Eco Hvar

Bird sightings 2016

Steve Jones has kindly provided a listing of the birds sighted during 2016, with English, Latin and Croatian names..

Chaffinch, 22nd November 2016 Chaffinch, 22nd November 2016 Photo: Steve Jones

25th November 2016, Note from Steve: I think there are about 67 confirmed sightings on the island (99% between ferry port and Jelsa) and oddly coming back from the supermarket at lunchtime another to be added but as I was driving. I couldn’t be 100% sure on the species although I would suggest it was a Snipe.

The list includes the Black-winged Stilt, - not seen by me but your friends from Stari Grad, who saw them in Vrboska twice.

I have listed Raven (didn’t see the bird, but both myself and a friend heard them in September on the old road to Hvar past Brusje).

I have sorted them in alphabetical and not in the order seen and hopefully Croatian names as best I can – feel free to come back on any glaring errors.

There have been other species seen but I am not 100% sure on ID, and I know of at least three species seen in previous years and not in this one.

I think it would be wrong to associate one year's observations with a more general picture about wildlife losses. It may be that there were no greater species numbers 10 or 20 years ago than there are now. It may be my lack of knowledge on what to expect to see here. I am really surprised as to why there have been no Woodpeckers, or at least none that I have seen. I am also surprised not to see any Winter Thrushes (Song Thrush, Redwing, Fieldfare), perhaps this is a location/milder climate thing, and they have never been resident. Seabirds are another mystery, coming out on the ferry numerous times from Split and nothing that stands out. Other than Herring Gulls and the odd Cormorant that is it. I may have been spoilt by being so close to Dawlish Warren in Devon which has a huge variety all year round. Had I had data for a much longer period I might have been able to draw some conclusions.

Alpine swift - čiopa bijela - apus melba, tachymarptis melba. Sightings: September 2016;

Bee-eater  - pčelarica -  merops apiaster. Sightings: August 2016; April 2016;

Black redstart - mrka crvenrepka - phoenicurus ochruros. Sightings: March 2016; February 2016;

Blackbird - crni kos - turdus merula. Video by Zlatko Torbašinović; Sightings: February 2016; January 2016; early January 2016;

Blackcap - crnokapa grmuša - sylvia atricapilla. Sightings: September 2016; March 2016; February 2016; January 2016; Autumn/winter 2015;

Black-eared wheateater - primorska bjeloguza - oenanthe hispanica

Black-headed bunting - crnoglava strnadica -  emberiza melanocephala

Black-headed gull - riječni galeb - chroicocephalus ridibundus. Video by Zlatko Torbašinović. Sightings: February 2016;

Black-winged stilt - vlastelica - himantopus himantopus. Sightings: April 2016;

Blue tit - plavetna sjenica - parus ceruleus. Video of song and alarm call by chainsawbeks. Sightings: February 2016; January 2016;

Buzzard - škanjac - buteo buteo. Sightings: August-September 2016; February 2016; January 2016; early January 2016;

Chaffinch - zeba - fringilla coelebs gengleri. Video by Zlatko Torbašinović; Sightings: April 2016; March 2016; February 2016; January 2016; early January 2016;

Chiffchaff - zviždak - phylloscopus collybita collybita. Sightings: March 2016; February 2016;

Cirl bunting - crnogrla strnadica - emberiza cirlus. Sightings: September 2016; March 2016; February 2016;

Collared dove - gugutka - streptopelia decaocto

Cormorant - veliki vranac, kormoran - phalacrocorax carbo. Video, by Branimir Devilnightmare;

Corn bunting - velika strnadica - emberiza calandra. Sightings: April 2016;

Crane - ždral - grus grus. Sightings: November 2016;

Cuckoo - kukavica  - cuculus canorus. Sightings: April 2016;

Dunnock - sivi popić - prunella modularis. Sightings: March 2016;

Eagle owl (European) - buljina, sova ušara  - bubo bubo. Sightings: January 2016

Garden warbler - siva grmuša - sylvia borin. Sightings: August 2016;

Golden oriole - zlatna vuga - oriolus oriolus. Sightings: August 2016; April 2016

Golden plover - troprsti zlatar - pluvialis apricaria.

