Weather: very hot and dry all day, not a breath of wind until late afternoon, top temp reached 32C!
A very busy day today we spent a lot of time traveling but still manged to see nearly 100 species of birds.
We left the hotel at 8am and drove towards Vejer, we pulled in at the Montenmedio Golf Complex for a quick look at the Eagle Owl site, the owl was otherwise occupied but we did get to see the Green Woodpeckers in their usual place, nice one.
 |
| Purple Swamphen |
It took about 30 minute to then drive to Laguna Medina, we clocked several species along the route: Corn Bunting, Turtle Dove, Common Buzzard, Montagu's Harrier, Jackdaw, Short-toed Eagle and lots of Stonechats.
At the laguna I was surprised to see so much warbler activity as my last visit was only 5 days ago and not a warbler was seen (it was very windy though). Still we had a great time and spent a couple of hours longer than I expected. From the car park we walked down towards the first boardwalk and stopped to watch Bonelli's Warbler (2), they showed extremely well and were low down in a bush. It was a good omen because from then on we found 7 other warblers in quick succession: Willow Warbler, Eurasian Chiffchaff, Melodious Warbler, Reed Warbler, Great Reed Warbler, Sardinian Warbler and Cetti's Warbler, they all gave themselves up to us and our cameras.
 |
| Night Heron at Laguna Tarelo |
Along the track to the hide we found Penduline Tit, Zitting Cisticola, Red-legged Partridge, Pied Flycatcher and lots of Greenfinches. From the hide we spent some time searching for a single White-headed Duck which finally showed well. Just below us in the reeds we had stunning views of Purple Swamphen, and Reed Warbler and out on the water we saw 3 grebe species: Little, Great-crested and Black-necked, also Shoveler, Gadwall, Common and Red-crested Pochard and many Cattle and Little Egrets. On the way back to the car park a Black-winged Kite flew across our field of view before gliding over a rise, not a bad sighting for our last species at this site.
From Laguna Medina we made the short trip to the salinas at Santa Maria where we searched for Stone Curlew and found 9 of them. In a channel alongside the salt pans we found Purple Heron, Green and Common Sandpiper, Green and Redshanks, Common Ringed Plover and Mediterranean Gulls.
It took us 45 minutes to drive to Sanlucar where we stopped to buy lunch in a local supermarket before heading out to the river Guadalquiver. The tide was coming in and many waders moved closer to us along the muddy shoreline: we found Curlew Sandpipers with Dunlin, Sanderling, Kentish Plover, Whimbrel and a small flock of Bar-tailed Godwits.
 |
| The tallest wader and shortest wader in Europe - Black-winged Stilt and Little Stint |
Next we drove onto the Salinas at Bonanza, it wasn't as busy as usual with many of the 'pans' devoid of birds. However the more we looked the more we saw: hundreds of Black-winged Stilts, Pied Avocets, Greater Flamingos had a supporting cast of Sanderling, Dunlin, Curlew Sandpiper, Little Stint, Redshank and a few Eurasian Curlew.
But it was round by the pumping station that most of the birds were feeding; a large flock of Little Terns held 1 Black Tern and 1 Common Tern and out in the large expanse of water were hundreds of Little Egrets, 9 Great White Egrets, 8 Black Storks, hundreds of White Storks and Greater Flamingos.
 |
| a nice reflection shot of the stilts |
Huge wader flocks held Red Knot, Redshank, Dunlin, Curlew Sandpiper, Sanderling, Ringed Plover a single Bar-tailed Godwit. We also found Osprey, Black Kite, Booted Eagle and as we drove from the pans we stopped to watched Grey Plover (in Flight).
Laguna Tarelo is found near the Algaida Woods and it was still looking very sick! A huge pinky/red algal bloom discoloured the water but there were still a few birds on it. Common Coot, Mallard, Shoveler and lots of herons and egret, in particular: Squacco Heron (5) and Black-crowned Night Heron (15). A couple of FERRUGINOUS DUCKS sat on an island and both Common and Green Sandpipers fed along its shoreline. A qucik scan of the salt pans looking back to the pumping station revealed a nice surpise in the shape of 4 Northern Pintails, they were with a single Shoveler and 3 Eurasian Teal.
lastly we visited the huge expanse of the Trebujena salt marsh, the marsh was completely dry but the large lagunas alongside the river we full of birds. there we added Black-tailed Godwit to our wader list but not much else. A Red Kite was the last addition to the day list.
After a quick coffee-stop in the village of Trebujena we set off for the hour long journey back to Vejer where we paid another visit to the Eagle Owl site. Alas the owl was still out, but we saw, again, the Green Woodpecker.
After a lovely dinner taken on the terrace of the hotel we suddenly saw a bird flying around the car and near the large street light, it was, of course, a Nightjar, which species we couldn't tell, but most probably a Red-necked variety.
No comments:
Post a Comment