Birding Update

Apologies for the slow update

 8th of November.

  John and I headed straight to San Felipe,  it was a bit on the cool side to says the least, as per other recent visits San Felipe was crap, the best bit was the 20 or so Marbled Duck. 

I Couldn't find any Red-knobbed Coot, but there was one lone Purple swamp Hen which was warming up in the sun, some Blackcaps were singing and a few popped out briefly plus the odd Bluethroat.

Purple swamp Hen

It was poor birding there and the water looks an odd coloured and well overgrown.

Santa Aguada

Now again flooded, we struggled again to get birding it was quiet, I did hear a few Penduline tit's contact calling and eventually managed to phiss out 2. Which was brief but a nice view. There was plenty of flooded field around the route we'd taken but alas very few birds almost every bird was a White Wagtail or Cattle Egret, but we did see the odd Bluethroat pop out.

 We came across 2 large groups of flying Glossy Ibis in a Murmuration.  John and I have seen this before. Ibis acting as one like the European Starling Murmuration. I've never seen this mentioned in any of the guide books, both groups moved independently of each other.

Glossy Ibis in a Murmuration

Glossy Ibis in a Murmuration

It was fascinating to watch and was the birding moment of the day.

10th November

Playa Lisa

Turn out to be not that bad a Zitting Cisticola, and Black Restart, to start and not even got out the car, a few pairs of Red-crested Pochard, Kingfisher, Audouins Gull, a very distant raptor on a pylon which took off and disappeared which we now think was an Ospery, some small wader's showed, probably Dunlin, a Cetti's Warbler put on a brief show, always a difficult bird to get good views. Penduline Tits contact called and eventually showed

Standing Stones

14 Spoonbill, 4 Great white Egret, another or the same Osprey, Marsh Harriers, a few Greenshank tooted on there bugle's in the distant,

El Pinet

Coffee and Sea Watch, coffee good, sea watch abysmal.

Little Owl

At the Salinas pools the usual Avocets and Dunlin, Black-winged Stilts, Little Owl.

Avocet

Next

The Mouth of the Rio Segura.

Lots of people, fishermen and cars.

Sanderling

Chiff Chaff

Great prolonged views of another Cetti's Warbler on the beach hundreds of walkers and one Sanderling trying to find some peace and quiet, few Chiffs in the trees.

Cetti's Warbler 

Not finished we headed to the Clot

Most of the Shoveler Duck have moved on but replaced with lots of Common Pochard.

Some White-headed Duck still, Kingfishers, a single Grey Wagtail,  Black-necked Grebe Marsh Harrier, Heard Little Bitten, and Water Rail.

18th November

Montnegra & Maigmo Mountain 

A cloudy start and not much visibility taking the normal route through Montnegre and the usual stopping off places,  Black Wheatears, Black Redstarts (loads of these everywhere) a spruce of Serin in some large-ish flock's and the same for Goldfinch, and the odd Robin sounding off. Not until we arrived at Montnegre did the sun come out, Blackcaps showed well, and 4 Grey Wagtails frequenting the streams.  There were a few Southern Grey Shrike perched.

Blue rock Thrush

 A  pair of Blue rock Thrush were mobile moving from house to house. Further up the track by the Loan Tree I watch another Blue rock Thrush fly and as I track it in flight, two dark blobs came in to view, now my interest was the 2 dark blobs? I focused and there they we're 2 Golden Eagle (1 Adult 1 Juv)  first views were the closest, I legged it for the camera and by the time I returned they drifted off, its amazing how fast they can move when they want to! Some minutes later we located them again in the distant, but to far away for even a record shot.

At the big Tibi Mountain no Griffin Vultures or anything else.

Maigmo

Very quiet, most birds heard only Crested Tit, Coal Tit, Great Tit, Crossbill,  some Chaffinch flocks under the Almond Trees.   I got excited when I thought I glimpsed a Brambling but it flew off before I could confirm the ID.  A spiral of Short-toed Tree Creepers showed well at only a few meters and Mistle Thrush perched up long enough for a photo

 Mistle Thrush

At the top of Maigmo, Crag Martin's and that was the best of it.

