COTO DONANA & EXTREMADURA 8-DAY TOUR - DAY 3 - APRIL 12TH 2014

8COREDOR DE VERDE - DEHESA ABAJO - NORTHERN MARSHES - JOSE VALVERDE CENTRE

A classic day out in the 'wilds' of Donana, we started with a misty morning followed by a clear period then it clouded over for the rest of the day. Our temperature gauge read 17C but it felt more like 10C!

We drove off in the dark and after stopping to look for Owls (without success) we arrived in the Coredor de Verde at 8:30am. Our target bird was the Black-winged Kite, so we searched an open woodland where it seemed that every bird in the area was singing at the same time. We saw many finches, Corn Bunting, Common Nightingale, Woodchat Shrike, Bee-eater, Zitting Costicola  and Common Buzzard. We also heard Eurasian Hoopoe, Common Cuckoo and Cetti's Warbler. It took a while but we finally found the Kite, it was distant but then we relocated it much closer, in fact two showed really well in the scope.

Black Kite - taken at Dehesa Abajo

We took a quick look at the Laguna Quema where not a lot was happening, only Common Coot and Mallard feared on the water. We ate our picnic breakfast whilst there and a couple of the group had fantastic views of a Common Nightingale on a fence post singing, how cool was that.

Next we continued our journey along the Coredor de Verde and onto the rice fields near the large reservoir called Dehesa de Abajo. Many species were on the lake and a good number of Night Herons were roosting along its edge. A Purple Heron was nice to see too. Ducks seen included: Common and Red-crested Pochard, Gadwall, Northern Shoveler as well as Spoonbills, Flamingos, egrets and herons. Our walk along the shore adjacent to the road culminated in sightings of Great Reed Warbler and no less than 5 Red-knobbed Coots. Three of these sported 'white-collars' indicating that they were of a captive breeding stock but two were not.

one of the tagged Red-knobbed Coots

After driving along passed a number of smaller pools we stopped for coffee and drove into the Coto Donana proper. Miles of open scrub and some cultivated fields were crisps-crossed by deep channels holding varying amounts of water and birds. We stopped to watch a party of Glossy Ibis and got great views of a Short-toed Lark having a dust bath.


A little later we watched Common Kestrel and two Short-toed Eagles as they flew around a line of pylons. Yellow Wagtails perched along the fences with many Crested Larks and Corn Bunting. A lovely Montagu's Harrier showed well for us. More Short-toed Larks appeared before we stopped to watch a colony of Lesser Kestrel. Twenty birds kept us enthralled as they fed over a field and often perched on nearby wires.

Purple Swamphen

As we neared the Jose Valerie centre we decided to pull over by a large Laguna to eat lunch, whilst doing so we watched a very obliging Great Reed Warbler and lots of birds in the water. Our next journey took us through some open pasture dotted with pools and reeds it was there that we found Tawny Pipit, lots of Yellow Wagtails a flock of Collared Pratincole and our one and only Lesser Short-toed Lark. This bird posed wonderfully for our cameras (except for mine).

the group looking from the Jose Valerie Centre

Our visit to the Valverde centre was brief but enjoyable, the huge nesting site of herons, ibis and egrets was in full swing, a great spectacle.


lastly we stopped on the way out of the marshes to scan the skies for Imperial Eagle without success, however, we did see many birds and added Common Redstart to our list.

Great Reed Warbler

We then drove back to El Rocio arriving at 6pm giving us enough time to get ready for another lovely dinner, the sun was now shining and we warmed up as drank a nice cool beer.

 

 

 

COTO DONANA & EXTREMADURA 8-DAY TOUR - DAY 2 - APRIL 11TH 2014

EL ROCIO (LAGUNA MADRE DE LA MARISMAS) - LA ROCINA - ACEBUCHE - EL ROCIO

After all the travelling yesterday we had a quiet day today with very short drives to all our venues. We all met at 7:30am for the short walk to the Laguna at El Rocio, it was just getting light when saw our first birds. A Purple Swamphen was first on the list then as the light improved we could make the Greater Flamingos, Eurasian Spoonbills, Shoveler and hundreds of Common Coot.

El Rocio main street outside our hotel looking towards the church

We walked to the new visitor's centre, which was closed of course, so we watched the huge egret and heron roost from the side of building. Night Herons were coming in to roost whilst Cattle & Little Egrets and Squacco Herons were leaving for the day. Purple Herons flew over and then hundreds of Glossy Ibis left the roost, it was quite spectacular in the morning light seeing all those birds in the air.

