Unexpected late Summer Visitors and some returning wintering birds.
During a quick run through the local patch on the way down to Huétor to get some paint I stopped a couple of times and after quite an absence I found that some of the Little Bustard (Sisón Común / Tetrax tetrax) had turned up again. I found around 55 of them on a newly cut field of Lucerne. Just before the town I stopped again to watch a couple of local farmers cut another field and was surprised to hear two Common Quail (Codorniz Común / Coturnix coturnix) calling and as the cutters got close to the area where they were three birds actually flew up and across to an uncut section of the field. Either late migrants or birds that are wintering???
During a quick run through the local patch on the way down to Huétor to get some paint I stopped a couple of times and after quite an absence I found that some of the Little Bustard (Sisón Común / Tetrax tetrax) had turned up again. I found around 55 of them on a newly cut field of Lucerne. Just before the town I stopped again to watch a couple of local farmers cut another field and was surprised to hear two Common Quail (Codorniz Común / Coturnix coturnix) calling and as the cutters got close to the area where they were three birds actually flew up and across to an uncut section of the field. Either late migrants or birds that are wintering???
Other species seen during the ride round included Little Owl (Mochuelo Europeo / Athene noctua), Northern Lapwing (Avefria Europea / Vanellus vanellus), Western Cattle Egret (Garcilla Bueyera / Bubulcus ibis), 400+ Stone Curlews (Alcaraván Común / Burhinus oedicnemus), Tree Sparrow (Gorrión Molinero / Passer montanus), Iberian Magpie (Rabilargo / Cyanopica cooki), Meadow Pipit (Bisbita Pratense / Anthus pratensis), Common Chiffchaff (Mosquitero Común / Phylloscopus collybita), Spotless Starling (Estornino Negro / Sturnus unicolor), Common Stonechat (Tarabilla Común / Saxicola torquata), Grey Heron (Garza Real / Ardea cinerea), Sardinian Warbler (Curruca Cabecinegra / Sylvia melanocephala), Collared Dove (Tórtola Turca / Streptopelia decaocto), Black Redstart (Colirrojo Tizón / Phoenicurus ochruros), Common Kestrel (Cernicalo Vulgar / Falco tinnunculus) and Great Cormorant (Cormorán Grande / Phalacrocroax carbo).
