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Thursday 29 October 2020

Sierra de Loja, Granada Province, Spain.

What comes to a Puddle in the mountains.
 
Black Redstart (Colirrojo Tizón / Phoenicurus ochruros) male.
I drove up on to the Sierra de Loja and at a puddle on the far side of the hill I parked and waited to see what came in for a drink.
Black Redstart (Colirrojo Tizón / Phoenicurus ochruros) female or 1st Winter Male.

Black Redstarts (Colirrojo Tizón / Phoenicurus ochruros) were the first to arrive, this nice male came in and then spent ages tap dancing on the roof of the car and it was later joined by at least 4 other birds.
Meadow Pipit (Bisbita Pratense / Anthus pratensis).

Next came the Meadow Pipits (Bisbita Pratense / Anthus pratensis) with several coming in to drink during the time I was there and one bird enjoying a wash and scrub up over about 20 minutes.
Meadow Pipit (Bisbita Pratense / Anthus pratensis).
A group of 5
Rock Buntings (Escribano Montesino / Emberiza cia) flew in and landed on the chainlink fence next to the car and a sixth bird snuck in to the puddle and also stayed a while to have a bath, always a nice colourful bird to get the camera on.
Rock Bunting (Escribano Montesino / Emberiza cia).

Another nice species that arrived was a
Northern Wheatear (Collalba Gris / Oenanthe oenanthe), I was not surprised to see it as there had been five or six birds along the track as I had driven up. I was up on the Sierra a week or so earlier and we had seen Northern Wheater but we also had really good numbers of Black Wheatear (Collalba Negra / Oenanthe leucura) but today they were noticable by their absence.
Goldfinch (Jilguero / Carduelis carduelis).

Corn Buntings (Triguero / Emberiza calandra) also came in but never stayed long enough for me to get the camera on them but the Goldfinches (Jilguero / Carduelis carduelis) were a little happier to stay.
Northern Wheatear (Collalba Gris / Oenanthe oenanthe).
The whole time I was there
White Wagtails (Lavandera Blanca / Montacilla alba) were coming in out both immatures and adults.
Rock Sparrows (Gorrión Chillón / Petronia petronia).

A couple of
Rock Sparrows (Gorrión Chillón / Petronia petronia) came in for a drink and both showed their nice yellow throat spots.
White Wagtail (Lavandera Blanca / Montacilla alba).
In the area around the pool I also had views of
Blue-rock Thrush (Roquero Solitario / Monticola solitarius), Blackbird (Mirlo Común / Turdus merula), Common Chaffinch (Pinzón Vulgar / Fringilla coelebs), Spotless Starling (Estornino Negro / Sturnus unicolor), Thekla Lark (Cogujada Montesina / Galerida theklae), Red-billed Chough (Chova Piquirroja / Pyrrhocorax pyrrhocorax) and Mistle Thrush (Zorzal Charlo / Turdus viscivorus).
Goldfinch (Jilguero / Carduelis carduelis).

After about 2.5 hours I packed up and went and had a look amongst the
Hawthorn (Crataegus monogyna) bushes which were almost berry free so I was not surprised to only found a single Ring Ouzel (Mirlo Capiblanco / Turdus torquatus) but I was pleased to see 4 Redwings (Zorzal Alirrojo / Turdus illacus).
Rock Bunting (Escribano Montesino / Emberiza cia).

On my way further down the hill had views of Common Stonechat (Tarabilla Común / Saxicola torquata), Little Owl (Mochuelo Europeo / Athene noctua), Red-legged Partridge (Perdiz Roja / Alectoris rufa), Serin (Verdecillo / Serinus serinus), another Rock Bunting which sat in a bush and eventually a pair of Black Wheatears.
Bluethroat (Pechiazul / Luscinia svecica) female.

Later in the day I had a walk along the Arroyo Vilano where I got good views of a nice female Bluethroat (Pechiazul / Luscinia svecica) before returning home.

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