Heading down South via the East Coast.
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Hotel Garden. |
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Hoopoe (Abubilla / Upupa epops). |
Out in the car park of the hotel we started the day list off with Common Kestrel (Cernicalo Vulgar / Falco tinnunculus), Raven (Cuervo / Corvus corax), Spanish Sparrow (Gorrión Moruno / Passer hispaniolensis) and Collared Dove (Tórtola Turca / Streptopelia decaocto).
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Whimbrel (Zarapito Trinador / Numenius phaeopus). |
Our first stop of the day was out on the East Coast near the airport where we had views of a couple of Plain Swifts (Vencejo Unicolor / Apus unicolor), Yellow-legged Gull (Gaviota Patiamarilla / Larus Michahellis) and the omnipresent Collared Dove.
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Barranco de la Torre. |
Just a short way down the coast we called in at a shopping centre where we parked to get thought to the beach and out on to a couple of rocky jetties looking for Waders. Off to our right we found Several Ringed Plovers (Chorlitejo Grande / Charadrius hiaticula), Ruddy Turnstone (Vuelvepiedras Común / Arenaria interpres), Whimbrel (Zarapito Trinador / Numenius phaeopus) and Greenshank (Archibebe Claro / Tringa nebularia).
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Wild Melon (Citrullus colocynthis). |
We also recorded Sandwich Tern (Charrán Patinegro / Sterna sandvicensis), Yellow-legged Gulls, Little Egrets (Garceta Común / Egreeta garzetta) and back at the van a single Plain Swift, Hoopoe (Abubilla / Upupa epops) and even more Collared Doves.
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Egyptian Vulture (Alimoche Común / Neophron percnopterus). |
We dropped down South to the Barranco de la Torre where we parked and walked up to and thought the abandoned palm plantation seeing Berthelots Pipit (Bisbita Caminero / Anthus berthelotii), Spectacled Warbler (Curruca Tomillera / Sylvia conspicillata), Collared Dove, Ravens, several Egyptian Vultures (Alimoche Común / Neophron percnopterus) x11, Common Buzzard (Busardo Ratonero / Buteo buteo), a female Canary Island Chat (Tarabilla Canaria / Saxicola dacotiae), Linnet (Pardillo Común / Carduelis cannabina), Red-veined Darter (Sympetrum fonscolombii), the first of several Plain Tigers (Danaus chrysippus) one which we photographed in a Calotropis procera bush as well as lots more Painted Lady's (Vanessa cardui) which were very common.
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Trumpeter Finch (Camachuelo Trompetero / Bucanetes githagineus). |
I dropped back and collected the van and then bought it up to the group and parked, we continued on along the Barranco on foot looking for
Trumpeter Finch (Camachuelo Trompetero / Bucanetes githagineus). After a few hundred metres I heard some calling birds but the wind and quarry noise made it difficult to get a location on the birds, eventually they flew up and along the cliff a short way to a small cave in the crags where they appeared to be drinking.
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Plain Tigers (Danaus chrysippus). |
We counted and had good views of around 15 birds before making our way back down to where Judy and Ann had been sat, when we got there they informed us that they had seen 12
Barbary Partridge (Perdiz Moruna / Alectoris barbara) fly into the top of the cliffs and then dropped over the back and out of sight.
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Red-veined Darter (Sympetrum fonscolombii). |
Nick and I walked up a gully and up on to the top but we did not find the birds. In this area we also had several plants of
Wild Melon (Citrullus colocynthis) growing down in the Barranco.
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Northern Wheatear (Collalba Gris / Oenanthe oenanthe). |
We drove back along the Barranco and went into the nearby village of Salinas del Carmen where we had some lunch and checked out the rocky bay, we had views Yellow-legged Gulls, Whimbrel, Ringed Plover, Common Sandpiper (Andarrios Chico / Actitis hypoleucos), a flyby Grey Plover (Chorlito Gris / Pluviali squatarola), Little Egrets and out at sea a Sandwich Tern and a Cory's Shearwater (Pardela Cenicienta / Calonectris diomedea).
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Hoopoe (Abubilla / Upupa epops). |
We drove inland and took a side road out to an area in the hills where we were looking for and found the uncommon Barbary Falcon (Halcón Tagarote / Falco pelegrinoides) but distantly. We also had a good number of Egyptian Vultures and a couple of Common Kestrels.
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Monarch (Danaus plexippus) Butterfly. |
Our next stop was down on the coast at La Lajita where we were looking for some pools, we found them but the more natural ones were distant and difficult to view, we did find Little Egret, Yellow-legged Gull and an immature Northern Wheatear (Collalba Gris / Oenanthe oenanthe).
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Collared Dove (Tórtola Turca / Streptopelia decaocto). |
just down the road at Costa Calma we checked the ornamental park for migrants but only found 2 Hoopoes, more Collared Doves, Linnet, a Goldfinch (Jilguero / Carduelis carduelis), 2x Western Cattle Egrets (Garcilla Bueyera / Bubulcus ibis) as well as a single Monarch (Danaus plexippus) Butterfly, Red Admirals (Vanessa atalanta) and Small White (Pieris rapae).
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Red Admirals (Vanessa atalanta). |
Our last stop was at the desert areas near La Pared but all we found was a Common Buzzard so we drove back towards the hotel but made a brief stop at a roadside pool seeing a couple of Ruddy Shelduck (Tarro Canelo / Tadorna ferruginea), several Eurasian Coot (Focha Común / Fulica atra), Common Moorhen (Gallineta Común / Gallinulas chloropus), 3x Black-winged Stilt (Ciguenela Común / Himantopus himantopus), Green Sandpiper (Andarrios Grande / Tringa ochropus), 2 more Western Cattle Egrets and a Grey Wagtail (Lavandera Cascadena / Motacilla cinerea).
We returned to the hotel and had another excellent evening meal.
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Linnet (Pardillo Común / Carduelis cannabina). |
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Above the Barbary Falcon site. |