As
soon as we arrived we heard Nightingale singing nearby. We saw Bee-eaters perched on power lines further along the track. We met up with
Helen. Once the gate was opened (08.10hrs) we made our way down to the
far elevated viewing platform. We heard and then saw two European Cuckoos
as they flew past. On the water in front of us we saw White-headed
Duck, Greater Flamingo and Little Grebe. Little Terns were seen with
more Whiskered Terns. Barrie found a single Cormorant. The first of a
number of Glossy Ibises was spotted. Then we saw the first of many, many
Little Bitterns flying between the reeds. Barrie spotted some Red-rumped
Swallows, whilst Les found a Great Crested Grebe. Also seen were Slender-billed Gull, Purple and Night Herons. Helen did exceedingly well to
find an Alpine Swift and almost immediately Barrie found 5 Black-tailed
Godwits flying over.
On the trees to the left, one devoid of leaves
provided a perch for an Iberian Grey Shrike and then a female Golden
Oriole and a Woodchat Shrike. Helen had previously seen Moustached
Warblers from here but after about an hours waiting we first moved to a
hide a bit further along, which proved disappointing, so we trudged in
the increasing heat to other hides back towards the north gate. We added
Reed Warbler on the way and Avocet, Red-crested Pochard and Shelduck at
the second elevated viewing platform.
We
made our way back to the original platform where Helen informed us a
Moustached Warbler had showed well in our absence! We'd only been back a
few minutes when Graham, a local birder, found one, singing and
showing well atop a reed. A lifer for Les! Well chuffed we headed back
in the vehicle to the north gate to be counted out at 11.30hrs.
We
made our way back to the Information Centre where we virtually repeated
the birds we'd seen earlier with the exception of Collared Pratincoles
seen from the raised wooden walkway.
A brilliant days birding. 62 species in total, the star being the Moustached Warbler.
| ||||||||||||
30/5/16
28 May : El Fondo/Hondo (Alicante)
Cat's away, miouse continues to play. The photo of the Common Tern is of a 1st summer bird, a relatively uncommon plumage to see even down here and well night impossible in more northerly climes. Rather early for a juv. Gull-billed Tern. We call 'foreign' areas Comanche territory here!
26/5/16
25 May : Caho de Gata & Rambla Morales
Dave, if you can't sleep, try counting your life list instead. You fall asleep after losing count fifteen times. Bit late for a Meadow Pipit, isn't it?
For some reason I awoke at 3am
this morning and even though I counted sheep I couldn't get back to
sleep. It was nice to hear Red-necked Nightjars coming from the
overgrown & abandoned orange groves behind our house. So at 6.15am I
departed en route to Cabo de Gata to check out the rear of the reserve
before meeting up with the others at 9.30.
I
was there by 7.30, but the weather was a bit cloudy. I came in by the
southern end (where there's a new roundabout!). There was no water in
the first two salinas, so it was a salt earth desert. No birds, no
vegetation. Not a good start!
I stopped to scan some old farm buildings
and spotted a Little Owl. I then saw a bird of prey coming towards me. A
Black Kite. And there, further along by the hide, was another one
perched atop a pylon. Us here in the east of Andalusia don't often see
these in our neck of the woods, so that was quite a find! I checked out
the hide, which overlooked the first bit of water. There were Ringed and Kentish Plover. Further along I saw Greater Flamingo, Slender-billed Gull, Avocet, Shelduck and Black-winged Stilt.
I
headed to the Pujaire for a second breakfast to await the rest of the
gang. I was joined by Barrie and Beryl, Les, Colin and Sandra,
Richard and John, who's recently had a successful cataract op and I was
to be his eye drop nurse for the day in Gilly's absence! John had
already seen Kestrel and a Woodchat Shrike on the way into the village.
We headed for the first hide. We saw Mallard, Shelduck, Yellow-legged and Slender-billed Gull and, of course, Greater Flamingo (a total of 350-ish for the day) Waders were few and far between: Little Ringed and
Kentish Plover and John spotted a Green Sandpiper. Les found a Stone
Curlew on the scrubland. A further search provided one or two more.
Sandra found a Yellow Wagtail and then a Southern Grey Shrike. Also seen
were Little Egret, Jackdaw and Little Tern. As we were leaving for the
second hide a Gull-billed Tern flew by.
