96 SPECIES RECORDED TODAY
The weather stared off bad with wind and rain over the hotel but as we drove northward through El Rocio and across to Villamonrique it improved and continued to improve throughout most of the day. At last! Some sunshine and not a lot of wind, this made bird watching so much more enjoyable.
Along the Corredor de Verde we stopped many times to watch Woodchat Shrikes, Hoopoe, Bee-eater, Serin, Sardinian Warbler and Nightingale. Our first walk produced a pair of distant Black-winged Kites and we witnessed for the first time a food pass, remarkable, none of us had ever seen this before.
We drove further along the track to view a laguna that was practically birdless and then we found another Black-winged Kite that WAS perched on a pylon very much closer to us, excellent views were enjoyed by all.
Dehesa de Pilas, a square shape wood of eucalyptus produced thousands of Spanish Sparrows, tens of Bee-eaters, lots of black kites, white storks, a whinchat, a hoopoe and a couple of booted eagles. We also noted a few Collared Pratincoles along the way.
At dehesa de Abajo the birds on the large laguna were distant as usual but some were alittel closer. A great reed Warbler sand loudly from the tamarisk, a kingfisher flashed by and a Little egret sat on a fence extremely close to us. On the water we saw Gadwall, Common and Red-crested Pochard, all three grebes, Greater Flamingo, Spoonbill and common coot. Alonga track on the opposite side of the road we searched for reeling Savi’s Warbler, a couple showed very briefly, as did Reed Warbler but it was too breezy for them to sit on top of the reeds.
In the smaller lagunas we found a couple of good ‘Donana’ species in the shape of Marbled duck and Red-knobbed Coot, both showed very well as did a couple of night herons. We had lunch at a small Venta before heading off to the valverde Centre found deep in the marshes of the National Park. The drive was littered with many stops as we found many species. Some of the most notable were Calandra lark, Short-toed lark, whinchat, yellow wagtail, northern wheatear, short-toed eagle, booted eagle and griffon vulture.
MARBLED DUCK
RED-KNOBBED COOT
There was a large amount of water lying in the flat meadows and marshes these areas held black-winged stilts, purple herons, cattle, little and great white egrets, grey heron, glossy ibis and white stork. We had great views of Collared Pratincole, lapwing, dunlin, ringed plover, curlew sandpiper, whiskered terns and gull-billed terns. At the centre itself the tamarisk bushes were covered in nesting cattle egrets, night herons, squacco herons and reeds held large numbers glossy ibis, purple heron and great reed warblers. The air was alive with moving birds and sound was terrific.
We spent an hour or so in the centre before driving back along the track to watch over the reed-beds in search of little bittern, which was seen by only me! We heard a purple Swamphen calling, and the noise from a dozen great reed warblers was deafening! In the distant sky we could see a good number of griffon vultures rising from the ground, several black kites drifted over and lesser kestrels seemed to be on many posts.
The drive back through the marshes produced very little in the way of new birds, a common whitethroat, more whinchats, lots of yellow wagtails and a good number of short-toed larks were found along the track and fenceline.
We stopped to look at a regular breeding area for Spanish imperial eagle and after a short while a pair of these magnificent birds appeared and chased off a couple of black kites, the birds were distant but the light was good.
The rest of the journey back was made in good time, we passed through a rain shower but it was clear at the coast and the wind had dropped. We met for dinner at the usual time and decided to try for nightjars afterwards.
At 9pm we found ourselves on the heath along the track to the Palace de Acebron. As it got dark we heard and saw a little owl, a cuckoo and a couple of red-necked nightjars. The nightjars called for a short while, then two them took to the air not far from us, they interacted, possibly mating and then flew off. One drifted across the road a second time, silhouetted in the evening sky, gliding with its wings held high and that was it!
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