Casu Asturias: the ghosts of the pines
Monday, March 28, 2011
Pityriasis Rosea Versus Ring Worm
Macho crossbill. Photo: Xurde Gayol
The common crossbill (Loxia curvirostra ) is an abundant species of finches in northern Europe and more scarce in the south. In the Iberian Peninsula the number of breeding pairs is estimated at about 140,000, most of which are located on the Mediterranean coast and the Pyrenees.
Female Crossbill. Photo: Xurde Gayol
In Asturias, the number of breeding pairs is estimated at about 200 or less, and its range is restricted mostly to the western highlands, both coastal and interior but not reach the Coordillera. This distribution is strictly linked to the presence of conifer plantations with sufficient size and maturity, especially Pinus pinaster, Pinus radiata and Pinus sylvestris . Nesting confirmed cases are not very abundant, why are so keen quotations obtained this year by Xurde Gayol, a few days ago I posted details and photographs of successful breeding of this species in 2011 in the council of Boal, to 754 m altitude in a forest replanted with Pinus sylvestris .
piquiituerto Breeding Habitat. Photo: Xurde Gayol
crossbills feeding consists mainly of pine, they extract from the pineapple with its characteristic curved beak. For this will open the scales one by one and when they finish work on the pineapple drops to the ground, making it relatively easy to identify the presence of the finches to look at the wreckage left in the ground. In the following video, you can see a crossbill male while feeding on a pine Boal.
is known that crossbills are early bird and start breeding in winter. Xurde saw a pair building a nest on 2 February and confirmed the success of the play on March 21, when he found two chicks fledged in the immediate area.
of crossbill fledgling Chicken. Photo: Xurde Gayol
The same observer had confirmed breeding in 2009 in neighboring Coaña council, which located two broods. Desirable, but surveys by large coastal pine woods to know more about Asturian crossbills. I have some quotes from years of crossbills in the council of Cuideiru, one of a couple and three young men in May 1998. As pointed out by José Francisco García-Roves and Juan Galán García-Roves, crossbills were frequent throughout the council, but the great fire of 1982 that devastated large areas of pine forest between Ballota Valdreo and seriously affected the population.
crossbill Macho working on a pineapple. Photo: Xurde Gayol
This year seems to have been a good year for picotixeras, as known in Asturias, and several citations in breeding season, as compiled by José Antonio Cañal Chambers in the pine forests. Apart from the small breeding population of Asturias, outbreaks occur irregularly with respect to seed production.
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