Hi Folks
Each Jan.I take my wife and 2 other lady friends on a big bird day in early month.
This last tues.did so again.We were on our way by 06.15 hrs and drove straight up the motorway to Cabezas de San Juan where it was still dark at 07.30 so had a quick cafe con leche and then made our way to the Marismas de Chapatal and its salinas.
It was absolutely calm but a heavy mist hung over the whole area making viewing tricky.However as dawn gradually broke,a Kingfisher flew by,a good sized flock of wintering Skylarks were feeding in a horse paddock.6 Hen Harrier flew over from their night roost.
There were plenty of Snipe on the marsh with a nice flock of Lapwing and Golden Plover,over 100 Glossy Ibis were flushed as we drove slowly along the tracks.
3 Purple Gallinules were skulking in some reedbeds,and 12 Lesser Short Toed Larks were feeding by the edge of the track.
The first 3 Barn Swallows were hawking over the marshes and a flock of Calandra Larks were being particularly flighty.
A nice surprise were the 2 wintering white spotted Bluethroat males,1 in a dry horse paddock and the other on a small boat jetty !!!
We found a lone male wintering Siskin in a small flock of Tree Sparrows.
At the salinas we found 1 Red Knobbed Coot in amongst a hoard of commons',3 migrant Black Storks,heaps of Greater Flamingo added plenty of colour to the scene,a lone Marbled Teal with all the Coot,a pair of Red Crested Pochard,3 Ospreys fishing,a wintering Red Kite (no Black Kites today),and a fantastic Caspain tern (what a brute)
From here we had lunch while scanning more Salinas by the rio and this area came up trumps too.,2 more Black Stork,1 Great White egret (Almost guaranteed here now),6+ Spoonbill and 2 more Caspian terns.
Time was flying by so we quickly headed into the pines at La Algaida to find the local flock of Azure winged Magpies and they as per usual were very obliging,5 Brambling were a nice bonus
At the end of the woods we parked and walked to the Laguna del tarelo and found the roost of Black crowned Night Herons,otherwise quieter here than normal.
So it was time to head home and bird of the day at dusk near Medina Sidonia was a Black Shoulderd Kite hovering by the roadside.
It had been as always on this route a great birding day ,in total 86 species.
The End of the week locally has produced a Little owl and a Wryneck (more about that in my ringing blog).
So I am now up to 128 species for year,only 1 behind last year for jan. and still 12 days left in the month
saludos
Ricardo
Each Jan.I take my wife and 2 other lady friends on a big bird day in early month.
This last tues.did so again.We were on our way by 06.15 hrs and drove straight up the motorway to Cabezas de San Juan where it was still dark at 07.30 so had a quick cafe con leche and then made our way to the Marismas de Chapatal and its salinas.
It was absolutely calm but a heavy mist hung over the whole area making viewing tricky.However as dawn gradually broke,a Kingfisher flew by,a good sized flock of wintering Skylarks were feeding in a horse paddock.6 Hen Harrier flew over from their night roost.
There were plenty of Snipe on the marsh with a nice flock of Lapwing and Golden Plover,over 100 Glossy Ibis were flushed as we drove slowly along the tracks.
3 Purple Gallinules were skulking in some reedbeds,and 12 Lesser Short Toed Larks were feeding by the edge of the track.
The first 3 Barn Swallows were hawking over the marshes and a flock of Calandra Larks were being particularly flighty.
A nice surprise were the 2 wintering white spotted Bluethroat males,1 in a dry horse paddock and the other on a small boat jetty !!!
We found a lone male wintering Siskin in a small flock of Tree Sparrows.
At the salinas we found 1 Red Knobbed Coot in amongst a hoard of commons',3 migrant Black Storks,heaps of Greater Flamingo added plenty of colour to the scene,a lone Marbled Teal with all the Coot,a pair of Red Crested Pochard,3 Ospreys fishing,a wintering Red Kite (no Black Kites today),and a fantastic Caspain tern (what a brute)
From here we had lunch while scanning more Salinas by the rio and this area came up trumps too.,2 more Black Stork,1 Great White egret (Almost guaranteed here now),6+ Spoonbill and 2 more Caspian terns.
Time was flying by so we quickly headed into the pines at La Algaida to find the local flock of Azure winged Magpies and they as per usual were very obliging,5 Brambling were a nice bonus
At the end of the woods we parked and walked to the Laguna del tarelo and found the roost of Black crowned Night Herons,otherwise quieter here than normal.
So it was time to head home and bird of the day at dusk near Medina Sidonia was a Black Shoulderd Kite hovering by the roadside.
It had been as always on this route a great birding day ,in total 86 species.
The End of the week locally has produced a Little owl and a Wryneck (more about that in my ringing blog).
So I am now up to 128 species for year,only 1 behind last year for jan. and still 12 days left in the month
saludos
Ricardo
