This was our last day and what a great one it turned out to be! We decided to go to the lake district around Campillos to the north of Ronda. Along the way we saw a few Rock Sparrows and Red-rumped Swallows. We stopped at a known Bonelli’s Eagle site just north of Ronda and to our delight 2 birds were present giving good displays. We also saw Jackdaw, Rock Dove and Crag Martin.
Bonelli's EagleLaguna Dulce was our next venue, it sits on the roadside between Campillos and Antequera and it was full of birds. The 3 Grebes were present, great crested . Black-necked and Little, several duck species were found Mallard, Gadwall, Shoveler, Common Pochard, Red-crested Pochard and White headed Duck. We also saw Greater Flamingo, Whiskered and Gull-billed Terns, Black-winged Stilts, Lapwing, Stone Curlew, Common Coot, Moorhen and an Osprey circled above the water for a while. Wood Sandpiper
In the distance we noticed a few harriers quartering the fields so we drove there to take a closer look. We had good views of Montagu’s and Marsh Harrier, then we found ur bird of the day so far, a Little Bustard, wow what a find! It was a male performing its display by puffing out it neck feathers and issuing its call as it threw its back. Laguna Dulce
In the open meadows we also found Calandra lark, Corn Bunting, Yellow Wagtail and a couple of Collared Pratincoles. The rest of the day was spent at Laguna de Fuente de Piedras whixh is found some 15 kilometeres from Laguna Dulce. Along the way we stopped at a good site for Bee-eaters, a colony of some 30 pairs nest in a roadside sand bank , they gave us terrific views. The first stop at Laguna Fuente was a mirador which overlook the south side of this huge reservoir, we could see a few thousand Greater Flamingo’s and in the nearside pools we picked out Slender-billed Gull, Purple Heron, Purple Swamphen, Pied Avocet, Gull-billed Tern and many Coots and Grebes. Along the boardwalk near the visitor’s centre we found some good birds for our list which include: Marsh Sandpiper and Spotted Redshank, we also found more stilts and avocets, Redshank and Little ringed Plovers. In another pool we found good numbers of Wood Sandpiper, Ruff, Flamingo’s, another Marsh Sandpiper, Redshank and a juvenile Glossy Ibis. All in all we amassed a great list for the day. We stopped off at the Teba Gorge on the way home to take photographs and whilst doing so we saw 2 more Bonelli’s Eagle, a Short-toed Eagle, Red-billed Chough and Crag Martins. To top it all a Quail flew across the raod and nearly crashed into the windscreen as we pulled away!! Our last day was over and so was the holiday there would be no time to bird-watch in the morning. We concluded the tour at dinner and after completing our checklist we totalled the final tally which turned out to be 145 species. Not a bad effort at all.
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