Have fun

Lovely weather!  get out and enjoy it

Full Moon earlier this Month

Cheers

BT

Mud Glorious Mud

 

An early start by 8 o'clock overcast and windy conditions, making it feel much colder, it should make for an interesting day's birding?

Almost a repeat of last weeks birding route and there's a reason we stick to this route and its because we keep the early morning light coming from behind us.

Today had one exception Urbanova Salt Pans which still holds water, but not a single bird in sight, but the area around had a wonderful treat in store for us?  A huge European Starling Murmuration which blackened the early morning grey sky.

 European Starling

 European Starling

 European Starling

Back on route, across Santa Pola Salinas,  and at Standing Stones a Canteen of Spoonbills, (15)  4 Great white Egret, Sandwhich Terns,  A raft of 100s of Great-crested Grebe, and there seemed more than usual numbers of Greater Flamingo, not a bad start for a very blustery day.

Greater Flamingo

 The cold brisk wind was making it difficult just holding your bins still. It was almost time for first breakfast, so we both thought El Pinet for a tea stop and given El Pinet performance from last week, "that was all it was good for"  a tea stop?

The first scan of the salt pans didn't reveal anything of note the usual Avocets and Black-winged Stilt, Slender-billed Gull, and the same two Shell Duck.

John was making a brew when I was just about to get my tea when I glimpse an incoming wader.

I knew what it was and followed it to where it landed to the smallest bit of mud you could find on the Salt Pans,  I called John over to come and look and there in this corner of the mud was our bird a stunning winter plumage Grey Plover nothing mega "I know" but we don't get to see them close up often? As there usually a quite a flighty bird.

 Grey Plover 

Also on this 2-meter patch of mud, Little Stint, Ringed Plover, Dunlin, Redshank, Greenshank.

 Little Stint

 Ringed Plover

Tea was lukewarm by the time we returned, a doorstop of cake and we were off again and heading inland.

The first part of palm farm road held an exaltation of Sky Larks which took to the air frequently calling,  also in the mix Crested Lark and Kestrel, the odd Marsh Harrier sneaking about and making a nuisance of his self.  It was too busy at palm farm road, workers picking the Pomegranate harvest so we turned back.

 Sky Lark 
Record shot

In the grassy fields, we're good numbers of Meadow Pipits, White wagtails and some smaller numbers of Green Finch, no sign of any Yellow Wagtails.   

 Booted Eagle 

  Overhead a nice Booted Eagle showed well battling against the strong northerly wind.

 Lots of Grag Martin.

 Sante Aguada 

A western whip Snake crossed the road and disappeared 

At last a Waterpipit, also there Wood Sandpiper, Green Sandpiper, 2 Common Snipe, 

Waterpipit

A nice flock of Serin 30+ coming to drink at the pond, showed well, no sign of any Bluethroat there? The pool had lost most of the water from last weeks flooding?

Time for Second breakfast,  and then time to head back.

I've not mentioned every single bird seen just the new arrivals or good number of birds

Winter has arrived and today 29th just had my first Black Redstart and what a stunner

Have a great day

Cheers Bryan 

Seven of Twelve

Today John and I thought we'd check out the Santa Pola Salinas it's our local patch, and check out our most productive route around and ending up at San Felipe.

I have to say it was mostly quiet everywhere, but we did have some good moments, more of that later.

Across the Salinas, compared to other visits, it was a bit dead.  Rafts of Great-crested Grebe.  Good views of 12 Great White Egret, from the area of the big stones.

Great White Egret 7 of 12

  No Spoonbills. A few small waders on the muddy margins, as we crossed the Salinas but unable to stop to check out the ID  due to volume of traffic.  lots of Greater Flamingo, Avocet and Black winged Stilt.

It's very dry everywhere so water is key.         

