News from the headland come today from our finnish friends: during 11 hs they counted c. 9.500 Manx Shearwaters, 527 Sooties, 2 Great Shearwaters, 67 Bonxies, 61 Arctic Skuas and 23 Pomarines.

Observers: Markus Ahola, Hannu Huhtinen, Antti Kause, Mikael Nordström

The morning of 10th was very poor in terms of seabirds, but evening swowed a huge improve with 34 Arctic, 16 pomarine and 1 Long Tailed Skuas, as well as 42 Bonxies. Also 783 Sandwich Terns and 15 Great Shearwaters. 

The following day a Fea's type Petrel was watched in front of the tip of the headland by the finnish and german teams, and then watched half an hour later from Ortegal cape (14 km westwards) by Ricardo Hevia. Numbers of Shearwaters started to increase, but skuas were not as many: 11 Arctia, 4 Poms and 12 Bonxies. Only 202 Sandwich Terns were counted.

On 12th there was a Wilson's Storm Petrel in the morning. 1289 Cory's moved westwards in 8,15 hs. Also 229 Sooties and 257 Manxies. Not bad, with WSW winds. We also counted 36 Pomarines, 29 Arctic and 30 Great Skuas. Instead, Tern numbers plummeted.

13th was poorer, with SW winds. A juv. Long Tailed Skua and 9 Sabine's were the main sightings, as well as a very close Great Shearwater.


Observers: Antonio Sandoval, Ricardo Hevia, Antonio Martínez Pernas, Pablo Gutiérrez, Antonio Gutiérrez, Daniel L. Velasco, Pablo Pita, Pep Manchado, Joan Mayol, Jordi Muntaner, Pablo Lado, Javier Fernández, Pedro Sandoval, Eduardo de la Parte, Fran Baena, Markus Ahola, Hannu Huhtinen, Antti Kause, Mikael Nordström, Christian Wagner, Felix Weis.

New species for the headland, riding the bird list of the area to 251. Almost no seabird movement today, due to the NE winds (in 1,30 h in the afternoon just 40 Gannets, 3 Cory's and 4 Sandwich Terns!). Things might start to improve tomorrow...

Observers: Ricardo Hevia, Markus Ahola, Hannu Huhtinen, Antti Kause, Mikael Nordström, Christian Wagner, Felix Weiss.

Only a few birds of most of the usual species for september were counted during these two days (7 hours): 1 young Long Tailed, 9 Arctic, 3 Pomarine and 33 Great Skuas, 186 Sandwich Terns, 114 "commic" Terns, 29 Black Terns and 14 Little Terns. Shearwaters included only a handful: 160 Manxies, 37 Cory's, 14 Balearic and 8 Sooties. Instead, Northern Gannets numbers were not bad: 1,485. There was a Wryneck in the headland but no other migrants were seen.

Observers: Antonio Sandoval, Pablo Pita, Pedro Sandoval, Markus Ahola, Hannu Huhtinen, Antti Kause, Mikael Nordström, Christian Wagner, Felix Weiss, and Josu Olabarria & Family.

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5 years old birder counting gannets:

Then wrinting down their numbers:

And the results!

These days have at Estaca de Bares german and finnish friends:

The Hortolan Bunting found on Aug. 30th close to the observatory (photo: Fernando Goytre):

Not much passage during the last days of the month this year. On 25th we obtained some nice numbers of waders (Grey Plover, Bar-Tailed Godwit, Knot, Sanderling, Dunlin, Whimbrel, Oystercatcher...). A pod of Pilot Whales was watched during the morning not far from land. On 26th it kept raining and the visibility was very poor, but we still managed to count 2 ad. Long Tailed Skuas. A Montagu's Harrier (ad. Female) stayed for a few hours in the headland during the 27th, in coincidence with strong SW winds. On 28th numbers of Sooty Shearwaters started to increase (21 inds in 5,30 h), and 15 Arctic Skuas were counted. On 29th the 7,15 h count produced 392 Sandwhich Terns, 28 Arctic Skuas, 9 Pomarine Skuas, 1 Long Tailed Skua, 3 Great Shearwaters and 1 Sabine's Gull. During the afternoon and evening migrants started to arrive in nice numbers for the first time this season, including Wryneck, both Flycatchers, Willow Warbler, Wheateater... 30th was again a rainy day with poor visibility. An Hortolan Bunting was close to the Bird Observatory in the afternoon. All through these days we also watched a few Grey Phalaropes, Black and Little Terns and all the other usual seabirds in this time of the year, including increasing groups on Manx Shearwaters.

Observers: Antonio Sandoval Rey, Alfonso Valderas Farfante, Ricardo Hevia Barcón, Óscar Llama Palacios, Carlos Gutiérrez Expósito, Miguel Rouco, José Antonio Sarrión, Antonio García Ramos, Fernando Goytre, Viviana Lorenzo and Roi Cuba.

Once the NE winds were left behind (only a few birds of the most common species were counted during Aug 16-20th) things started to change on 21th with an increasing passage, including 10 Long Tailed Skuas, 37 Pomarines and 35 Arctic Skuas. The first juv. Long Tailed Skua of the year was watched on 22th, together with 74 more birds of this species, 80 Poms and 44 Arctics. The following day, 23th, «Commic» Tern numbers started to rise up to 1,703, and 4 Sabine’s Gulls were counted, as well as 4 Great Shearwaters. The SW winds were quite strong that evening, over 100 km/h. On 24th we counted 2.107 «Commic» Terns, 8 Sabine’s Gulls, 43 Long Tailed Skuas, 55 Pomarines, 55 Bonxies and 68 Arctic Skuas, as well as 803 Manx Shearwaters, 1,078 Cory’s, 49 Great Shearwaters, 42 Sooty Shearwaters, 25 Grey Phalaropes, 120 Sandwhich Terns, 64 Black Terns, 3 Little Terns... As well as many other species, including  several waders.

Observers: Antonio Sandoval, Ricardo Hevia, Alfonso Valderas, Pablo Gutiérrez, Antonio Gutiérrez, Antonio Martínez Pernas, Óscar Llama, Isabel García Rodeja, Miguel Rouco.


Here are some photos and videos of these days: