Fuengirola gives me another Spanish tick.
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| Purple Sandpipers (Correlimos Oscuro / Calidris maritima). |
Well this was almost a twitch but we made a full day of it. After first reading a bit of information on Andy Patterson's BIRDING THE COSTA blog about a small group of Purple Sandpipers (Correlimos Oscuro / Calidris maritima) on rocks near Fuengirola and getting more of an idea where the site was from Juan Perez-contreras in Granada I decided to have a look for the whilst we were passing the site. The first couple of areas of rock produced several Ruddy Turnstone (Vuelvepiedras Común / Arenaris interpres) and a single Kentish Plover (Chorlitejo Patinegro / Charadrius alexandrinus), both of which were year ticks.
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| Huetor Fields in the snow. |
I then pulled of the coastal main road on to a beach parking area above some rocky crags. The two Purple Sandpipers were soon found on the sea ward side of a tall lump of rock which had a few small shrines build on to it. Both birds feed happily untill a large wave flushed them around the corner of the rock and out of site. Other birds seen included Northern Gannets (Alcatraz Atlántico / Morus bassanus), Great Cormorant (Cormorán Grande / Phalacrocorax carbo), Mediterranean (Gaviota Cabecinegra / Larus melanocephalus), Black-headed (Gaviota Riedora / Larus ridibundus), Yellow-legged (Gaviota Patiamarilla / Larus Michahellis) and Lesser Black-backed Gulls (Gaviota Somria / Larus fuscus).
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| House in the snow. |