         

El Pinet

 Virtually no mud and big areas of fencing blown down, a waste of effort going there.  I'll give this place a miss till water levels drop

 Kestrel

                                             

At  La Marine and the coast,  nothing much to report but 20+ Grey Herons flew from the fish farms out at sea to the coast which was different. The Herons are obviously after the fish out there? There are a good number of Grey Heron around everywhere.

 Grey Heron

  No sign of any Shearwaters from the beach to the horizon?

At some point we,d hoped to come across a flooded field on our travels. As there's been no significant rain for months and months?

Lucky we did find a few little diamonds......

flood fields, which was more luck than judgement, but great anyway.

                                               

Yellow Wagtail

   There were several fields which held a good number of Migrating Yellow Wagtail, 5 Wood Sandpipers, 1 Green Sandpiper, Ringed Plovers, Hundreds of  Black-headed Gulls and some good numbers of Mediterranean Gulls and in the mix, 100+ Glossy ibis,  Jackdaw,  Cattle Egret, Little Egret, more Yellow Wagtails, White wags and Kingfishers

 .

 Ringed Plover

                                               

 Wood Sandpiper

                                                           Santa Aguada                                                                  

Some major work has been going on, 

all the scrub has been cleared, trees have been cut back and paths cleared, and the main pool has been flooded.

  Mediterranean Gull

                                           

Mediterranean Gull

But not one Water Pipit??? Which is unusual as they been seen elsewhere?

Other bird's seen at least 5 Bluethroats. Booted Eagle, Marsh Harrier, LRP,  lots of Common Kestrel, Lesser black-backed Gull, Shell Duck, numbers of Stonechat have increased and Swallows still buzzing about.

Stonechat 

San Felipe 

Not much going on around the visitor centre,  the main lake you could hardly see anything.  The usual Marbled Duck and Red knobbed Coot were about. It was very hard to view anywhere it could all do with a cut back and the water in the main pool looked a odd colour, we didn't look at the outer pools as we felt it was all a bit flat and with no birds? 

Yellow Wagtail

So we called it a day and headed for home

A nice days birding thank God for flooded fields

Have fun

Cheers BT

No sign of Western Reef Heron

A quick return visit to the Clot, to see?  if the WRH / Hybrid was still around? Plenty of Little Egret around although a bit distant and getting and bothered by a Marsh Harrier which was quartering the reed beds.  I wouldn't be surprised to bump into the WRH Heron it again at some point in time?  Everything is much the same regarding birds seen but in fewer numbers.

Only one Night Heron, a few Squacco Heron, and the same for Little Bitten.  The Purple Herons have gone! The Heron City that was, has now gone.  The big numbers of Great-crested Grebe have dwindled with only a few adults and Juvenile birds left. Black necked Grebes still in good numbers. 

Little Bitten

Still good numbers of Juvenile White-headed Duck with a few Adult birds. Pochard, Shoveler, Teal,  present.  Juvenile Kingfisher rushing around. Heard only Water Rail in several locations.  Swallows and House Martin still going through and some Snipe present

Winter is Coming 

The Marbled Teal has done well this year with a good number from the popular hide and one which is radio / GPS tagged. Water levels at this hide are good.

Water levels continue to drop from the new hide I'd say about say over a meter and a half.  That's a lot of water missing from this big lake, and with no rain forecast for the foreseeable future, it is starting to look a bit swampy.  The feeding frenzy which was a major event has stopped and the millions of numerous small fish fry which were everywhere have seemed to disappeared. Could it be the water quality has changed may be due to the evaporation?

At some point, we'll be back at clot to check it out

I still feel the clot will turn up a good bird 

I think I need to do the Rain Dance

Michelle has a new camera a Nikon P900. So did a quick comparison of a few images I'm using a canon 760d camera and a  canon 600 f4 lens with a 1.4 converter attached can you spot the difference

all image as they come out the cameras 

answer on a post card

The major difference is weight i am carrying around about 12 kilos and the P900 a little over a kilo

No Brainer

Have a great day

Cheers BT

Little Egret / Western reef Heron intermediate Egret

About the Western Reef / little Egret / Hybrid

The replies

I think it’s a LE / WRH hybrid, one of quite a few that’s doing the rounds of Spain - mainly the larger wetlands such as Ebro Delta, Donana, Albufera, I even had one at Pego Marsh many years ago.

