7 October, Guadalhorce

Things have been (and are) a bit on the busy side and therefore this brief account of a late entry brief trip in to the Guadalhorce last Thursday, 7 October, in the very pleasant company of Ann and David Jefferson and, in my case, a deadline to be out means a not great list. It's amazing how much one does not see when there is a time limit and we didn't even get as far as the río viejo.

Before we even got in, there was one Booted Eagle sitting by the river and obviously pondering on the meaning of life. We started off at the laguna grande and when looking across at the row of eucalyptus trees, not only was there the Osprey but 3 more Booted Eagles, all in the same row of trees and with the rather bonny adult female Marsh Harrier that has been around for a while floating back and forth. Indeed, this last gave the photo shot of the day as she flew towards us when we stopped at the laguna escondida. and later another from the second hide on the río viejo when she flopped down and sat with her feet and lower legs in the water. The raptor parade was finished off with a very black Honey Buzzard flying strongly westwards.

There has been an increase in Cormorants and also Grey Herons, inded we had a flock of c.20 of the latter come in from the east and plonk down to rest around the laguna grande where we had to be quick to see 3 Teal as they shot across like bullets. A pair of Spoonbills flew over and it was nice to see 2 Black-necked Grebes. The wader count was obviously incomplete as I was unable to finish off by getting down to the lower reach of the río viejo, but there were 2 Greenshanks, a single Little Ringed Plover, a minimum of 3 Common Sandpipers and no less than 7 Avocets.

I had to cut short because of family commitments but we are meeting earlier this coming week and should see rather more, so be warned! I am not going down to the ponds this morning, Sunday, as book illustrations call, rather, demand my attention.

7 October, Cabo de Gata; Arboleas Birding Group

Received yesterday evening (Friday), I haven't had time to put this up until this afternoon. Dave himself had troubles with his computer but, as they say, better late than never, and here is his account of the Arboleas Birding Group trip to Cabo de Gata on Wednesday, 7 October.

The last two times the Arboleas Birding Group had visited Cabo de Gata, the water levels had been very low. The waders had looked like distant LBJs! After the recent heavy rains in the area we were hoping for better. Sure enough as Gilly and I and two other members arrived at the first hide we could see the waters had risen so much that even the scrubland on the opposite side of the road was awash! Countless Barn Swallows and Sand Martins were stocking up for their oversea journey to North Africa. Only the long legged Black-winged Stilts were able to cope with the water, but a lonesome Ringed Plover sat on the causeway. We saw the first of numerous Stonechats and possibly our last Turtle Dove of the year was spotted. A scan over the flattish sea proved fruitless. On the beach some Lesser Black-backed Gulls had joined the resident Yellow-legs. The first of our only bird of prey for the day was spotted as we walked towards the second hide. I took a photo as it was flying off.
Later I was surprised to see it was ringed. A small flock of various finches was feeding nearby. It comprised of two Trumpeter Finches, about half a dozen Corn Buntings, numerous Greenfinches and a solitary Robin. A non chiffchaff was spotted in the shrubs. Identification is so much easier if you get a photo, enlarge on the computer with "Collins" by your side. It turned out to be a Reed Warbler!
On the wader front a flock of 40+ Curlew was seen flying between the shoreline & the savannah. Due to the high water not many waders were outside the public hide. Gilly did spot a Dartford Warbler in the bushes. Thank god for my 4x4. The track round the rear of the reserve was muddy, rutted and very wet! Both Slender-billed and Audouin's Gulls were seen. The most numerous species was 100's of eclipse plumaged Shoveler. There were a few Avocets, also Little Stint, Redshank, Spotted Redshank, Greenshank, Kentish and Ringed Plovers, Dunlin, Sanderling, Black-tailed Godwit and a solitary Turnstone. 15 Shelducks doing a fly-past completed our 44 species list. A very good day....just got to get the water level sorted!! Dave & Gilly

NOTE: Dave and Gilly are off to England from next Wednesday (about 14 October if my maths is right), for 5 weeks, travelling on the "Pride of Bilbao". A Black-browed Albatross and a Barolo (Little) have been seen from it this autumn. They are heading for Cley (Norfolk) and hope to see Richard Gunn. Next report from Almería will be the end of November.

4 October, día de las aves, Guadalhorce

Bob has written extensively elsewhere (his blog) about what there was and what we saw, so all I shall do is add my own bits, which isn't much and start by saying that the place seemed to get fuller and fuller with the masses who came to see the ringing - they had plenty to see - and find out to some degree what birding is all about. Neither did I keep extensive notes of what we saw, just the waders plus a few other interesting things.

