After breakfast and check-out we set off for Punt del Fangar where there were lots of Sanderlings on the beach but we didn't find much else of interest.
106. Sanderling, Punt del Fangar
107. Lesser Kestrel, 2, somewhere on the road between Sant Jaume d'Enveja and Els Muntells.
Having been convinced by the Dutch birders that the drive along the sand spit towards Punta de la Banya would not result in the loss of our rental vehicle, we decided to do it. Lots of common waders on both sides, visible at close quarters if you use the car as a hide.
108. Ringed Plover, sand spit towards Punta de la Banya
109. Grey Plover, sand spit towards Punta de la Banya
110. Turnstone, sand spit towards Punta de la Banya
111. Northern Wheatear, sand spit towards Punta de la Banya
We had a late and excellent lunch at the Ida Can Machino restaurant in Els Muntells which was considerably more upscale than we'd expected.
With a little time left we wanted to explore the tracks leading south from the Sant Carles de la Rapita to El Poblenou del Delta road. Not much around here although we did manage to find a single Curlew.
112. Curlew, fields near Sant Carles de la Rapita.
A Twitter notification (@rarebirdscat) had come through about a Lesser Flamingo having been seen in the Punta de la Banya area. We were pretty certain that there were no flamingos visible there when we were there, although there is no public access to the western end, where presumably salt production is taking place. We had time to look at the flamingo flocks from the hides that we'd visited yesterday and quite quickly found an individual that was smaller than any of those around it. However it was way too distant for us to get a proper look at its bill, which was the clincher. Of course there were no other birders around so no telescopes for us to borrow. We stopped along the road at a point where we thought we might get a closer view, but although we'd made a mental note of some markers we couldn't relocate either the bird or more worryingly the place where we'd seen it.
After that it was time to start towards the airport and our flight home (which was delayed by over two hours meaning we finally got home after 3 a.m., with work the next day
In summary, although raptors migrating over Tarragona were down in numbers from several years ago, it seems that anywhere along the coast south of Barcelona there is a chance of seeing something with patience. Birding on the delta remains very entertaining. I've really only mentioned first sightings of most species but over two days we saw Ospreys on at least seven different occasions and kingfishers perhaps 40 times. Three flew in front of the car in the space of about 15 seconds on one track we drove down. We always found Moustached Warblers difficult in the area but this time we had a couple of sightings and heard them several times. A few eagle species got away because of poor/brief views, distance or bad light.
I'm sure that we'll be back and the Delta Hotel is likely to figure if we decide to overnight.