Birding on the Costa del Sol (Malaga) (1 Viewer)

2014.04.30 Birding with Bruce and Janet (Part III: El Torcal)

Lovely spring day at this full of surprises magical site...

After two pretty intense birding days, Bruce and Janet preferred not to get to the site early enough to say hello to the Little Owls, but they (the Little Owls), did not want to miss welcoming our visitors to El Torcal.

And then we started a very entertaining day with some new birds for Bruce and Janet like Black Wheatear, Iberian Chiffchaff, Spectacled Warbler, Thekla Lark, Black Redstart, Blue Tit, Rock Sparrow, Linnet and Subalpine Warbler.

We could also have nice views of Blue Rock Thrushes, Black-eared Wheatears, Wrens, Choughs and Melodious Warblers amongst 32 species in total.

Black-winged Kites, Purple Swamphens, Bonelli’s Eagles, Redstarts and Egyptian Vultures are their reasons to come back.

Nice birdaytrips!!!

2014.05.02 Watching raptors on the Costa del Sol

Somewhere in the mountains of the Costa del Sol...

Golden Eagles, Griffon Vultures and Bonelli's Eagles.

Click here to see the video:

http://youtu.be/V7jQykRq31g

Watching Azure-winged Magpies at Archidona (2014.05.10)

Archidona is the best place in Malaga to watch the Azure-winged Magpies.

Archidona is situated to the Northeast of Malaga province. It is surrounded by Olive groves and Holm Oak forests, it is crossed by the arroyo Marin and the river Guadalhorce which form two interesting gorges where riverside and mountain birds coexist, and there are two little pools as the wetland habitat in the area.

I visited the gorges of Guadalhorce and arroyo Marin. I saw the first Azure-winged Magpies while approaching the gorge of the Guadalhorce. My first impression when I got down the car was the big amount of birds singing: Nightingales, Golden Orioles, Blackcaps, Cuckoos, Cetti’s Warblers and Zitting Cisticolas.

Apart from the Cetti’s Warblers and Zitting Cisticolas, I could also spot a Little-ringed Plover, a pair of Mallards, Bee-eaters and plenty of Grey Wagtails as representatives of the riverside birds. Other species found where Mistle Thrushes, Woodchat Shrikes, Melodious Warblers, Great and Blue Tits, Hoopoes, Barn Swallows and Sardinian Warblers.

Rock Sparrows are very abundant in the walls of the gorge, sharing their space with Spotless Starlings, Blue Rock Thrushes, Crag Martins and some Rock Doves.

The gorge of the arroyo Marin is a more tree-covered environment. Its steep hills are inhabited by one of the last genuine wild Aleppo Pine forests in Malaga and the riverbanks support big poplars and ashes, hosting a great population of Nightingales and other forest birds like Great and Blue Tits, Short-toed treecreepers, Wrens, Pied and Spotted Flycatchers and dozens of Chaffinches. Azure-winged Magpies are also present in the gorge and I could spot some Red-legged Partridges on the track.

Click here to see the video: http://youtu.be/iMh_9j0E4gs

Birding at river Guadalhorce (2014.05.25)

Nice views of Little, Sandwhich, Gull-billed and Whiskered Terns.

Antonio Miguel Pérez led the visit as part of his course on “Introduction to Practical Ornithology”. We met at 6:00 in order to try the Barn Owls. We missed them but could have a nice concert by the Red-necked Nightjars.

Our way to the sea hide gave the group Night Herons and all the ducks present at the site: Mallards (with males entering their eclipse phase), Gadwalls, Pochards and White-headed Ducks.

We could see the first chicks of Avocets from the Rio Viejo hide, with a Spoonbill and a flock of four young Flamingos.

There were some Audouin’s Gulls in the little islands of the Rio Viejo, a lonely elegant Slender-billed Gull and the first terns of the day: a pair of Sandwhich Terns.

We found some chicks of Kentish Plovers near the sea hide and a Little Tern at the east branch of the river.

We spotted a pair of Gull-billed Terns in our second look at the Rio Viejo.

Every little island in the smaller ponds around the Laguna Grande is full of nests of Black-winged Stilts, some of which can already be seen taking very good care of their chicks as they do not allow the presence of any other bird near them. They do even dare chasing big gulls to protect them.

