Cerro Gordo and travelling, Granada Province.

New bird for my Granadan List.

Mirado de Cerro Gordo.

Jayne and I found our selves down on the coast at Motril for the morning where we found a few bits for the garden. Later we called at a spot where Juan and I had been a few weeks earlier looking at Orchids and I had notice a nice bar (Mirado de Cerro Gordo). We found the bar which was out on the end of Cerro Gordo just on the boarder between Granada and Malaga Provinces where we had a nice light lunch and I did some birding from the terrace. I picked up a single Honey Buzzard (Aberjero Europeo / Pernis apivorus) which was heading west along the coast, Common Kestrel (Cernicalo Vulga / Falco tinnunculus), Black Redstart (Colirrojo Tizón / Phoenicurus ochruros), Black Wheatear (Collalba Negra / Oenanthe leucura), Blue Rock Thrush (Roquero Solitario / Monticola solitarius), Orphean Warbler (Curruca Mirlona / Sylvia hortensis) and Pallid Swift (Vencejo Pálido / Apus pallidus). 

View from the Bar.

Just down the road I stopped at a spot where I had great views of a pair of White-rumped Swifts (Vencejo Cafre / Apus caffer) a new bird for my Granada Province list. The first views were brief as the birds passed off west but after about 20 minutes a singleton retuned and displayed well for some time right in front of us. Here I also saw Red-rumped Swallow (Golondrina Dáurica / Hirundo daurica), Melodious Warbler (Zarcero Común / Hippolais polyglotta), Hoopoe (Abubilla / Upupa epops), Crag Martin (Avión Roquero / Ptyonoprogne rupestris) and around 20 Audouin's Gulls (Gaviota de Audouin / Larus audouinii) which were resting on a small off shore island. We then continued our round trip home via Torre-del-mar and Zaffarraya, on the way I saw Calandra Lark (Calandria / Melanocorypha calandra), Common Buzzard (Busardo Ratonero / Buteo buteo), Lesser Kestrel (Cernicola Primilla / Falco naumanni), Rock Sparrow (Gorrión Chillón / Petronia petronia), Iberian  Magpie (Rabilargo / Cyanopica cooki), European Bee-eater (Abejaruco Común / Merops apiaster), Raven (Cuervo / Corvus corax) and Zitting Cisticola (Buitrón / Cisticola juncidis).