JAN 9TH & 10TH 2012 - BIRDING NEWS

Last evening (Monday 9th Jan.) Dawn and I visited Penny and John Hale who live just outside Casares.

Whilst on their terrace we had great views of 2 Eagles Owl. The male flew over our heads calling whilst the female flew up from a nearby ridge. Later the male was seen hovering on the wind just above the ridge as though it were a Buzzard or a Short-toed Eagle, a spectacular sight as he held his legs and talons fully extended.

TUESDAY 10TH JAN -- LAGUNA DULCE, LAGUNA FUENTE DE PIEDRAS - ENCINAS DE BORRACHES TRACK NEAR RONDA.

I went out today with Paul from Gaucin to the lagunas north of Ronda. The weather was cold and overcast to start with, but it did warm up, although there was a cold wind all day.

RED-CRESTED POCHARD

We set off in the dark at 7:30am and arrived at laguna Dulce around 8:45am where we drove around the back of the laguna to view the open fields. A disappointing start really, there were no Little Bustards, Lapwings or Golden Plover. However we did see Calandra and Skylarks, Corn Buntings, Linnets and Goldfinches. A nice surprise was a flock of over 400 Common Cranes and we saw over 100 White Wagtails in a single flock. A couple of Marsh Harriers drifted over and we could see hundreds of Shoveler on the laguna.
FOX


From the hide we enjoyed views of a great find, Ferruginous Duck (3), there was also White headed Duck (30+), Red-crested Pochard (18), Common Pochard (4), Pintail (2), Teal (2), Tufted Duck (9), Gadwall, Mallard, Little and Black Necked Grebes (20+). Greater Flamingos, Coots, Moorhens and 3 species of gull made up the rest of the birds on the water. We did see a Green Sandpiper on the bank along with Black-winged Stilts. Not bad eh!!

We drove the short distance round to Laguna Fuente de Piedras where we saw hundreds more flamingos and cranes. From the Catarrans mirador we found a Hoopoe!! and we saw several more Marsh Harriers.

On the small lagunas near the visitor's centre at Piedras we added a lot more species to our day list. Avocet, Black-tailed Godwit, Water Pipit, Meadow Pipit, Common Snipe, Wigeon, Common Shelduck, Zitting Cisticola, Southern Grey Shrike and two nice surprises: Spanish Sparrow and Reed Bunting. Paul pulled out a superb Lesser Flamingo as we walked back to the car park.

REED BUNTING

On the return trip we stopped at the raptor watch point near Teba Gorge but we only saw Rock Dove, Crag Martin and Griffon Vulture there.

We also made a quick stop at a known Bonelli's Eagle site, two birds were present and both showed well for a couple of minutes.

GREEN SANDPIPER

Just south of Ronda we stopped at our usual walk, the Encinas de Borraches. This open valley full of rocky scree looked quite desolate, windy and cold, but it wasn't that bad on further inspection. In fact the birding was quite good. We found a small flcok of Woodlark (5), then a couple of Thekla Larks, followed by Rock Bunting, Little Owl, Goldfinch, Serin, Linnet and Corn Buntings.
We searched the heath for Dartford Warblers and found Greenfinch and Chaffinch, we scanned the high peaks for wheatears but only found Blue Rock Thrush. A Southern Grey Shrike finished off the tally.

Our last stop was at a gorge a couple of kilometers further south, we glimpsed a Black Wheatear from the car then found 4 more after we had stopped. We also saw Black Redstart but not the Rock Sparrow we were expecting.

THE LESSER FLAMINGO IS THE SMALL RED ONE IN THE MIDDLE OF THE PHOTO

all in all a great day out, we saw 70 species!!

I have listed today's birds with last nights owl, those species numbered in brackets refer to my year list tally:

1. (86). Eagle Owl
2. Litte Grebe
3. (87). Black necked Grebe
4. Cattle Egret
5. Greater Flamingo
6. (88).Lesser Flamingo
7. (89).Common Shelduck
8. (90).Wigeon
9. (91).Gadwall
10.(92).Teal
11. Mallard
12. (93).Pintail
13. (94).Red-crested Pochard
14. (95).Common Pochard
15. (96).Ferruginous Duck
16. (97),Tufted Duck
17. (98). White-headed Duck
18. Griffon Vulture
19. Marsh Harrier
20. Common Buzzard
21. Common Moorhen
22. Eurasian Coot
23. (99).Common Crane
24. Black-winged Stilt
25. (100).Avocet
26. (101).Lapwing
27. Common Snipe
28. (102).Black-tailed Godwit
29. (103). Green Sandpiper
30. (104).Common Sandpiper
31. Black-headed Gull
32. Yellow-legged Gull
33. Lesser Black-backed Gull
34. (105).Rock Dove
35. Little Owl
36. (106).Hoopoe
37. (107).Calandra Lark
38. Crested Lark
39. (108).Thekla Lark
40. Woodlark
41. (109).Skylark
42. Crag martin
43. Meadow Pipit
44. Water Pipit
45. Grey Wagtail
46. White Wagtail
47. Black Redstart
48. Stonechat
49. (110).Black Wheatear
50. Blue Rock Thrush
51. (111). Zitting Cisticola
52. Great Tit
53. Southern Grey Shrike
54. (112).Jackdaw
55. Raven
56. (113).Common Starling
57. Spotless Starling
58. House Sparrow
59. (114).Spanish Sparrow
60. Common Chaffinch
61. Serin
62. Greenfinch
63. Goldfinch
64. Linnet
65. (115).Rock Bunting
66. (116).Reed Bunting
67. Corn Bunting
68. Common Kestrel
69. Sardinian Warbler
70. Blue Tit