The last Dunlin of the season was foraging in the ponds of the Laguna Grande along with Ringed, Little Ringed and more Kentish Plovers. Some Avocets are also present at this place. We could enjoy the near flights of another Gull-billed Tern and admire the last terns of the list today: a pair of Whiskered Terns for a total of more than fifty different species at the site.

Click here to see the video: http://youtu.be/HKSHYirIU2k

Bird watching at El Chorro (2014.05.30)

The best looking families are those of the Black Wheatears, Coal Tits and Chaffinches.

Nice climb to the cliffs of Gaitanejo in a sunny and northwest (making it warmer than usual) windy day.

Our visit through the pine tree forest gave us lots of Chaffinches both adults and chicks calling them as well as Serins and pretty close Short-toed Treecreepers. We could also see some Red-rumped Swallows in flight over the Gaitanejo Dam.

We met some interesting birds in the Mediterranean scrub like Blue Rock Thrushes (on top of the sandstone cliffs and sitting on one pylon), Sardinian Warblers, Woodchat Shrikes, Rock Buntings and a three member family of Black Wheatears.

And not only birds as we could spot a group of two adult females Spanish Ibex with their kids.

The first Griffon Vultures, Choughs and a lonely Kestrel flew over us before we got to the summit from where we could watch quite a big number of vultures both soaring and sitting on the rocks along with the always spectacular flights and calls of the Alpine Swifts.

The Bonelli’s Eagles are doing allright...

On our way back to the car we could happily realize that the Black Wheatears family is actually composed of five members and see another numerous family of Coal Tits.

21 different species in total from which 12 of them were new for my Welsh friends.

Nice birdaytrip!!!

Birdwatching at Guadalhorce (2014.05.31)

Great Egret, Black-tailed Godwit, Little Stint and Golden Oriole were the stars of the morning.

Click here to see the video: http://youtu.be/Q_r5CHP_02s

Nice morning with Antonio Miguel Pérez leading a group of some of the attendants to last week’s course on Ornithology. We met still at night at the entrance bridge in order to watch the Barn Owl but we had to be happy with the songs of Red-necked (everywhere!) and Eurpean (by the mouth of the west branch of the river) Nightjars which is worth very much.

The Great Egret and the Black-tailed Godwit were at the Rio Viejo hide; the Little Stint appeared amongst a flock of Kentish Plovers at the beach. They could be common sights in winter but they are quite a bit late by now. The Golden Oriole was singing from the trees between the Rio Viejo and the Laguna Grande and that is not a common listening over there.

There was a very strong passage of Scopoli’s Shearwaters and Balearic Shearwaters by the “platform” in the sea.

The rest of the trip went on as usual, with a lot of species watched, including chicks of Avocets, Kentish Plovers, Gadwalls and Black-winged Stilts, as you can see in the video report.

Birding at Rio Grande (2014.06.02)

Another Great Egret observed today along with some interesting species for my Welsh friends like Cattle Egrets, Hoopoes, Squacco Herons, Bee-eaters, Golden Orioles and Melodious Warblers.

38 species observed in total.

Nice birdaytrip!!!

Bird watching at Fuente Piedra (2014.06.06)

There is a good level of water at the lake to face the summer, with plenty of Flamingos at the reserve.

I have had the opportunity to pay a short visit to the Fuente Piedra Lake today. The ponds surrounding the lake are dry so waders have abandoned the site, except an interesting sample of Black-winged Stilts and Avocets.

As the level of water is still pretty high even after this rainless winter, there is a lot of Flamingos in the area and I could also spot a Lesser Flamingo in one of the flocks closest to the Visitor’s Centre. There were many Shelducks in the same group of birds between the Visitor’s Centre and the Vicaria.

There was a flock of up to ten Lesser Kestrels hovering around the tower near the path to the Vicaria. All of them were males and that might mean that there is a lot of breeding going on in the area.

There are plenty of Black-headed Gulls in the area as well as a significant population of Gull-billed Terns perhaps looking for the water they lack in other inner little lakes in Cordoba and Seville.

Breeding is going all right at the Laguneto where I could find Mallards, Gadwalls, Pochards and even a male Shoveler.

I was glad to see that White-headed Ducks and Red-crested Pochards are back to the Laguna Dulce, and that Great-crested Grebes are lovingly raising their chicks.

Birdwatching at Rio Grande (video report) (2014.06.18)

Click here to see the video:

http://youtu.be/NLn2P-veHJQ

Great video Luis.I am very envious..! :t:

Thank you, Ben.

