Sierra de Maria with the Arboleas Birding Group

Wednesday 4 October

The last of the autumn visits by the Arboleas Birding Group so by the time Dave returns from the UK, hopefully, both Trumpeter Finches and Dotterels will be back at Cabo de Gata.  And what about that Peregrine sighting!  certainly a wonderful way to sign off for a few weeks; just hope Dave finds some good birds when he gets back to Blighty.

Sierra de Maria  -  Wednesday 4th October

From my house in Arboleas, Juda and I headed north towards the Sierra de Maria.  Shortly after we'd passed Velez Blanco's impressive castle a Peregrine Falcon crossed in front of us heading for the hills.  A great start!  We arrived at the La Piza forest cafe.  Juda soon spotted a Robin.  We filled the bird feeders up with peanuts....the bombay mix was still there! (See previous Maria report)  We were joined by Mike, Kiersten, Peter in Richard's car, Trevor and Albert and Jenni.  As we had our coffees Richard added a Chaffinch and a Jay.  The flock of House Sparrows were still around and a Great Tit sampled the new nuts.

Great Tit (PHOTO: David Elliott-Binns)

We headed out in convoy to do the loop (Hope you Read Kevin's article I sent last week. Well worth a read if not!)  Trevor joined Juda in my car, Richard and crew were behind with Albert and Jenni bringing up the rear.  Along the way to the village we spotted Carrion Crows, a steady stream of Barn Swallows flying south and the first of many Thekla Larks.  By the farm buildings we added Spotless Starlings and a Magpie.

Thekla Lark (PHOTO: David Elliott-Binns)

We stopped at our usual spot just before the village.  More Thekla Larks and Barn Swallows.  Richard spotted a Corn Bunting.  We started along the track.  It wasn't long before I spotted a bird on the left hand barbwire fence.  A Whinchat.  Moving on we saw the first of about 10 Northern Wheatears for the day. Numerous Woodpigeons were seen.  Richard saw a Red-legged Partridge.  We flushed a Hoopoe as we drove past.  A flight of 8 low flying beige birds landed in a field to our left.  I stopped and luckily they were visible.  Black-bellied Sandgrouse.  They flew off.  Albert tracked them and thought they'd gone over the track to the right.  We carried on slowly to their estimated flight path and were glad to see they had landed not far from the road.  They didn't hang about.  Had great views of their black bellies as they flew off.  We headed to the cliff face seeing a charm of Goldfinches.  We didn't see anything from our stopping point.  We walked to the far side, leaving Richard in his car.  Trevor spotted some hirundines flying around the rocks on the opposite side to the cliff face . Our first Crag Martins of the autumn.  Returning to the car, Richard had seen a pair of Black-eared Wheatears. 

Moving on we added a Kestrel.  Trevor found a covey of Red-legged Partridges.  Richard had a Northern Starling near the farm buildings. I added some Linnets by the air strip.

Arriving at the hamlet there was nothing to be until someone spotted a Kestrel.  I found what appeared to be a lone Griffon Vulture soaring above the furthest peak...estimated 7km away!  We carried on to the water trough.  Nothing there but now we were a few kilometres closer to the Griffon Vulture.  It had been joined by about 20 others!

We returned to the La Piza forest cafe for lunch.  We saw Crested, Great, Blue and Long-tailed Tits feeding from the nuts.  A Chiffchaff made a brief appearance below them.  Albert did well to spot the Pied Flycatcher in a nearby tree.

A very good day's birding in good company.  I'm off to the UK next week, getting back mid-November.

Best regards,

Dave

P.S. Happy birthday to both Richards...you know who you are! Sending best wishes to Linda & Kath.

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