Birds of Algeria - Page 4 of 6

North African Buzzard is not a Long-legged but an allospecies of Common Buzzard

19 February 2019 / Bird Taxonomy, Birds of Algeria, Birds of Morocco, Birds of Tunisia

North African Buzzard / Buse du Maghreb (Buteo buteo cirtensis), Tinejdad, Morocco (Mustapha Houssaini‎)

The Atlas Long-legged Buzzard is more closely related to Common Buzzard than to Long-legged Buzzard according to a new study. The taxon cirtensis should be treated therefore as an allospecies of the Common Buzzard superspecies. La Buse du Maghreb est une alloespèce de la Buse variable: Selon cette étude, la Buse du Maghreb (cirtensis) est

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Commensalism between a gecko and White-crowned Wheatear in Algeria

7 February 2019 / Bird Behaviour, Birds of Algeria

Common wall gecko (Tarentola mauritanica), Ghardaïa Province, Algeria (Abdelwahab Chedad).

A new example of commensalism between geckos and birds reported from Algeria. A Common Wall Gecko laid eggs on White-crowned Wheatear’ nest. The White-crowned Wheatear (Oenanthe leucopyga) is a very good representative of desert birds. In North Africa, you know you are almost in the desert if you start seeing this species near the roads.

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Tawny Eagle in north-west Algeria

12 January 2019 / Birding News, Birds of Algeria

Tawny Eagle / Aigle ravisseur (Aquila rapax), north-west Algeria (Mayssara El Bouhissi)

Another observation of Tawny Eagle (Aquila rapax) in Algeria and Northwest Africa in general. There were no documented breeding of the Tawny Eagle (Aquila rapax) anywhere in Northwest Africa since many years. In Morocco and Algeria, for example, the last known breeding pairs date back to the early 1990s. Despite this lack of observations, the

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African Silverbills at Tamanrasset, southern Algeria

2 January 2019 / Birding News, Birds of Algeria

African Silverbills / Capucin bec-d’argent (Euodice cantans), Tamanrasset, southern Algeria, 15 Dec. 2018 (photo by KL).

The African Silverbill (Euodice cantans) is distributed mainly across the Sahel region, East Africa and in the south and south-west of the Arabian Peninsula. There are also some isolated populations on both sides of the Sahel. In the Western Palearctic, the species breeds only in southern Algeria but its status is poorly known. For example,

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First record of Western Reef Egret for Algeria

21 December 2018 / Birds of Algeria

Western Reef Egret / Aigrette à gorge blanche (Egretta gularis), Mekhada marches, El Tarf, eastern Algeria (Salah Telailia).

The nearest breeding populations of the Western Reef Eegret (Egretta gularis) to Northwest Africa are located in coastal West Africa (nominate subspecies) and in the Red Sea (subspecies schistacea). On 17 July 2018, a dark-morph Western Reef Egret was observed in the Mekhada marches, a Ramsar site located in the wilaya of El Tarf, northeast

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Visiting the new Algerian Nuthatch breeding site

27 October 2018 / Birds of Algeria

Algerian Nuthatch / Sittelle Kabyle (Sitta ledanti), Djimla Forest, Algeria, 7 Oct. 2018 (Karim Haddad).

In spring 2018, Moulaï and Mayache discovered a new breeding site of the Algerian Nuthatch. The latest similar discovery was in the early 1990s. Karim Hadddad and his colleague Saber Dekkiche and local guide Ryad M. visited the newly discovered site on 24 September 2018. Karim shared with us the following detailed trip report. The

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New Algerian Nuthatch breeding site discovered in 2018

19 October 2018 / Birds of Algeria

Algerian Nuthatch / Sittelle Kabyle (Sitta ledanti), Djimla forest, Wilaya of Jijel, Algeria, July 2017 (Djamel Hadj Aissa).

A new breeding site of the Algerian Nuthatch was discovered last spring, that’s almost three decades since the last similar discovery. Until now, the Algerian Nuthatch (Sitta ledanti) was known only in four sites, namely the forests of Babor, Guerrouch, Tamentout and Djimla (see map below). All sites are close to each other but separated

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First Rustic Bunting for Algeria and Northwest Africa

15 October 2018 / Birds of Algeria

Rustic Bunting / Bruant rustique (Emberiza rustica), Annaba, Algeria, 2 November 2013 (Imed Djemadi).

The Rustic Bunting (Emberiza rustica) breeds from Scandinavia eastwards across Eurasia. It winters in eastern China and Japan. The species is in great trouble as its global population size has declined by a 75–87% over a period of 30 years (see: Edenius et al. 2017. The next common and widespread bunting to go? Global population

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Atlas and Balearic crossbills genetic divergence

1 October 2018 / Bird Taxonomy, Birds of Algeria, Birds of Morocco, Birds of Tunisia

Atlas Crossbill / Bec-croisé du Maghreb (Loxia curvirostra poliogyna), north-east Algeria (Mourad Harzallah‎).

North African (or Atlas Crossbill) and Balearic crossbills are the most genetically divergent among all Common (Red) Crossbill subspecies in the Western Palearctic according to a new study. This divergence is even greater than between the Common and Parrot crossbills. Parmi toutes les sous-espèces du Bec-croisé des sapins (Loxia curvirostra) dans le Paléarctique occidental, le

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First record of Blue-naped Mousebird for Algeria

1 August 2018 / Birding News, Birds of Algeria

Blue-naped Mousebird / Coliou huppé (Urocolius macrourus), Tamanrasset, southern Algeria, 29 July 2018 (photo via Abdelkader Beq).

Blue-naped Mousebird (Urocolius macrourus) photographed in the Tamanrasset region, southern Algeria. This is the first national record of the species. Première observation du Coliou huppé en Algérie (en français voir au dessous de la photo). The Blue-naped Mousebird was photographed and filmed at a village in the Tin-Zaouten district, located in the south of Tamanghasset

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