Birding around Malaga province (2014.06.19)

A birdwatching trip initially planned to visit the Laguna de Fuente Piedra, ended up as a delightful travel through a wide variety of birding environments.

Karen and Bill wanted to devote their free day from their travel group on the Costa del Sol to do some birding. According to their briefing, my suggestion was visiting the Laguna de Fuente Piedra. Some time has passed since then without much rain, and we have lost some of the entertaining bird friends living in the ponds around the main lake so I decided to adjust our trip, including different birding environments on our way to Fuente Piedra from Marbella, to broaden the chances to watch the highest possible number of new birds for these two good American global birdwatchers.

Our first stop was at the mouth of river Guadalhorce. Everything was very quiet in our first pass through the Rio Viejo with just a flock of some young Flamingos. But we had very good views of the White-headed Ducks in display from the Laguna de la Casilla hide, and Little Egrets, Avocets and Black-winged Stilts from the Rio Viejo hide.

From this latter place we could also spot a nice Purple Heron landing on one of the dead eucaliptus, where a Peregrine falcon was sitting, something I had not seen there for quite a long time, and one funny Reed Warbler leaving aside its shyness to go after some bugs in the scrub just beneath the hide.

We found a nice group of Yellow-legged and Audouin’s Gulls with a lonely Little Tern in our second glance at the Rio Viejo meanders, and could spot a Hoopoe actively foraging by the track and a little flock of Kentish Plovers at the beach.

Coffe break and move to El Torcal. As usual, it was a little windy at the Mirador de las Ventanillas but it gave us good views of the Blue Rock Thrush, Rock Sparrows and Rock Buntings (many rocky birds indeed in such rocky scenery!). We also got into the Green Path where we could watch Griffon Vultures, the wonderful soaring of the Bonelli’s Eagle, the songs of the Serins and the calls of the juvenile Melodious Warblers to their solicitous parents.

Karen and Bill had the opportunity, for their delight, to try the typical “porra” in Fuente Piedra village. We then headed to the lake. Along with the Flamingos, we could spot a Lesser Flamingo from the Visitor’s Centre, and big flocks of Yellow-legged Gulls, Black-headed Gulls and Gull-billed Terns.

We sat at the Laguneto hide for a while. A good number of adult Flamingos were in the water pretty close to the hide. Bill was very happy to see a pair of Lapwings and found a first Black-tailed Godwit at the West bottom of the lake of a flock of at least ten of them. It is a little late for godwits there as it is for a male Shoveler in eclipse. Some male Mallards were moulting as well and we could confirm how Pochards are breeding at the site with a female and two chicks.

We were getting out the reserve when one of the several Lesser Kestrels that we could see in flight over the old granary from the hide passed just in front of the car and when we were accessing to the road, a wonderful male Montagu’s Harrier quartered for a while over the olive groves around the village; unfortunately not long enough for me to take a good picture with my slowly focusing camera. Bill was much more skillful than me and got a very nice shot at him.

Our last and quick (thank you so much again, Karen, for your patient with us two crazy birders!) stop was at Rio Grande. The ubiquitous Black-winged Stilts (everywhere today!), herons’ paradise: Little and Cattle Egrets, Grey and Squacco Herons, and Bee-eaters. And finally, the serene observation of the Woodchat Shrike, a bird we had hardly glimpsed from the car on our way to El Torcal.

Nice birdaytrip!!!

Birding at the Comarca de Antequera (2014.06.25)

I had to be in Antequera early in the morning and could not avoid some exploring around before returning to Malaga...

I took secondary roads from Antequera to Bobadilla and to the tail end of the Guadalhorce reservoir.

I could see many Little Owls on wires and farm houses as they are very actively engaged in feeding very big chicks, as it is the case of Kestrels and Lesser Kestrels hovering over the stubble fields. I also see two male Montagu’s Harriers.

I found that Grey Herons have nested in some of the dry tamarisk in the middle of the reservoir, where I could also spot Night Herons and Great-crested Grebes with juveniles and Spanish Sparrows getting noticed with their constant calls.

Back to Antequera, I climbed to the Colegiata to see the Lesser Kestrels in flight over the towers of its many churches and old buildings and realized that the nest of the White Storks has some guests in it. Congratulations!

Nice posts, Luis, keep them up. I'm just back from Mallorca and will be (hopefully) down Tarifa in September.....

Laurie:t:

rollingthunder said:

Nice posts, Luis, keep them up. I'm just back from Mallorca and will be (hopefully) down Tarifa in September.....