Goldfinch - češljugar, gardelin, kamjolac, ciganče, štiglić - carduelis carduelis. Video by Zlatko Torbašinović; Sightings: February 2016;

Goshawk - jastreb kokošar - family accipitridae. Sightings: August-September 2016;

Great tit - velika sjenica - parus major newtoni. Video of call by Steve Hawkeye. Sightings: March 2016; February 2016; January 2016;

Greenfich - zelendur - carduelis chlorisž. Sightings: September 2016; March 2016;

Grey heron - siva čaplja - ardea cinerea. Video by Luka Hercigonja: Sightings: January 2016;

Grey wagtail - gorska pastirica - motacilla cinerea. Sightings: January 2016;

Hen harrier - strnarica - circus cyaneus. Sightings: January 2017;

Herring gull - srebrnasti galeb - larus argentatus

Honey buzzard - škanjac osaš - pemis apivorus. Sightings: August-September 2016;

Hooded crow - siva vrana - corvus cornix. Video by Zlatko Torbašinović. Sightings: February 2016; January 2016; early January 2016;

Hoopoe - pupavac - upupa epops. Sightings: September 2016; April 2016; March 2016;

House martin - piljak - delichon urbica. Sightings: September 2016;

House sparrow - vrabac - passer domesticus

Icterine warbler - žuti voljić -  hippolais icterina. Sightings: September 2016;

Kestrel - vjetruša - falco tinnunculus. Video by Zlatko Torbašinović. Sightings: April 2016;

Kingfisher - vodomar, vodomar ribar - alcedo atthis. Sightings: December 2016; April 2016;

Linnet - juričica - carduelis cannabina. Video by BHVSa. Sightings: April 2016;

Marsh harrier - eja močvarica - circus aeruginosus. Sightings: August-September 2016;

Melodious warbler - kratkokrili voljić - hippolais polyglotta

Mistle thrush - drozd imelaš - turdus viscivorus. Video by slpanjkovic. Sightings: December 2016;

Nightingale - slavuj - luscinia megarhynchos. Video by Zlatko Torbašinović. Sightings: June 2016; April 2016;

Nightjar - leganj, noćna lasta - caprimulgus europaeus. Sightings: April 2016; Autumn/winter 2015;

Pheasant - fazan - phasianus coichicus

Pied wagtail - bijela pastirica - motacilla alba. Sightings: January 2016;

Pigeon - golub - family: columbidae

Raven - gavran - corvus corax

Red-backed shrike - rusi svračak - lanius collurio

Redstart - šumska crvenrepka - phoenicurus phoenicurus

Robin - crvendač, čučka crvendać - erithacus rubecula. Video by Zlatko Torbašinović Sightings:. January 2016;

Rock dove / feral pigeon - divlji golub - columba livia

Sand martin - bregunica - riparia riparia

Sardinian warbler - crnoglava grmuša - sylvia melanocephala

Scarce swallowtail - Sightings: April 2016;

Scops owl - ćuk - otus scops. Sightings: March 2016;

Serin - žutarica - serinus serinus. Sightings: September 2016; March 2016; February 2016; January 2016;

Short-toed eagle - Sightings: August-September 2016;

(Snipe - šljuka kokošica - gallinago gallinago. Sightings:  November 2016; - with hindsight, Steve felt this sighting was probably a woodcock. The first confirmed sighting of a snipe came in February 2018)

Spanish sparrow - španjolski vrabac - passer hispaniolensis

Sparrowhawk - kobac -  accipiter nisus. Sightings: December 2016; August-September 2016; March 2016; February 2016; January 2016;

Spotted flycatcher - siva muharica - muscicapa striata

Subalpine warbler - bjelobrka grmuša - sylvia cantillans. Sightings: March 2016;

