A few days ago I was delighted to provide a birding trip to the Valencian wetlands for Richard and Jackeline Fortey. It was a big honour for me to be guiding one of the best known paleontologists of these times.
The day was extremely windy, but despite that we managed to have a great day birding in the wetlands. After I collected them from their hotel in Valencia City, we drove straight to a reserve area beside the sea.
In the first brackish lagoon it was nice to see a Night Heron roosting in a tree, Audouin’s Gulls flying over our heads followed by Little, Common and Sandwich Terns.
Although the wind didn’t make the day easy for us, we were determined to enjoy it as much as we could. So after a walk we arrived at the main hot spot of the reserve area… the seabirds and waders’ colony. Our efforts were finally rewarded with great views of Collared Pratincoles, Mediterranean Gulls, Little Terns, Avocets and Black-winged Stilts. It was an amazing experience seeing all those species struggling against the wind to find food for their mates and chicks.
Collared Pratincole
After a picnic lunch we decided to explore another wetland in the south of Valencia City… Albufera Natural Park. We had in mind a few species to look for to complete the day… Purple Swamphen was one of those and we were very lucky to get great views of adults and chicks. Also Little Bittern showed up for a few seconds, a nice bird well spotted by Jackeline, I have to say that Richard will have to come back to get better views!
Purple Swamphen
The last stop was in a lake in a woodland area close to the sea where we enjoyed fantastic views of Slender-billed Gull, Black-necked Grebe and Kentish Plovers with chicks.
It was a great day with a lot of laughing, good company and amazing birds.
The species list of the day included…
Mallard, Red-crested Pochard, Common Pochard, Little Grebe, Black-necked Grebe, Greater Flamingo, Grey Heron, Little Egret, Cattle Egret, Squacco Heron, Little Bittern, Glossy Ibis, Western Marsh Harrier, Kestrel, Western Swamphen, Common Moorhen, Eurasian Coot, Black-winged Stilt, Pied Avocet, Kentish Plover, Ruff, Curlew Sandpiper, Common Greenshank, Common Redshank, Collared Pratincole, Audouin’s Gull, Slender-billed Gull, Yellow-legged Gull, Little Tern, Gull-billed Tern, Whiskered Tern, Sandwich Tern, Common Woodpigeon, Collared Dove, Pallid Swift, Common Swift, Magpie, Crested Lark, Barn Swallow, House Martin, Great Tit, Cetti’s Warbler, Eurasian Reed Warbler, Great Reed Warbler, Zitting Cisticola, Sardinian Warbler, Spotless Starling, White Wagtail, European Serin, House Sparrow.