Pat and kevin are staying with us for two weeks, their second visit this year! They have booked 3 day-tours with me and today was their first.
We set off at 7:30am it was still quite dark but the bright moon and millions of stars cast a lovley morning light over the village.
The San Pablo track was our first destination and it proved yet again what agreat place it is for birds. Hundreds of Sparrows, corn Buntings, Goldfinches, Greenfinches, Serins, House Martins and both Red-rumped and Barn Swallows greeted us as we ventured along the first 100 meters of the track.
But soon it was the raptors that grabbed our full attention, Short-toed Eagles sat on most of the pylons and one or two Montagu's Harriers quartered the open fields of the hillsides. All in all we saw 12 species of raptor which is an amazing variety considering the small area we were watching over: Both Lesser (15) and Eurasian Kestrel, Sparrowhawk, Marsh Harrier, Booted Eagle, Common (3) and Honey (8) Buzzards, Griffon Vulture, Egyptian Vulture (2) and Black Kite were added during the visit.
YOU CAN TELL THAT THIS IS A COMMON KESTREL AND NOT A LESSER KESTREL BY THE COLOUR OF ITS TOE NAILS !! (CHECK YOUR BIRD GUIDE FOR CONFIRMATION)Passerines were also present in good numbers, we saw Southern Grey Shrike, Zitting Cisticola, Melodious Warbler, Chiffchaff, Willow Warbler, Corn Bunting, Crested Lark, Tawny Pipit, Bee-eater, Serin, Linnet, Yellow Wagtail, Sardinian Warbler and several others already mentioned
above.
A brief visit to the river Hozgargante produced a brief glimpse of a Kingfisher and a calling Cetti's Warbler. At the woods in San Enrique we found Jay, Tree Sparrow, Great spotted Woodpecker, Spotted and Pied Flycatchers, Blue and Great Tits, 3 more Kingfishers, Grey Heron, Little and Cattle Egret, Common Sandpiper, Cormorant and some very nice dragonflies.
VOILET DROPWING
Our lunch was taken back at the car where we watched Blackcaps and Garden Warblers feeding on ripe figs and several Booted Eagles drifted over whilst we ate. The woods at Pinar del Rey were fairly quiet but we managed to see Short-toed Treecreeper, lots of Jays, Firecrest, more Willow/Chiffs, lots of Flycatchers and lots more Booted Eagles came over the woods.
We visited the west side of the Palmones Marshes and spent a nice hour watching lots more species. A perched Osprey was joined by a second one which dropped into the water and caught a fish right in front of the hide! We also saw Marsh Harrier, Whimbrel, Oystercatcher, Redshank, Greenshank, Dunlin, Ringed Plover, Common Sandpiper, Greater Flamingo, Sandwich Tern and Mediterranean Gull. Nearly 200 White Storks loafed in the marshes as did over 50 Grey Herons and in the sky a constant trickle of Eagles, Vultures and Kites drifted west to east along the shoreline.
The Laguna at Torreguadiaro has been a reliable place for Purple Swamphen of late and today was no exception, we saw two of them along with Little Grebe, Coot and Moorhen.
PURPLE SWAMPHEN
We had racked up over 80 species which proved to be one of the best day-tour totals of the year.
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