The last 3 days have been spent exploring the whole of the accessible area at El Hondo Nature Reserve (official title: Parc Natural El Fondo). There is a lot of ongoing work around the parc and a number of controlled burns have been set recently around the perimeter alongside the road. The main canal that skirts the reserve has been dredged in readiness for the new water pipes that are being put in. All the disturbance has obviously not affected the count of White-headed Duck as the pictures below show.
We spent at least an hour watching them late yesterday afternoon from the hide on the main road.
They were very entertaining along with the Greater Flamingo that were feeding there in a group of approx. 120 birds. We had our very own afternoon tea dance ! Accompanying music was provided by the birds all around us as the White-headed Ducks "waltzed" around in front of us, the Grebes "dabbled" and the Flamingo's performed their "pirouette" like ballet dancers dressed in pink - an absolute "Allegro"performance !
Ok, enough of the romancing and down to solid birding - an Osprey sitting a nest is a first for us at El Hondo which was a nice addition to our list of birds seen there. Other highlights over the last three days include: Marbled Teal / Little Bittern / Great Bittern / Purple Heron / Black-crowned Night Heron / White Stork / Great Egret / Moustached Warbler / Great Reed Warbler / Red- crested Pochard / Squacco Heron / Red-knobbed Coot / Bearded Tit / Slender-billed Gull / Adult Med Gull / Black-necked Grebe
White-headed Duck
Let battle commence
lazy days on the water !
Some more........
and more........
sorry ! even more.....
and last but not least............
Great Egret
Black-necked Grebe
Red-crested Pochard
Great Reed Warbler
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