Today we began the 8 day autumn tour of Coto Donana and Extremadura. I collected Mike and Lorna and Bob from Malaga Airport in preparation for the trip.
Mike and Lorna arrived a couple of hours earlier than Bob so we went off for a short birding excursion in the meantime. Our destination was the beach area around Guadalmar near the golf course, we parked up adjacent to the beach and stood on a bank of sand which overlooked a stream, the golf course, the beach and a large expanse of sandy scrub land. We quickly found Crested Lark, Zitting Cisticola, Stonechat, Northern Wheatear, Goldfinch, Greenfinch and Serin. Along the stream we saw Little Egret, many Monk Parakeets flew over and a couple of Common Kestrels hovered nearby.
 |
| Lorna, Mike and Bob at El Rocio this afternoon |
We drove a little further upstream and saw a Eurasian Hoopoe and a couple of European Robins. After stopping off to buy lunch we returned to the airport and collected Bob, we then set off for Sevilla with the intention of stopping for lunch at Laguna Dulce.
Our picnic lunch was enjoyed in lovely sunshine at laguna Dulce, we had seen a couple of Griffon Vultures along the way but not much else. The laguna was covered in birds, it has been a superb venue this autumn. Highlights include: 5 Ferruginous Ducks, over 100 White-headed Ducks, 3 Marsh Harriers, a Hobby and good numbers of Shoveler (300+), Gadwall, Common Coot (1000+), Red-crested Pochard (5), Common Pochard (20+), Purple Swamphen (1) and all 3 Gebe species- (Little, Great-crested and Black-necked).
A good find was Tufted Duck (2 males) but we also saw Greater Flamingo, Northern Lapwing, Ringed Plover, Black-winged Stilt and we heard Cetti's Warbler.
 |
| Spotless Starling with a deformed (elongated) upper mandible |
We then drove to Coto Donana without stopping except for coffee near Sevilla and also to watch a few birds near El Rocio. An obliging Eurasian Hoopoe sat on a post and beckoned for us to photograph it, which Bob duly did, whilst several Azure-winged Magpies darted across the road. We also stopped to photograph the magpies without success, they are very flighty.
At El Roico we made a short stop at the huge laguna which was virtually dry. We added Greylag Goose, Black-tailed Godwit, Yellow Wagtail and Common Buzzard to our trip list before driving into town and to our hotel.
We ate a lovely meal out on the terrace of the hotel and our bird log total was 55 species, not too bad for our first day which included a lot of travel.
No comments:
Post a Comment