Hope this helps buddy Jules Sykes,

Hi Bryan,

Very interesting, my first impression is okay, though with the intermediate birds it is difficult. I will look carefully

Stephan Cramer

CBBC

Hi John! I am glad you had a good morning. To me, it looks like a hybrid of Little Egret and Western Reef Egret. It has characters of both. I think someone might have seen one weeks ago in the Salinas ( BT no mention of where it was seen or which Salinas ) But a Very Nice finding! Best regards

Pau Lucio President of the Association of Bird Guides

 whichever way you want to spin the wheel, it its a very very good bird for the Provence Alicante and more importantly for the El Clot wetlands and with a newly Confirmed location of the Elusive Trumpeters Finch its all looking good for Birding Costs Blanca

And a new bird for the Clot

So glad John and Michelle we're in on it

Hopefully, We're gonna turn up something

special in due course?

Have a great day

Major thanks to J and M Edward

 Thanks to everybody who visits my Blog

Glad you've taken the time to visit
Make some news.

Cheers
BT

These Feet Were Made for Walking

After walking the complete circuit of the Clot, four and a half miles in my worn-out Crocs.  I couldn't wait for a sit-down,  my feet were killing me I've never been happier to see a wooded bench and a hide.

 Scanning for Night Heron in the roosting Heronry Tree.

Night Heron

 So it wasn't long before I notice Little Egret type flapping its wings,  but the wings were light Grey and not White. I thought straight away of a Western Reef Heron "I said get on this" although partially obscure we all could see the greyness in the wings and body.

We watch and debated for a few hours waiting for it to show on the outside of the Tamarisk Tree, the bird was continually preening. I didn't take my big lens as we were walking and wanted to travel light. big mistake? and so most of the photos are nothing more than record shots due to the distance involved 

And while we waited a Gadwall swam into view, I Lost it trying to point it out to John and Michelle, only to find a Ferruginous Duck in the same area. 

Gadwall 

      Ferruginous Duck  

Spoonbill

               There's plenty of birds there to keep you occupied a flyover of a Short-toed Eagle, Marsh Harrier quarter the reeds and a Spoonbill circled, checking out the Clot lakes?

     

  Around the Clot Long Tailed Tits, Spotted Flycatcher, Shoveler, White-headed Duck, Teal, Kingfisher, Iberian Green Woodpecker, Black-necked Grebe, Reed Warbler,

                                             White-headed Duck

   The greyish LE / WRH or Hybrid still didn't show that well and I've sent the photos to the experts we will have to wait what they think

         Shoveler

 Spotted Flycatcher

Long Tailed Tit

Have a Great Day

  Cheers BT

Possible Western Reef Heron El Clot

BREAKING NEWS

Good Evening

Everybody

Its late

I just wanted to get the news out fast, after much checking with some other Birders and experts

There's a possible Western Reef Heron at the Clot De Galvany see photos

Intermediate Western Reef Herons / Egrets are not easy to ID and it could be a hybrid of little Egret / Western Reef Heron?  And it could all go pear shaped in due course?

The Jury is still in debate over the bird, but just in case you would like to get there and see the bird for yourself 

The bird was still there till 3.30 today from the new hide roosting in the the Tamarisk Tree on the left as you look from the hide.

Great days birding with J and M Edwards  

Plenty more bird to add tomorrow

see John Edwards blog for more details 

J Edwards

Time to Say Goodbye

Good morning

Apologies for no updates for Birding Costa Blanca for the last
  3 to 4 weeks.

In my last Blog, I mention I had had a upset stomach.
Unusual for me! to feel so unwell for so long and feel so lethargic.

