Updated with statement from Kaccaturi San Ubertu

The raptor migration in the past days provided a “mega rarity” for Malta when a Levant Sparrowhawk was spotted in Buskett on Tuesday, Birdlife Malta said.  It was the record of the species for the Maltese islands.

Birdlife said there were a few other records of this species in bird collections in Malta and Gozo, but these were probably imported carcasses from hunting trips in Eastern Europe.

The bird, a juvenile, was observed and photographed at close range with all features for this species positively identifying it as a juvenile female Levant Sparrowhawk.

The Levant Sparrowhawk is a small bird of prey which nests in trees, with the female larger than the male. The breeding distribution of this bird is south-east Europe, from the Balkans to the West Black Sea Coast, Moldova, Ukraine and South Russia north of the Black Sea into north-west Kazakhstan.

Its occurrence in central Europe is very rare with only a few accidental records.

It winters in Africa.

The strong north-easterly winds on that day could have been the cause of this rare bird coming to Malta instead of taking its normal eastern migration route, Birdlife said.

Bird first seen by hunters

Kaccaturi San Ubertu said in a statement today the Levant Sparrowhawk was first seen by one of its members near the Verdala Palace last Monday.

It said that contrary to the impression of many, there were many hunters who enjoyed taking pictures of birds in the company of ornithologiosts even during the hunting season.

This year provided certain ideal instances for extraordinary migration of certain birds. This could not be said, however, for turtle doves.

The organisation encouraged the public to join the group Birds in the Maltese Islands to witness the cooperation between hunters and ornithologists.