A species last recorded in Malta 50 years ago has been among a number of rare birds sighted by birdwatchers as the spring migration went into full swing.
At this time of year, birds leave their wintering grounds in Africa to migrate north and breed in Europe.
The rare sightings were first recorded when two separate immature White-crowned Wheatears (Kuda Rasha Bajda) were spotted, one at Ħal Far and the other in Dwejra, Gozo, BirdLife told Times of Malta.
It was only the third and fourth time that the species, which breeds mainly in the Sahara Desert, has ever been recorded in the Maltese islands, the NGO said.
A species last recorded in Malta 50 years ago has been among a number of rare birds sighted by birdwatchers as the spring migration went into full swing.
At th
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Photo by Edward Bonavia
BirdLife Malta’s National Raptor Coordinator
Each spring, millions of European raptors that have over-wintered in Africa set out from that continent for breeding areas in Europe to breed and raise young.
Most leave Africa via the Strait of Gibraltar at the western end of the Mediterranean and via the Middle East over the outskirts of the coastal resort city of Eilat, in southernmost Israel. Others however migrate via the central Mediterranean via the Sicilian Channel between Cap Bon in Northern Tunisia and the Strait of Messina in Sicily. Although the Maltese Islands do not fall exactly on this central Mediterranean raptor migration flyway, when weather conditions are right, large numbers of raptors can be observed over Malta.
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