Swallow - lastavica - hirundo rustica. Sightings: September 2016; Summer 2016; March 2016;

Swift - crna čiopa - apus apus. Sightings: September 2016; April 2016; October 2015;

Tawny pipit - primorska trepteljka - anthus campestris

Tree pipit - prugasta trepteljka - anthus trivialis

Turtle dove - grlica - streptopelia turtur

Wheatear, black-eared - mediteranska bjelka - oenanthe hispanica. Sightings: September 2016; April 2016; March 2016;

Whinchat - smeđoglavi batić - saxicola rubetra. Video, by Branimir Devilnightmare. Sightings: September 2016;

Whitethroat - grmuša pjenica - sylvia communis

Woodchat shrike - riđoglavi svračak - lanius senator. Sightings: April 2016;

Wren - palčić - troglodytes troglodytes.

Yellow wagtail - žuta pastirica - motacilla flava.

 © Steve Jones 2016

For more of Steve's beautiful nature pictures, see his personal pages: Bird Pictures on Hvar 2017, and Butterflies of Hvar

Related items

back to top
You are here: Home highlights Nature Watch Bird sightings 2016

Eco Environment News feeds

  • Climate groups call for UK wealth tax to make super-rich fund sustainable economy

    Growing number of campaigners urge government to ensure green investment is not done ‘on backs of the poor’

    A growing number of climate groups are campaigning for the introduction of a wealth tax to ensure the transition to a sustainable economy is not done “on the backs of the poor”.

    Last week campaigners from Green New Deal Rising staged a sit-in outside the Reform UK party’s London headquarters as part of a wave of protests targeting the offices, shops and private clubs of the super-rich across the UK.

    Continue reading...

  • Four areas of England now in drought as heat threatens wildlife and crops

    Ministers call for hosepipe bans as East and West Midlands enter drought, joining Yorkshire and north-west

    Four areas of England are now in drought as the East and West Midlands have joined Yorkshire and the north-west.

    Continuing hot and dry weather was a hazard to crop production and wildlife, ministers said, as they urged water companies to put hosepipe bans in place to conserve water as levels deplete.

    Continue reading...

  • Ed Miliband says Tories are ‘anti-science’ for abandoning net zero consensus

    Energy and net zero secretary lays out stark picture of how climate crisis and nature depletion is affecting UK

    Ed Miliband has accused the Conservatives of being “anti-science” by abandoning a political consensus on net zero as he gave MPs a stark outline of how the climate crisis and nature depletion are already affecting the UK.

    In the first of what is promised to be an annual “state of the climate” report, the energy and net zero secretary set out the findings of a Met Office-led study that detailed how the UK was already hotter and wetter, and faced a greater number of extreme weather events.

    Continue reading...

  • Torres Strait community leaders in ‘deepest pain imaginable’ as federal court dismisses landmark climate case

    Class action led by two community leaders argued government had legal duty of care to prevent or deal with damage linked to global heating

    Two Torres Strait community leaders are shocked and devastated after the federal court dismissed a landmark case that argued the Australian government breached its duty of care to protect the Torres Strait Islands from climate change.

    The lead plaintiffs, Uncle Pabai Pabai and Uncle Paul Kabai from the islands of Boigu and Saibai, sought orders requiring the government to take steps to prevent climate harm to their communities, including by cutting greenhouse gas emissions at the pace climate scientists say is necessary.

    Get Guardian Australia environment editor Adam Morton’s Clear Air column as an email

    Continue reading...

  • Could giving this pod of dolphins the same legal rights as humans help keep them safe?

    With a bottlenose population threatened by fishing gear, boats and pollution, campaigners on South Korea’s Jeju island are lobbying to extend legal status to the vulnerable cetaceans

    It is a beautiful sunny day on the island of Jeju in South Korea and as the boat cuts through the water all seems calm and clear. Then they start to appear – one telltale fin and then another. Soon, a pod of eight or nine dolphins can be seen moving through the sea, seemingly following the path of the boat.

