4 September β 10 October
the coastal calendar, shifted 10 days later for this region
Olive groves, parks and village squares; a single flute note repeated all night.
The call is the reliable phenology marker on this coast: it starts within days of arrival and stops the moment the young leave, so the silence in late June is the brood finishing, not the birds going.
photos, sightings and recordings, off this site
where this species is on the list
| Phase | When | Length | What it means |
|---|---|---|---|
| away for the winter | 11 October β 3 April | 175 days | Not here at all. The birds are on the wintering grounds, thousands of kilometres south. |
| arriving | 4 April β 19 April | 16 days | Returning from the wintering grounds; the first birds are ahead of the peak. |
| courting | 20 April β 19 May | 30 days | Song, display, fighting, scent-marking β pairs forming or reaffirming. |
| on eggs | 20 May β 10 June | 22 days | Clutch laid and being incubated, or buried and left to the sun. |
| raising young | 11 June β 4 July | 24 days | Dependent young in the nest, den or burrow, being fed. |
| young have left | 5 July β 3 September | 61 days | Young out of the nest or den, but still fed and followed by the adults. |
| leaving | 4 September β 10 October | 37 days | Leaving for the wintering grounds; stragglers run weeks behind. |