I collected Jack and Marg from the campo just down the hill from the village at 7:30 am. It was a lovely morning, cloudless sky and a nice cooling breeze. The breeze continued all day but the temperature still rose to over 35 degrees.
JACK AND MARG AT SAN ENRIQUE WOODS
Jack and Marg are from the USA, they are staying in the area for a month and wanted to see some Europen species for the first time with alittle guidance from me.
Along the track they were totally overwhelmed as many species popped up at the same time, the sky was full of hirundines and birds of prey. We quickly ticked off Short-toed Eagle, Common Buzzard, Sparrowhawk, Booted Eagle and Montagu's Harrier. The number of these eagles and harriers has steadily picked up over the last fews weeks, I counted 7 Montagu's Harriers and 9 Short-toed Eagles today. Back on the ground or on the wires we logged Common Starling, my first for the autumn, with a flock of Spotless Starlings; Bee-eater, Hoopoe, Woodchat & Southern Grey Shrike, Stonechat, Corn Bunting, Red-rumped Swallow, Sardinian Warbler, Zitting Cisticola, Tawny Pipit, Whitethroat, Melodious Warbler, Serin, Goldfinch, Greenfinch and several Spotted Flycatchers.
RIO HOZGARGANTE FROM THE BRIDGE
After a lovely couple of hours we walked back to the car and on the way back we logged my first Honey Buzzard of the autumn and also a Black Kite. We then took a quick look at the Rio Hozgargante from a nearby bridge. A good choice I think. We had superb views looking down on a Cetti's Warbler that was singing out in the open, we also had great views of Grey Wagtail, Kingfisher, Hawfinch, Spotted Flycatcher and 8 Griffon Vultures as they drifted over. We also saw Barn Swallow, Common Swift, House Martin, Collared Dove and more Goldfinches.
At San Enrique woods we quickly got onto Jay, Tree Sparrow and Serin. In the woods we watched Great Spotted Woodpecker (3), Spotted Flycatcher (4), Bonelli's Warbler (4), Chiffchaff sp. Blue Tit, Great Tit and lots of House Sparrows.
From the wood we scanned the river Guadiaro and found Kingfisher, Grey Heron and not much else.
RIO GUADIARO FROM SAN ENRIQUE WOODS
We lunched under the shade of Stone Pines at Pinar del Rey and afterwards we walked for a while but only turned up Robin and Chaffinch as new species for the day.
Driving down to Palmones we stopped to look at the White Stork's nests at San Roque and found a huge flock of White Storks up on the thermals, there must have been 300, an impressive sighting, a single Black Kite joined them.
Palmones offered a cooling breeze and an ebbing tide, lots of mud become exposed and many birds covered it. Gull species included Yellow-legged, Lesser-black Backed, Black Headed and Mediterranean, with Sandwich Terns in attendance. Several Little Egrets joined the Cattle Egrets, that we found along the way, onto the list.
Waders we represented by Dunlin, Ringed Plover, Kentish Plover, Turnstone, Redshank, Greenshank, Whimbrel and the star bird of the day a MARSH SANDPIPER, a great find.
Lastly we stopped at Sierra Crestellina to look for Bonelli's Eagle without success, but we did add Pallid Swift (8) to our list and had good fun watching Griffon Vultures, Black Kite and Booted Eagles playing on the thermals.
Thanks, Bob, for a spectacular day. Marg and I spent the evening figuring out (roughly) where we saw what. I’m pleased to report that our sort of the 64 species (we no doubt missed recording some we saw) was (roughly) the same as your trip report. This morning we saw more than a dozen raptors flying up the valley and, of course, immediately starting arguing over what they were. We finally reached a consensus (of two) that they are Honey Buzzards, yes? maybe? What we can say for sure is that we are very much looking forward to the coming weeks of observing the myriad of birds that choose to present themselves as we lounge around the property. And, I expect we will be motivated to range a bit further afield! Thanks for a peak experience Bob! Jack and Marg.
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