AUGUST 19TH 2014 - BIRDING MORNING.

RIO GENAL - SECADERO TRACK - SAN ENRIQUE WOODS - PALMONES

James my son is out with us for a week and so we must go out birding most days!

Today we left at 7:30am just as it was getting light, huge banks of misty clouds shrouded the mountain tops, there was a light breeze and the sun was just rising.

At the Rio Genal we could see that the water was barely flowing and soon it would stop altogether. We quickly located our first bards as a huge flock of finches fed in the weedy fields, Linnets, Goldfinches and Serins made up the majority of the flock but we also saw Greenfinch, Chaffinch and a number of Cirl Buntings.

 

 

A Hoopoe sat in a dead tree with Chiffchaff sp, Blackcap and Great Tit appearing nearby. Along the river we heard Cetti's Warbler several times before finally seeing one and we saw Common Kingfisher, Grey Wagtail, White Wagtail and a few Sardinian Warblers.

One our way back to the car we stopped to watched a Common Buzzard on the ground, ot eating something dead whilst a couple of Hoopoes walked around it, a small flock of Cirl Buntings were mobbing the buzzard and a Spotted Flycatcher sat on the fence!

Along the Secadero track we enjoyed a good hour's birding seeing many Bee-eaters, Crested Larks, Stonechats,  Subalpine and Melodious Warblers, Woodchat Shrikes, Barn Swallows, Red-rumped Swallows, House Martin and a single Crag Martin. The Rio Genal disappeared underground but the Rio Guadiaro still held a good flow of water. We found another Common Kingfisher, Little Egret, Green Sandpiper (4), Little Ringed Plovers and flocks of Corn Buntings coming to drink.

Raptors started to appear with BONELLI'S EAGLE topping the bill, also Short-toed Eagle, Booted Eagle, Griffon Vulture and another Common Buzzard. Countless Bee-eaters were string along the telephone wires with Turtle Doves, Wood Pigeons and Collared Doves. We found more Blackcaps and Sardinian Warblers on the scrub.

San Enrique Woods produced very little it was quite quiet there, we did list Great Tit, Blue Tit, Eurasian Jay, Bonelli's Warbler, Short-toed Treecreeper, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Spotted Flycatcher  but not much else. From the woods we viewed the Rio Guadiario and saw a couple of Common Sandpipers and a pair of Mallards.

Lastly we made a quick stop to look at the salt marsh at Palmones, it was a little windy there, the tide was high and tourist we sitting on the sand-bar where the birds usually sit! However we did see, Grey Heron, Greater Flamingo, Blacked, Mediterranean and Yellow-legged Gulls, Sandwich Terns and Zitting Cisticola.

On the way back home we passed many White Storks on their nests and we logged our first Black Kites, we were disappointed not to see any raptor migration passage.