Yesterday, I was delighted to kick-off the new year at Valencia Birding with a trip for a fantastic couple of clients from Germany. Olaf and Marina are experienced and well travelled birders and had requested a day of winter birding in the mountains of Valencia as part of their new year break.
The weather forecast was perfect – cool but sunny and with little or no wind. After a comfortable journey from their apartment in Valencia, we arrived at our destination and once fuelled with coffee we began our walk.
The first twenty minutes of the route that lead up through semi-open mountain forest was fairly quiet, but after that we were soon enjoying great views of Crested Tit, Coal Tit and Long-tailed Tit.
Crested Tit
As we approached the high point of the route, we paused to check out some movement in a pine tree and were rewarded with views of Firecrest. A few more minutes walking took us to the summit of a rocky peak where we were hoping to see Alpine Accentors, one of the day´s key target species. A little searching revealed two birds, feeding on a rocky ledge. Although they were in the shade, they gave us fantastic views.
Alpine Accentor
After a picnic lunch enjoying the views across the mountains, we began our descent. As we were stood under a pine tree, Olaf heard a strange sound from above. Carefully, we moved to get a view of what was making it, which revealed itself as a Crossbill feeding on pine nuts. We enjoyed great views of this fantastic little bird before setting off in search of another target species – Short Toed Treecreeper. As is often the case, patience was rewarded with some nice views of this very busy little creature hopping up the trunk of a nearby tree.
Crossbill
Our next site was a mountain gorge where we enjoyed views of many Griffon Vultures, both in flight and at rest on ledges high up the walls. Here, we were hoping to see Blue Rock Thrush and Black Wheatear. The former obliged very nicely and gave almost instant views! At first, we saw a male and a little later we were happy to see a pair together.
Blue Rock Thrush
The Black Wheatear took a little more effort, but we eventually succeeded in getting views of a pair of birds flitting between boulders on the mountainside. An area of scrub held Blackcap, Sardinian Warbler and Chiffchaff and despite the quite late hour, there were still plenty of Griffon Vultures soaring above us as we made our way back to the car.
Black Wheatear
It had been a fantastic day – wonderful sunny winter weather, stunning surroundings, all of our target birds seen and all of that in great company.
The species list for the day included…
Crested Tit, Great Tit, Long Tailed Tit, Coal Tit, Firecrest, Chaffinch, Chiffchaff, Alpine Accentor, Griffon Vulture, House Sparrow, Short Toed Treecreeper, Crossbill, Blue Rock Thrush, Sardinian Warbler, Blackcap, Blackbird, Black Wheatear, Raven.
Written by David Warrington.
Bird Watching Guide at Valencia Birding.