Today I had pleasure of providing a birding trip to Albufera de Valencia Natural Park for a client from England. She is a keen birder who loves to travel and discover new species.
She wanted to explore the wetland bird species near the city of Valencia where she was staying on a business trip.
After I collected her from her apartment, we went to a protected reserve and “green filter” area of Albufera de Valencia which is an amazing hotspot for birding at this time of the year when rice fields are dry. At such times, most of the birdlife remains inside these very special places.
We had a long but relaxing walk through the reserve and when we arrived at the management centre, we were delighted to discover that the reserve staff were ringing birds.
It was a fascinating experience for Jo to see the ringing and recording process.
After a morning in the wetlands, we spent the rest of the day at the Devesa Forest where we found many woodland species were alreay well into their breeding cycle.
We´d enjoyed the day very much, with a species list that totalled 45, including…
Marsh Harrier, Kestrel, Grey Heron, Purple Heron, Great Egret, Little Egret, Cattle Egret, Little Bittern, Flamingo, Glossy Ibis, Spoonbill, Ruff, Common Sandpiper, Black-winged Stilt, Ringed Plover, Little Grebe, Purple Swamphen, Moorhen, Coot, Shelduck, Mallard, Shoveler, Red-Crested Pochard, Gargany, Great Cormorant, Whiskered Tern, Common Tern, Swift, Swallow, House Martin, Magpie, Starling, Bee Eater, Water Pipit, House Sparrow, Goldfinch, Serin, Blackcap, Sardinean Warbler, Redstart, Long-tailed Tit, Wren, Cetti´s Warbler, Willow Warbler, Wood Warbler, Chiff Chaff.