After
many negative sea watches from opposite the second hide, today I
spotted 5 Cory's Shearwaters heading down the bay towards the
lighthouse! We were joined by Jacky. We didn't add any new birds at the
hide. Barrie, I think, spotted another Stone Curlew.
We
moved to the public hide. There were loads of Avocets and the odd
Kentish Plover. I found a group of three Black-necked Grebe. We also had
Sandwich Tern and Thekla Lark.
We
adjourned to the beach side cafe in Cabo village for refreshments and spent most of the time spotting further Cory's Shearwaters passing by. I
suppose we must have seen about a dozen in total. A pair of Audouin's
Gull was also seen.
We
then convoyed along the track towards the brackish lake in the Rambla
de Morales. We struggled here to start with....a Coot! We heard Reed
Warbler, but managed to see Zitting Cisticola. We saw our first &
only Black Headed Gull and some Common Swift. Barrie suckered us to walk
down to the dead wood area saying he'd seen a Glossy Ibis there
recently, but alas nothing. He redeemed himself by spotting a pair of
Grey Plovers in full breeding attire down by the beach and a Common
Pochard. Unfortunately by the time we'd walked back a 4x4, followed by a
walker had flushed them away. We did see Sanderling in breeding plumage
plus some Kentish Plovers and chicks.
A good days birding. 46 species in total.
19/5/16
18 May : Sierra de María
Before starting, I would simply like to say that finding and subsequent identification of Dupont's Lark is a needle in haystack job, even where there is a small, almost relict, population as in the huge area of Las Almoladeras (Almería). Away from there, I know of no certain records off-hand.The best time is around dawn when they are singing, although I have heard of occasional birds being seen/heard around dusk. Further, at this time of year birds are letting rip with their hormones and finding one away from the known area would be extremely unlikely, although nothing is impossible in the birding world - they don't read the guides! Add to that the difficulty of the effects of fading of plumage and the notorious difficulty presented by some pipits and larks showing individual variations, and one is presented with real headaches.
That said, on to Dave's report.
After a successful trip to
Extremadura, I have now dried out and am now keen to visit the Sierra de
Maria with other group members. I made my own way there, seeing some
birds in the "zone" before reaching Maria town, the best being a
Woodchat Shrike. I met up with Alan, Colin, Sandra, Barrie, Beryl, Les
and Mary. After a catch-up chat and coffee we made our way to the
chapel. Amazingly the first bird I spotted was a Melodious Warbler,
closely followed by a Jay. Barrie and Alan identified the song of a
Woodlark which was eventually found. Alan then spotted a Subalpine
Warbler. We also saw Chaffinch and a female Black Redstart. Another
Melodious Warbler showed very well before we headed to the water trough.
Here Serin and more Subalpine Warblers were seen before we added a
Bonelli's Warbler as well. Just beyond the trough a Western Orphean
Warbler gave us good, but distant views. Moving further towards the
Botanical Gardens, Mary spotted a Raven near the mountain ridge. Also
seen were a Magpie and the occasional Griffon Vulture gliding along
the ridge.
We
made our way to the farm buildings where we added Crested Lark and
Rock Bunting. It was next to the farm trough and water deposit. The
trough was empty but we still saw a pair of Hoopoes. Alan saw a pair of
Turtle Doves as we arrived. There was a Black-eared Wheatear on the farm
building and I spotted a distant Northern Wheatear on another building.
Some Linnets, Goldfinches and a Red-rumped Swallow were also seen.
That said, on to Dave's report.
As we got closer to the information Centre we saw both Coal and Blue Tit. Les decided to stay in the gardens whilst the rest of us
hot-footed it onto the lower path as a coach load of school kids
arrived. We heard European Cuckoo and Colin was first to hear a Great
Spotted Woodpecker which later showed itself. We saw further Subalpine,
Bonelli's and Melodious Warblers. Mary thought she'd heard Long-tailed
Tits, but Les, as we discovered upon our return to the gardens, had
seen some as well as Crested Tit, Short-toed Treecreeper and
Crossbill. The walk down to the chapel added Wood Pigeon and a Cirl
Bunting found by Alan.
We
then convoyed along the plains straight, me leading with Les at the
rear. I spotted a Northern Wheatear by the ruined building and the
Little Owl on its usual pile of rocks. There were also Crested Lark and Les saw a Red Billed Chough.
