We had incredible warm sunny weather with a cloudless blue sky, excellent for birding. At the Genal River it was a bit chilly at 8:15am but the number of birds soon warmed us up. The usual crowd of Cetti's Warbler, Blackcap. Black Redstart, Song Thrushes, Meadow Pipits, White Wagtails, Serin, Goldfinch, Chaffinch, Greenfinch, Great spotted Woodpecker and a flock of some 20+ Hawfinches were present and we had an added bonus of a male Cirl Bunting and a Goshawk circling and patroling a wooded ridge.
At Crestellina we watched many Griffon Vultures, Crested Larks, lots of Stonechats and plenty of Black Redstarts. We then drove into the hillside near Casares where a friend of mine was bird-ringing. We spent an hour or so watching a bevy of birds being processed by the ringers John and David. We saw Serin, Robin, Blackcap, Sardinian Warbler, Blue Tit, Cetti's Warbler and Cirl Bunting in the hand! Wow that was a great experience and to top it off we found a Hoopoe on the track leading from the Finca and a couple of Red-billed Chough in the field to our right.
We reached the coast road and turned onto the heathland near Soto Grande to look for Dartford Warblers. We found plenty of Stonechats, meadow pipits, Crested larks and Sardinian Warblers but no Dartys. A small 'kettle' of raptors in the distance held 2 Short-toed Eagles, a Common Buzzard and what was probably a Bonelli's Eagle! One interesting animal we did find was a black and red toad - can't find an ID for it - do you know what it is?
We made a quick stop to look at the Monk Parakeet colony along the A7 near Torreguadiaro before pulling into the small nature reserve at laguna Torreguadiaro. We spent an hour or so watching a few water birds: Common Coot, Moorhen, Little Grebe, Cattle Egret, Northern Shoveler, Teal. Mallard and a few Terrapins. In the old tower the Lesser Kestrels were settled alongside 2 Little Owls. From the boardwalk along the beach we watched Northern Gannets diving for fish and many Chiffchaffs hawking insects from the reeds. In the grassy scrub we found more Meadow Pipits, Crested Larks and Black Redstarts. Back at the car we watched Spotless Starlings singing in the sunshine whilst Barn Swallows and House Martins flew overhead.We stopped at the woods in San Enrique to eat our lunch whilst watching Tree Sparrows, Serins, White Wagtails and Blackcaps.
The rest of the afternoon was spent at Palmones, first we walked along the pormenade to the river mouth and then we drove round to the municipal park on the west side of the salt marsh. there were many waders on the mud and sand banks during our stay at low tide. We found Redshank, Greenshank, Common Sandpiper, Curlew, Whimbrel, Grey Plover, Ringed Plover, Dunlin, Sanderling, Kentish Plover, Sandwich Tern and the usual gulls. We also had distant views of an Osprey and much closer views of a Marsh Harrier.
From the elevated hide in the municipal park we had great views of a an Osprey (eating a fish and then bathing), we also saw Corn Bunting, Zitting Cisticola, Spanish Sparrow, Black-winged stilt, Common Snipe, Eurasian Spoonbill, White Stork , Grey Heron and a Kingfisher hovering and diving for fish.
CORN BUNTING
SPAINSH SPARROW
lastly we stopped at san Roque to admire the good numbers of White Storks on their nests, Paul took many pictures and we all drove home having had agreat day out in the sun with plenty of birds on our list.
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