Purple Heron sitting in the morning sunlight

We saw a couple of Reed Warblers and heard a Great Reed Warbler on the way back, we also saw a Cetti's Warbler and several Black Kites, it was quite a lovely morning with lots or birds to see.

Breakfast was finished by 9am and we were on the road to La Rocina which is literally a stone's throw from the town. Our visit to the wooded area and the hides which overlook the Lagunas was quite rewarding. We had great views of Purple Heron, Eurasian Spoonbills, Whiskered Tern, Purple Swamphen and lots of coots and Grebes. In the pine woods we saw Long-tailed Tit, Tree Sparrow, Serin, Sardinian Warbler and every bush seemed to have singing Nightingale inside it.

Eurasian Spoonbill

Along the boardwalk we heard Blackcap, Iberian Chiffchaff and Savi's Warbler which we eventually found and had great scope views of it. Lots or Woodchat Shrikes, Hoopoe, Bee-eaters, Booted Eagles and Black Kites made up most of the rest of our sightings. A good number of Night Herons sat in a roost in the bushes along with Little & Cattle Egrets.

We then drove across the heath to the Palacio de Acebron, on the heath we found Southern Grey Shrike, Common Stonechats and a few Chaffinches. In the deciduous woodland we found our only Short-toed Tree-creeper, a Great Spotted Woodpecker and nor much else.

Common Whitethroat

Acebuche visitor's centre was our next venue, we ate our picnic lunch near the car park where we watched Azure-winged Magpies at close quarters. It was now very hot so we walked into the pine woods to find shelter, we spent a couple of hours without much reward but eventually we found Sub-alpine Warbler, Common Whitethroat, Blackcap and Tree Sparrow all in the same bush!! A Dartford Warbler sighting was an excellent find and lots of Bee-eater dashed about.

From Acebuche we made our second visit to the Madre de la Marismas where we enjoyed the afternoon sunlight watching a great selection of birds, our only new species for the list was a Common Kingfisher.

We ate our dinner out on the terrace and enjoyed a nice glass of rioja with a lovely meal.

 

 

 

COTO DONANA & EXTREMADURA 8-DAY TOUR - DAY 1 - APRIL 10TH 2014

MALAGA AIRPORT - LAGUNA DULCE - LAGUNA FUENTE DE PIEDRA - EL ROCIO

The tour started at Malaga Airport at 10am when I met Nigel in the arrivals hall and then an hour later I met Peter before we drove off to meet another 4 of the group at a nearby hotel. Paul, Mike, Liz and Duncan had arrived the night before and had spent the morning birding at a local nature reserve, they had seen 26 species, the best of which were White-headed Duck, Turtle Dove and 8 Purple Herons.

After a quick shop for picnic supplies we set off for Coto Donana, it was 2pm by the time we arrived at our first birding stop - the Laguna Dulce. It was brimming with birds as usual with over 1000 Common Coot joined by Black-necked Grebes, Common & Red-crested Pochard, a single Tufted Duck, Whiskered and Gull-billed Terns, Montagu's & Marsh Harriers, Little-ringed and & Kentish Plover and lots of common ducks and Grebes.

Laguna Fuente de Piedra was covered with Greater Flamingo over 10,000 breed there, it was spectacular sight. We drove around to the visitor's centre where we birded the small, shallow lagoons around the boardwalk. It was full of waders ducks and coots. We listed a good selection of waders including: Ruff, Common Snipe, Wood & Green Sandpiper, Dunlin, Curlew Sandpiper, Little Stint, Avocet, Black-winged Stilt and Common Sandpiper. Most of the ducks were Northern Shoveler and Gadwall and we also found Yellow Wagtail, Crested Lark, Serin, Linnets, Common Kestrel and Cetti's Warbler.

We continued our journey passing through Seville and on to Coto Donana, we added White Stork, Black Kite, Common Buzzard, Bee-eater, Woodchat Shrike and Common Raven to our list along the way.

It was 6pm by the time we reached El Rocio, we stopped along the west side of the Laguna Madre de Marissa with a setting sun behind us. There were hundreds of birds on the water, w added Glossy Ibis, Eurasian SPOONBILL and Northern Pintail before driving round to our hotel.

At 8pm we ate a lovely meal out on the terrace washed down with a glass of wine, how nice it was to sit outside in the evening.

