Today, early in the morning, I was walking back with my moth trap, along the valley near my house (Bombarral, West Portugal), when I heard a rare, but familiar call. It came from the top of a huge blooming eucalyptus, without my binocular, I could only see several small birds fluttering on the treetop. And again it called, it was a Yellow-browed Warbler! Caught off guard, I went back home to get my camera, bins and directional microphone.

This was only my 3rd (self-found) Yellow-browed Warbler, the previous one was during this autumn. Soon as I arrived back, I could see a lot of Chiffchaffs feeding among the eucalyptus flowers, also, a Coal and several Long-tailed Tits. I spotted the bird feeding in the treetop and I set the mic on right away waiting to record some calls. A funny thing I noticed, was the more prolongated feeding action on the same area of the tree, unlike Chiffchaffs.

I was able to record some calls and some (bad) photographs. The moth trapping was not so exciting that night, with just a few Cerastis faceta, but this Siberian surprise was very exciting, just outside my house and a winter record.

Since 2009 I´ve been very enthusiastic on moths, beside birding this became my main hobby. In 2014, I´ve stared sampling on the limestone hills near my house in western Portugal. I keep a database with all individuals recorded and photographs of every new species or variation. Below you will find some photos of the last days: