Today I have spent a great day showing Sara the birds of Valencia. We have been in the third largest wetland of Spain, the Albufera de Valencia. It is an important area for birds in East Spain and a must visit for all the keen birders who visit Spain.
After picking Sara from her hotel at 8:30, we drive to a vast area of rice fields located in the middle between Sueca and El Perelló. These fields have been dried during the last weeks to prepare the soil before planting the rice, so they have the perfect conditions for attracting waders and gulls. It doesn’t take long before I relocate a flock of hundreds of Lapwings, Golden Plovers and Little Stints mixed with the abundant Little, Great White and Cattle Egrets. Then, we make two stops in order to search for uncommon gulls among thousands and thousands of Black-headed Gulls. We manage to see Yellow-legged Gull, Audouin’s Gull and Lesser-black backed Gull. Large flocks of Meadow Pipits, Serin and Chaffinch fly off after the close approach of a Buzzard and a pair of Marsh Harriers.
Our next stop is in the reed bed sewage system of Tancat de l’illa. Jack Snipes welcome us, Chiffchaffs are everywhere and Cetti’s Warblers are seen. A Moustached Warbler flies off from the reeds and a pair of Purple-swamphen feed on a nearby field. I can see the happiness in Sara’s face! We have just seen the two species she was more interested in! After that, we head to the Racó del Olla visitor centre where we have our sandwiches before going to the hides. A noisy flock of 60 Black-winged Stilts lands 50 meters from us. As I set the telescope, a group of more than 80 Black-tailed Godwit is revelled. Among them, there are also 2 Green Sandpipers and 8 Spotted Redshanks. Teals, Shovelers, Little and Great Crested Grebes and Shelduck are swimming around. In the way back to the car, a male of Red-crested Pochard and a Booted Eagle fly above us. A Short-toed Treecreeper climbs an Aleppo pine and a Kingfisher crosses a ditch like a bullet.
Ten minutes later we are on the beach, watching Greenshanks in a nearby lagoon and Crested Larks in the dunes. The sky is patrolled by Sandwich Terns and Crag Martins, and the Mediterranean Sea reveals Gannets and a good number of Mediterranean Shearwaters. Before we finish the bird watching trip in Valencia, a flock of 6 Sanderlings and a solitary Common Scoter is seen.
It is worth visiting the Albufera de Valencia at this time of the year, there is so much to see and enjoy birdwatching!! For more information about this tour, please click the following link.
Have a nice day
Pau Lucio
After picking Sara from her hotel at 8:30, we drive to a vast area of rice fields located in the middle between Sueca and El Perelló. These fields have been dried during the last weeks to prepare the soil before planting the rice, so they have the perfect conditions for attracting waders and gulls. It doesn’t take long before I relocate a flock of hundreds of Lapwings, Golden Plovers and Little Stints mixed with the abundant Little, Great White and Cattle Egrets. Then, we make two stops in order to search for uncommon gulls among thousands and thousands of Black-headed Gulls. We manage to see Yellow-legged Gull, Audouin’s Gull and Lesser-black backed Gull. Large flocks of Meadow Pipits, Serin and Chaffinch fly off after the close approach of a Buzzard and a pair of Marsh Harriers.
Our next stop is in the reed bed sewage system of Tancat de l’illa. Jack Snipes welcome us, Chiffchaffs are everywhere and Cetti’s Warblers are seen. A Moustached Warbler flies off from the reeds and a pair of Purple-swamphen feed on a nearby field. I can see the happiness in Sara’s face! We have just seen the two species she was more interested in! After that, we head to the Racó del Olla visitor centre where we have our sandwiches before going to the hides. A noisy flock of 60 Black-winged Stilts lands 50 meters from us. As I set the telescope, a group of more than 80 Black-tailed Godwit is revelled. Among them, there are also 2 Green Sandpipers and 8 Spotted Redshanks. Teals, Shovelers, Little and Great Crested Grebes and Shelduck are swimming around. In the way back to the car, a male of Red-crested Pochard and a Booted Eagle fly above us. A Short-toed Treecreeper climbs an Aleppo pine and a Kingfisher crosses a ditch like a bullet.
Ten minutes later we are on the beach, watching Greenshanks in a nearby lagoon and Crested Larks in the dunes. The sky is patrolled by Sandwich Terns and Crag Martins, and the Mediterranean Sea reveals Gannets and a good number of Mediterranean Shearwaters. Before we finish the bird watching trip in Valencia, a flock of 6 Sanderlings and a solitary Common Scoter is seen.
It is worth visiting the Albufera de Valencia at this time of the year, there is so much to see and enjoy birdwatching!! For more information about this tour, please click the following link.
Have a nice day
Pau Lucio
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