Bob, Eric and myself started off at the hide at the laguna grande simply because it seemed best place to be before the masses started to arrive. The Osprey was having its breakfast having had a very successful fishing trip and Bob is, if anything, understating the case when he claim that it would have sufficient for lunch too. It was a whopper, one of the biggest I have seen an Osprey fish down here and about on par with a barracuda which I saw one take off Andros Island, Bahamas, many years since. And if one had really had the binocs up and the eyes well and truly alert, it was possible for a couple of seconds to see Booted Eagle, the Osprey and a fly-by female Marsh Harrier all at once. It was fairly obvious that Cormorant numbers have increased, at least 11 were flying around at various times and we also saw at least 7 Shovelers.

We did see some waders, a super Greenshank came in to a fast landing right in front of the hide and announced its presence before being joined briefly by a second bird. The 2 Knot of the previous visits were still there, same place, probing the mud. The single Bar-tailed Godwit that has been haunting the other side was there and showed itself quite nicely before flying off into hiding, undoubtedly overcome by an attack of timidity in the face of so many humans staring at it (sounds highly anthropomorphic).

From there is was around to the laguna escondida where there was little of note (i.e., nothing exceptional that hasn't been noted in previous blogs) and a stop at the ringing station where the masses were watching the ringers at work and being shown the Kingfisher (lots of the Spanish version of 'ooh, in't it pretty!') and other passerines. After seeing lots of friends - I am quite amazed how many know me, if only I could remember half their names ... I can remember faces. Of what is this a sign?

Round from there we went to the eastern bank to watch for waders from the second hide. The faithful are often rewarded and such was our case as there were no less than 7 Avocets, a species about which Bob has a monthly fixation, but it was impossible to see if any were ringed as they were upto their bellies in the water. Here and further down on the río viejo we saw the most. 6 Sanderling didn't look particularly energetic, which wasn't a surprise as it was getting hot by then, but even with the heat haze we managed to locate 2 Ringed and 4 Kentish Plovers, a nice pair of Curlew Sandpipers, a single Oystercatcher and a Dunlin, plus, of course, the usual Black-winged Stilts for a grand total of 11 spp. of waders, which is reasonably satisfactory.

We walked further down towards the seawatch point, myself a least scanning as I have still not seen a Whinchat this year, and I still haven't. We saw the Southern Grey Shrike which has taken up temporrary residence at the end on the left, but no Whinchats nor Wheatears. However, we found and eventually got a decent enough view of one of birding's prime skulkers, a record which I reckon to be one of my best this year as I haven't seen one since spring 1980 at Filey - a Grasshopper Warbler which showed itself sufficiently at one point to clinch the observation. From there is was a case of staggering back out while hordes kept on entering, along with children, some well behaved and a delight to see but not hear (well done their parents) and some who would be better as shark bait, along with their parents. We had brief but pretty good views of a Booted Eagle and finally, to round off the morning, a pair of Barn Swallows winging their way westwards and a pair of migrant Blackcaps.

Bob reckoned some 50 spp. for the morning, which wasn't at all bad given the levels of disturbance, and if we had stayed to watch the ringers we would have undoubtedly added such spp. as Wryneck, Robin, Iberian Chiffchaff (this seems a very late record to me) and undoubtedly far more.

PS: Would Alan Gilbertson please write to me at my private e-mail address (andy.birds (at) gmail.com) about when he saw the Lesser Flamingo and if it was ringed or not.

2 October, Guadalhorce

Having being chucked out of the home late in order not to get in the way of the lady who cleans for us I made my reluctant way (not really) down to the ponds, rather late admittedly as I didn't get in until just on 10, when it would have been better earlier as the day was warming up far too much for comfort by then and said temps. promised to go through the roof, which they did, reaching 30ºC with a strong westerly which burnt considerably. The trouble with strong wind is that it makes for lots of vegetation movement and seeing little brown jobs (LBJs) difficult, if not impossible. And as Antonio Miguel had told me yesterday afternoon that he had seen Whinchat, Northern Wheatear and c.20 Pratincoles that same day, I lived in hope, fool that I am.

However, there are some small compensations in this life, and the strong westerly drove some raptors down to the coast. By my reckoning (even numbers of more than 5 tend to complicate matters) and leaving aside the ubiquitous Kestrels, moving west, battling against the wind, I saw 4 Booted Eagles, at least 5 Marsh Harriers includung a 2CY male, 7 Sparrowhawks, 4 Honey Buzzards, one a stunningly marked dark bird with huge barring on its body and, of course, the Osprey.

Waders were again not abundant by any standard, but with signs of birds moving through, like the 6 Curlew Sandpipers and the single Wood Sandpiper which were not there the other day and no Dunlins nor Kentish and Ringed Plovers which had been, with only 1 Little Ringed Plover seen today. On the other hand, the 2 Avocets were still present as was the single Bar-tailed Godwit and there were 2 Knot, although it is difficult to know if these were the same 2 that had been there a week since.

