What a great day, perfect weather, wall to wall sunshine and a good collection of bird species for the trip list. We logged just over 90 species with some special birds on the list.
We set off at 7:30am in pitch darkness, we carried our breakfast with us! The long journey to the Northern Marshes was via Villamonrique some 30km away. We stopped at a road junction to look and listen for owls. First the 'ki-wik' call of the female Tawny Owl was heard then the 'too-woo' of the male quickly followed. But we never saw either despite both the owls being in a small copse of trees.
We drove onto the coredor de Valverde just as it was getting light and our first bird of the day was Cattle Egret, we saw several flying over. We then saw many Hoopoes, one of a group of 3 sat on a pylon to watch the beautiful sunrise.
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| guess what this is? |
Then we had a magical half an hour watching several Black-winged Kites, they perched or hovered or glided across the open woodland in front of us, what a little beauty that bird really is. In the meantime we found another 10+ Hoopoes (7 in one flock), Common Buzzard, Southern Grey Shrike, several Blackcaps, Cetti's Warbler and hundreds of Greeenfinch, Goldfinch , Corn Bunting and Cattle Egrets.
At Laguna Cema there were huge amounts of wildfowl on the water, we found some really exquisite looking Red-crested Pochard, but also Common Pochard, Eurasian Teal. Northern Shoveler, Common Coot, Gadwall, Mallard and Moorhen.
We then drove south along the coredor stopping to watch Zitting Cisticola, Spanish, Tree and Rock Sparrows. Also Meadow Pipit, Crested Lark, Common Kestrel, Marsh harrier and Common Buzzard. As we left the coredor to enter the rice fields we found some 100 White Storks with many Cattle & Little Egrets and good numbers of Grey Herons.
Dehesa de Abajo, a huge shallow lake, was brimming with birds, there must have been 5 thousand birds (conservative estimate) with a huge flock of Greater Flamingos (2000+). Avocets numbered in their hundreds as did Black-winged Stilts, Mallard and Shoveler. There was also over 50 Northern Pintail, Gadwall, Common Pochard and Common Coot. Two very special species were also found: Red-knobbed Coot (1) and Marbled Duck (5).
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| Dehesa de Abajo |
Other Waders present included: Ruff, Black-tailed Godwit, Green Sandpiper, Common Snipe and Common Ringed Plover. A few flocks of Jackdaws flew over as did a number of Marsh Harriers.
We drove a little further into the rice field to a venta for a quick coffee-stop and whilst drinking our warm beverage we found 5 Black Storks, fantastic! Then we drove back along to Dehesa de Abajo before turning into the rice fields. It was there that we found several Yellow-crowned Bishops and a dozen or so of CommonWaxbills, both of these species are escapes, now breeding, both are African species now well established in Spain, but enjoyable to watch all the same.
AS we drove deeper into the National Park of Coto Donana we saw more Black Storks and our first Great White Egrets of the trip. Eurasian Spoonbill, Glossy Ibis and Lesser Kestrel were added to the trip list before we stopped for lunch at 'Casa Bombas' pumping station some 15km into the northern marshes. During lunch we found Black-winged Kite (2), Lesser Kestrel (13), Black Stork (18), Great White Egret (9) and many Cattle and Little Egrets.
For the next hour we drove towards the Valverde Visitor's Centre but we made many stops along the way, one stretch of pylons held several different species: Lesser Kestrel, Black-winged Kite, Raven and a Peregrine Falcon! We also saw several Northern Wheatears and a flock of Skylarks along the way.
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| Northern Wheatear - male |
In the spring there are large expanses of open water near the Valverde centre but now these were reduced to small pools which held some birds but not a lot. We scanned a number of these pools and found Greater Flamingos, Eurasian Spoonbills, Little, Cattle and Great White Egrets, Black-winged Stilts, Avocets. Ruff, Ringed Plover and Black-tailed Godwits.
As we traveled along the main track from the Valverde Centre towards El Rocio we found hundreds of Northern Wheatears, Yellow Wagtails, Stonechats and just 1 Whinchat. We also watched a couple of Short-toed Eagles, several Griffon Vultures and lots more Lesser Kestrels. On the way back to the Valverde Centre we saw a Little Owl and our first Red Kite.
The pools around the Centre were devoid of life, just a few Mallards, what a contrast to the spring when thousands of breeding herons and egrets are present. After a quick coffee we set off for the return journey, we took a different route back, which was just as good as the outward route. At one stage we had 6 Red Kites just above us with several Lesser Kestrels in tow and the number of Marsh Harrier sightings was incredible. We made one long stop to watch for Imperial Eagle but none showed up, just more harriers, Ravens and Kites.
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| Northern Wheatear - female |
Near Casa Bombas pumping station a small outflow held 9 Black Storks, 5 Great White Egrets, 6 Eurasian Spoonbills, Glossy Ibis and innumerable Little Egrets, it was quite a spectacle as they all took to the air when we drove passed.
We arrived back in El Rocio at 6pm, a little tired after our long excursion into the marshes, we had amassed a list of over 90 species which was very good for this time of the year!
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