WELCOME TO THE BLOG OF WINGSPAN BIRD TOURS



ALL NEWS, BIRD SIGHTINGS AND TOUR UPDATES WILL ALSO BE RECORDED ON MY WEB-SITE BLOG PAGES FOUND HERE


http://www.wingspanbirdtours.com/blog




FURTHER DETAILS OF FUTURE TRIPS CAN BE FOUND ON OUR MAIN WEBSITE:-



http://www.wingspanbirdtours.com/






FOR THOSE OF YOU THAT PARTICIPATED IN A WINGSPAN TOUR DURING 2017, THANK YOU FOR YOUR CUSTOM & YOUR COMPANY AND WE WISH YOU HEALTH AND HAPPINESS FOR 2018.

THE PROGRAMME FOR SPRING 2018 IS NOW ON MY

WEBSITE BUT HERE IS A PREVIEW



Jan 2nd - 5th - Somerset Levels

Jan 7th - 20th. - Sri Lanka. £1850

Feb 16th - March 3rd Costa Rica - full

Mar 20th - 30th Morocco - 10 nights. - full

April 2nd - 9th - Andalucia migration tour. - full

April 10th - 18th - Coto Donana & Extremadura - £950 - 2 places

April 19th - 27th - Coto Donana & Extremadura - £950 - full

April 28th - 5th May. - Lesvos - full

May 6th - 13th - Portugal - £950 - 4 places

May 15th - 22nd - Northern Greece - full

May 23rd - 30th Bulgaria - £850 - 4 places

May 23rd - 30th - Andalucia birds and butterflies - £850

May 31st - June 7th. - Extremadura and Sierra de Gredos - £950

June 12th - 20th - Pyrenees and Picos de Europa - full


FLIGHTS NOT INCLUDED IN THESE PRICES



BOOK NOW TO SECURE YOUR PLACE SEND AN E-MAIL TO:

E-mail: bobbuckler49@hotmail.com





















Red-throated Bee-eater

Red-throated Bee-eater
join us for a fantastic tour of The Gambia this November

Monday, September 19, 2011

SEPT 19TH - DAY TOUR

San Pablo Track - San Enrique Woods - Pinar del Rey - Palmones Salt Marsh

Birds, birds, birds!! What a great day!


Pauline and Hugh are staying in San Pablo for the week and I collected them from their rental finca at 8am. It was a beautiful morning, clear sky and no wind, perfect for birding.


We drove the short distance to my favourite track and quickly realised that this was a special birding day. The first pylon we looked at held a group of 5 Black kites and 2 Ravens.


Four of the five Black Kites - it is a digi-scoped photo taken from a distance of 1/2 mile


Within the next 10 minutes we had seen several other raptors: a Montagu's Harrier sitting on a fence post (unusual?), another quartering the field, 2 Western Marsh Harriers doing the same. Over a distant wood we found 2 Black Storks circling on the thermals. Thermals at 9am???


The sky was alive with birds, many House Martins, Red-rumped Swallows, Barn Swallows, Honey Buzzards in small groups, Booted Eagles, Common Kestrels, Lesser Kestrel (10+), Eurasian Sparrowhawks (3) and Common Buzzards.


Warblers in the hedgerows kept us on our toes, Willow Warbler, Iberian and Eurasian Chiffchaffs, Zitting Cisticola, a Reed Warbler, many Sardinian Warblers, a Spotted Flycatcher and lots of Corn Buntings, house Sparrows, Gren finches, Goldfinches with a few Crested Larks.


Then it got better, we followed the track to the brow of a hill and found an Egyptian Vulture (1st year) sitting in a tree, but it flew off before we could get close enough to photograph it. It joined an adult on the thermals together with 2 Booted Eagles. We then started to see a lot of Short-toed Eagles, they were everywhere, on pylons, in trees and in the sky. A group of 4 of them appeared to our right, we found that one of them was in fact a Bonelli's Eagles (juv), wow, great find!




SHORT-TOED EAGLE

We also found Southern Grey Shrike, Cirl Bunting, Tawny Pipit, Reed Warbler, a melanistic Montagu's Harrier, more Honey Buzzards, more eagles, kites, buzzards and harriers...........

It was a great start to the day and a very enjoyable couple of hours.




Voilet Dropwing


As we departed the track thick clouds began to appear and a fairly strong wind picked up and such was the case as we entered the woods at San Enrique. It was fairly quiet but we found Spotted and Pied Flycatchers, Cetti's Warbler, Great Spotted Woodpecker and Blue Tits. On the river we saw Kingfisher, Little Egret, Common Sandpiper, Grey Heron, Night Heron (3 juvs) and a few draonflies.


Back at the car we spent some time watching a fig tree where Blackcaps, Spanish Sparrow and Garden Warbler were devouring the the ripe fruit. We also had glimpses of Tree Sparrow.


We ate our lunch at the picnic site in Pinar del Rey pine woods where we enjoyed watching Crested Tit, Firecrest, Wood Warbler, Spotted Fycatcher, Jay, Sardinian Warblers, Chiffchaffs and we had good close views of a Booted Eagle.


We finished the afternoon at Palmones Salt Marsh where, as we arrived we watched an Osprey diving for fish and many species of waders gulls and terns. We logged Ringed Plover, Black-winged Stilt, Common Sandpiper, Redshank, Bar-tailed Godwit, Sanderling, Dunlin, Curlew Sandpiper, Turnstone, Whimbrel and Kentish Plover. Gulls included Yellow-legged, Black-headed, Mediterranean and Lesser Black-backed. Sandwich Terns were in good numbers as were Little Egrets, Cattle Egrets, Grey Herons and White Storks.


We totaled 78 species for the day and had a great time doing so! I like this bird watching malarky, I think I'll do it again tomorrow!


No comments:

Post a Comment