Bird, bug, butterfly and a wild variety of photos from Belarus, Cyprus, Finland, Greece, Ireland, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Scotland and Spain by Irish wildlife photographer Patrick J. O'Keeffe and invited guests

Monday, 30 June 2014

ALPINE SWIFT (Tachymarptis melba) at Fortress of Kaliakra, Cape Kaliakra, Bulgaria

 
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  The Alpine Swift (Tachymarptis melba) is a member of the family Apodidae which is in the genus Tachymarptis. It is a summer resident, from April to September, in southern Europe as well as parts of western Asia. In addition there are resident populations in Africa and on the Indian sub continent. During the spring and autumn, this large species is a rare but annual overshooting migrant north of its breeding range. In September, it moves south to spend the winter in sub Saharan Africa. 
 
Patrick J. O'Keeffe / Raw Birds
 
Alpine Swift (Tachymarptis melba) distribution map
 
Breeding summer   Breeding resident    Non breeding - winter  Passage
 
SSanoAK: Alexander Kürthy, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

Thursday, 26 June 2014

PADDYFIELD WARBLER Acrocephalus agricola Durankulak Lake, Durankulak, Black Sea Coast, Bulgaria

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The Paddyfield Warbler (Acrocephalus agricola) is a species of marsh warbler of the family Acrocephalidae which is in the genus Acrocephalus. It is a summer resident in temperate parts of central Asia. In addition, there are also small breeding populations in eastern Europe along the western shores of the Black Sea around the border between Bulgaria and Romania. It mainly occurs in reed beds, tall grassland and rice fields. This migratory species winters on the Indian subcontinent. Outside its normal range, it occurs as a very rare overshooting autumn migrant to other parts Europe. The closely related Manchurian Reed Warbler (A. tangorum) was formally considered to be a subspecies of A. agricola.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paddyfield_warbler