ANDALUCIA. -7-DAY TOUR. - APRIL 8TH - DAY 7

TRACK TO SECADERO - SAN ENRIQUE WOODS -  LAGUNA TORREGUADIARO - PALMONES SALT MARSH


                                                 3 WRYNECKS TO FINISH THE TRIP WITH

 

TRIP TOTAL      -      161 SPECIES SEEN WITH ANOTHER 3 HEARD ONLY

Our last full day was a leisurely one, not my doing I hasten to add. The group wanted a late breakfast and they also wanted to re-visit the Guadiaro Valley down to Secadero which is just a short drive from here.

Little Ringed Plover on the Rio Genal

The Secadero track follows the route of the Rio Genal until it meets the Rio Guadiaro just before Secadero village. We were hoping to see a Roller along the power wires as we dropped down into the valley but alas none had arrived yet. We did see many Bee-eaters down towards the river and our first Tawny Pipit of the week. A Common Whitethroat was nice to see and lots of Goldfinches, Linnets, Greenfinches and Corn Bunting were on show.

the 'bunch' at Palmones this afternoon-with Gibraltar in the distance

 

We stopped at the river and spent a nice time watching Bee-eaters making nest-holes in the river bank and whilst doing so we saw a Kingfisher visit it's own hole nearby. On the shingle banks we saw several Little Ringed Plovers, Green Sandpipers, Little Egrets, Great Cormorants and White Wagtails. Lots of Sardinian Warblers flitted in the bushes and a Common Buzzard flew over.


Our second stop much further down the valley was in search of Olivaceous Warblers, but again I don't think that they've arrived yet. We did see an Osprey carrying a fish and lots more Bee-eaters.


After a quick coffee stop we visited the deciduous woodland at San Enrique. As soon as we got out of the bus we heard a Wryneck calling, then another and then a third one. Wow, Wryneck city! We found one of them and tracked down a second (shown below).

Not much else was on show so we drove out of the woods and before leaving the site we stopped to look at a couple of Tree Sparrows.

The Laguna at Torreguadiaro was our next stop, the target was Little Bitten, we soon located one but it was distant and half hidden by the reeds.

Our last port of call was Palmones salt marsh, we viewed them from both sides. Our first stop produced Common and Green Sandpiper, Redshank and Greenshanks, Grey Plover, Dunlin, Ringed Plover, Black-winged Stilt and Eurasian Spoonbills.

though they are very noisy the Black-winged stilt is a lovely species

On the way back to the car we found a Common Redstart, our first of the trip and my first for the year. On the northern side of the marsh we added White Stork, Yellow Wagtail, Whimbrel and Yellow-legged Gull to the list.

It was now 4:30pm so we called it day and set off for home. At 6:30pm we met on the top terrace and in lovely warm sunshine we called the bird log and drank nice cold beers.

At dinner we discussed our best birds and the Collared Pratincole came top of the list. We had sewn just over 160 species, a rally I would be proud of if it was my first visit to Southern Spain.

 

 



ANDALUCIA. -7-DAY TOUR. - APRIL 7TH - DAY 6

ENCINAS BORRACHES TRACK - SIERRA DE LAS NIEVES - LAGUNA DULCE - LAGUNA FUENTE DE PIEDRA

It was another brilliant day with wall to wall sunshine and a lovely cooling breeze. At Encinas
Borraches we walked the main track for about 50 metres - all we wanted to do was to get better views of the Iberian Grey Shrike, which we promptly did. We also had sightings of several other bonus species. We had already seen Rock Bunting and Rock Sparrow along the way during the 20 minute drive but in perfect light we added;

Blue rock Thrush
Black Wheatear
Red-billed Chough
Little Owl
Black-eared Wheatear
Crested Lark
Corn Bunting

At Sierra de las Nieves natural Park we stopped at 3 of my favourite places, the first was near the entrance in the open woodland. It was quite quiet but we found a Common Nightingale in full song, our first Bonelli's Warbler,  Eurasian Jay, Mistle Thrush, Cirl Bunting and many common species.

at Sierra de las Nieves

Next we drove to an open rocky valley with a covering of gorse where we spent some time looking for and eventually finding Dartford Warbler, we had good views of a displaying male, We also found several more Black Wheatears, Black Redstart, Serin, Cirl Bunting, Linnets and more Chough. Both Booted and Short-toed Eagles drifted over whilst we were there.

