Loja Wildlife, Granada Province, Spain.: Northern Granada Province.

Monday, 12 September 2016

Northern Granada Province.

Birds and butterflies in the desert like areas of Granada Province.

Trumpeter Finches (Camachuelo Trompetero / Bucanetes githagineus).

After dropping Jayne and Barbara off in Granada City I went up the A92 and into the dry lands beyond Baza to look for some birds out there, on the way I picked up Bonelli's Eagle (Aguila-azor / Hieraetus faciatus), Iberian Magpie (Rabilargo / Cyanopica cooki) and Common Magpies (Urraca / Pica pica), Crested Lark (Cogujada / Galerida cristata), Hoopoe (Abubilla / Upupa epops), Carrion Crow (Corneja Negra / Corvus corone), Jackdaw (Grajilla / Corvus monedula) and Spotless Starling (Estornino Negro / Sturnus unicolor).

Trumpeter Finches (Camachuelo Trompetero / Bucanetes githagineus).

I arrived at the site and parked by the small patch of water which was leaking from a water tanks and almost instantly had the first of 20 or so Trumpeter Finches (Camachuelo Trompetero / Bucanetes githagineus) which came in for a drink.

Trumpeter Finches (Camachuelo Trompetero / Bucanetes githagineus).

This first group was mainly moulting adults with a couple of immature birds as well, during the morning different sized flocks dropped in along with Thekla Lark (Cogujada Montesina / Galerida theklae), Rock Sparrow (Gorrión Chillón / Petronia petronia) and Black Wheatear (Collalba Negra / Oenanthe leucura) but the latter two species always stayed out of view behind some weeds when drinking.

Trumpeter Finch (Camachuelo Trompetero / Bucanetes githagineus).

The only other species seen in this area were Red-billed Chough (Chova Piquirroja / Pyrrhocorax pyrrhocorax), Sardinian Warbler (Curruca Cabecinegra / Sylvia melanocephala), Red-veined Darter (Sympetrum fonscolombii), Bath White (Blanqiverdosa / Pontia daplidice), Common / Southern (Polyommatus icarus / celina) and Long-tailed Blues (Lampides boeticus).

Thekla Lark (Cogujada Montesina / Galerida theklae).

I had some shots and it was getting hot so I headed south early and had a nice Menu del Dia on my way back towards Granada, after I had eatern I was still early so I turned off the Motorway near Baza and checked an area of Wild Caper (Capparis spinosa) and soon located several Desert Orange-tips (Colotis evagore) and by the time I had walked around the site I had seen more than fifty insects on the wing.