After
a very poor autumn for rarities in Extremadura,
especially compared with the outstanding year of 2012, when between
September and December several species of rare geese were found, a
White-tailed Eagle, a Pallid Harrier, a Yellow-browed Warbler, a
Ruppell`s Vulture and two Buff-breasted Sandpipers. During
the same period in 2013 we have not had much to show…until
the 30th
December 2013, when Fergus Crystal found a Lesser Yellowlegs (Tringa
flavipes)
in the rice fields close to the village of Puebla de
Alcollarín (Villar
de Rena, Badajoz). In the same day José Guerra, Marc Gálvez (photos,
see link) and
José Gómez Aparicio were able to watch it as well and suggested it
was an adult; after that the bird flew off and was not relocated.
[NOTE:
the bird was found again on 7th
January 2014 by
Martin Kelsey on another rice field at the same area, Puebla de
Alcollarín.
On 8th
January
it was seen by Alberto
Gil at the same site. On 11th
January seen again by
Pablo Prieto, Francisco Montaño, Sergio Mayordomo, César Clemente,
Javier Prieta, Eva Palacios, M. Gálvez, J. Guerra, Antonio Calvo,
Pepe Guisado, Pilar Goñi y Neil Renwick. On 10th February is seen again in the same place by Martin Kelsey]
This
is the second
record of this species in Extremadura.
The first took place 14 years ago: a probable adult seen by Agustín
Mogena on 8th
August 1999 at Valdesalor reservoir (Cáceres).
The
Lesser Yellowlegs is a New World
wader that breeds in the Arctic and
Winters from the South of North America to Chile and Argentina. In
mainland Spain there have been 57 accepted records up until 2011.
On one occasion, two birds were together, otherwise all the records
are of single birds. Although
it has been recorded in every month of the year, the peak is clearly
in autumn (September-December), with
a second peak in April-May. It has been recorded throughout the
peninsular, as well as on the Caneries and Balearics, but
mainly in north-west
Spain. This is a typical pattern
for neartic waders. As far as we know, there were only autumn records
in 2013, from August onwards with five records: Valencia, Navarra, La
Coruña and two in the Algarve (Reservoir
Birds, Rare
Birds in Spain).
