Last Thursday I provided a day of guided birding for a client from Maine, USA. She is an experienced birder, and often visits Valencia. She was keen to add some new species to her list, and was keen to arrange a day of guided bird watching with us. Over the past few years, Albufera de Valencia just gets better as a birding destination, with increasing populations of many endangered species.
I met her at her holiday home and we then made the short drive to Albufera de Valencia where we began our day at an observatory overlooking the Albufera lake. We enjoyed watching the winter visitors that are already arriving, including species such as Red-crested Pochard and Pintail.
Red Crested Pochard
Next stop was in a protected reserve area where we enjoyed great views of the charismatic Kingfisher. We were also fortunate enough to watch a Booted Eagle soaring and hunting above the reserve as well as a good selection of waders, many of which were on their autumn passage.
On the way to our next venue, we stopped at a golf resort as one of the target species of the day was Hoopoe. They love to forage in the short grass, so golf courses often provide prime habitat! Our luck was in, and we not only had great views of Hoopoe, but also of Crested Lark and Serin.
Next stop was in the forest, where Pied Flycatcher, Sardinian Warbler, Short-toed Treecreper gave us great opportunities to photograph them.
Driving to our last stop, we were surprised by a very bold Osprey who gave us some fantastic opportunities to get some great photos. Finally we arrived at a narrow canal where we were hoping to get views of Purple Swamphens… and again, luck was on our side!
It was an amazing birding day with a great list of species that included…
Osprey, Booted Eagle, Marsh Harrier, Common Kestrel, Northern Shoveler, Mallard, Garganey, Pintail, Red-crested Pochard, Lesser black-backed Gull, Audoin’s Gull, Sandwich Tern, Whiskered Tern, Flamingo, Grey Heron, Great Egret, Squacco Heron, Little Egret, Cattle Egret, Moorhen, Coot, Purple Swamphen, Little Grebe, Great-crested Grebe, Ruff, Avocet, Black-winged Stilt, Collared Pratincole, Common Snipe, Wood Sandpiper, Green Sandpiper, Common Sandpiper, Curlew Sandpiper, Dunlin, Little Stint, Redshank, Greenshank, Ringed Plover, Little Ringed Plover, Hoopoe, Magpie, Wood Pigeon, Turtle Dove, Kingfisher, Magpie, Blackbird, Crested Lark, Great Tit, Long-tailed Tit, House Martin, Barn Swallow, Sand Martin, Great Reed Warbler, Reed Warbler, Zitting Cisticola, Cetti’s Warbler, Willow Warbler, Sardinean Warbler, Pied Flycatcher, House Sparrow, Greenfinch, Great Tit, Long-tailed Tit, Serin, Firecrest, Treecreeper.