Wetlands and mountains of Granada and Malaga Provinces.
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Moustached Warbler (Carricerin Real / Acrocephalus melanopogon). |
Liz and I set off up the Motorway towards Granada and then headed south to the wetland reserve of Padul but today we were just paying it a brief visit to look at the feeding station in the woodlands next to the visitors centre. We arrived and with in seconds had a very nice
Dunnock (Acentor Común / Prunella modularis) which was feeding on the ground below the feeding tables, we saw just the one bird but there are meant to be a couple of this uncommon wintering species here, a few pairs breed up at high altiude in the Sierra Nevada.
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Collared Dove (Tórtola Turca / Streptopelia decaocto). |
At the same spot we also had a female
Siskin (Lúgano / Carduelis spinus),
Collared Dove (Tórtola Turca / Streptopelia decaocto),
Serin (Verdecillo / Serinus serinus),
Common Chaffinch (Pinzón Vulgar / Fringilla coelebs),
Blue Tit (Herrerillo Común / Parus caeruleus),
Blackcap (Curruca Capirotada / Sylvia atricapilla),
Song Thrush (Zorzal Común / Turdus philomelos) and
Blackbird (Mirlo Común / Turdus merula).
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Little Grebe (Zampullín Común / Tachybaptus ruficollis). |
After a while we went back to the car and dropped down the motorway to Charca de Suarez wetland reserve arriving about 09:30 and made our way straight around to the small hide over looking Laguna del Taraje and after a short wait we had very nice views of the wintering
Moustached Warbler (Carricerin Real / Acrocephalus melanopogon) which sat in the open for several minuites preening. On the same pool we also saw
Little Grebe (Zampullín Común / Tachybaptus ruficollis),
Eurasian Coot (Focha Común / Fulica atra),
Common Moorhen (Gallineta Común / Gallinulas chloropus),
Western Swamp-hen (Calamon Común / Porphyrio porphyrio),
Mallard (Anade Azulón / Anas platyrhynchos),
Cetti's Warbler (Ruisenor Bastardo / Cettia cetti),
Common Chiffchaff (Mosquitero Común / Phylloscopus collybita),
Grey (Lavandera Cascadena / Motacilla cinerea) and
White Wagtails (Lavandera Blanca / Montacilla alba).
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Great Cormorant (Cormorán Grande / Phalacrocroax carbo). |
After a while we moved on around to the main hide where we scanned Laguna de las Aneas picking out a nice male
Eurasian Wigeon (Sibón Europeo / Anas penelope), several
Common Pochards (Porrón Común / Aythya ferina),
Northern Shoveler (Pato Cuchara / Anas clypeata), the female
Ferruginous Duck (Porrón Pardo / Aythya nyroca) and her two hybrid youngsters from last years mating with a male Common Pochard. On the island there were several
Great Cormorants (Cormorán Grande / Phalacrocroax carbo), two
Black-winged Stilts (Ciguenuela Común / Himantopus himantopus), a
Grey Heron (Garza Real / Ardea cinerea),
Barn Swallows (Golondrina Común / Hirundo rustica),
House Martins (Avión Común / Delichon urbica),
Lesser Black-backed (Gaviota Sombria / Larus fuscus) and
Black-headed Gulls (Gaviota Reidora / Chroicocephalus ridibundus) and
Marsh Harrier (Aguilucho Lagunero Occidental / Circus aeruginosus).
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Grey Wagtail (Lavandera Cascadena / Motacilla cinerea). |
Again we moved on around the reserve calling in at the two hides over looking Laguna del Trebol where we added
Red-knobbed Coot (Focha Moruna / Fulca cristata),
Water Rail (Rascón Europeo / Rallus aquaticus) heard only,
Robin (Petirrojo Europeo / Erithacus rubecula),
Common Stonechat (Tarabilla Común / Saxicola torquata),
Black Redstart (Colirrojo Tizón / Phoenicurus ochruros),
Sardinian Warbler (Curruca Cabecinegra / Sylvia melanocephala) and
Greenfinch (Verderón Común / Carduelis chloris).
