We recently had the pleasure to design and deliver a 4-day birding and photography trip from Valencia for a returning client from Cambridge, UK.
Stephen is a keen wildlife photographer and one of his goals for the first day of the trip was to photograph a Firecrest.
So, we began the day by driving into the mountain forests that are situated very close to Valencia. Even though we were focussed on finding Firecrest, we were very fortunate to get great views of a Short Toed Eagle that passed right over us. Finally after a little patience we got the reward with shots.
Firecrest
On day 2, we spent the day on the high steppe, where we enjoyed some fabulous views of Stone Curlew, Great Bustard, Lesser Kestrel and many more interesting species of this unique habitat.
Stone Curlew
On the third day, we spent the day in one of the most important wetlands of Spain, l’Albufera de Valencia Natural Park. Autumn is an excellent time to see huge numbers of waders, including this beautiful Whimbrel.
Whimbrel
The fourth day saw us back in Albufera, this time at one of the park´s protected green filter reserves. As well as more sightings of waders, we enjoyed great views of Osprey, Booted Eagle, Collared Pratincole plus hundreds of Glossy Ibis.
Osprey with passing Glossy Ibis
Once more, it had been a pleasure to be guiding for Stephen, and hopefully we can welcome him back to Valencia very soon.
Species Lists :
Day 1:
Short-toed Eagle, Common Buzzard, Marsh Harrier, Kestrel, Barn Owl, Cattle Egret, Grey Heron, Little Egret, Glossy Ibis, Iberian Grey Shrike, Spotted Flycatcher, Zitting Cistiola, Cetti’s Warbler, Sardinean Warbler, House Sparrow, Serin, Spotless Starling, Bee-eater, Collared Dove, Wood Pigeon, Firecrest, Crested Tit, Great Tit, Long-tailed Tit, Coal Tit, Barn Swallow, House Martin.
Day 2 :
Barn Swallow, Red Rumped Swallow, Crow, Magpie, House Sparrow, Rock Sparrow, Collared Dove, Spotless Starling, Buzzard, Kestrel, Lesser Kestrel, Booted Eagle, Little Owl, Great Bustard, Stone Curlew, Green Sandpiper, Common Sandpiper, Little Ringed Plover, Kentish Plover, Mallard, Coot, Shoveler, Shelduck, Little Grebe, Black Necked Grebe.
Day 3 :
Marsh Harrier, Booted Eagle, Whiskered Tern, Caspian Tern, Black-headed Gull, Lesser Black-backed Gull, Shoveler, Teal, Mallard, Shelduck, Flamingo, Spoonbill, Glossy Ibis, Little Grebe, Black-necked Grebe, Great-crested Grebe, Grey Heron, Squacco Heron, Great Egret, Cattle Egret, Little Egret, Purple Swamphen, Moorhen, Coot, Whimbrel, Collared Pratincole, Ruff, Black-winged Stilt, Avocet, Curlew Sandpiper, Little Stint, Dunlin, Green Sandpiper, Common Sandpiper, Wood Sandpiper, Snipe, Kentish Plover, Little-ringed Plover, Greenshank, Common Redshank, Kingfisher, Hoopoe, Iberian Grey Shrike, Crested Lark, Magpie, Collared Dove, Wood Pigeon, Spotless Starling, Barn Swallow, House Martin, Cetti’s Warbler, Zitting Cisticola, Sardinean Warbler, Spotted Flycatcher, Pied Flycatcher, Black-eared Wheater, Serin, House Sparrow.
Day 4:
Osprey, Booted Eagle, Marsh Harrier, Kestrel, Mallard, Shoveler, Glossy Ibis, Great Egret, Grey Heron, Cattle Egret, Little Egret, Squacco Heron, Purple Swamphen, Moorhen, Coot, Little Grebe, Black-winged Stilt, Little-ringed Plover, Magpie, Spotless Starling, Collared Dove, Wood Pigeon, Barn Swallow, House Martin, House Sparrow, Sardinean Warbler, Cetti’s Warbler, Kingfisher.