Now back to full strength.

Back to Birding

Kingfisher

John Edward and i have been visiting the Clot on a regular basis sometime twice a week mostly at first light.  I've got a hunch the Clot is gonna turn up a decent Wader or Crake in due course, hence the repeat visits. 2 weeks a go I am pretty sure there we're 2 Female Garganey which disappeared into the distant reeds and lost, and last week a flypast of possible a Marsh Sandpiper which i didn't get on, till it was to late, and flew into an area which couldn't be observed.  I'm gutted?

Tomorrow we're going inland to Yecla we've not to been able to get there since the end of lockdown, eager to see what around, and what's has changed.

Yecla
Tuesday 15th

A record time in arriving.  In only just over an hour.  John for years was as a driver for the Formula 1 Black, Maria squad cars and the Armed quick response team has its benefits.
More time Birding.

 Yecla roads system has changed dramatically,  loads of redirection and reroutes. But it gets you there fast.

I enjoy Yecla today, it was good to have a change of scenery it was magic and very beautiful.
For me it's all about birds but honestly, this place takes some beating in terms of view's, and vistas,  Breathtaking.
 The corn crazy fields have now gone and replaced with a new crop of Maize. And stinky Cabbage Crops. But there are acres of vines and olives groves.

Snow geese 

Bird wise it was for me was a disappointment  I have probably set my sights too high.
But there were some highlights.
We found a group of Snow Geese which is now on my list as a
Very rare migrant?  For Spain
Shame they didn't pass the bread test?

Snow geese

An amazing fresh yellowy/green Willow Warbler showed, which we don't get to see that often,  Northern Wheatear, Blue Rock Thrush, Black Wheatear, Rock Sparrows, Tree Sparrows, Thekla's Lark,
 40 Choughs, and Ravens, and a good number of Common Kestrel, I couldn't even string one into a Lesser, and oddly not one Calandra Lark or Short toed Lark

Unusually a lot of Hoopoe's which sat up for a photo or two which I guess are  also on move?
 Everything is heading in the same direction of South.
 Bee-eaters and all the Hirundines have got the message. Even the European Starlings have arrived?

Willow Warbler

Thekla's Lark

Hoopoe

It's Time to say goodbye
To the summer migrants

Not mention every bird seen
At some point
We will be back
Have a great day
Cheers
BT

San Felipe renamed Mosquito City

Not a good idea to go Birding at San Felipe on the last day of August?  The plan was to start at the furthest point and bird back and after the recent rainstorm, we had high hope of finding something different had dropped in?

But we didn't stay long as we were attacked by squadrons of stealth mosquitoes the further from the car park the worse it got.

So we didn't get far?

Santa Agueda

Encouraging  signs of  Waders returning with 3 Wood Sandpiper 2 Green Sandpiper,  Little-ringed Plovers,  Common Sandpiper, Black-tailed Godwit, all our local Hirundines were seen, except for

 Sand Martin.

The Route Back

Took us through the farmed fields, Bee-eaters still present but less in numbers.  Zitting Cisticolas perched up and posed for the camera,  I'd forgotten just how tiny these Wren like birds are?

 Zitting Cisticolas

 Zitting Cisticolas

La Marina fields

 A few Rollers, Woodchat Shrike,  Iberian Southern grey Shrike,  Spotted Flycatcher, Common Kestrel, Marsh Harrier.

Was the best of it.

El Pinnet

A single Greenshank and a Summer Plumage Dunlin were new arrivals

Little Tern and Sandwich fished the lagoons.

Moment of the day was a juvenile Collared Pratincole which dropped in the Car Park and obliged me a photographic opportunity,

 Collared Pratincole

 Collared Pratincole

only a few meters away from me and totally unfazed by close proximity of the car.

Unbelievable

 Collared Pratincole

At this moment the Clot seems hard to beat in terms of variety and numbers we'll have another look there, later this week maybe try trip further away next week
Thanks for visiting this Blog.

Have Fun

Cheers BT