2014.04.19 Birding at Fuente Piedra with Frank
Big amount of Flamingos grouping at the lake; bustling flocks of waders around the wooden bridge; nice sight of a male Little Bustard in display...
The weather forecast was cloudy for the day but it was even rainy before dawn in the surroundings of the lake. That is why we started by visiting the Laguneto after a “mollete con aceite” typical breakfast at the village.
Jackdaws and a Little Owl in the holes of the Visitor’s Centre in our way to the Laguneto. The birds seemed not to pay very much attention to a Fox carrying a couple victims home; maybe the lake had already paid its tribute to him. There was a significant amount of Red-crested Pochards in the water, along with Mallards, Gadwalls and the late Shovelers and Pochards at the site, some Little Grebes, young Lesser Black-backed Gulls, Gull-billed Terns and plenty of Black-headed Gulls.
Our walk towards the wooden bridge gave us several big groupings of Flamingos all around the lake once the mist cleared up, and the first encounters with what Frank calls the LBFs (“Little Brown Fellows”): Cetti’s Warblers and Reed Warblers singing, and Nightingales and Zitting Cisticolas singing and showing themselves too. Sardinian Warblers are inevitable too in the scrub.
Nice selection of waders in the ponds around the wooden bridge: Avocets, Black-winged stilts, Ruffs, Curlew Sandpipers, Little Stints, Dunlins, Redshanks, Wood Sandpipers, Ringed and Little-ringed Plovers and even a few Golden Plovers. Frank was very glad with watching and hearing the ditties of Corn Buntings as they are not present in Ireland.
We stood for some time around a reed in the path to the tower after hearing a strange call I had never heard before, but we were not lucky enough to defeat our friend’s shyness. There was a female Kestrel in one of the holes of the tower and a Glossy Ibis and a flock of Bee-eaters crossed the air above us to the main lake. Frank celebrated a Woodchat Shrike near the Visitor’s Centre when coming back to the car for a visit to La Vicaria before lunch in the village.
There was a flock of several Lesser Kestrels in the way out of the parking, some of them sitting in the wires over the railway. We could hear the songs of Red-legged Partridges from La Vicaria hide, spot a Lapwing and a Collared Pratincole in flight.
After lunch, we found most of our raptors at Cantarranas: Marsh Harriers (male and female) and Common Buzzard, Booted Eagle and Black Kites on passage. We could spot Grey Herons and Little Egrets from the sighting point, as well as Great-crested Grebes and some Shelducks in display. A little male Serin gave Frank another tick on his list, and Hoopoes were calling everywhere.
The hills in front of the parking at Cantarranas left one of the best moments of the day, with a male Little Bustard calling and displaying in the wheat field. I am pretty sure there had to be some females around him, but we were not able to spot them. While watching the Little Bustard, we could also admire the high flights and songs of the Calandra Larks, and saw the first Red-rumped Swallows of the day.
It was not definitely the day of ducks at Laguna Dulce in Campillos. As usual, huge flocks of Coots and a big number of Black-necked and Great-crested Grebes. We also found a couple of Kentish Plovers we did not see at Fuente Piedra, spotted another couple of Purple Swamphens at the bottom of the lake and Frank was very good at finding four Whiskered Terns in flight pretty far from the hide and the first Turtle Dove of the year.
A last stop near Bobadilla in our way back home gave us a nice flock of Cattle Egrets around a herd of goats and the meeting with my first Melodious Warbler this year, and maybe Frank’s ever.
With the addition of other common birds at these sites, we ticked 72 different species in total, which makes one of the best records I can remember.
No trace of the White-headed Ducks in Campillos, nor of the Black-winged Kite anywhere either... They are the reasons to come back!
Nice birdaytrip!!!
Video of Little Bustard:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AEtLgXPbPfE
Video of grebes:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xj7a729Qbzk