A fabulous species list and a mystery Tern
Last week, I provided a day of guided birding for a mother and daughter from Belguim. The daughter lives here in Spain and her mother was visiting for a week. Both were very keen and experienced birders and were eager to see the wetlands of Valencia, especially at this fabulous time of the year when the breeding season is well underway. The day turned out to be very interesting, and resulted in a fabulous species list and a mystery Tern! As they had made a big effort to drive to Valencia from the interior of Alicante, I opted to combine part of Albufera with another wetland area as a way of optimising the day. Our first stop was at a reserve area within the Albufera de Valencia Natural Park. As well as wanting to see the colony of Sandwich Terns, there had been reports of a mystery Tern, originally thought to be an Elegant Tern (a species usually found in Mexico and the Pacific). However, the bird had been successfully identified, by blood testing and DNA analysis as a hybrid. Its parent species were Lesser Crested Tern and Sandwich Tern….