2014.02.13 Birding at Fuente Piedra with Debbie and Dan
2014.02.13 BIRDING AT FUENTE PIEDRA WITH DEBBIE AND DAN
Pretty damp but great birding day with my Canadian friends who met 53 new friends.
We did our first stop in the farmlands around Bobadilla, where Debbie was surprised by the glorious choir of birds in such an unpleasant winter day. The voices were those of Calandra Larks, Crested Larks, Goldfinches and Corn Buntings. We could also spot a Grey Heron, Cattle Egrets, Kestrels, Iberian Grey Shrikes, Marsh Harriers, Mallards, Lapwings and the first White Wagtails and Stonechats that would go with us for the rest of the day.
We then moved to the Laguna Dulce to observe the big flock of Pochards, Red-crested Pochards and Tufted Ducks, accompanied by several White-headed Ducks, with massive presence of Coots and Black-headed Gulls, plus three Marsh Harriers. There was a group of Moorhens to which we payed close attention in search of Purple Swamphens, but they did not turn up. The west banks of the pond hosted some Mallards and Gadwalls. As usual in the last weeks, there were plenty of Crag Martins pursuing invisible bugs over the water.
Around 25% of the Black-headed Gulls, Little and Black-necked Grebes have already moulted to summer plumages.
There was a different but also beautiful choir of birds around the hide composed of the bursting notes of the Cetti’s Warbler, the calls of Robins (so different from the American one!) and Chaffinches, and the songs of Goldfinches. Black Redstarts and Blackcaps where also present in the scrub.
A Hoopoe appeared at the end of the fence for such a short moment that Dan and I could not spot it on time for Debbie, who had been claiming for its presence all the time.
Our way to the Fuente Piedra lake gave us Spotless Starlings in farmhouses and a big flock of Cranes foraging in the green farmlands. We could not stay at Cantarranas for a long time as the heaviest shower of the day took place at that moment, but it was enough to admire the state of the lake at its maximum level and the big amount of Flamingos and Lesser Black-backed Gulls in the water. A Great Tit gave us some more notes from one of the olive trees from which we flushed some Song Thrushes profiting from the last olives on the trees.
After lunch, we visited the Laguneto, where hundreds of Shovelers concentrate. We could also enjoy the pirouettes of the first barn Swallows and House Martins while a Little Owl “miaowed” from the bottom of the pond.
Chiffchaffs were the most active little birds in the scrub around the Visitors’ Centre in such a rainy day. We went down to the path along the fence to the wooden bridge where some Greenfinches sang from the olive trees. After noticing the movement of a shy bird on the ground below the tamarisks, Debbie and I could finally spot our friend the Bluethroat, which turned out to be very elusive to Dan. It could have been Dan’s Hoopoe of the day, but she finally stood up and showed her blue medal to the audience. And it was not all, some House Sparrows were bathing among the tamarisks with a couple of wonderful Spanish Sparrow males among them.
The ponds of the wooden bridge showed Teals, Black-winged Stilts and a couple of Black-tailed Godwits. A nice flock of Jackdaws was moving from one side of the ponds to the other and we could play the difficult game of finding the Snipe, that was resting very well camouflaged in the grass.
We ended the day with a call to the Vicaria. We could add Linnets to our list of finches. Stonechats were showing a clear nice courtship behaviour. There were some Shelducks in the banks of the lake, where the other kings of camouflage, the Stone Curlews, stood motionless.
Enjoy the birds of Spain!!!
P.D.: How many Stone Curlews can you see in the picture
?