21st October 2022.
I’ve spent many days over the past weeks at Albufera, and have been fortunate enough to do so with some wonderful people from all over the world. Today’s trip was for two very experienced birders from Denmark, who had chosen to include a day’s birding into their short break in Valencia.
The day of our trip was quite warm for the time of the year, but with light cloud cover and no wind. We began to see an overlap of summer visitors, winter visitors, passage migrants and resident species as soon as we began – namely Collared Pratincole, Black Tailed Godwit, Dunlin and Black Winged Stilts respectively.
Black Winged Stilts resting and preening
Teal added to the wintering birds, and a Kingfisher came to perch before us, giving excellent views. Raptors then began to show, firstly a female Marsh Harrier gliding low over the reeds, soon followed by a pale morph Booted Eagle circling high above the reserve.
Kingfisher
We moved on to our next stop where we enjoyed views of Black Necked Grebe, now in winter plumage, Greenshank, Audouin’s Gull and Great Crested Grebe. Seemingly to contrast with the “winter” guise of the grebes, House Martins and Barn Swallows were passing through overhead, a few Crag Martins also amongst them.
Black Necked Grebe
After having lunch in the forest, we drove across the rice fields, these giving us the chance to see good numbers of Cattle Egret, as well as Meadow Pipit, White Wagtail, Crested Lark, Tree Sparrow and Stonechat.
Cattle Egret
The day ended at Tancat de la Pipa, a very special “green filter” wetland reserve. Here we were able to enjoy fabulous views of Purple Swamphen, Snipe and somewhat surprisingly, a Little Bittern. As we strolled back to the car, a lone Lesser Black Backed Gull glided overhead, and then a sudden burst of colour as a Hoopoe crossed our path.
Purple Swamphen
We’d seen a great “mix” of birds, and although the day had passed by so quickly, it had been a pleasure to meet Jesper and Vibeke and to share with them this special corner of Valencia. The species list for the day included…
Mallard, Shelduck, Black Winged Stilt, Redshank, Black Tailed Godwit, Dunlin, Collared Pratincole, Ruff, Chiffchaff, Glossy Ibis, Sardinian Warbler, Greater Flamingo, Shoveler, Teal, Kingfisher, Little Grebe, Booted Eagle, Green Sandpiper, Moorhen, Marsh Harrier, Little Egret, Robin, House Sparrow, Wood Pigeon, Common Starling, Black Necked Grebe, Greenshank, Great Crested Grebe, Audouin’s Gull, Black Headed Gull, Barn Swallow, House Martin, Crag Martin, Cormorant, Stonechat, Grey Heron, Cattle Egret, Crested Lark, Great Egret, White Wagtail, Magpie, Tree Sparrow, Meadow Pipit, Chaffinch, Yellow Legged Gull, Purple Swamphen, Snipe, Great Reed Warbler (h), Water Rail (h), Hoopoe, Little Bittern, Lesser Black Backed Gull.
Written by Dave Warrington.