At
the hamlet we checked out the Lesser Kestrel situation for Helen
Commandeur's survey. There were a pair of adults and what appeared to be
an immature female. We headed back to the La Piza forest cafe, Les
bringing up the rear. We didn't add anything new on the journey, but Les
saw Short-toed Larks and what he thought was a Calandra
Lark.
At
La Piza, after asking the staff to fill their little pool with water,
we were given a show by Chaffinches and numerous Crossbills. Great Tit was
also seen.
A lovely days birding in good weather and company! 47 species in total.
5/5/16
04 May : El Fondo / Hondo
Dave's been back into Comanche territory in Alicante to el Fondo/Hondo. Herewith his account along with a bundle of nice photos at the end.
A relatively early start,
meeting up with Les and John at the Overa Hotel, Jct 547, at 07.00hrs
for our trip to El Fondo. Kindly John agreed to drive, his car being far
more comfortable than my 4x4. After an uplifting coffee at Cox we made
our way to the Reserve's Information Centre, sighting 10 commoner
birds before arriving. Unfortunately Helen couldn't make as she'd been
out the previous evening counting Little Bustards, so we were on our
own. Yet again we were met by a cacophony of vociferous Great Reed
Warblers which seemed to occupy almost every reed bed. On or next to the
shallow water near the car park were Black-winged Stilts, Little Egrets
and Les found some Common Pochard and Mallard down the far end. A
Redshank flew over as did the first of many Glossy Ibises. I spotted a
Whinchat and Les added a Stonechat. Quartering over the water were
numerous Whiskered Terns. Also seen were Zitting Cisticola, Common
Sandpiper, Little Ringed Plover, Little Grebe and Southern Grey
Shrike.
Moving to
the viewing area by the Centre building, we were delighted to find
Marbled Duck, Red-crested Pochard, a Red-knobbed Coot with chicks and a
Purple Swamphen also with chicks. Les found a pair of Skylarks as well.
We also had
Mediterranean and Slender-billed Gulls, Great Crested Grebe and
Little Tern. Les spotted a far off hovering Kestrel, but missed the
Marsh Harrier John had spotted. As we headed back to the car park,
avoiding the coach load of school kids, we stopped to check out the
pool. And what should walk out of the reeds and walk as bold as brass
along the edge, but a Water Rail.
Collared Pratincole
Purple Heron
Purple Swamphen
Squacco Heron
Curlew Sandpiper
Squacco Heron
Walking
around on the elevated path we added Avocet and Kentish Plover. About
6 Collared Pratincoles were seen resting and flying. About 3 Squacco
Herons also were seen. Jon found the first Purple Heron which later flew off
being harassed by a Grey Heron.We didn't add to the list in the next
hide but as we left there Les spotted one of a pair of Stone Curlews in
the scrubland opposite. He also found another Whinchat.
As we walked to
the following hide we heard Cetti's and Reed Warbler. There were
numerous Avocets, Shelducks and Black-winged Stilts here as well as
hundreds of Greater Flamingos. Les found a distant Curlew Sandpiper
before one obligingly settled right next to the hide.
After
a hearty lunch (actually not good for the heart!) we made our way to
the southern hide, where we discovered to John's joy the track had dried
out and his car mats were safe! On the way we saw a flock of 17 Glossy
Ibises in a field. Whilst parking another four were feeding with a flock
of Wood Pigeons.We found numerous Black-necked Grebes in full breeding
plumage. I missed the Little Bittern as I was attempting to photograph a
Great Reed Warbler! A Squacco Heron was advancing along the track
before us. At the hide from which we had to expel hundreds of mozzies, we
saw White-headed Duck as well as Whiskered Tern, Greater Flamingo,
Little Egrets and another Little Bittern which I managed to see. John and Les saw another Marsh Harrier. Getting back to the car, we heard
Goldfinch and Greenfinch. We ended our list by seeing a Roller and
two Bee-eaters on power lines near the closed North Gate.
A fantastic days birding. 64 species in total.
Collared Pratincole
Purple Heron
Purple Swamphen
Squacco Heron
Curlew Sandpiper
Squacco Heron
Suscribirse a:
Entradas (Atom)
