Friday 26 February
After all the excitement of Wednesday's visit it was rather quiet to be back at my local Rio Algarrobo walk this morning. Lovely sunny weather promising to get warmer during the day and out earlier enough to avoid just about all the dog walkers and those who use the riverside track for their exercise. Collared Doves immediately and passing overhead a dozen Spotless Starlings but within two minutes I was being deafened by the arrival of the creaming, squawking Monk Parakeets who seem to take great delight on descending to the nearest tree to me to continue their raucus behaviour.
After that introduction all relatively quiet as I made my way upstream first recording a number of Blackbirds and a lone Wood Pigeon at the top of the large, bare tree opposite the start of the barbecue area. Next a single Serin which led me to see my first Black Redstart of the day. Whereas I was to see good numbers of the former, there seemed to be fewer Black Redstarts than of previous visits. Goldfinches began to put in an appearance and I eventually recorded a single White Wagtail.
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| Female Black Redstart Clirrojo Tizon Phoenicurus ochruros |
Approaching the football field I had my regular resident House Sparrows and a brief sighting of a rapidly disappearing Meadow Pipit. Also, unlike previous visits, plenty of Greenfinches recorded this morning as I walked the main path.
Nothing else to record until beyond the motorway where I found a couple of White Wagtail in the grassy area next to the Experimental Station entrance but not a single Common Starling and only a couple of distant Spotless Starlings. Not just a handful of Lesser Black-backed and Mediterranean Gulls above the hidden reservoir but also a single Barn Swallow.
So on to the "garden" at the end where I found more Serins but little else. Crossing the ford I could hear a distant Hoopoe and eventually found a couple of Chiffchaff foraging near the water's edge to my right upstream. And many more Blackbirds.
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| Serin Verdicello Serinus serinus |
So to the return journey with the surprising sighting of a Green Sandpiper feeding in the river once south of the motorway underpass. Then it was on past the sewage works with just the one Cattle Egret on show and as I crossed the weir back to the main track both another Chiffchaff and a male Blackcap in the bushes next to the river.
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| Green Sandpiper Andarrios Grande Tringa ochropus |
Finally back to the barbecue are recording more Goldfinches and Greenfinches and the old bare tree now held two Wood Pigeon along with a, difficult to identify, Meadow Pipit in an advanced sate of moult.
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| The moulting Meadow Pipit Bisbate Pratense Anthus pratensis |
Birds seen:
Cattle Egret, Green Sandpiper, Mediterranean Gull, Lesser Black-backed Gull, Wood Pigeon, Collared Dove, Monk Parakeet, Hoopoe, Barn Swallow, Meadow Pipit, White Wagtail, Black Redstart, Blackbird, Blackcap, Chiffchaff, Spotless Starling, House Sparrow, Serin, Greenfinch, Goldfinch.
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