Everything else was the sort of thing one might reasonably expect to see, including the Southern Grey Shrike which was swaying happily inthe wind as it tried to maintain position on the same perch as last time I saw it. There were no hirundines of any sort to be seen. The best I have saved to last, although aparently it had been seen late yesterday afternoon, a Black Stork which flew around and offered decent views although getting decent photos was next to impossible with the movement of the bird across the wind.

Total for the morning, one sunburnt face and 45 spp.

NOTE: Just in case you are thinking of making an excursion to Fuente de Piedra. I had hoped to go there today as I hoped that there might be pumped water in the new flashes near the car park which one passes on the way in. And if there had been water there should have been waders, and possibly something interesting. However, a phone call gave me the information that this new flash area has not been maintained with water so no waders and obviously the laguna is dry, so don't bother trying it!

30 September, Las Norias & Roquetas; Arboleas Birding Group

This is the first of two blogs for today (Friday, 2 October) and refers to the trip of three members of the Arboleas Bird Group - Dave, Brian and Mary - who went off to Las Norias and Roquetas on Wednesday. And what a day they had! The photos are Dave's, of course (you can tell by the quality!).
I too would like to add my commiserations and condolences to the 'avid reader' (didn't know I had any!) who dipped on the Tufted Puffin. That's birding life!

The second, separate, blog for this date is my own from the Guadalhorce this morning (Friday) and it wasn't too bad, but nowhere the number of spp. and damned hot at 30ºC in to the bargain.

Las Norias & Roquetas; Wednesday 30th Sept 2009
It was with some trepidation that Brian, Mary & I made the long trip to Las Norias. If you remember this time last year we had camera stuff stolen from the car, then blackmailed by the offenders which ended up me being caught up in a Guardia undercover op involving shots being fired!! So, Gilly decided not to come this year!
At the first causeway we could see lots of birds on the water. All three grebes, Great Crested, Black-necked and Little. On the duck front we spotted Gadwall, Pochard, Teal, White-headed and Shoveler. I had a fleeting view of a Kingfisher, while Brian spotted a distant Purple Gallinule. We then moved to the viewing area near the now empty heronry. Lots of Sand Martins here together with House Martins and Barn Swallows. Mary spotted a nice Marsh Harrier. Very surprised to see that 20+ Collared Pratincoles were still in residence. A single Black Tern was amongst the few Little Terns. Mallard and Red-crested Pochard were added to our duck list. At the far end causeway there was a vociferous response from Mary when Brian shut her fingers in the car door, but the birds didn't seem to be affected! Three Night Herons were very visible on the far side and a Squacco Heron was still around. A Pied Flycatcher was seen, then the heavens opened, so we thought it was a good time to make the move to Roquetas. Once there we travelled the 4x4 only track to the Salinas de Cerrillos, where a Red-necked Phalarope had recently been seen.

On the way there, due to the recent rains there were lots of huge shallow pools. Waders were everywhere. Here is the list :- Dunlin, Knot, Ruff, Redshank, Spotted Redshank, Kentish and Ringed Plover, Sanderling, Avocet, Greenshank, Little Stint, Curlew and Curlew Sandpiper. Alas no phalarope on the Salinas, but did see a flock of Audouin's Gull and a single Lesser Black-backed Gull. A few Sandwich Terns were resting. On the way back we stopped to tick off Red-knobbed Coot to complete our 62 count day!! Looking forward to returning with my hopefully repaired scope in about a month.

Lastly I'd like to dedicate this report to an avid viewer of Andy's website, a friend of Brian and Mary's, Terry Wilson, who decided to pass up a visit to Oare Marshes reserve, Kent on the 16th September, the day the Tufted Puffin made it's all too short appearance. Our deepest sympathy!
Dave & Gilly

I hope that nobody will object to a few comments and comparison of records between Almería nd the Guadalhorce, apart from my envy at the wader species' count. Here, there have been few Northern Wheatears, I saw 3 last Monday, although I know that there have been plenty on Las Almoladeras, and also very few Whinchats, one was seen here yesterday but I've missed out totally this year.

Yesterday too there was a single Pratincole here and I suspect that it, like the birds in Almería, are on passage from points further north, possibly the Camargue-Bouche du Rhône area. There have been very few terns on passage here with few Sandwich, even fewer Little and I have yet to see a Common and my Black Tern total is precisely 1! As for small brown jobs, not a lot. and a previous blog has detailed what I saw in my garden.

