Friday 11 September
We met up with Mick Smith & Jerry Laycock for our postponed from last Monday birding trip, deferred of course due to the tremendous rain on the Monday. A later start than has been the case in the past few months, a sure sign that Autumn is here we began at Zapata as usual just as the first golden rays of sun were showing over Malaga. First stop was at the ford, now with the raging torrent diminished greatly since earlier in the week, the area was alive with Cattle Egret passing overhead, Night Heron flying and also feeding along with Grey Heron, but no sign of our now 'usual' Little Bittern. A rather handsome Greenshank was foraging on the margins together with Common & Green Sandpipers, soon to be joined by a few Little Ringed Plovers. All of the Yellow Wagtails seem to have departed, but Linnets, Serins, Goldfinches were busy with breakfast. Four Jackdaws flew around the motorway bridge and a couple of Mallard flew over heading up river. Coot and Moorhen were also on the margins and at least 2 Kingfishers were busy zipping across the water.
Moving
on down to the reed bed - looking totally different than before the
rains as there are now flattened areas which is making viewing slightly
easier - our first birds were Zitting Cisticola followed by Cetti's
Warbler, Crested Lark and a couple of beautiful juvenile Woodchat
Shrikes. A Snipe lifted out of the reeds giving us an extended flypast
and as we watched Common Swift were seen high above. Walking further
along Sardinian Warblers were active and both Collared,Turtle and Rock
Doves [or ferals] passed overhead. As we followed the flight of the
doves a Peregrine Falcon was spotted on the fringes of the runway. At
the usually busy feeding area we found Common Waxbills, Spotless
Starlings and a smashing Melodious Warbler [a second bird found later
elsewhere] but no sign now of the Short-toed Larks. Monk Parakeets were
their raucous selves and several Red Legged Partridge with their
extended families ran around, always so busy!
Standing
watching the feeding & sunning finches a flash of brilliant yellow
appeared, the Golden Bishop/Yellow-crowned Bishop (or Yellow Headed Weaver if you like) giving
us a rare but superb view. This was a first ever for Barbara and
Jerry and a second for Mick & I and given that Barb and I have
visited twice a week for the past few months, it's that rare!
Hopefully Jerry will have managed a picture or two, but attached is one I
managed on my only other sighting. The bird now looks absolutely
stunning, with colourings as vivid as a male Golden Oriel. Also a
couple of Red-rumped Swallows still buzzed around.
 |
| Yellow-crowned Bishop Euplectes afer at Zapata (PHOTO: Derek Etherton) |
Thrilled by the sighting of the Golden Oriole which was only five meters away, we decided that it was time for desayuno, and
replete after bacon sarnies and coffee we moved on up to the high end
of the Rio Grande. Stopping before the crossing [to judge the depth of
the water] we checked on the Booted Eagle's nest to see a couple of
Great Tits 'mooching' amongst the sticks. As we looked up about 50
Honey Buzzards who were joined by 2 Short Toed and 3 Booted Eagles
passed low overhead. A little flock of Skylarks were on the banks.
Deciding that fixed 4x4 should be selected to go through the water we
crossed to find Hoopoe, White Wagtail and Spotted Flycatcher just over
the other side. A solo Raven passed high and a couple of Chaffinches
were in the eucalyptus trees. Not much else was found up in the higher
reaches of the still rather muddy water, so we decided to push on
elsewhere.
Stopping at
Ardales for a second pit stop at El Cruze a Common Buzzard was spied
perched on top of a power line pole. Next stop Teba rock. Many Griffon
Vultures, extremely low, were floating in front of the rock and soon a
pair of Sparrowhawks were hunting on the top. Many Crag martins were
flying around and upon looking at the lakes behind us a pair of Great
Crested Grebes were viewed by 'scope.
Moving
on to Laguna Dulce, which we discovered is totally devoid of water or
life so really not worth a visit! So we carried on and took the back
way to Fuente Piedra. Stonechats & Barn Swallows were noted as we
drove in past the s**t farm! Oh dear, Fuente! No water except for the
tiniest amount to the left of the visitor centre, and this was spoilt by
a vast quantity of dead Flamingos lying around - adults as well as
juveniles. However a few live birds continued feeding as did a lone
Black Winged Stilt, some Ringed Plovers and a solo Redshank. Moving
round to the large hide to view the laguna there was more
disappointment; again no water, but our patience was rewarded with
wonderful views of a Whitethroat and an Olivacious Warbler. Moving on
to the next hide where the smallest drop of water remained by the reeds a
Green Sandpiper flew in. Sitting and hoping something else would turn
up we were eventually rewarded with a rather gorgeous Nightingale right
in front of us and a little later a juvenile Shoveler entered the
puddle.
Having spoken to a
couple of other birders who had been watching a Wryneck in the car park,
we decided to try our luck but sadly nothing - makes mental note not to
enter the lottery.
We
drove on to complete the circuit of the salt pan and down at the bottom
end watched another Melodious Warbler and juvenile Woodchat Shrike and
these were soon joined on the low barbed wire fence by a Whinchat. In a
distant tree falcons were spotted flying and perching, so 'scope out,
but the heat haze was too great to confirm what we thought were very
red legs! So the verdict had to come down to Lesser Kestrel.
By
now it's 5 o'clock so the journey home began and the usual banter and
chats about what had been seen, totalling the list, 66 species in all.
However the biggest topic of all was the complete lack of water at
Fuente and what that entails for this winter.
Derek & Barbara Etherton
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