 |
| Cormorant Phalancrocorax carbo |
Wednesday 26 October
A beautiful calm, clear, warm and sunny day so I took myself off to the
Charca de Suarez reserve in Motril mid-afternoon; time to collect post from Velez de Benaudalla and see what might be about in Turtle Dove Alley. What an evening; a visit that produces the 255th species of the year along with many other surprises. Great, which just goes to show that I am not going to be beaten by the missing eye - even if it is very difficult to pick out our smaller birds.
A few Cattle Egrets on the recently ploughed fields as I approached the turn into Turtle Dove Alley and then immediately greeted by the first of a few
Crested Larks. Knowing that
Red Avadavats like these long grasses at the side of the road I crawled along slowly and then stopped to check out individuals on the roadside and, sure enough, a true pair of
Red Avadavats feeding on the grass seeds. A little further on and a couple of
Greenfinches feeding alongside
House Sparrows.
 |
| Common Snipe Gallinago gallinago |
On round to the Charca entrance where a
Blackbird was watching over the entrance gate from on high and straight to the
Laguna del Alamo Blanco where a number of
Mallards were in residence along with a quintet of
Snipe and a single
White Wagtail.
Moorhens, young and mature, regularly popped out of the reeds and just as I was about to leave the female
Pintail that had been seen at the site for the past week flew in along with a couple of
Little Egrets.
 |
| Female Pintail Anas acuta |
Next it was n to the main hide overlooking the
Lagunade las Aneas where there were very many ducks, mainly mallard but also
Shoveler,
Pochard and a few
Teal. Whilst scoping the
Pochards to my right I found the (female?)
Marbled Duck that Manu had informed me was presently on site along with an unexpected
Fuerruginous Duck, my first of the year. Similarly, I was surprised, as was Manu, to find a single
Black-necked Grebe along with a good number of
Little Grebes. Lots of
Cormaorants but no gulls on the water. At the far end a single
White Stork was present as was a single juvenile
Flamingo, both apparently quite happy and contented to be on their own. A
Kingfisher flashed past the hide and repeated the exercise ten minutes later.
 |
| The distant solo White Stork Ciconia ciconia |
Scoping the edges revealed a number of
Grey Herons along with the
Moorhens and
Coots plus a collar-ringed
Red-knobbed Coot and a juvenile
Night Heron. Then the
Pintail returned to this water giving very close views.
 |
| Distant juvenile Night Heron Nycticorax nycticorax in the falling light |
On the island immediately in front of the hide almost "no room at the inn" with resting
Mallards,
Pochards,
Shovelers,
Cormorants and
Cattle Egrets. Closer inspection also revealed a
Grey Heron and a juvenile
Spoonbill.
 |
| Juvenile Spoonbill Platalea leucordia |
leaving my belongings in Manu's care I made a quick visit to the
Laguna del Trebol where i quickly found and photographed the non-collared
Red-knobbed Coot, so lovely to see the bird in its natural state.
 |
| Un-fettered Red-knobbed Coot Fulica cristala |
Returning to the first laguna via a very quick stop at the
Laguna del Taraje where I had a
Purple Swamphen immediately in front of the hide, I was in time to see both a
Black-tailed Godwit and
Common Sandpiper drop in for the evening.
Time to had off home and both
Stonechat and
Spotless Starlings on the wires as I departed. All in all, a very good couple of hours.
REMEMBER. Opening hours change next week on 1 November and evening openings until the end of January will be fro 4 to 6pm.
 |
| Female Northern Shoveler Anas clypeata |
Birds seen:
Mallard, Shoveler, Pintail, Teal, Marbled Duck, Pochard, Ferruginous Duck, Little Grebe, Black-necked Grebe, Cormorant, Night Heron, Cattle Egret, Little Egret, Heron, White Stork, Spoonbill, Flamingo, Moorhen, Purple Swamphen, Coot, Red-knobbed Coot, Snipe, Black-tailed Godwit, Common Sandpiper, Kingfisher, Crested Lark, White Wagtail, Stonechat, Blackbird, Cetti's Warbler, Spotless Starling, House Sparrow, Red Avadavat, Greenfinch.
Check out the accompanying website at http://www.birdingaxarquia.weebly.com for the latest sightings, photographs and additional information.
No comments:
Post a Comment