Mark Etheridge
Bird Shooter (With A Camera)
As there are several threads for other areas of Spain, and as this is my "home from home" patch, I thought I'd start off a dedicated thread for this very popular area which may be overlooked by the more serious birder looking for somewhere to spend a week or so in Spain, or for those whose families have dragged them off on a package holiday and despair of ever seeing anything interesting.
The Costa Blanca is of course somewhat overshadowed by the reputation of Benidorm and other tourist concrete jungles, but amidst the high-rise buildings and candyfloss beaches, there are a number of really excellent birding areas. I am centred towards the south of the area, perhaps others can post their thoughts and observations for areas North of Alicante.
Most of the important birding sites are detailed in the Opus section of BirdForum; look for Clot de Galvany (my local reserve), Santa Pola Salinas, El Pinet and the jewel in the crown - El Hondo. The latter is one of the best birding sites in Spain with some really spectacular birds such as Marbled Teal, White-headed Duck and Purple Swamphen, and we are awaiting the arrival of Tonn, the Estonian satellite-tagged Greater Spotted Eagle for what I think will be his fourth year wintering in Spain.
I tend to have a somewhat idiosyncratic style of reporting my observations, as fans of my previous thread which was disastrously entitled "Pajero del Dia" (look it up!) will know - I am primarily a bird photographer with middling skills in bird identification - but I hope others will place their own observations in this thread to give a continuous record of what may be seen in the area.
To start off, I submit my first "bird of the day" (actually it was taken yesterday) which I thought was a Ruff, but the good folks over in the ID section have advised me that it is in fact a Pectoral Sandpiper, seen in my local reserve Clot de Galvany. This is a fairly rare bird in Spain, although it appears that this year has seen a big influx of these birds. It's the one on the left, the other bird is a Wood Sandpiper (I'm fairly good at that one because I see them nearly every time I'm over here)
The Costa Blanca is of course somewhat overshadowed by the reputation of Benidorm and other tourist concrete jungles, but amidst the high-rise buildings and candyfloss beaches, there are a number of really excellent birding areas. I am centred towards the south of the area, perhaps others can post their thoughts and observations for areas North of Alicante.
Most of the important birding sites are detailed in the Opus section of BirdForum; look for Clot de Galvany (my local reserve), Santa Pola Salinas, El Pinet and the jewel in the crown - El Hondo. The latter is one of the best birding sites in Spain with some really spectacular birds such as Marbled Teal, White-headed Duck and Purple Swamphen, and we are awaiting the arrival of Tonn, the Estonian satellite-tagged Greater Spotted Eagle for what I think will be his fourth year wintering in Spain.
I tend to have a somewhat idiosyncratic style of reporting my observations, as fans of my previous thread which was disastrously entitled "Pajero del Dia" (look it up!) will know - I am primarily a bird photographer with middling skills in bird identification - but I hope others will place their own observations in this thread to give a continuous record of what may be seen in the area.
To start off, I submit my first "bird of the day" (actually it was taken yesterday) which I thought was a Ruff, but the good folks over in the ID section have advised me that it is in fact a Pectoral Sandpiper, seen in my local reserve Clot de Galvany. This is a fairly rare bird in Spain, although it appears that this year has seen a big influx of these birds. It's the one on the left, the other bird is a Wood Sandpiper (I'm fairly good at that one because I see them nearly every time I'm over here)