What a fantastic day we had today!! The weather was just perfect, the birding superb and the scenery stunning. Everywhere we went the air was alive with bird song, flowers were prolific and the colours simply amazing.
Just two of us went out today, Tarja and I. Tarja, is from Finland and is staying with us for 4 nights. We started at the track near San Pablo, along the way we stopped to watch Corn Bunting, Woodchat Shrike and Stonechat.
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| I have rarely seen water along this track to Marchenilla - indicative of the very wet March we had |
We arrived at 9am and as soon as we got out of the car our ears were filled with bird song. We quickly located a cetti's Warbler which uncharacteristically sat out in the open sunshine and sang to us. Next we found a Common Nightingale, again this bird sat out and delivered its beautiful song for us.
Many finches were milling about, lots of Greenfinches were joined by Goldfinches, Serins and a few Spanish Sparrows. Over the next 100 meters along the track we watched Blackcap, Sardinian Warbler , Melodious Warbler and Spotless Starling.
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| look how lush and green the area is here |
Next we found a Little Owl sitting on a fence post it was half asleep but enjoying the warmth of morning sun. More Corn Buntings came into view as did lots of Stonechats and Crested Larks, we then found a Common Buzzard on a distant pylon and just beyond it sat half a dozen Bee-eaters.
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| European Bee-eater |
As we walk up the valley the landscape changed into open grassland and it was there that we found both Marsh and Hen Harrier, the marsh circled high above us and the Hen quartered the fields. A few Griffon vultures appeared, more Bee-eaters landed on the power cables and a couple of Tawny pipits sat on the fence line.
As the morning warmed up more and more raptors appeared, good numbers of Black Kites passed over us, a single Red Kite circled and at least 3 Short-toed Eagles hovered over the hills. Then we watched a wildlfe spectacle that is rarely seen by many. We noticed that a number of Griffon Vultures had landed on the hillside down to our left and then we soon realized why. There was a large cow standing over the corpse of a new born calf, it stood its ground and chased off any vulture that ventured too close. Occasionally the cow would charge into the flock of vultures scattering them all over, but several would dash in behind her and start attacking the dead calf.
We watched this spectacle unfold in front of us and after about 30 minutes the cow walked off up the hill and within minutes about 60 Griffon Vultures completely covered the calf.
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| the cow defending its dead calf |
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| The Vultures are gathering |
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| Finally thr cowe gives up and the vultures move in |
We had our fill of this frenzy and walked back to the main road and across to a bridge to look at the river. As we walked towards the bridge a male Montagu's Harrier circled above the trees, what a lovely sight. Then one or two Booted Eagles appeared and many more Black kites drifted over. We had had a wonderful 4 hours and recorded a great number of species.
We drove to a woodland near the river Guadiaro at San Enrique. From there we watched Tree Sparrows at their nests and in the wood we found Blue and great Tits, Firecrest and my first Garden Warbler of the year|
At Soto Grande we walked around the Laguna Torreguadiaro on the boardwalk, the laguna was full to capacity and very few birds were present, in fact we only saw two species there. A few Common Moorhens fed in the reeds and a lovely male Little Bittern sat at he water's edge at the far end of the laguna. Our walk around the reedbed produced a Short-toed Treecrepper in the palms, how odd was that??? We also found several Northern Wheatears, Crested Lark and a few Monk Parakeets flew over. On the beach the flowers were amazing, a blaze of colour, we added Red-rumped Swallow to the day list.
We then drove along the coast to Palmones to look at the salt marsh and the sand spit at the mouth of the river. It was high tide so all the birds were concentrated on the sand bar. We listed Yellow-legged Gull, Lesser Black-backed Gull, Gull-billed Tern and Sandwich Tern. On the marsh we saw 9 Eurasian Spoonbill and a few yellow Wagtails. Several waders were present: Common Sandpiper, Curlew Sandpiper, Grey Plover, Ringed Plover, Sanderling and Whimbrel.
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| The sand bar at the Palmones river mouth covered with birds |
On the way home we stopped to look at the numerous White Storks on their nests and also to look at a colony of Lesser Kestrels near Jimena de La Frontera.
It was a great day out and we listed 65 species in glorious weather and in superb habitats.
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