Pedro does it again, 2nd Year!!

[pedro maia]

And to finish the day...

 

#75, 25/1, Hen harrier, Entradas-Castro Verde

 

 

There are doubts about this bird in the Portuguese forum, since I had another Hen Harrier picture (a lousy one and that´s why I waited for a better one) I´m going to use so that I don´t have to change the count.

 

#75, 24/1, Hen Harrier, Lezíria Vila Franca de Xira

Edited January 27, 2020 by pedro maia

[Galana]

I like the way you 'finish the day!'

and what a day it was.

Great to find the Cuckoo and the Sandgrouse.

[TonyQ]

What an amazing set of sightings and photos.

You really are racing along!

[Zim Girl]

Lots of great new additions there!

[michael-ibk]

Pedro stop, stop - what are you gonna do the rest of the year? With your pace you´re gonna run out of new ones in February! ;-)

 

Great additions, especially the Sandgrouse and the Cuckoo.

[pedro maia]

Thanks forall the comments.

 

@michael-ibk, this is highly addictive so it´s hard to stop, the numbers will decrease, of course, but I may have been a bit conservative with my goals...

Edited January 27, 2020 by pedro maia

[pedro maia]

I don´t know if anyone has an opinion on the Hen Harrier, in the Portuguese forum there are some questions that it may be a Pale Harrier (I don´t have a clue, of course , so I´ll just wait but I think it may be difficult to have a conclusion)

[Kitsafari]

I'm out of breath - only four weeks into January and you are on the supersonic lane - is this the highest score for January alone I wonder? 

 

I've enjoyed the excellent additions and belated congrats on the 50th!

[Game Warden]

15 hours ago, michael-ibk said:

Pedro stop, stop - what are you gonna do the rest of the year? With your pace you´re gonna run out of new ones in February! ;-)

 

Give up his job and become a full time birding guide, solely for Safaritalkers. Ensuring the rest of us stand a chance of keeping up with him...

 

 

[Galana]

12 hours ago, pedro maia said:

I don´t know if anyone has an opinion on the Hen Harrier, in the Portuguese forum there are some questions that it may be a Pale Harrier

I did think the female was a little too boldly marked on first seeing your photo and having had another look there are only three primary 'fingers' showing. Hen H has four.

If that is conclusive then you got both.

On the other hand do you really 'need' another tick? You have eleven months left to find it.

[pedro maia]

2 hours ago, Kitsafari said:

I'm out of breath - only four weeks into January and you are on the supersonic lane - is this the highest score for January alone I wonder? 

 

I've enjoyed the excellent additions and belated congrats on the 50th!

 

Any of you will easily double that score in an overseas trip, I will be left behind very soon .

[pedro maia]

1 hour ago, Game Warden said:

 

Give up his job and become a full time birding guide, solely for Safaritalkers. Ensuring the rest of us stand a chance of keeping up with him...

 

 

 

If we can be sure of one thing is that it isn´t going to happen .

[pedro maia]

21 minutes ago, Galana said:

I did think the female was a little too boldly marked on first seeing your photo and having had another look there are only three primary 'fingers' showing. Hen H has four.

If that is conclusive then you got both.

On the other hand do you really 'need' another tick? You have eleven months left to find it.

 

It´s not about one tick, even though I want all I can get. I didn´t raise the issue, in my ignorance I was pretty sure on the Hen, but someone thought it might not be a Hen but a Pale instead and they are debating that in the Portuguese bird forum, if you want you can see the topic here http://avesdeportugal.info/links.html (it´s not for you to reed but I posted some other pictures there).

 

And I don´t have eleven months left to find the Pale Harrier, they don´t occur here for most of the year and they aren´t easy to find, but anyway I will only count this one it if in the end there is a conclusion for the Pale (unless I find another one, of course).

[elefromoz]

@pedro maia you are really selling Portugal as a great birding spot....

[Peter Connan]

75 in January! Wow!

[pedro maia]

6 hours ago, Peter Connan said:

75 in January! Wow!

 

You’re the one to blame .

[pedro maia]

On 1/26/2020 at 5:51 PM, pedro maia said:

 

 

 

One guy from the Portuguese bird forum sent my photo to Dick Forsman (I had to google to find out who he is), in his opinion the bird is a Hen and Pallid Harrier hybrid, for those who may be interested these are his comments:

 

"I do not think it is a macrourus, the wing tip shows too long a 5th finger for that and the wing also looks too broad. However, on the other hand the finger looks too short for a Hen Harrier, but fits perfectly the wing-formula of a hybrid between those two! Fortunately the photo is good enough to show where exactly the emargination is placed on the outer web of p6 (the 5th finger when counting inwards from the outermost), which is one of the key features between cyaneus and hybrids. In cyaneus this emargination is roughly half way between the tip and the coverts, while in hybrids it is about 1/3 from the tip, so clearly further out on the feather. This can be seen in the photo. If this bird is a hybrid, as it appears to be, this would also explain the prominent head markings (pale collar in particular) and the reduced streaking on the breast, which both come from the Pallid parent. Also the underwing markings of the flight feathers are rather typical of hybrids, somehow intermediate between the two species."

 

interesting but now I still have to find a Pallid Harrier.

[pedro maia]

#76, 24/1, Common Starling, Lezíria Vila Franca de Xira

[pedro maia]

#77, 25/1, Crested lark, Castro Verde area

 

Edited February 3, 2020 by pedro maia

[pedro maia]

#78, 1/2, Thekla´s lark, Pedrogão, Vidigueira

Edited February 2, 2020 by pedro maia

[pedro maia]

#79, 1/2, Common crane, Garducho

 

[pedro maia]

#80, 1/2, Blue rock thrush, Pedrogão, Vidigueira

[pedro maia]

#81, 1/2, Little owl, São Manços Road

[pedro maia]

#82, 2/2, Common blackbird, Estação Agronómica Oeiras

[pedro maia]

#83, 2/2, Rose-ringed parakeet, Estação Agronómica Oeiras