TARIFA, SPAIN: 7 - DAY TOUR - AUTUMN MIGRATION - DAY 4 - 13TH SEPT 2014

SANLUCAR (RIO GUADALQUIVER) - BONANZA SALT PANS - PJNAR DE ALGAIDA - TREBUJENA SALT MARSH - CHIPIONA SEA FRONT

A cracking day today with some top birds, super weather and great venues.

LITTLE SWIFT and MARBLED DUCK topped the list but BLUETHROAT and WHITE HEADED DUCK came a close second.

Just look at these superb pictures of the swift taken by TONY MOORE one of our group.





LITTLE SWIFT

We set off at 7:45am and drove to Sanlucar with a couple of very brief stops along the way but nothing to report from them.

Just outside of Sanlucar we stopped to view the river Guadalquiver from the roadside and as we were only a couple of kilometers from the river mouth this section is tidal. The tide was out and lots of birds were feeding on the exposed river banks, in fact thousands of birds could be seen upriver in the distance.

the ever present Greater Flamingo

We quickly listed Dunlin, Kentish and Ringed Plover, Sanderling, Bar-tailed Godwit, Whimbrel, Grey Plover and Ruddy Turnstone. Lots of Little Egrets, Grey Herons and few raptors flew over, namely Black Kite, Booted Eagle and Montagu's Harrier, an Osprey sat on a post in the distance.

Next we drove onto the Bonanaza Salt Pans, one of my favourite places and always a great place for waders. The forst pans were empty of birds but soon we found lots. We had great views of Dunlin, Curlew Sandpiper and Little Stint, in fact one each of all three fed very close to the bus. Then we hit large flocks of Pied Avocet, Black-winged Stilts, Greater Flamingo, Slender-billed Gulls, Redshanks, Greenshanks and many more Dunlin, Curlew Sandpipers, Sanderling and Little Stint.

Marbled Duck

Our second stop produced a few passerines too, Whinchat, Sardinian Warbler, Willow Warbler, Yellow Wagtail and Zitting Cisticola. More waders were seen near the river in flooded salt marsh, Ruff joined hundreds of Black-winged Stilts, Greenshanks, Common and Green Sandpipers, Redshanks, Ringed Plovers and the three most common waders Dunlin, Cirlew Sandpiper and Little Stint.

Finally we parked by a pump house and scanned the open lagoons and salt pans from a little higher, our views were extended from this vantage point and more birds went on the list. We added Little Tern, Caspian Tern, Common Shelduck, Black-necked Grebe and an Osprey was fishing nearby which caused quite a splash!

A Bluethroat was seen by some of the group and a Booted Eagle stole the catch of the Osprey and sat nearby to eat it.

at the Bonanza Salt Pans

We then drove round to a small laguna near the woods of Algaida and although we were pestered by flies we had a great hour listing a lot of goodies. Eleven MARBLED DUCK were the star birds but we enjoyed, White-headed Duck, Common and Red-crested Pochard, Shoveler, Eurasian Teal, Little Grebe and lots of egrets. A few Night Herons sat in the bushes and a small flock of Common Waxbills flitted about in the reeds.

there are 7 species here can you find: Marbled Duck, Shoveler,
 Red-crested Pochard, Little Grebe, Mallard, Black-winged Stilt and Ringed Plover

From our position we could view a section of the Bonanza Salts and we listed Great White Egret, Great-crested Grebe, Common Shelduck and a pair of Ravens flew over. We also noted a Pied Flycatcher very close to the bus just before we left.

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Pied Flycatcher

Our picnic lunch was eaten at 2pm in the Alagida pine woods, we were blighted by flies so lunch was over quickly. The drive through the woods only produced views of 5 Red Kites and a couple of Short-toed Eagles.

Out on the Trebujena Salt Marsh birds were few and far between, we added Crested Lark and Common Kingfisher and although plenty of birds were seen in the open lagoons we only added Eurasian Spoonbill to our list. Near the end of 'run' along the marshes a couple of pools held good numbers of egrets and a few waders, we found our only Squacco Heron there.

unknown Caterpillars

Following a coffee stop in the centre of Trebujena we drove to Chipiona some 20 minutes away, parking near the port at the seafront we walked to the beach and scanned the skies. We were looking for Little Swift, a small colony of these African birds had been established in a building at the port. We had a wonderful time watching first, the odd one or two, then up to six flew just a few meters above our heads, amazing.

Well we finished on that high note and drove back to Tarifa arriving at 6:30pm, it had been a long day but very successful, 84 species seen.