    But as they start to jump and dive, fins cutting through the air, it becomes apparent that one dolphin is missing the appendage, his body breaking the surface but without the telltale profile of his companions. His name, given to him by a local environmental group, is Orae, which literally translates as “long”, but in this context means “wishing him a long life”.

    Continue reading...

  • Buyers of ‘greenest’ new EVs under £37,000 can get discount under UK scheme

    Grant offering up to 10% off will not cover cheap Chinese models, which are built using coal-fired power, or Teslas

    Buyers of the “greenest” new electric cars priced at less than £37,000 will be able to get a discount of up to 10% under a UK government scheme, a move that means Tesla fans will still face having to pay the full price.

    The Department for Transport has reintroduced a grant, previously scrapped in June 2022, to encourage more drivers to switch from petrol and diesel to electric vehicles.

    Continue reading...

  • Country diary: For these birds, home is where the food is | Mark Cocker

    Hogshaw, Buxton: House martins are breeding in just one specific spot here, and it’s the old town tip that tells us why

    If you came to this Derbyshire spot in winter, with all its down-at-heel problems of congested traffic, air pollution, dense housing and largely garden-free conditions, the bottom of Fairfield Road would be about the last place in Buxton you’d imagine to find breeding house martins. Yet it is about the only place in town with a good-sized colony of these exquisite if declining summer migrants, so unpicking why they have persisted here and gone almost everywhere else locally is instructive.

    One element may be the height of the terrace housing. The buildings are on three floors and the overhanging eaves, where martins locate their mud-cup nests, are beyond the reach of “tidy-minded” souls worried about droppings below. A more certain factor is that the back of Fairfield is only a house martin’s swoop away from what was once the town tip called Hogshaw. Yet in the last half-century it has been redeemed by nature and smothered in sallow and birch woodland. Those two are among our most insect-friendly tree species, and the resulting abundance of invertebrates which not only accounts for the birds’ presence here, but determines almost everything about house martins.

    Continue reading...

  • Sycamore Gap: why would anyone cut down a tree that brought joy to so many?

    Obsession or ‘drunken stupidity’? Sentencing of guilty men leaves us no closer to knowing their motives

    “It’s one of the most asked questions that I get,” says the detective who helped bring to justice the two men who cut down the Sycamore Gap tree in the middle of a stormy September night two years ago. “As soon as anybody knows I’m involved in the investigation, the first question is: ‘Why?’”

    Why would anyone cut down a tree that brought only joy and happiness to people? Did Daniel Graham and Adam Carruthers see it as a lark? Or a challenge? Was it a cry for help? A yell of anger?

    Continue reading...

  • ‘I couldn’t watch the forests vanish’: the man restoring Solomon Islands’ vital mangroves

    Crucial for coastal communities, mangroves are threatened by land clearing, development and rising seas

    As the morning light hits Oibola village in Solomon Islands, the receding tide drains water through a maze of tangled mangrove roots.

    Dressed in muddy jeans and a worn T-shirt, Ben Waleilia moves carefully through the thick mangrove forest, searching for seedlings. Rows of young mangrove shoots stand high as Waleilia gently drops seedlings into a small plastic bucket.

    Continue reading...

  • Trump promised to lower energy costs – his tax bill will raise them for people in red states the most

    Household energy bills in some Republican-leaning states could rise by more than $600 every year, analysis of the so-called ‘big, beautiful bill’ finds

    The cost of electricity is poised to surge across the US in the wake of Republican legislation that takes an axe to cheap renewable energy, with people in states who voted for Donald Trump last year to be hardest hit by the increase in bills.

    As air conditioners crank up across the US during another sweltering summer amid an unfolding climate crisis, rising energy costs will become even more severe for households due to the reconciliation spending bill passed by Republicans in Congress and signed by Trump, who called it the “big, beautiful bill”, on 4 July.

    Continue reading...

Eco Health News feeds

Eco Nature News feeds

Copyright © 2025 Eco Hvar. All Rights Reserved. Developed by Orion Informatika.