Another super day of unbroken sunshine, mid 20’s temperature and a nice light breeze – Oh I could live here!!!
Top Birds - Male Hen Harrier (stonking good views) but also a superb Bluethroat, 3 Ruddy Shelduck (scarce visitors) and Yellow-crowned Bishop & Common Waxbill (novelty factor).
BIRDS! BIRDS! BIRDS! Everywhere we went today, the sky, fields and lakes were full of all kinds of birds, we logged nearly 90 species without raising a sweat!
PINKY AND PERKY AT LUNCH IN THE RICE FIELDS AND BELOW AT THE ENTRANCE TO THE NATIONAL PARK
We set off at 7:45am in the dark (again) heading north passing through El Rocio and then east across to Villamonrique before turning onto the tracks leading to the Coredor de Verde. Our first birds were Greenfinch, Serin, Goldfinch, Hoopoe and a brief view of Black-winged Kite, one flew off a pylon and disappeared round the bend in the track. We drove a little further and walked another track to relocate the bird, we had great views of it hovering & gliding whilst hunting. Another bird joined it and after some interaction they both flew off, a Sparrowhawk flew across the trees whilst we were looking for the Kites.
The launga de Quema was full of wildfowl, many Coots to search through but no luck with the Red-knobbed variety. Also Shoveler, Teal, Gadwall, Red-crested & Common Pochard, all 3 Grebes of the region, Kingfisher and Grey Heron.
Another Laguna, (Zorita), provided: Great White Egret (2), Green Sandpiper, Black-winged Stilts, Meadow Pipit, White Wagtail and 3 more Hoopoes.
We by-passed the large man-made lake at Dehesa de Abajo so that we could search the small ponds and lagunas at the nearby gravel pits, however most of them were dried up but we did find some water where we located Common Snipe, Wood Sandpiper, Ringed Plover, Lapwing, White Stork, Night Heron, Glossy Ibis & lots of ducks.
Back at Dehesa de Abajo we scanned the large lake for an hour or so and what a great time, There must have been 5000 birds on it! We saw Black-winged Stilt (1500+), Greater Flamingo (500+), Cormorant (200+), Avocet (100+), Shoveler (500+), Mallard (500+), Grebs (3 species 100+), Spoonbill (50+), Grey Heron (100+) - add to that Gadwall, Teal, Pochard, Red-crested Pochard, Coot, Moorhen, Purple Swamphen, Night Heron (20+), Glossy Ibis (200+)…plus Kingfisher, Sand Martin (200+), White Storks (50+).. the list goes on and on!
RARITY VALUE - RUDDY SHELDUCKS (4 IN TOTAL WERE SEEN)
From our raised position on the road we could look behind us over the vast expanse of rice fields where we could see birds everywhere, several flocks of Glossy Ibis numbered in their hundreds each flock that is, Gulls, Egrets, Storks and many Marsh Harriers were also drifting over.
NIGHT HERON (juvenile)
We ate lunch beside two recently flooded rice fields and we sat right next to a rice harvester machine. In the channels and gullies surrounding the rice fields we found a very obliging Squacco Heron, some Common Waxbills, Yellow-crowned Bishops and a single Bluethroat, we also saw several Green Sandpipers, Zitting Cisticolas, Goldfinches and Spanish Sparrows. Raptors became more obvious in the hazy sky, Booted Eagle, Peregrine Falcon (perched on a pylon), Common Kestrel, Red Kite and Common Buzzard were seen.
The afternoon was spent driving along the tracks to the Valverde Centre, passing the very dry and arid fields which held huge crops of Cotton but many were recently ploughed. Along the way we logged several Common Buzzards, lots of Lesser Kestrels, a small flock of Black Storks (7), countless Stonechats, a Common Redstart, two Black Redstarts and a Red Kite. We stopped to look over one ploughed field after we had seen a small group of Northern Wheatears fly into it. What a good move! Within minute we had located a flock of some 200 Calandra Larks, 50+ Skylarks and the icing on the cake, 100+ Lesser Short-toed Larks, Wow!
As we approached the Valverde centre we put up a male HEN HARRIER, what a fantastic sight and to add to the spectacle a male MARSH HARRIER joined it as it circled above us, two great birds in superb plumage and fantastic light. A nearby laguna held quite a lot of water and had attracted many Spoonbills, Avocets, Black-winged Stilts, Common Coots, Grey Heron & Purple Swamphens. The tracks around the Valverde centre held many Northern Wheatears, White Wagtails, Stonechats but not much else.
After a coffee stop we headed back along a different route hoping to find an Eagle or two, instead we found a lot more Lesser Kestrels, a herd of Fallow Deer and more distant Flamingos. We arrived back at the hotel at 5:30pm, a long day but a very enjoyable last day in the area.
FALLOW DEER - JUST OUT OF THE MIRE!
Tomorrow we are heading north into Extremadura, carrying forward a list in excess of 140 with at least 20 more target species to find, watch this space!
No comments:
Post a Comment