We always are keen to provide birding trips for families in Valencia. Last Friday Dave and I had the pleasure to provide a guided bird watching trip to Albufera de Valencia for a family from England. Steve is an experienced birder, and he and his wife were visiting his son Adam in Valencia where he is studying. After we collected them from their apartment we went to Albufera de Valencia Natural Park as they interested in seeing the bird life of the region´s wetlands.
Purple Swamphen
First stop was in a reserve area, after a short walk through the forest we were in the hide with great views of hundreds of waders, Black-winged Stilts, Ruff, Black-tailed Godwit, Grey Plovers… all of which suddenly took flight when a Marsh Harrier came in low over the lagoon.
The next hide was located in front of another lagoon that held plenty of waterfowl including Teal, Red Crested Pochard and Shoveler. We also had a great view of a Black-necked Grebe. Before leaving the centre we decided to climb the observation tower to enjoy greats views of l’Albufera lake and the Devesa forest.
Black Necked Grebe
Next stop was in a restricted reserve area. After a short drive through the rice paddies, we entered the reserve and enjoyed good views of Purple Swamphens and a spectacular display of a Booted Eagle. We then had lunch in the reserve´s hide whilst watching the ever popular Kingfisher and also Great Egrets.
Booted Eagle
Next stop was in another observation tower in the southern part of the Natural Park, where we were surprised to see an amazing sight – over 30 Cranes feeding in a nearby field. Whilst Steve was scanning around with the scopes, he also spotted a Peregrine Falcon.
Last stop was in an area close to the beach, that we know is a good spot for species such as Hoopoe, Crested Larks and Serins. We ended the day with a “team photo” as a way to remember this fantastic birding day.
We´d managed to see 63 species…
Kestrel, Peregrine Falcon, Marsh Harrier, Booted Eagle, Common Buzzard, Black headed Gull, Lesser Black-backed Gull, Yellow-legged Gull; Sandwich Tern, Mallard, Shelduck, Shoveller, Red-ccrested Pochard, Pintail, Gadwall, Garganey, Common Teal, Crane, Glossy Ibis, Grey Heron, Great Egret, Little Egret, Cattle Egret, Purple Swamphen, Moorhen, Coot, Black-necked Grebe, Black-tailed Godwit, Ruff, Black-winged Stilt, Grey Plover, Little Ringed Plover, Lapwing, Wood Sandpiper, Little Stint, Snipe, Spotted Redshank, Great Cormorant, Starling, Spotless Starling, Magpie, Kingfisher, Crag Martin, Hoopoe, Zitting Cisticola, Sardinian Warbler, Chiffchaff, Common Chaffinch, Green Finch, House Sparrow, Stonechat, Black Redstart, Bluethroat, Meadow Pipit, Robin, White Wagtail, Yellow Wagtail, Grey Wagtail, Serin, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Redwing, Robin.