Elsewhere, there has been a report of a flock Dotterel high up on Sierra Nevada. The Tarifa area is producing up to 3 Rüppell's Vultures in a day and there are still up to 4 Little Swifts around the Bolonia site, while Long-legged Buzzard has been seen on La Janda. They have bred in southern Spain this year, so it is hardly surprising.

t'was on a Monday morning ..... Guadalhorce

Monday, 28 September, 0815. After not getting out birding yesterday when the only thing of interest in the garden was a couple of Willow Warblers, I entered the Guadalhorce reserve with a gut feeling that after the rain there might just be something of interest to see, not that my gut feelings tend to prove very much as they are remarkably similar to Crohn's Disease or some affliction of that ilk. Being on my own and with nothing better to distract me, I also kept a complete list of observations, which turned out to be remarkably full by the time I staggered out at just gone 11h.. So, here goes with the best bits.

Raptors: The best was, for me was undoubtedly the most perfect flying machine that there is - a Peregrine Falcon, not one bt two, a young female which swanned around and looked as though she didn't know what she was doing (she wasn't a blonde) and a very nice adult male. An adult female Marsh Harrier that has been around for several days showed herself several times and there were a couple of pale morph Booted Eagles as well as a single Osprey and the usual handful of Kestrels. Total 5 spp. of raptors.

Waders: Eleven sp. but in very small numbers, mostly singles, like the Ruff, Redshank and Greenshank. There were very few small plovers, no Kentish at all, only 3 Ringed and a couple of Little Ringed and that was it. Leaving aside 20+ Stilts, Sanderling and Dunlin tied with 4 of each and a couple of Avocets which couldn't decide which pool to settle on. There were, of course, 2 of the mandatory Common Sandpipers.


Ducks and waterbirds: Either the White-headed were hiding or they have oulled out (there is an autumn dispersal) but I saw very few, while there were 7 Shovelers, the males just showing the first signs of new plumage after the eclipse period. Undoubtedly one of the spp. of the day was the presence of 3 Garganey. There was a single juv. Flamingo, which has been hanging around for a while, and the Spoonbill numbers had reduced to 5, while Grey Herons had definitely increased and there were 3 Cormorants.

A pot-pourri of species - sounds good, wish I knew what it meant! It is always nice to see a Southern Grey Shrike and I saw my first 3 Northern Wheatears of the autumn, although still no Whinchats. A couple of Blackcaps were knocking around near the entrance and there was a single Willow Warbler and a single Spotted Flycatcher. I didn't see a single Swallow, but there were 5 House Martins and a couple of Sand Martins flew over westwards , the rest of the spp. being rather run of the mill and and the sort of thing that one might expect.

And the total? No less than 53 spp.! Which rather surprised me, for it had been, on the face of it, a rather average morning.

23 September; (1) Embalse de Negratín (2) my own records

(1) Embalse de Negratín : Another of the welcome trip reports which Dave Elliott-Binns puts together on the trips of the Arboleas Birding Group.

Having checked the weather forecast the previous evening for Baza, it predicted clouds and a 0% chance of rain. So off we went with one other member to meet up with Brian and Mary from Chirivel at a cafe near to the reservoir. After a hearty breakfast we headed to the top of the dam. At the top of the pines and poplars behind the carpark we managed to spot about 4 Crossbills. On the grassy bank below the dam a number of Stonechats flitted around. As usual, the birdlife on the water was disappointing - 3 Great Crested Grebes and about 6 Cormorants.
We then ventured down into the valley below, hoping for better. We were rewarded with views of both Pied and Spotted Flycatcher. Gilly heard, then spotted, a Great Spotted Woodpecker. The resident Crag Martins were still enjoying the company of 100s of House Martins and 10s of Barn Swallows. We heard Cetti's Warbler in the reeds by the outflow pool and about 20 Rock Doves
were resting on the cliff.
As my school report said...."Could've done better"! But we did see 29 species and it began
drizzling as we left....never did believe the forecast!!

Dave & Gilly

(2) My own records: Like Dave's school report, mine also made similar comments and usually added '...if he tried.' However, as I have never understood the need for quadratic equations and the gulls on the playing fields were usually far more interesting, need I say more? Unlike Dave and the Arboleas group, ain't been nowhere and ain't done nuthin', except paint sheets for the book (a slow and at times frustrating task) and my birding has been reduced looking out over the garden in the coffee breaks (one every 2 hours) and an afternoon walk with my little hairy friend, usually down by the Guadalhorce.

Since last Sunday, the garden (and remember this is more or less in the centre of Torremolinos) has hosted Spotted Flycatcher (virtually daily), Pied Flycatcher (one afternoon), Willow Warbler and Chiffchaff and a daily female/juv. Common Redstart. There has also been one of the resident Red-vented Bulbuls a couple of times (these appeared about 10 years ago and are an exotic).

The walks down by the river have produced little: Grey Herons, Little Egrets, a few House Martins, a dozen or so Red-rumped Swallows both yesterday and this afternoon - they are the most delightful things to watch- plus Barn Swallows. Regrettably plans to join the Axarquía folks tomorrow have had to be abandoned and it looks like birding might be limited for the next few days or more.

Good birding!