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Saturday 27 October 2012

Huétor Fields, Granada Province.

A new bird for my Granada List and on the Local patch !!

Female House Sparrow (Gorrión Común / Passer Domesticus).
After popping down to Huetor Tajar in the rain during the morning I decided to go for a couple of hours birding on the fields to the North of the town in the afternoon. 
I made a good start with a new species for my Granada list which was a couple of Greylag Geese (Ansar Común / Anser anser) which were flying with a group of Mallards (Anade Azulón / Anas platyrhynchos) after being flushed by a tractor off the river. I then drove along the river where I had a run of raptors with a female Marsh Harrier (Aguilucho Lagunero Occidental / Circus aeruginosus) seen hunting over the newly harvested maze fields, followed by two Black-winged Kites (Elanio Común / Elanus caeruleus) (one bird is seen regularly so two was a nice find) which were sat in the dead top of an old oak tree near the railway line and finally a very dark Common Buzzard (Busardo Ratonero / Buteo buteo) which had also been around for a while. 
On one of the asparagus fields I counted around 40 Stone Curlews (Alcaraván Común / Burhinus oedicnemus) hiding in amongst the feathery follage along with lots of Meadow Pipits (Bistita Común / Anthus pratensis), Sky (Alondra Común / Alauda arvensis), Crested (Cogujada Común / Galerida cristata) and Thekla Larks (Cogujada Montesina / Galerida theklae) along with a number of wintering Dartford Warblers (Curruca Rabilarga / Sylvia undata) which regularly use these fields. 
It then started to rain again so I took one of the tracks down by the river where I sat and watched a group of birds in one of the fig trees, these included Blackcap (Curruca Capirotada / Sylvia atricapilla), Common Chiffchaff (Mosquitero Común / Phylloscopus collybita) Serin (Verdecillo / Serinus serinus) and a very late Spotted Flycatcher (Papamoscas Gris / Muscicapa striata). 
There were also dozens Iberian  Magpie (Rabilargo / Cyanopica cooki) in the reeds along with a male Bluethroat (Pechiazul / Luscinia svecica), a few Common Moorhen (Gallineta Común / Gallinula Chloropus), a single Hoopoe (Abubilla / Upupa epops) and a pair of Common Stonechat (Tarabilla Común / Saxicola torquata). I then made my way around to the west of the town where the Little Bustards (Sisón Común / Tetrax tetrax) seem to have settle and found around 70 of them in a field of deepening Lucerne along with a few Western Cattle Egrets (Garcilla Bueyera / Bubulcus ibis) and about 20 Barn Swallows (Golondrina Común / Hirundo rustica) which were still moving through. 
I then made my way back up towards the house adding Zitting Cisticola (Buitrón / Cisticola juncidis), Cetti’s Warbler (Ruisenor Bastardo / Cettia cetti), Black Redstart (Colirrojo Tizón / Phoenicurus ochruros) and a singing Woodlark (Totovia / Lullula arborea).On the last part of the drive back to the house the wires were lined with large numbers of Spotless Starling (Estornino Negro / Sturnus unicolor), along with a few of their northern relatives the Common Starling (Estornino Pinto / Sturnus vulgaris) and hundreds of Collared Doves (Tórtola Turca / Streptopelia decaocto).   
Other species seen included Woodpigeon (Paloma Torcaz / Columba palumbus), White (Lavandera Blanca / Montacilla alba) and Grey Wagtails (Lavandera Cascadena / Motacilla cinerea), House Sparrow (Gorrión Común / Passer Domesticus), Greenfinch (Verderón Común / Carduelis chloris), Goldfinch (Jilguero / Carduelis carduelis), Common Chaffinch (Pinzón Vulgar / Fringilla coelebs), Linnet (Pardillo Común / Carduelis cannabina), Blackbird (Mirlo Común / Turdus merula), Common Magpie (Urraca / Pica pica) and Robin (Petirrrojo / Erithacus rubecula).