The morning began with no plans for birding as today it is a Red Day in Spain (Bank Holiday) and everywhere is very busy. So a mid morning coffee stop provided the first surprise of the day whilst ordering our drink an Olivaceous Warbler began singing from some nearby scrub. It sang the whole time we were sitting outside the cafe. Encouraged by hearing the bird singing there, we decided to head off to an area that we previous breeding records from.
Melodious Warbler
We parked up and walked around the lake, a nice leisurely 2 hour stroll, recording an impressive list of birds including the following warblers : Melodious, Olivaceous, Dartford, Sardinian, Subalpine, Spectacled, Common Whitethroat, Willow and Great Reed. Bee-eaters (20+) were also present, they were very active and difficult to photograph.
An early evening meal at La Marina was on the cards after a pit-stop to walk the dog at El Pinet.
The Slender-billed Gulls are still showing well there as are Greater Flamingo, Avocets, Black-winged Stilt, Little, Sandwich and Common Tern. Thinking we were done and dusted for the day we headed back to the Villa, along the main road from Quesada, here we encounted our second surprise of the day - a Short-eared Owl flew across the road right in front of us as we slowed for one of many roundabouts on this road. Anyone who has visited this area will know that slowing or stopping at a roundabout, usually means you are stopping to pick up a certain type of "bird" but the only bird I was interested in was the beautiful one covered in feathers, hunting above the second hand car dealership !
Slender-billed Gull
Slender-billed Gull
Greater Flamingo
Greater Flamingo
Nice one Ashley, apologies for late response but it was good to meet up with you at Burghead recently. The White-billed Diver has stayed on with good views on a flat sea last Friday, if you need assistance just e-mail. Cheers: Tony Backx. E-mail: t.backx@btinternet.com
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