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ZEISS DTI thermal imaging cameras. For more discoveries at night, and during the day.

Birding in Alicante Province (5 Viewers)

A couple of nice additions to the summer trip list over the last couple of days.

The first was certainly my best ever views of a Roller, as I took one of my neighbours out on an early morning bike ride on Wednesday morning. We headed down one of the gravelled "white" farm tracks from the top end of Urb La Marina (which comes out on the road to La Foia/La Hoya) and half way down, where I've occasionally seen Little Owl, a Roller was perched on a roadside tree no more than 12' away. What's more, it didn't fly off when I stopped to point it out, so we had great views for a few minutes as it eyed us up and preened its wings. Fab!

Then yesterday, I had a trip to El Pinet beach with the family, but we left the sun cream at home(!) so I had to drive back to the Urb. My grumbling was soon stopped, as a Great Spotted Cuckoo flew over as I arrived back! I also fancy I saw a Shearwater out at sea being mobbed by gulls later on, but couldn't get my bins out fast enough!

Other sightings over the last few days include 3-4 Spotted Flycatcher in the olive grove at the end of the Rio Segura, bee-eaters over the house at the Urb, and a family party of Yellow Wagtail feeding in a dried-out irrigation canal.

Finally, nice to see dozens of Plain Tiger butterfly on the wing along the Palm Farm road this afternoon.
 
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Exactly there - saw plenty over the last few days flying about but I have seen them at the East end in the Eucalyptus trees and I guess the allotments might be worth a look for them. None so far on the ground. Saw the feral Monk Parakeets yesterday near Carrefour in Torrevieja which is only the second time I have seen these.

So, I headed out to Laguna La Mata a couple of days ago, and although I didn't manage to see any Turtle Doves, I did very easily connect with the two Montagu's Harrier, with excellent, fairly close views of them hunting over the scrub from the first watch tower, as you said! Majestic birds, clearly hunting very successfully!

The lake held more birds than I have seen there before (although it's not a regular haunt for me), with large groups of Flamingo, Stilt and mixed gull flocks, some quite close in to shore. Also, lots of Kentish Plover and Curlew Sandpiper with one or two Turnstone, and literally hundreds and hundreds of Common and Pallid Swift. Common Tern and Sandwich tern were also present in good numbers, and as previously, the shaded areas with trees gave very good views of Spotted Flycatcher
 
Well, my three weeks in Spain flew by, and I'm back home in the UK. I didn't get much chance to post that much on here while I was away, but a few memorable highlights were:

Two species added to my life-list, and further addition to my Spanish list.

The first lifer came with a fortuitous sighting of a Woodlark hopping around on a track through pine-scrub near the Urbanizacion where I was staying. On the same day, I had visited the local Salinas, which had been much more productive than the first visit: at El Pinet there with several Slender-billed Gulls (which had been conspicuous by their absence on my previous visit), a couple of dozen Black-tailed Godwit, a few Curlew Sandpiper and a rather neat-looking Greenshank (which was a new species for me, in Spain). At Santa Pola, the new-ish "hide" (which doesn't hide you) still gave good, close views of several Squacco Heron, and among the coots, stilts, little egret and a couple of hundred YL gulls, there was a single [/b]Whimbrel[/b].

The second lifer came on a cycle ride up into the Sierra Crevillente hills, where I took the route up to the (ex?) Finca Bonelli. Despite watching the next for 20-minutes or so, I saw no sign of these eagles, however. But I did finally get a confirmed sighting of a Blue Rock Thrush - my second lifer - which I have never seen for certain on any other visit to the area. In addition, there were lots of active warblers, including Dartford Warbler, Subalpine Warbler, and Orphean Warbler, together with a couple of family-parties of Northern Wheatear and a very confiding Woodchat shrike.

And finally, having been unable to see any at La Mata, I finally connected with a pair of Turtle Dove quite by accident, when a couple of doves on telegraph wires near Daya Nueva attracted my attention, causing an abrupt stop, so was delighted on closer inspection to find they were indeed turtle dove (only my second sighting in Spain in the last 8 or 8 years!!)
 
Three photos from the trip
 

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I have to say lazza, that you haven't been looking very hard for Turtle Doves! I'm not saying that the Clot de Galvany is knee-deep in them, but it's a rare daily visit in summer that doesn't produce two or three in there, and plenty out in the nearby countryside too....|:d|
 
I have to say lazza, that you haven't been looking very hard for Turtle Doves! I'm not saying that the Clot de Galvany is knee-deep in them, but it's a rare daily visit in summer that doesn't produce two or three in there, and plenty out in the nearby countryside too....|:d|

Haha! Well, yes, you're probably right. I usually assume the doves I see are collared doves, but very possibly some of them are not!! (And my experience stopping-and-starting on my bike to look at each pair of doves on telegraph wires has proven that to be the case so far, so in the end I kind of gave up stopping-and-starting!!)
 
I've only seen one Turtle Dove (last year) in 7 or 8 visits in as many years. My experience has also been that Collared Doves outnumber them about 100 to 1!

The wire upon which that Turtle Dove was sat also had my very first Little Owl a little further along, so that was a good day.
 
I saw multiple Turtle Doves daily over the fortnight I was there but it was mostly flying birds picked on dark underwings and direct, fast flight.
 
I've only seen one Turtle Dove (last year) in 7 or 8 visits in as many years. My experience has also been that Collared Doves outnumber them about 100 to 1!

