?" On looking I straight away recognised it as an African Chaffinch Fringilla spodiogenys

African Chaffinch, Jews' Gate, Gibraltar, 22nd March 2024

This species was only recognised as one of the subspecies of Chaffinch Fringilla coelebs in 1995 and in February of last year the IOC decreed that this species would be given full species status. This is indeed itself a subspecies, of African Chaffinch, which are split into harteri from further east of North Africa and our bird, the Moroccan type, africana. With between just 5 to 7 records on Gibraltar ever, this is definitely the first since it became a full species, so technically it is the first of species ever ringed in Europe!! 

My final bird of this entry came on the 27th March. I was in the observatory kitchen and heard my name being called. It was Vincent and Chris from the Raptor Rehabilitation Unit, a team that take in any birds found injured, mostly raptors and nurse them back to health, if they can.

Vincent had a box and from it he removed an Alpine Swift!! 

Alpine Swift, Jews' Gate, Gibraltar, 27th March 2024

My first thought was "Wow, its huge" and what am amazing bird. Its small feet extremely strong and its claws were like tiny needles, ideal for clinging to rock faces. As the bird had been found on the floor around some apartment buildings, we quickly ringed it, took some measurements and Vincent left to release the bird from a suitable vantage point.

With just 17 days to go until Easyjet to Gatwick, I am hoping for a few more quality additions to our ringing totals. I of course, will report on these in a future post.

Good ringing,

Mark C.