birds of Eastern Spain - Page 8 of 8 - Valencia Birding

Northern Valencian Wetlands

Sunday 8th May dawned bright with clear blue skies…something of a rarity in itself following the recent succession of wet weekends! We spent the day exploring various wetland sites along the coastline of Northern Valencia. Most if not all summer visitors were well established. The tick list for the day totalled 47 species, a very satisfying achievement. Not only were we pleased with the variety of birds seen, but we were paticularly fortunate to enjoy superb views of almost every one. Highlights included Avocet, Collared Pratincole, Great Egret, Glossy Ibis, Squacco Heron, Little Bittern, Purple Gallinule, Spoonbill and White Headed Duck. The entire list for the day comprised : Avocet, Black Winged Stilt, Blackbird, Collared Pratincole, Coot, Cormorant, Corn Bunting, Dunlin, Little Egret, Cattle Egret, Great Egret, Glossy Ibis, Goldfinch, Little Grebe, Great Crested Grebe, Yellow Legged Gull, Grey Heron, Purple Heron, Squacco Heron, Hoopoe, Kestrel, House Sparrow, House Martin, Little Bittern, Little Ringed Plover, Magpie, Mallard, Moorhen, Pied Flycatcher, Pochard, Red Crested Pochard, Purple Gallinule, Redshank, Shoveler, Spoonbill, Spotless Starling, Stonechat, Swallow, Swift, Common Tern, Little Tern, Whiskered Tern, Turtle Dove, Great Reed Warbler, Fan Tailed Warbler, Yellow Wagtail,…

Wryneck’s Galore

April saw the arrival of many summer visitors to La Drova including large numbers of Wryneck, some seen if you have the patience. Nightingales can be heard right through the valley. A male and female Pied Flycatcher have been spotted again this year but cannot determine if they breed here (no sign of Spotted Flycatcher yet). A single Redstart was seen on 1st April and the first Woodchat Shrike on 10th April ). Red-Rumped Swallows have been seen collecting nest material which means they must be breeding in La Drova (good news). Bee-eaters past overhead at high altitude on 15th April. Golden Oriole have now arrived (first heard calling today 21st April in front of our Villa) with any luck they will be breeding again this year. Our resident Tawny Owls are calling though the night only interrupted by the sound of the Nightingale. Still waiting for the song of the first Melodious Warbler. Our species count for La Drova now stands at 54 for this year and 74 in total.

Beniarres & Valle de Gallinera – April 6th 2011

Ian & Dave spent a half day around the Beniarres and Valle de Gallinera area. Beniarres provided the first Swifts of the year plus good views of Cirl Bunting, Sardinian Warbler, Stonechat and at least 4 Blue Rock Thrush. Valle de Gallinera rewarded our efforts with Nightingale, and the highlight of the day – Golden Eagle. The list for the trip totalled 25, comprising… Swift, Swallow, House Martin, Pied Wagtail, House Sparrow, Spotless Starling, Magpie, Blackbird, Stonechat, Little Egret, Cirl Bunting, Goldfinch, Grey Heron, Sardinian Warbler, Greenfinch, Blue Rock Thrush, Great Crested Grebe, Mallard, Moorhen, Serin, Great Tit, Nightingale, Golden Eagle, Chough, Kestrel.

Albufera de Valencia, March 26th 2011

We spent a few hours touring around various sites within the Albufera natural park. Although maybe a little early for some of the usual summer visitors, we managed to see a total of 19 species, including a few of particular interest. Superb and sustained views of a male Bluethroat was perhaps the most pleasant. List included : Black Winged Stilt, Bluethroat, Little Egret, Cattle Egret, Garganey, Black Headed Gull, Yellow Legged Gull, Audouin´s Gull, Grey Heron, Hoopoe, House Sparrow, House Martin, Marsh Harrier, Redshank, Reed Bunting, Spotless Starling, Swallow, Yellow Wagtail, Wood Sandpiper

In Search Of The Great Bustard

On March 7th Dave and I headed for Castilla La Mancha in search of, lifers for the both of us,The Great Bustard but hoping also to add a number of birds to our year lists. On our way to the Steppes and lagoons of Albacete we saw many Magpie and Carrion crow plus Red-legged partridge and at the first lagoon Shelduck Black headed Gull, Mistle Thrush, Lapwing and Hoopoe. At the second lagoon we found Greater Flamingo, Marsh Harrier, Coot, Little Grebe, Black-winged Stilt, Avacet, Spotted Starling, Redshank, Common Sandpiper and Little ringed Plover. Our next stop was the cereal fields amongst the Wind Farms producing at least 22 Great Bustards which we watched for a while before they all took flight. The background image for the Blog is a photo of the Bustards in flight. Heading back to Valencia we stopped at 2 more lagoons and found Water Pipit, Snipe, Swallow, Rock Sparrow, Green Sandpiper, Lesser Black-backed Gull, Shoveler, Common Teal and a Buzzard plus on one lagoon hundreds of Lesser Flamingo.