The wire upon which that Turtle Dove was sat also had my very first Little Owl a little further along, so that was a good day.

I'm glad it's not just me :)

I saw multiple Turtle Doves daily over the fortnight I was there but it was mostly flying birds picked on dark underwings and direct, fast flight.

Thanks, that's quite helpful. I guess I also show my lack of birding knowledge in not "seeing" Turtle Doves. As I have only seen them once before, I wouldn't honestly be able to say I could recognise one in flight or differentiate from a collared dove without a good, clear view, but I'll look more closely for dark underwings next year :t:
 
I'm back out for a week on the 15th of Oct. I'm hoping to pin down those pesky Magpies this time.
What is the best option to pin down a Crested Tit this visit? Or what else is worth looking or at this time of Year? I'm expecting to do El Fondo and Clot de Galvany. I'll have junior so it won't be all birding.
Back out for a short trip in mid December alone too.
 
I will be there for a month from 12th October - if you need help getting to the AW Magpies let me know.

I've seen Cresties in the Sierra Espuna - any mountainous and wooded area should produce some. Hondo is of course an excellent place at this time of year for overwintering raptors (including hopefully Great Spotted Eagles) and certainly there will be plenty of wader action along the coast and in the salt flats. The Clot usually holds fairly good numbers of Bluethroats, but patience is needed to see them, they favour the overgrown reedbed near the Western entrance to the Clot along Avenida de Carabassi.
 
I'm back out for a week on the 15th of Oct. I'm hoping to pin down those pesky Magpies this time.
What is the best option to pin down a Crested Tit this visit? Or what else is worth looking or at this time of Year? I'm expecting to do El Fondo and Clot de Galvany. I'll have junior so it won't be all birding.
Back out for a short trip in mid December alone too.

Hi Simon, saw a Crested Tit yesterday, they are common around the pines around Tres Fuentes near Encebras, Pinoso. Lots of birds round here, Black Whetear, Blue Rock Thrush, Rock Bunting, Short Toed Treecreeper, Chough. Good luck
 
My wife and I are staying in a villa up in the hills not far from Font Del Moli near Finestrat. I doubt I'll get much chance to go to the well-known birding areas down the coast, but wondered whether anyone knows this area well and can advise what birds I should be looking out for? On the wish list, I was hoping for Black Wheatear, Blue Rock Thrush, Bonelli's Eagle (maybe being over-optimistic!), Lark species, etc.
 
I succeeded with the Magpies today. A few rows of villas down from where I had searched the last two times. I chose to search a wider area luckily. Lots of dogs in the vicinity of where I found them and no luck with a picture. I noted lots of free flying Zebra Finches in the area. Four Magpies were seen.
 
Been visiting the property near Pillar over the years generally having to keep the family happy with the beach, trips out, shopping etc with only brief birding opportunities mainly around San Pedro salt pans. Recently haven retired, my wife is still working and my 17 teen year old lad is "not botherred" I find my self with time to visit bringing all the gear for some full on birding. I don't intend visiting for the remainder of this year but I am keen to come over for spring migration next year, any recommendations on dates?. Could I encourage people post there trip reports to get the juices flowing!.

Hope to see you round and about.

The Welshman with camera and big lens
 
For those who know the Clot de Galvany reserve, the news is that the horrendously overgrown scrape area has at last been cleared again, and a spell of wet weather last week left some pools which attracted a patch tick yesterday for me - a group of at least 3 Water Pipits.

Hopefully the reserve authorities will flood the channels soon, which should attract even more to the area, but since the work was done I have seen Cattle Egret, Jackdaw, Common Snipe, two species of Starling, Moorhen, Grey and White Wagtail and Hoopoe in what looks initially like a most unpromising area.
 

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Cattle Egrets and a Great Grey Shrike on the fence there on Friday. It was nice to see the hide useable, though some more water and a bit of vegetation would certainly help.
 
It would appear that Tonn, the Estonian satellite-tracked Great Spotted Eagle, has arrived back in El Hondo for yet another year. His location can be seen at this site.

His transmitter failed two years ago, but he was caught during the summer at his breeding ground and a new transmitter installed. I was at El Hondo yesterday and had a very distant view of a large raptor which might have been a GSE, there have been reports of another one present for the last few weeks.

Edited to add : it would also appear that last year's Sociable Plover has returned and is consorting with the Lapwings along the Vistabella Road.
 
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It would appear that Tonn, the Estonian satellite-tracked Great Spotted Eagle, has arrived back in El Hondo for yet another year. His location can be seen at this site.

His transmitter failed two years ago, but he was caught during the summer at his breeding ground and a new transmitter installed. I was at El Hondo yesterday and had a very distant view of a large raptor which might have been a GSE, there have been reports of another one present for the last few weeks.

Edited to add : it would also appear that last year's Sociable Plover has returned and is consorting with the Lapwings along the Vistabella Road.

Doh - I'd just decided to postpone my November trip... Dipped the plover hideously last year.
 
I was out in Murcia region from Wednesday to Saturday, luckily staying dry for the first three days. Avoided El Fondo and La Mata as they would have been too boggy. A shame as it seems many Bluethroats were at El Fondo. Highlight for me, my first Blue Rock Thrush at Cabo de Palos on wednesday, straight from the airport. Good birding in General. Finally saw my first Spanish Little Owl at Gran Alacant where the paragliders set off. Clot de Galvany #1 was much fuller with water and #2 has had some serious clearing done since October too.
 

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