Pied Avocet

Lastly we stopped at the edge of a pine forest where a stream runs down from the hills, it is such a beautiful place. We got glimpses of Coal Tit and we heard Fiercest and Crested Tit but failed to find Common Crossbill. A Sparrowhawk displayed over the trees and we saw both eagles again.

After a coffee stop where we watched many Griffon Vultures then we drove to Laguna Dulce Making one stop to view a Bonelli's Eagle's nest-site and to our great delight both adult birds were present and gave great views in superb light.

Fuente de Piedra

At Laguna Dulce we ate our picnic lunch whilst watching a plethora of water birds, some of the more unusual sightings were; Tufted Duck, Gull-billed Tern (50+), Whiskered Tern (11), Eurasian Coot (about 1000), we also saw both Marsh and Montagu's Harriers. There we many Common and Red-crested Pochard, A few White-headed Ducks and many common species such as Mallard, Gadwall, Little and Great-crested Grebe (many were performing their elaborate courtship-display).

Greater Flamingos

It was Laguna Fuente de Piedra that stole the show, it was absolutely covered in Greater Flamingos, every inch seemed to have a pair, there mush have been 15000 birds! Incredible! we drove round to the visitor's centre where several lagoons held a multitude of birds, the whole area was awash with bird life and the noise was lovely to hear. A great selection of waders was headed by the numerous Pied Avocet and the very noisy Black-winged Stilt. But we also found good numbers of Little Stints and colourful Curlew Sandpipers. Wood Sandpipers were dotted about in the reeds as was Common Snipe, Redshank, Greenshanks and a couple of Spotted Redshank just coming into summer plumage.
A sizeable flock of Ruff fed with the smaller waders like Ringed and Little Ringed Plover and we found our only Green Sandpiper but a few dozen Yellow Wagtails showing characteristics of 3 races, falva, flavissimo and Iberia nice they were joined by a few Meadow Pipits.

the shallow pools at Fuente de Piedra

;

A walk to the viewing hide produced great views of Gull-billed Terns perched on the banks and we added Common Shelduck to the list. The Greater Flamingos looked fantastic in the afternoon light, what a show. We finished with Kentish Plover and lots of Northern Shovelled.

Spotted Redshank

The journey home was uneventful except a false alarm - I thought I saw couple of Little Bustard in a field - when we stopped to scope them they turned into Rabbits! I must be tired, time for dinner I think!

ANDALUCIA. -7-DAY TOUR. - APRIL 6TH - DAY 5

LAGUNA DE MEDINA - LAGUNA JUNCOSA - BOANANZA SALT PANS - LAGUNA TARELO - TREBUJENA SALT MARSH

We had a terrific day seeing nearly 100 species with superb weather throughout the day, in fact it reached 34C during mid-afternoon!



a view to the coast from Gaucin this morning with Gibraltar and Morocco in the distance

As we set off at 8am we had a clear blue sky above us and quiet roads ahead of us, lovely. A short stop was made to admire a Little Owl that posed on a roadside wire and we passed many White Stork nests on the way to the coast. A few other interesting species were seen on the way to Jerez which included a Stone Curlew in flight and a Montagu's Harrier which was quartering a field.

male Sardinian Warbler - trying to escape Colditz?

Laguna de Medina was alive with bird song, Cetti's Warblers competed with Common Nightingale, Reed and Great Warblers, as well as many finches, Stonechats and Zitting Cisticolas. Our visit include a walk to the raised hide along the boardwalks from where we saw White Headed Duck, all 3 grebe species, Common and Red-crested Pochard, Gadwall and two nice species for our list; Little Bitten and Purple Heron.

female Sardinian Warbler

We drove the short distance to Laguna Juncosa which was packed full of birds, mainly Common Coot and both the Pochards but also several Purple Swamphens, Collared Pratincoles and our only Eurasian Magpie of the trip! A flock of a dozen Green Sandpipers dropped in whilst we were there.

A short stop at the river Guadalquiver just outside of Bonanza produced a few more waders species, there were many Curlew Sandpipers most of which were showing the lovely colours of summer, we also saw Kentish and Common Ringed Plover, Dunlin and a couple of Bar-tailed Godwits. Many Black Kites were in the air over the woods of Coto Donana which could be seen across the river.

view of the balance lake with Greater Flamingos in the distance

The salt pans at Bonanza were not as prolific as they usually are but we enjoyed large numbers of Greater Flamingos, Slender-billed Gulls, Eurasian Spoonbills, Pied Avocet, Black-winged Stilts, Redshank and lots more of the waders we had seen at the river with the added species of Little Stint, Sanderling, Common Sandpiper and lots of Yellow Wagtails and Short-toed Larks.

