JUNE 9TH 2014. - DAY TOUR

ENCINAS BORRACHES TRACK - LAGUNAS DE CAMPILLOS (DULCE & SALADA) - TEBA RAPTOR OBSERVATORY - GAUCIN SWEET CHESTNUT WOOD.


My second day with My Australian guests, Roly and Helen.

This was one of the best morning's birding I have ever had in Spain! At Encinas Borraches we absolutely "CLEANED UP', it was fantastic, super, smashing and great. The weather was superb too!

How about this for a list for one small area in Spain in June:

ROCK THRUSH
BLUE ROCK THRUSH
BLACK WHEATEAR
BLACK EARED WHEATEAR
IBERIAN GREY SHRIKE
WOODCHAT SHRIKE
GOLDEN ORIOLE
SARDINIAN WARBLER
SPECTACLED WARBLER
DATFORD WARBLER
WESTERN ORPHEAN WARBLER
WESTERN BONELLI'S WARBLER
SUBALPINE WARBLER
CRESTED LARK
THEKLA LARK
WOODLARK
RED-BILLED CHOUGH
ROCK SPARROW
BLACK REDSTART
ROCK BUNTING
CORN BUNTING

We also heard Common Cuckoo and there were plenty of Greenfinches, Goldfinches, Linnets, Common Kestrel and swifts, swallows and martins. All in all we saw 30 species along the track, a  very creditable list indeed.

Roly and Helen on the track today

We moved on at midday and before we reached our next destination we stopped for coffee and tapas just outside of Ronda.

Well, the afternoon could not possibly be as good as the morning, it had to calm down and sure enough it did. We stopped at a known Bonelli's Eagles nest but the two chicks' had fledge and no one was at home.

At Campillos we drove around the back of laguna Dulce and it was very quiet indeed. No Larks, Pipit Wagtails or Buntings, none! We did see a pair of Montagu's Harriers but nothing else.

Woodchat Shrike

From the hide we enjoyed an hour watching lots of water birds, we added several new birds to the trip list. White-headed Duck, Ferruginous Duck, Red-crested Pochard, Black-necked Grebe, Gull-billed Terns, Great Reed & Reed Warbler were some of the goodies.

Plenty of Common Coot and Mallards, Little Ringed Plover, Gadwall, Common Pochard, Little and Great-crested Grebe were also seen well.

two pictures of the very obliging Dartford Warbler

From Laguna Dulce we drove through Campillos and made a visit to Laguna Salada, this was also very good with a fair number of species there. Greater Flamingos, Black-headed Gulls, Whiskered Terns and Kentish Plover were new for us. Then Roly spotted a bird of prey in a bush and through the scope we could easily see that it was a BLACK WINGED KITE, this was the first sighting I had ever had of this species in the Campillos area, fantastic. We drove around the laguna to get a better view and whilst there we saw Stone Curlew in flight, Red-rumped Swallow and lots of Gull-billed Terns. On the way back to the car we saw our first Marsh Harrier and a couple of Lesser Kestrels, then the Black-winged Kite flew over and gave us excellent views.

Rock Bunting - in a tree?

From Campillos we drove back to Gaucin making two stops along the way, the first stop was at the Teba bird of prey observatory where we saw Alpine Swift, Red-billed Chough and Griffon Vultures.
Our second stop was at the sweet chestnut woods near Gaucin, we found a Eurasian Nuthatch within a couple of minutes then we had great views of a Firecrest before we went home.

one of several Black-eared Wheatears seen today

After another delicious dinner cooked by Dawn, Roly and I drove down to the Genal Valley to look for nightjars. Before it got dark we found another warbler for Roly's list, Western Olivaceous Warbler showed well in the evening light. The Red-necked Nightjars performed well, calling and flying around, it was a great finish to a superb day's birding, it tired me out so it's goodnight from me.

 

 

Red-crested Pochard, just starting to moult into eclipse