Once again the North Lancs Ringing Group gets a first from ringing swallows. In September 2007 a Juvenile swallow was caught at a roost in the Lune valley. In July 2008 this bird was found dead at:
Ihia da Deserta Grande, Madeira, Portugal - 32 30N 16 30W
The report suggested this bird was long dead. As a result it was likely to have been blown off course on migration.
Not only is this the first BTO ringed swallow to be found on Madeira it is also the first BTO ringed passerine to be recovered on Madeira. 6 non-passerines have been recovered there in the past:
1 Lesser Black Backed Gull
1 Herring Gull
1 Puffin
1 Manx Shearwater
2 Great Skua
This makes it a very interesting movement - why would a swallow be in Madeira unless it was blown off course or a local breeder.
The previous first for NLRG with swallows was the first Scandanavian ringed swallow to be recorded in the UK.
1 comment:
All hirundines other than (Barn) Swallow are described as rare/accidental on the Madeiran checklist. Therefore the assumption is that PASSAGE (Barn) Swallow is in the same category & it only 'escapes' that status due to the breeding population
Couldnt get on an Engliahs language version of the Azores status but: "Sjaldgæf/Flækingsfugl"
also applies to e.g. Least Bittern and I assume this means Vagrant [with several of the records being the Nearctic form]
Pete
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