Saturday 12 March
Thirty-seven members present for the march field meeting of the
Andalucia Bird Society of whom all bar four spent at least one night at the neighbouring Blanca Brisa Hotel. A beautiful, warm sunny day and the party split into at least five groups of varying sizes to make the day both enjoyable and profitable, in birding terms, for all concerned. As the day progressed some parties seemed to lose a car then gather another and most met up with each day on the restricted area that we covering including the five hides around the lagunas, the lighthouse area, mountain road and rambler with its truncated river slightly to the west of the village. By the time we had all gathered together again at the end of the day almost
80 species had been recorded by the group as a whole and, I am sure, no one group recording less than 55 birds.
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| Black Wheatear Oenanthe leucura (PHOTO: Steve Powell) |
One or two managed a quick sortie before our 8.30 breakfast and it certainly paid dividends for John and Jenny Wainwright as they managed to record the only
Shag seen during the day. W had set out with three "special" target birds and a lot of other great birds that might be seen. The Wainwrights had seen the Shag, John Brooks and Margot managed to be the only couple to find a
Trumpeter Finch but most got a brief glimpse of the couple of
Dotterel that seemed to have taken up residence with a small flock of
Golden Plover. On the other hand, many of us had great views of the
Dotterel on the way up yesterday and Luis Alberto and Elaine Wallace were taken to the site at the end of the day on their way back to Malaga and not only saw the target bird but, along with Derek Etherton, even got a quick sight of
Black-bellied Sandgrouse; lucky them.
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| Dotterels Charadrius morinallus (PHOTO: Derek Etherton) |
Most saw
Common Kestrel and other raptors seen included
Marsh Harrier,
Sparrowhawk and
Peregrine Falcon along with
Little Owl,
Iberian and
Woodchat Shrikes. The six gull species included
Slender-billed,
Audouin's and
Mediterranean plus
Balearic Shearwater,
Sandwich Tern,
Gannet and
Cormorants so sea birds were well represented. On the other hand, ducks were limited to
Shelduck,
Mallard and
Shoveler. Just the single
Grey Heron and a very small number of
Little Egret plus a single
Cattle Egret that was following the goat herd. Not the same problem with
Flamingos as there were scores to be seen.
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| Kentish Plover Charadrius alexandrinus (PHOTO: John Wainwright) |
There were wades a plenty with
Avocet being the dominant bird but also, of the small waders,
Kentish Plover being the most obvious. Just a few
Ringed Plovers and a similar number of
Redshanks and even fewer
Black-tailed Godwits.
Dunlin,
Sanderling, a
Turnstone,
Common Sandpiper and
Little Stint were also recorded and of the larger waders it was good to see observations of
Grey Plover,
Golden Plover,
Stone Curlew and, of course, a small number of
Black-winged Stilts. (Many of us stopped at the first (meeting point) hide on the way home the next day to get a good look at one of the two
Knot that arrived very late in the day.) And we must not forget the handful of
Coot albeit no Moorhen was seen on the day.
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| Record shot of a very distant Little Stint Calidris minuta |
With the arrival of Spring a number of summer visitors had arrived including
Northern Wheatear, a lone
Pied Flycatcher and a
Bonelli's Warbler. Other warblers included
Cetti's,
Dartford and
Sardinian Warbler along with
Chiffchaff and
Zitting Cisticola. Hirundines were represented by
Barn and
Red-rumped Swallow plus
House Martin and both
White and the Iberian sub-species of
Yellow Wagtail were seen by most. A good selection of chats including
Robin,
Black Redstart,
Stonechat plus
Blue Rock Thrush,
Blackbird and
Song Thrush. Similarly, larks were well represented with both
Lesser and
Greater Short-toed Lark,
Wood Lark and
Crested Lark.
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| Wood Lark Lullula arborea (PHOTO: Steve Powell) |
Now it is just a question of adding the missing birds such as
Hoopoe,
Collared Dove and
Rock Dove plus the three finches of
Green,
Gold and
Linnet along with a pair of
Rock Buntings, both
House and
Spanish Sparrow and three corvids represented by
Magpie,
Jackdaw and
Raven. Did I mention
Spotless Starling?
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| The very local endemic plant the pink Cabo de Gata Snapdragon Antirrhinum charidemi (known locally as "Dragoncillo del Cabo") found at the top of the mountain road overlooking the sea. |
All in all a wonderful day's birding with great company.
Birds seen by the group:
Shelduck, Mallard, Shoveler, Balearic Shearwater, Gannet, Shag, Cormorant, Cattle
Egret, Little Egret, Grey Heron, Marsh Harrier, Sparrowhawk, Common Kestrel,
Peregrine Falcon, Coot, Black-winged Stilt, Avocet, Stone Curlew, Ringed
Plover, Kentish Plover, Dotterel, Golden Plover, Grey Plover, Knot, Sanderling, Little Stint, Dunlin, Black-tailed Godwit,
Redshank, Greenshank, Common Sandpiper, Turnstone, Black-headed Gull,
Slender-billed Gull, Audouin’s Gull, Lesser Black-backed Gull, Yellow-legged
Gull, Sandwich Tern , Black-bellied Sandgrouse,
Rock Dove, Collared Dove, Little
Owl, Hoopoe, Short-toed Lark, Lesser Short-toed Lark, Crested Lark, Wood Lark, Barn
Swallow, Red-rumped Swallow, House Martin, Blue-headed Wagtail, White Wagtail,
Robin, Black Redstart, Stonechat, Northern Wheatear, Black Wheatear, Blue Rock
Thrush, Blackbird, Song Thrush, Cetti’s Warbler, Zitting Cisticola, Dartford
Warbler, Sardinian Warbler, Bonelli’s
Warbler, Chiffchaff, Pied Flycatcher, Iberian Grey Shrike, Woodchat Shrike,
Magpie, Jackdaw, Raven, Spotless Starling, House Sparrow, Spanish Sparrow,
Greenfinch, Goldfinch, Linnet, Rock Bunting
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