Laurie:t:

Click to expand...

Thank you, Laurie.

Nice place to visit in september!

Watching rare ducks at river Guadalhorce (2014.07.03)

Ferruginous Ducks, Marbled Duck and Common Scooters have made the day very interesting! (See video: http://youtu.be/MnF0oIonY9Q)

And not only ducks. I was entering the hide of the Rio Viejo before dawn when an Egyptian Mongoose came out of it and crossed the track. I was already sitting in the hide, listening to the nervous calls of the Black-winged Stilt from the lake when I heard another very similar call coming from the track, kind of a piercing bark, and saw a second mongoose that met the other one at the other side of the track and disappeared between the rocks behind the hide.

With the first lights of the day, the site filled with an amazing number of swifts, mainly over the east branch of the river and the Rio Viejo. A bit later, a Peregrine Falcon entered the site from the city and sat on the eucalyptus for a moment until it flew away not long after that.

There are chicks of Black-winged Stilts all over the area, and their parents chase any bird approaching them, from the dangerous gulls to the harmless wagtails. Another ubiquitous bird today was the Kingfisher, present at the Laguna de Rio Viejo, Laguna de la Casilla, Laguna Escondida y Laguna Grande.

I found the first stars of the day, a pair of Ferruginous Ducks, at the Laguna de la Casilla. They cross the pond back and forth in a very nice early morning light. A male and a young Little Bitterns were present at the lake too.

After that, I could not believe that I was in front of a Marbled Duck at the Laguna Escondida the same day I had watched the ferruginous!

At the Laguna Grande, I could see how brave Little Ringed Plovers are when a female laying on four eggs came out the nest to chase a rabbit getting to close to her territory.

And to give the finishing touch to the morning, I spotted two Common Scooters from the seabirds observatory at the beach just when I was thinking of the few birds in the sea in summer...

Nice record shots Luis - the eye on the Fudge Duck stands out:eek!:

Laurie:t:

Bird watching at the Guadalhorce reservoir and Sierra de Huma (2014.07.05)

Nice sights of Grey and Purple Herons, Montagu’s Harriers, Egyptian Vultures and Peregrine Falcons (Click here to see video: http://youtu.be/4a6HfmFEjYE).

We started our trip at the tail of the Guadalhorce reservoir where several Grey and Night Herons have bred this year. I hope the three Purple Herons we saw will soon do the same in the area.

After watching a wonderful sunrise at the reservoir, we moved to the Sierra de Huma. Its cliffs were populated by Griffon and Egyptian Vultures, Peregrine Falcons and other passerines like Woodchat Shrikes, Blue Rock Thrushes and Rock Sparrows.

Correction to my post 2014.07.05

Dear friends,

I have been warned by a friend of mine that the picture I labeled as “Rock Sparrow” in my report dated 2014.07.05, actually corresponds to a juvenile Cirl Bunting, which I find a more respectable opinion than my own!

My first impression was a Rock Sparrow as it was a rocky scenery with scattered bushes and I had just heard some calls from them, but it was an appropriate habitat for Cirl Buntings too.

Here are two more pictures of the same bird to support the correction.

Sorry for the mistake!

Birding at El Chorro (2014.07.15)

Egyptian Vultures, Peregrine Falcons, Griffon Vultures, Alpine Swifts and Golden Eagles at the cliffs of El Chorro. Click here to see the video: http://youtu.be/mAFeftdx8LM

Waiting for sunrise in front of a good cliff is very rewarding for birdwatchers in the summers of the Costa del Sol.

With the first lights of the day, I heard a powerful flapping of the wings behind me. When I turned myself to it, I could hardly believe how a relatively small bird like a Peregrine Falcon could fill the pure morning air with such a wonderful mixture of flight buzzing and breathing. Unfortunately, it soon followed the ridge further away and disappeared in search for breakfast.

The couple of Egyptian Vultures soon took off for their first flights, which allows you to locate their white bodies in the midst of a huge cream-coloured wall. They sat and smarten themselves up for a long time ignoring all their relatives Griffon Vultures’ activity.

The Alpine Swifts were looking especially noisy and frenetic this morning, flocking in big groups that waved up, down, back and forth the cliff.

And the icing on the cake has been the presence of a Golden Eagle that has soared over us for quite a long time hanging on the fresh breeze blowing over the crests. Nice sight before going back home for a good gazpacho!!!