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Monday 31 December 2012
Sunday 30 December 2012
EUROPEAN TURTLE DOVE (Streptopelia turtur) three adults at Belovezhskaya Pushcha National Park, Pruzhany District, Belarus
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Click external link here for detailed species information
Click external link here to see distribution map and to hear calls
The European Turtle Dove (Streptopelia turtur) is a migratory member of the family Columbidae, which includes doves as well as pigeons and is in the genus Streptopelia. It is a summer breeding resident in Europe (including the Canary Islands), parts of the Middle East, as well as western Asia and north Africa. It is absent as a breeding species from Iceland, Ireland (formally bred) and most of Scandinavia but does occur in spring and autumn as
an uncommon/rare overshooting migrant. Over much of its northern range,
there has been a very sharp decline in its population. In the autumn,
it migrates south to spend the winter in southern Africa. |
EUROPEAN GREEN TOAD (Bifo viridis) Pinsk District, Belarus
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Click here for detailed species information
Click here for detailed species information
The European Green Toad (Bufotes viridis) is of the family Bufonidae which is in the genus Bufotes.
LESSER SPOTTED WOODPECKER Dendrocopos minor Brest, Belarus
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Saturday 29 December 2012
Friday 28 December 2012
COMMA BUTTERFLY (Polygonia c-aibum) Belarus
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Click external link here to see identification guide to Irish Butterflies The Comma Butterfly (Polygonia c-aibum) is of the family Nymphalidae which is in the genus Polygonia. This common species has a widespread distribution in the temperate regions of Eurasia and North Africa. Formally absent from Ireland, it is only in recent times that it has been
added to the Irish Butterfly List. It was first reliably reported
near Portaferry, Co. Down in August 1997 and again in August 1998. There
were no further reports until 17th August 2000 when there was a fully verified record from the Raven Nature Reserve, Co. Wexford.
Proof of breeding was subsequently confirmed in that area. Over the
last ten years, it has rapidly expanded its range from southeast Co.
Wexford and has now colonised most of southern Leinster as well as
eastern Munster. The larval food plant is mainly Stinging Nettle (Urtica dioica)
and the flight season is from late March to late September, split over
two generations. Having overwintered as an adult, it emerges in late
spring and then after mating, lays its eggs on the larval food plant. The 1st record for
Cape Clear Island, Co. Cork on 14th October 2019 (pers. comm. Jim Fitzharris)
might be an indication of fresh immigration from Britain or Continental
Europe. Patrick J. O'Keeffe / Raw Birds |
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