December 2011 bird observations in Madeira

On the last month of 2011 Madeira received several vagrant birds from which a big group of Glossy Ibis, a rare vagrant to this archipelago and the numbers seen are not common at all... Below are the most interesting bird records in Madeira:

30th December 2011 in Porto Santo - observations by Anders O. W. Nielsen, Denmark
3 Hoopoe
2 Spectacled Warbler
1 Little Egret
minimum 7 Collared Dove
6 Grey Wagtail
3 White Wagtail
10 Buzzard
6 Kestrel
15 Sanderling
1 Moorhen

27th December 2011 at Caniçal
Hen Harrier Circus cyaneus - presumably the same seen on the 10th November 2011 which was the 1st confirmed record for Madeira

At Funchal harbor - observed by Anders O. W. Nielsen
minimum 15 Black-headed Gulls Chroicocephalus ridibundus
4 1cy Mediterranean gulls including the one ringed E320, previously reported

22nd December 2011 at Funchal marina
Yellow-crowned Night Heron Nyctanassa violacea - observed at 7:30 am by Bruce Hansen from Norway.

21st December 2011 at Faial
7 Glossy Ibis Plegadis falcinellus - though Gil Caboz mentioned he saw 19
2 Greenshank Tringa nebularia
2 Common Sandpipers Actitis hypoleucos
2 White Wagtails Motacilla alba

14th December 2011 at Machico
1 Common Sandpiper
1 Teal Anas crecca - female
1 Little Egret Egretta garzetta
1 Snipe Gallinago gallinago

At Pico do Areeiro - observed by Mats Westberg & Helena Persson, from Sweden
1 Lapwing Vanellus vanellus

13th December 2011 at Ponta São Lourenço - observed by Westberg & Persson
2 Grey Heron Ardea cinerea
30 Little Egrets flying
1 Skylark Alauda arvensis
1-2 Whimbrel Numenius phaeopus


Little Egrets flying in Ponta de São Lourenço

At Fanal
1 Teal

11th December 2011 at Funchal harbor - observations by Westberg & Persson
2 Mediterranean Gulls Ichthyaetus melanocephalus - 1 was color-ringed as pull in 15/06/2011 Terneuzen, RWS storage site
Zeevaartweg, Zeeuws-Vlaanderen, NL
1 Great Black-backed Gull Larus marinus
3 Black-headed Gull Larus ridibundus
10 Turnstone Arenaria interpres
1 Little Egret


Mediterranean Gulls, one being ringed.

10th December 2011 at Lido - observations by Westberg & Persson
1 Chiffchaff Phylloscopus collybita
1 Little Egret

7th December 2011 at São Vicente
2 White Wagtails - also seen on the 15th Dec
1 Eurasian Whimbrel Numenius phaeopus - also seen on the 15th Dec
1 Common sandpiper - also seen on the 15th Dec
1 Mallard Anas platyrhynchos

At Paúl da Serra
1 Lapwing Vanellus vanellus - also seen on the 15th Dec