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| Can't see man or cow but could be made of cheese! |
A sort of "back with a vengeance" or "double header" as Dave was back out again today after his exploits with the Arboleas Birding Group down at Cabo de Gata with it now being the turn of the mountains of the Sierra de maria. Lots of good birds as can be seen in Dave's report so hoping it all bodes well for my week-end down at Tarifa, the "Malaga Bird Tour" on Wednesday and finally the sierras of Cordoba next week-end.
Sierra de Maria - Thursday 7th September
As
I left my house this morning, with the full moon showing beautifully, I
could hear Bee-eaters migrating way above me. Today I'm off to the
Sierra de Maria with David and Myrtle. Leaving my truck at their
house, David drove us towards Maria. As we passed Velez Blanco there
were 4 Bee Eaters resting on the power lines. As we entered Maria we
added House Martin, Spotless Starling, House Sparrow and Collared
Dove. After a reviving cup of coffee at the garage cafe, we headed to
the chapel area. We didn't see anything on the way up, but I spotted
some Red-rumped Swallows from the car park. We walked over to the water
trough. There was a plethora of small birds waiting to "take the waters"
using a bush to its right as a staging area. There was a family of
Subalpine Warblers, some Chiffchaff and some Chaffinch. There was a
brief appearance by a gorgeous male Common Redstart and a Pied
Flycatcher. The star however was a Western Orphean Warbler. Also seen
were Blue Tit, Coal Tit and Goldfinch. A pair of Collared Dove posed
well.
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| Western Orphean Warbler Sylvia hortensis (PHOTO: David Elliott-Binns) |
Myrtle and
I walked up towards the Information Centre whilst David went back to
the car, driving up there. Myrtle and I added Barn Swallow and
Crossbill flying over. The micro ponds in the botanical garden were busy
quenching the thirst of many birds. A group of Long-tailed Tits hogged
the limelight with a Crested Tit sneaking in. Serin and more Crossbill
visited as well.
A walk round the lower walk didn't add anything to the
list, but above us a total of probably 70 odd Bee-eaters flew noisily
over. We got back to the car and headed towards the plain. Even before
we had got to the La Piza junction we came across a serious accident.
An articulated lorry was on its side completely blocking the road. The
Guardia Civil and Traffic Maintenance crews were already there. By pure
chance, there was a dirt track adjacent to the road by which we could
pass. Once back on the road we spotted some Griffon Vultures flying
overhead. At the farm buildings I spotted a distant Hoopoe flying. On
the tree above the water deposit were 6 Crossbill waiting to drink. A
Carrion Crow was perched on top of a large bush. I then amazed myself by
identifying the call of a Booted Eagle before seeing it flying
overhead. We carried on down to the farm water trough, seeing a Jay on
the way. We only had a Crested Lark there. The plain produced nothing
till near the hamlet when we disturbed a roadside Northern Wheatear. At
the hamlet, the field beside the mounds of wheat refuse attracted a
small number of Lesser Short-toed Larks.
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| Crested Tit Parus cristatus (PHOTO: David Elliott-Binns) |
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| Male Crossbill Loxia curvirostra (PHOTO: David Elliott-Binns) |
We
adjourned to the La Piza forest cafe where we watched Crossbill and
Chaffinch coming for a drink in the man-made little pool as we ate our
snack lunch. We ended up with 28 species in all which wasn't too bad.
Good weather, birding ad company. By the time we got back to the
accident site the large recovery vehicles were in attendance. Hopefully
the driver was not physically injured!
Regards,
Dave
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| Why not capture the posing Collared Doves Streptopelia decaocto? (PHOTO: David Elliott-Binns) |
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| Quite a mess; just hope he wasn't transported fresh eggs (PHOTO: David Elliott-Binns) |
Check out the accompanying website at http://www.birdingaxarquia.weebly.com for the latest sightings, photographs and additional information.
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