We ate lunch watching over a large balancing lake next to the salt pans where a few Gull Billed Terns flew over and a single Black Stork circled above us.

courtship at the SPOONBILL colony.

Laguna Tarelo was also brimming with birds, pochards, Northern Shovelers, Gadwall, White-headed Ducks, Black-necked Grebes and to our great delight there were 5 Garganey present, 2 males included. But it was the herons and egrets that stole the show, the heronry was in full swing with Cattle Egrets, Eurasian Spoonbills, Night Herons and Squacco Herons all making their nests on a small island and all looking great in summer plumage. An Osprey was a nice find too.

Eurasian Spoonbills at the heronry

Our drive through the Stone Pine Woods of Algaida was uneventful and our last stop at the salt marsh of Trebujena didn't produce the hoped for Marbled Duck. We did find good numbers of Glossy Ibis, Red-crested Pochard, Greater Flamingos and Avocet. More Black Kites flew over us and a few Griffon Vultures circled on the thermals but not much else.

It was now approaching 4:30pm so we decided to head for home, we added Northern Lapwing and another Montagu's Harrier to our day list before we reached Sierra Crestellina near Casares. We scanned the mountainside for Bonelli's Eagle but none were near the nest site, we did add Crag Martin and Blue Rock Thrush to our growing day list but nothing else.

Arriving back at Gaucin at 7:15pm made it a very long day but all agreed it was worth it as we had seen some fabulous birds and totalled 98 species!

 

 

 

 

 

ANDALUCIA. -7-DAY TOUR. - APRIL 5TH - DAY 4

GAUCIN CHESTNUT WOODS - RIO GUADIARO AT ESTACION CORTÉS - LLANOS DE LIBAR (MONTEJAQUE) - RONDA

Another great day with good weather, some sunshine and a massive passage of raptors. We started our birding in the chestnut woods just outside the village, the air was quite still and filled with bird song as we got out of the bus. A Great-spotted Woodpecker sat just above the bus at the entrance to the wood and very soon we tracked down one of the 3 calling Eurasian Nuthatches. A short walk never produced much more but we heard our first Common Cuckoo and a Green Woodpecker called in the distance.

THE TRACK AT THE RIO GUADIARO

Our second stop was at a track near Estacion Cortés and again many birds were in song. Lots of Blackcaps joined many common species in song, we also found Mistle Thrush, Cirl Bunting, Hawfinch and a beautiful Short-toed Eagle perched on a pylon. It was then we realised that a huge raptor passage was on the way, we saw over 100 Black Kites and many, many Booted Eagles, the sky was always full of raptors.

ROSY GRIZZLED SKIPPER

Our walk along the river was lovely, we had warm sunshine and plenty of birds. Cetti's Warblers sang alongside Common Nightingales, Hoopoe, Blackcap and all the common species. We had great views of Rock Sparrow, Crag Martin, Alpine Swift, Pallid Swift, Grey Wagtail and Woodchat Shrike. All the time we were there a constant trickle of Booted Eagles, Black Kites and Short-toed Eagles passed over us. A few butterflies were on the wing we found Brimstone, Bath White, Green-striped White and the Rosy Grizzled Skipper shown above.

After a quick coffee stop  we drove further up the Guadiaro Valley making one stop to look at more raptors, during our stop we found two Egyptian Vultures and 5 Black Storks along with all the passage Raptors.

NAKED MAN ORCHID - ORCHIS ITALICA

 We ate our picnic lunch at the start of the track to LLANOS de Libra and then spent 2 delightful hours birding this beautiful valley. Despite the low cloud base there were still many kites and eagles passing overhead.


SOMBRE ORCHID - OPHRYS FUSCA

 In the rocky valley we listed all of our target species, Black Wheatear, Black Redstart, Blue Rock Thrush, Crag Martin, Red-billed Chough, Rock Bunting and we had the added bonus of seeing Hoopoe, Woodchat Shrike, BLACK-EARED WHEATER (we saw 5 males), Subalpine Warbler, Common Whitethroat, Sardinian Warbler and several common species.

