Birds I'm Watching: Where Have All the Swifts Gone? (and Other Topics)

Back in France now, I've had time to consolidate various lists and notes made in haste while traveling. This seems a good time to look back at the bird watching I've done so far while in Europe. One thing I noticed immediately upon arriving back in Pouzolles is that the flocks of martins, swifts, and swallows have thinned tremendously. Where did they all go? There are still a fair number of house martins around, but the swallows and swifts are mostly gone. I had become used to their incessant screeching. Now it's relatively quiet. Last night, however, two Scops Owls were noisily exchanging calls. Their voices sound remarkably like submarine sonar pings--or at least like the sonar pings one hears in the movies.

Having arrived in London June 7, I've been in Europe for going on two months now, with three weeks to go. I had hoped to add 100 birds to my life list this summer, but so far have seen only 52 (see below). Birds have been relatively few and far between here--which is somewhat surprising. In habitats that would be rich with birds in Sonoma County, California (home) there is often little activity here-- notably, at the coast. Still, 52 isn't bad. I've averaged almost one new bird every day. The Camargue area and Sardinia have been the best sites, so far.

In total, I have seen 64 species I've been able to identify. I've seen about 10 more I've been unable to figure out. I'm working on another five or six from photographs I've taken--for example, the terns shown here. I'm pretty sure these are Common Terns, but I try never to add anything to my lists unless I'm certain.

[Update: I've now decided these are Common Terns, which raises my total of species identified in Europe to 65. Further update: On July 31, I added the Tree Pipit to my list for Europe, so now 66, of which 54 have been life birds. On August 4, added Yellow Wagtail, for totals of 67 and 55. On August 11, I added Green Woodpecker and Melodious Warbler (or possibly Icterine Warbler) for totals of 69 and 57.]

New birds (new to me, that is) I've identified so far: Great Crested Grebe, Great Cormorant, Little Egret, Squacco Heron, Gray Heron, Purple Heron, Greater fFamingo, Eurasian Spoonbill, Common Pochard, Eurasian Coot, Common Tern, Black-winged Stilt, Common Sandpiper, Black-headed Gull, Greater Black-backed Gull, Red-legged Partridge, Eurasian Griffon Vulture, Black Kite, Red Kite, Common Kestrel, Eleanora's Falcon, Wood Pigeon, Turtle Dove, Common Cuckoo (heard only), Scops Owl (heard only), Common Swift, Alpine Swift, Spotted Flycatcher, Common House Martin, Hoopoe, European Bee Eater, European Roller, Coal Tit, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Long-tailed Tit, Eurasian Jay, Western Jackdaw, Hooded Crow, Common (Eurasian) Magpie, Rock Pipit, Tree Pipit, Spotless Starling, Black Redstart, Dartford Warbler, Cirl Bunting, Common (Eurasian) Blackbird, Spanish Sparrow, the Corsican race of the Spanish Sparrow, European Goldfinch, Linnet, Chaffinch, European Greenfinch, and Serin.

In addition to these, I've seen the following birds familiar from the US: House Sparrow, European Starling, Barn Swallow, Ring-necked Pheasant, Herring Gull, Eurasian Collared Dove, Common Moorhen*, (winter) Wren, Mute Swan, Whimbrel, and Cattle Egret. Many of these, of course, are imports from Europe. Pied Wagtails were common in England, but I had seen these before in Japan--assuming this is the same species.

[Update: I checked on the wagtail. They appear to be considered different races of the same species, with those resident in England called Motacilla alba yarrellii and those resident in Japan and elsewhere in Asia called Motacilla alba lugens. Isn't the Internet wonderful?]

[*Further update: The European moorhen, or Common Moorhen, and our Moorhen, now called Common Gallinule, were split in 2011 into separate species, so, technically, that added a species to my total of new birds on this European trip.]