Dexter - enjoying his day out in Andalucia
This superb reserve has the distinction of recording more species than any other Spanish site and consists of a number of fresh water lagoons overlooked by hides. There is also scrub, reed-beds, beach areas, open grassland and the river itself which splits into two arms a couple of kilometers inland.
A Spanish rarity - yes, it is a full hide
We arrived at 8am under thick cloud and a warm temperature with light winds. Our first walk led us down to the beach on the western side of the reserve, we passed a regular haunt and nesting site of Monk Parakeets, several of those noisy birds were flying around us. Another loud call came from a bunch of Little Terns as they fed in the shallows near the mouth of the river. We logged Crested Lark, Common Sandpiper, Little Egret, Woodchat Shrike and a mixed flock of both Black-headed and Mediterranean, the gulls fed quite close and gave us the opportunity to observe the difference between species and ages. A good start got better as we scanned the sea and found many Cory's and one or two balearic Shearwaters.
Over the next four hours we visited all the hides and spent a very enjoyable time watching many species.
A first year Audouin's Gull created some excitement as did several White-headed Ducks, but it was the waders on show that took most of our attention. There were Little, Ringed & Kentish Plover, Dunlin, Curlew Sandpiper, Wood Sandpiper, Redshank, Greenshank, Black-tailed Godwit, Avocet, Black-winged Stilt & Little Stint. A small flock of Spoonbills stood motionless and we had sightings of at least three different Kingfishers.
Avocets on one of the four lagoons
Birds of prey were few and far between, a couple of Common Kestrels, a single Marsh Harrier and a single Booted Eagle were all we saw. Our last venture was along the beach where we had good close views of a couple of Whimbrels, then a flock of small waders flew over and we noted Dunlin, Sanderling and two Turnstones.
The sky cleared and bright sunshine warmed us up, as if we needed it! Eating our lunch on a bench overlooking the reserve was a delight, birds sunshine and sandwiches, what more could you ask for?
The afternoon was spent with a visit to the superb woodland in the Montes de Malaga natural park. Despite the time of day and the heat we were surprised by the number of birds that were active. Several great Spotted Woodpeckers could be seen and heard (even drumming on several occasions). migrants were also in good numbers, blackcaps, Garden Warblers, Common Redstarts, Pied & Spotted Flycatchers all put in an appearance. Large flocks of chaffinches and Goldfinches were joined by Blue, Great and Coal Tits. One surprise was a juvenile Blue Rock Thrush seen on the roof of the Ecomuseo at the end of our walk.
Our tally was 83 species for the day, a total hard to beat, unless you drive like a maniac and twitch like a fisherman holding an Electric eel!
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