YELLOW ORCHID - OPHRYS LUTEA

 After that superb venue we made a quick stop at the 'dam' and found a Peregrine Falcon perched and 4 species of Orchid in the wet grass nearby (all orchids are shown).


TOOTHED ORCHID  -  ORCHIS TRIDENTATA



SAWFLY ORCHID  -  OPHRYS TENTHREDINIFERA

We also stopped in Ronda for a quick tourist stop, at the famous bridge we saw more Crag Martins and Red-billed Choughs.

Finally we made a very brief stop at the Encinas Borraches track where we found a pair of Iberian Grey Shrikes, we arrived back in Gaucin in glorious sunshine at 6pm.

 

ANDALUCIA. - 7-DAY TOUR - APRIL 4TH - DAY 3

TARIFA - LOS LANCES BEACH - LA JANDA - VEJER - BARBATE MARSHES

At last we had a day of sunshine with no rain and little wind, terrific. We started at the usual time of 8am and today we were joined by local birders Paul from the village and Penny from Casares.

on the boardwalk at Los Lances beach

We arrived at the beach area of Tarifa at about 9:30am and quickly got a few species in the bag. Lots of swifts drifted over and we logged Common, Pallid and Alpine Swifts as well as Sand Martin, House Martin and Barn Swallow. On the grass fields behind the beach we found Short-toed Lark, Crested Lark, Yellow Wagtail and Corn Bunting.

The beach was fairly quiet but we found Kentish Plover, Ringed Plover, Grey Plover, Sanderling, Dunlin and a few Yellow-legged Gulls.

 

 

 

 

a picket line at La Janda

 

We had a great time at La Janda with many species seen and some nice migrant species too. Bee-eaters and Collared Pratincoles were my first for the year as well as Common Whitethroat, Reed Warbler and Little Ringed Plovers. As we travelled along the central track we found Yellow Wagtails, Purple Swamphen, Water Pipit, Great White Egret and lots of Eurasian Spoonbills

Kentish Plover

Overhead we noted Booted Eagle, Black Kite, White Stork, Griffon Vulture and we had great views of a perched Short-toed Eagle. We also saw Western Marsh Harrier, Common Kestrel and lots of Green Sandpipers.

We ate our lunch on the northern side of La Janda on the track to Benalup,where we watched a Little Owl, Raven, Jackdaws, Red-legged Partridges, Common Pheasants and a good number of Woodchat SHRIKES.

At Venter we stopped to watch the Bald Ibis colony, they seem to doing well with 10 nests in view and all looked to be well attended by both parents, perhaps some of them had eggs in the nest.

litter collected?

group at Barbate

Lastly we visited Barbate where a new nature reserve is developing nicely. Large shallow lagoons held a good number of species, we saw Dunlin, Little Stint, Curlew Sandpiper, Sanderling, Greenshanks, Redshank, Black-winged Stilts, Pied Avocet but the best bird found was again the Collared Pratincole. Driving further into the reserve we came across Calandra Lark, Short-toed Lark, Audouin's Gull, many Eurasian Spoonbills and a nice pair of Stone Curlew.

Collared Pratincole

Well that concluded our day out, we drove back to Gaucin shopping at the Morador de Estrecho for an ice cream, it was a lovely day with lovely weather.

ANDALUCIA - 7-DAY TOUR. - APRIL 3RD - DAY 2

RIO GENAL - TRACK TO SECADERO - SAN ENRIQUE WOODS - LAGUNA TORREGUADIARO - PINAR DEL REY WOODS - PALMONES SALT MARSH - JIMENA DE LA FRONTERA

DESPITE THE WEATHER SPRING MIGRANTS ARE COMING THROUGH, WE SAW LOTS OF WOODCHAT SHRIKES, OUR FIRST NIGHTINGALES WERE SINGING, A BONELLI'S WARBLER AND A REED WARBLER WERE FOUND TOO.


It was another very wet and windy day, we had persistent rain all morning with showers in the afternoon, temperatures ranged between 8 and 15C, not good for birding!

We started at 8am in the clouds of Gaucin, it didn't clear much as we dropped 2000ft to the Rio Genal, where we stood in the rain hoping for some birdies, we did have a 'finch moment' when we found Goldfinch, Greenfinch, Chaffinch and 3 Hawfinches in the same bunch of trees. But apart from a  Cetti's Warbler calling and a couple of Wood Pigeons flying over we saw zilch!

is this why they came to Spain - lovely weather?

