AUGUST 21ST 2014 - MORNING BIRDING

ENCINAS BORRACHES

This was another morning trip out with my son James, he has a target of 100 species and we are up to 67 at the moment.

We set off at 7:30 am it was just getting light, there was a clear sky and a light westerly wind, perfect for our walk along the Encinas Borraches track.




Black-eared Wheatear

We had close views of Rock Sparrow along the way and we stopped once for a quick look near "Wheatear Wall" just passed the village of Atajate but not a lot turned up. We did find a nice male Rock Bunting and a few Linnets but nothing else.

Tree Grayling

Once on the track at Encinas Borraches we were surprised by the number of birds present, a large flock of Goldfinches held a few Linnets and a second flock consisted of my favourite Corn Buntings.
Family parties of Black-eared Wheatear flitted about in the scrub as did Woodchat Shrikes. But our first sighting was of a Woodlark which flew up from the track very near to the entrance gate, the bird landed not too far away and gave us good views.

The Hermit Butterfly

We struggled to find the 'resident' Shrike species, Southern Grey Shrike, but great views of Thekla Lark kept us busy for  while. Over the next 100 meters we watched more Rock Buntings, a Little Owl and we had distant sightings of Black Wheatear and Blue Rock Thrush. James pulled out a pair of Red-legged Partridges and a dozen or so Griffon Vultures were perched high up on the isurrounding mountains.

juvenile Woodchat Shrike

We found a warbler flitting about in the broom bushes and it turned out to be one of our target birds the Spectacled Warbler another first for James.



Southern or Iberian Grey Shrike

We never ventured much further than the patch of heath and our efforts to see Dartford Warbler proved fruitless. We added a small flock of Chaffinches, Common Kestrel, Wood Pigeon, Bee-eater, House Martin, Red-rumped Swallow, Barn Swallow, Common Swift and lots of Common Stonechats to our day list before we turned back and headed for the car.

Finally we found a Southern Grey Shrike sitting on top of a bush where it should be, nice bird to finish with.

We were back home by 11am and we helped the girls prepare a picnic lunch before setting off for a leisurely afternoon at the river. It was wonderful, we sat under our favourite tree and watched the world go by, whilst our grandson kept us busy all afternoon.

A few good sightings were made whilst at the river, many swifts were coming down to drink, we saw Common, Pallid and a few Alpine Swifts, there was many Wagtails on the shingle banks of both White and Grey species, as well as Common Sandpiper, Little Ringed Plover and a Common Kingfisher dashed by several times.

Other birds put in an appearance throughout the afternoon, Bee-eaters, Bonelli's Warbler, Chiffchaff sp. Short-toed Treecreeper, Blackcap, Cetti's Warbler, Cirl Bunting, Grey Heron, lots of Goldfinches and Linnets.

an amazing flock of Rock Sparrows came down to drink many times during the afternoon, they alighted on the power lines and we counted 156 Rock Sparrows a great sight indeed!