bird watching costa blanca - Page 11 of 14 - Valencia Birding

Winter birding at Albufera de Valencia

Yesterday, I enjoyed a fabulous day of birding at Albufera de Valencia with returning clients from the Netherlands. Although chilly and quite breezy, we enjoyed a truly wonderful day. As we only had one day, we aimed to maximise habitat diversity, taking in coastal scrub, dunes, beach, sea, rice fields, reed beds and fresh water lagoons. The day began at a reserve area where we scanned the main Albufera lake for wildfowl. We enjoyed views of Pintail, Teal, Pochard, Red Crested Pochard, Shoveler and Wigeon. We moved on to watch a smaller lagoon where we saw Black Tailed Godwit, Black Winged Stilt, Ruff and the spectacular Booted Eagle. This raptor has in recent years become a resident of the Valencia region and can often be seen in Albufera and other coastal wetland sites. Our next stop was an area of coastal scrub and grassland where we had good views of Meadow Pipit, Red Legged Partridge, Black Redstart and Sardinian Warbler. A short time spent sea watching gave views of Gannet, Razorbill, and Yellow Legged Gull whilst on the beach we enjoyed watching a small flock of Sanderling feeding by the…

A superb day at Albufera de Valencia.

A couple of weeks ago, just before the much needed rain storms that we´re currently enjoying, I provided a trip to Albufera de Valencia for a couple of regular clients. As they are frequent clients, we opted to spend the morning in just one reserve area and focus on what we could see there. The day began with a treat as hundreds of Greater Flamingoes passed low overhead, providing a real spectacle. They were soon followed by a Buzzard and then a small group of Booted Eagles, both pale and dark phase. The lagoons held Purple Swamphens in good numbers, as well as Glossy Ibis and Great Egret. Despite it being late November, we also watched a few Barn Swallows feeding with House Martins over the water. The reeds contained Zitting Cisticola, Reed Bunting, Kingfisher and Chiffchaff. Then as we were approaching the edge of another lagoon, we were delighted to enjoy great views of a Bittern, perhaps the highlight of the day! After lunch by a small canal where we had views of Little Bittern, we moved to the south side of the park, where we´d heard of reports of…

Birding from Alicante

I recently designed and provided a 2-day bird photography trip for a client from Norway. Svein was staying in the south of our region and wanted to organise a couple of days birding from Alicante. We opted for a day at the area´s premium wetland reserve followed by a day on the steppe. That way he would see two completely different habitats. One day 1 we met up and drove to the wetlands where we started the day with a walk through the reserve. The day began with views of Little Grebe, Little Stint, Dunlin, Avocet and Greater Flamingo. We had good views of Glossy Ibis in flight, then of Booted Eagle passing overhead. Although we weren´t able to get quality photos, we were very fortunate to enjoy views of one of the over-wintering Spotted Eagles, a huge raptor that migrates from Eastern Europe each year. After a picnic lunch by a small lake where we enjoyed views of Wood Sandpiper, Red Knobbed Coot and Purple Swamphen, we took a short walk during which we had great views of a Black Stork. We then visited a couple of hides from…

2 Day Birding Trip in the Wetlands of Valencia

Last week Dave and I had the pleasure of providing a 2-day trip for a couple of clients who have returned to Valencia each year to go birding with us. We´ve since become firm friends and have enjoyed some great trips together. This time they had planned an autumn trip and wanted to see the wetlands of this fabulous region. Day 1 – Albufera de Valencia Natural Park Having collected Jan and Ossie from central Valencia, we drove to Albufera to one of the park´s restricted reserve areas. Whilst driving through the harvested rice paddies, we had great views of Glossy Ibis, Great Egret and Southern Grey Shrike, indeed a good start to the day. Once in the reserve, we stopped to scan over a small lagoon and enjoyed views of Snipe, Little Stint, Wood Sandpiper and Purple Swamphen. The next lagoon and its surroundings gave views of Bluethroat, Spoonbill, Kingfisher, Reed Bunting and Redshank. After lunch, we visited another reserve where we enjoyed watching wildfowl, including Red-Crested Pochard, Pintail, Gadwall, Shelduck and Shoveler. The species list for the day included : Mallard, Shoveler, Red-crested Pochard, Common Pochard, Shelduck, Teal, Great-crested Grebe,…

2-Day Bird Photography Trip

Last week I was delighted to provide a 2-day bird photography trip for a Dutch client who lives in Madrid. We had communicated at length and had designed a bespoke trip for him, taking in some very specific locations, in search of some key target species. His priority was wading birds, gulls and Water Rail. On day-1 we made the short trip from the beautiful city of Valencia to the internationally important wetland of Albufera. We made a brief stop to admire a family of Booted Eagles that were flying low overhead, searching a nearby rice field for prey. We then moved on to visit a special, restricted reserve which in autumn is excellent for waders. It was quite a windy morning, so we spent a little time thinking of how we could best position the vehicle to afford maximum shelter and best light conditions whilst not risking any disturbance of the birds. We enjoyed some fabulous views of some great wading birds including Bar-Tailed Godwit, Black-Tailed Godwit, Little Stint, Curlew Sandpiper, Greenshank and Dunlin. Having spent a good while at the first lagoon we then took shelter in a…

2-Day Guided Birding Trip

We recently had the pleasure of designing and providing a 2-day guided birding trip for some clients from UK. They were staying on the Costa Blanca and wanted two days with us, taking in two very different habitats. Day 1 – Albufera de Valencia. On day one, Yanina guided them through the fabulous wetland reserves of Albufera de Valencia. This time of year is especially interesting as there are still some summer visitors around, such as the Little Bittern and Squacco Heron. However, many wintering species, especially waders are already here, so the species list can be extensive. Indeed, the list of waders was excellent, including Curlew Sandpiper, Spotted Redshank, Little Stint, Wood Sandpiper, Little Ringed Plover and both Black-tailed and Bar-tailed Godwit. Wildfowl were also seen in good numbers, including Teal, Red Crested Pochard, Gadwall and Shelduck. The species list for the day included… Booted Eagle, Marsh Harrier, Kestrel, Flamingo, Glossy Ibis, Spoonbill, Purple Swamphen, Moorhen, Coot, Little Bittern, Squacco Heron, Great Egreat, Grey Heron, Cattle Egret, Little Egret, Great-crested Grebe, Black-necked Grebe, Little Grebe, Mallard, Teal, Shoveler, Red-crested Pochard, Gadwall, Shelduck, Great Cormorant, Black-winged Stilt, Avocet, Ruff, Spotted…