We drove the entire length of the road to Secadero with hardly a stop, usually it tales a few hours to do this as so many birds are normally on show. Today it was misty with bouts of heavy rain, but towards the end the rain stopped for a short while and we got put of the bus to scan a ploughed field. The field held many birds including: Little Ringed Plover, Woodchat Shrike, Corn Bunting, Crested Lark, Cirl. Bunting, White Wagtail, Yellow Wagtail (Iberiae) and some Linnets.

We also stopped to view a horse paddock full of horses and Cattle Egrets, there were two Green Sandpipers in with them. A couple of wet Common Buzzards, a single wet Sparrowhawk and a couple of Common Kestrel were about the sum total of raptors.

Next we stopped on the track to San Enrique Woods, we searched my best  place for WRYNECK and came up with two of them, lovely, one of them was calling all the time. Another couple of Woodchat Shrikes and a couple of Tree Sparrows were added to the day list.

a very orange Woodchat Shrike, similar to the eastern race I sometimes see on Lesvos

At Laguna Torreguadiaro we heard a Reed Warbler, we saw  Cetti's Warbler and had great views of Purple Swamped, Lesser Kestrel, Monk Parakeets, Common Nightingale, Sardinian Warbler, Northern Wheatear (one of them showing characteristics of the Greenland Northern Wheatear race).

Next we drove to the pine woods at PINAR del REY where we ate our picnic lunch in the rain, but it did stop and allowed us to walk for a while before starting up again. During our walk we found Short-toed Tree-creeper, Firecrest, Crested Tit and both Blue and Great Tits.

By the time we got to Palmones the sky cleared somewhat but the wind picked up, it was quite strong as we walked along the promenade looking across to the salt marsh. Not many species were showing as the tide was low, but we did find a summer plumage Red Knot, also Bar-tailed Godwits, Greenshanks, Sanderling, Grey Plover, Sandwich Terms and few of the common gulls.



So we headed back into the hills passing through San Toque and Castellar where many White Storks sat on their nests. A quick stop at Jimena to look for Great Spotted Cuckoo produced our biggest raptor sighting in terms of numbers: we saw 50+ Black Kites, a dozen Booted Eagles, a couple of Short-toed Eagles, two Ravens and a couple of dozen Griffon Vultures.

We drove back to Gaucin arriving quite early at 5pm, I was cold and fed up of the weather, the forecast is much better from now on, super.

 

 

 

 

ANDALUCIA - 7 - DAY TOUR - APRIL 2ND - DAY 1

MALAGA AIRPORT - GUADALMAR - MANILVA BEACH - SIERRA CRESTELLINA - GAUCIN

Today I collected Mathew, Liz and Hannah from Malaga airport, in the rain! I left Gaucin at 9am in thick cloud and rain and it didn't stop all the way to Malaga. However, at 1pm when we were all assembled the rain stopped so we went to some rough ground near the golf course at Guadalmar to start our birding tour.

nice weather as I set out from home this morning!

Liz shouted "Stone Curlew" before we even got to our first stop! She saw one from the bus and we quickly turned around and made a search for the bird, unfortunately a jogger ran passed the site and the bird must have flown before we got back there. Never mind, we did find Eurasian Hoopoe (2), Crested Lark, Eurasian Jackdaws, Common Kestrel and lots of Monk Parakeets.

At our first scheduled stop near the beach at Guadalmar we found Woodchat Shrike (2), a flock of Serin, Spotless Starling, European Goldfinches, Black-winged Stilt, Little Egret,  a single Zitting Cisticola and many more parakeets.

We then drove for an hour to the beach area near Manilva where we saw Great Cormorant, Yellow-legged Gulls and not much else. Driving inland to Casares we stopped a couple of times to look at birds of prey, several Booted Eagles were joined by a single Black Kite as they circled high above the road and later we saw Short-toed Eagle and a few Griffon Vultures.

Sierra Crestellina was shrouded in mist and cloud and it wasn't very warm, we saw more Griffon Vultures, Common Stonechats, Hannah saw Blue Rock Thrush but there was no sign of the resident pair of Bonelli's Eagles.

We arrived at our home at 5:30pm, it was 10C and misty, whilst I was showing Liz and Hannah the upper terrace we saw two Blue Rock Thrushes sitting on the church tower, the male was in full song, a nice bird to finish the first wet day, the forecast is better for tomorrow.