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Red-knobbed Coot (Focha Moruna / Fulca cristata). |
We called in at Laguna del Lirio but saw nothing new so we went back around to the hide over looking Laguna del Taraje where we waited for quite some time but eventually our patience paid off when we had views of a male
Little Bittern (Avetorillo Común / Ixobrychus minutus) which flew low over the reeds. Just after the Bittern David Jefferson came in to the hide and told us that there was a
Black-tailed Godwit (Aguja Colinegra / Limosa limosa) on the new pool so we had a walk up and had some nice views, heard but did not see a
Penduline Tit (Pájaro Moscón / Remiz pendulinus) and added a nice little flock of
Eurasian Teal (Cerceta Común / Anas crecca). On the reserve we also recorded several species of butterflies including
Speckled Wood (Pararge aegeria),
Small (Artogeia rapae) and
Large White (Pieris brassicae) and a very nice
Monarch (Danaus plexippus).
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Common Chiffchaff (Mosquitero Común / Phylloscopus collybita). |
We watched the
Godwit for a while before exiting the reserve and checking out the fields on the edge of the reserve where we located several
Zitting Cisticola (Buitrón / Cisticola juncidis), a pair of
Red Avadavat (Bengali Rojo / Amandava amandava) and at least two well hidden but heard
Common Quail (Codorniz Común / Coturnix coturnix).
Our next stop was at the mouth of the Rio Velez, we parked about half way down the east bank from the motorway bridge and walked down to the beach checking the reed clumps for the
Spotted Crake I had seen a few days earlier but with no luck. We did however soon pick up
Ringed (Chorlitejo Grande / Charadrius hiaticula) and
Little Ringed Plovers (Chorlitejo Chico / Charadrius dubius) on a small ribbon of water against the reed-beds on the far side of the river.
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Serin (Verdecillo / Serinus serinus). |
Before we reached the beach we had also seen
Little Stint (Correlimos Menudo / Calidris minuta),
Dunlin (Correlimos Común / Calidris alpina),
Little Egret (Garceta Común / Egreeta garzetta),
Monk Parakeet (Cotorra Argentina / Myiopsitta monachus), a male
Bluethroat (
Ruiseñor Pechiazul / Luscinia svecica) which this time showed it throat off nicely,
Meadow (Bisbita Pratense / Anthus pratensis) and
Water Pipits (Bisbita Alpino / Anthus spinoletta),
Snipe (Agachadiza Común / Gallinago gallinago),
Mallard,
Eurasian Coot,
Common Moorhen,
Western Cattle Egret,
Grey Heron and
Zitting Cisticola. The beach was busier than usual and the birds were all out on the sea but we did add
Mediterranean (Gaviota Cabecinegra / Larus melanocephalus),
Yellow-legged Gulls (Gaviota Patiamarilla / Larus Michahellis) and
Northern Gannet (Alcatraz Atlántico / Morus bassanus).
Once we were back at the car we headed inland and made for the mountains and had a walk along the disused railway line near Zafarraya and were soon watching a very nice pair of Black Wheatears (Collalba Negra / Oenanthe leucura), followed by a nice male Blue-rock Thrush (Roquero Solitario / Monticola solitarius), Crag Martin (Avión Roquero / Ptyonoprogne rupestris), a couple of dozen Red-billed Choughs (Chova Piquirroja / Pyrrhocorax pyrrhocorax) and a very nice Peregrine Falcon (Halcón Peregrino / Falco peregrinus). Just up the road we made a quick stop to look at some spikes of not so big Giant Orchids (Himantoglossum robertiana) and lots of the beautiful blue Broad leaved Iris (lirio de invierno / Iris planifolia).
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Spanish Ibex (Cabra pyreaica hispanica). |
We continued on up the Valley towards Loja seeing a small herd of Spanish Ibex (Cabra pyreaica hispanica) on the way and a nice flock of
Iberian Magpies (Rabilargo / Cyanopica cyanus) near the motorway.
Our final stop of the day was on the low track up to the quarry on the lower Northern slopes of Sierra de Loja, on the track we did not see anything except for more Crag Martins and a couple of Red-billed Choughs. As we dropped back down we checked the trees by the turning point and had great views of a pair of Firecrests (Reyezuelo Listado / Regulus ignicapillus) and a fly over Common Crossbill (Piquituerto Común / Loxia curvirostra) before heading back to the hotel.