Loja Wildlife, Granada Province, Spain.: Conil del la Frontera, Costa Ballena, Chipiona Port, Playa Montijo, Colorado Pools, Bonanza Saltpans and back to Chipiona, Cadiz Province.

Wednesday, 13 January 2021

Conil del la Frontera, Costa Ballena, Chipiona Port, Playa Montijo, Colorado Pools, Bonanza Saltpans and back to Chipiona, Cadiz Province.

A day of Gull hunting.

Ring-billed Gull (Gaviota de Delaware / Larus delawarensis).

I started by driving down to the beach along the Rio Salado at Conil de la Frontera where there had been a 1st winter Ring-billed Gull (Gaviota de Delaware / Larus delawarensis) for a few days, I arrived before dawn but walked out to the far side of the bridge over the Rio.

Ring-billed Gull (Gaviota de Delaware / Larus delawarensis).

As the light started to come I picked up Grey Heron (Garza Real / Ardea cinerea), Bar-tailed Godwit (Aguja Colipinta / Limosa lapponica), a few Black-headed Gulls (Gaviota Reidora / Chroicocephalus ridibundus) started to arrive and soon I had my first sighting of the Ring-billed but it was still quite dark so the shots are not great but better than nothing.

Little Gull (Gaviota Enana / Larus minutus).

Unfortunately yet another tosser with a dog flushed everything off the river including the gull but it returned and then flew off strongly North.

Common Gull (Gaviota Cana /Larus canus).

In the same area I also found Mediterranean (Gaviota Cabecinegra / Larus melanocephalus), Audouin's (Gaviota de Audouin / Larus audouinii), Lesser Black-backed (Gaviota Sombria / Larus fuscus) and Yellow-legged Gull (Gaviota Patiamarilla / Larus Michahellis), Dunlin (Correlimos Común / Calidris alpina), Sanderling (Correlimos Tridáctilo / Calidris alba), Grey Plover (Chorlito Gris / Pluvialis squatarola), Great Cormorants (Cormorán Grande / Phalacrocroax carbo) and a Caspian Tern (Pagaza Piquiroja / Sterna caspia).

Little Gull (Gaviota Enana / Larus minutus).

The Gull didn't return and I wanted to spend as much time later at Chipiona so I headed back North seeing Greater Flamingo's (Flamenco Común / Phoenicopterus roseus) and Shelduck (Tarro Blanco / Tadoma tadorna) on the way, then calling in at Costa Ballena where I again had some nice views of the Little Gull (Gaviota Enana / Larus minutus) again.

White-headed Duck (Malvasia Cabeciblanca / Oxyura leucocephala).

Also there I had Sandwich Tern (Charrán Patinegro / Sterna sandvicensis), Mediterranean, Lesser Black-backed and again the Common Gull (Gaviota Cana /Larus canus) which was roosting on the same grass area as yesterday when they were flushed by a dog, again I walked passed the roosting Greenshanks (Archibebe Claro / Tringa nebularia) but just then a photographer stepped out from behind a building near to the gulls and again they all flushed up so I only got some flight shots of the Common Gull as they all disappeared off up the canal, I am just jinxed I think.

Tufted Duck (Porrón Monudo / Aythya fuligula).

Tufted Ducks (Porrón Monudo / Aythya fuligula).

I also had Little Grebe (Zampullín Común / Tachybaptus ruficollis), Mallard (Anade Azulón / Anas platyrhynchos), Eurasian Coot (Focha Común / Fulica atra), Common Moorhen (Gallineta Común / Gallinulas chloropus), Grey Heron, Little Egret (Garceta Común / Egreeta garzetta) and both Crag (Avión Roquero / Ptyonoprogne rupestris) and House Martin (Avión Común / Delichon urbica) over head.

Sanderling (Correlimos Tridáctilo / Calidris alba).

I passed by Chipiona and went out onto the Playa Montijo where I looked for Waders, Gulls and Terns but it was quite, however I did find Kentish (Chorlitejo Patinegro / Charadrius alexandrinus), Ringed (Chorlitejo Grande / Charadrius hiaticula) and Grey Plovers, Red Knot (Correlimos Gordo / Calidris canutus), Sanderling and several Caspian Terns.

Little Egret (Garceta Común / Egreeta garzetta) with a Grey Heron (Garza Real / Ardea cinerea) sitting down.

The next stop of the day was at Colorado Pools, I parked and scanned the three pools, there were some Night Herons (Marinete Común / Nycticorax nycticorax) in a group of Tamarisk trees, White-headed Ducks (Malvasia Cabeciblanca / Oxyura leucocephala) on all the pools and a couple of Tufted Ducks (Porrón Monudo / Aythya fuligula) as well as Eurasian Coot, Northern Shoveler (Pato Cuchara / Anas clypeata), Common Pochard (Porrón Común / Aythya ferina) and Western Swamp-hen (Calamon Común / Porphyrio porphyrio).

Little Gull (Gaviota Enana / Larus minutus).

I moved on to Bonanza Saltpans but they were even quieter than last time I visited but I still found Sanderling, Kentish and Ringed Plovers, Common Redshank (Archibebe Común / Tringa totanus), Dunlin, Avocet (Avoceta Común / Recurvirostra avosetta), Greater Flamingo's, a pair of cronking Raven (Cuervo / Corvus corax), Shelduck (Tarro Blanco / Tadoma tadorna), Sardinian Warbler (Curruca Cabecinegra / Sylvia melanocephala) and a singing Lesser Short-toed Lark (Terrera Marismena / Calandrella rufescens) which was just behind the car but as hard as I looked I could not see it, eventually it hopped up from behind a small plant and perched for a second before flying off.

Greenshank (Archibebe Claro / Tringa nebularia).

I decided to return to Costa Ballena to see if the Common Gull had returned but it had not so I checked the top pool finding a Common Sandpiper (Andarrios Chico / Actitis hypoleucos) and Monk Parakeet (Cotorra Argentina / Myiopsitta monachus).

Monk Parakeet (Cotorra Argentina / Myiopsitta monachus).

I spent the rest of the day wandering around the port and the beaches of Chipiona, in the port there were Yellow-legged, Lesser Black-backed, Audouin's, Med and Black-headed Gulls, Ruddy Turnstone (Vuelvepiedras Común / Arenaria interpres), Common Sandpiper, Great Cormorant and Grey Heron.

Ruddy Turnstones (Vuelvepiedras Común / Arenaria interpres) roosting on the Jetties.

I checked the beach looing through the Gull flock there for a reported Herring Gull (Gaviota Argéntea Europea / Larus argentatus) and I soon found a bird that I thought fitted the bill so I got some shots before it flew off.

Common Sandpiper (Andarrios Chico / Actitis hypoleucos).

Not being a gull expert and this species and Yellow-legged are difficult so I asked around once I was home and posted the Pictures on social media and sent it to friends and over all consensus came back as it is a Herring Gull which is a new species for me in Spain.

Lesser Black-backed Gull (Gaviota Sombria / Larus fuscus) 1st winters and adults.

Lesser Black-backed Gull (Gaviota Sombria / Larus fuscus) 1st winter.

I returned to the Port to see if this gull had dropped in but I did not relocate it again but I did see Spotless Starling (Estornino Negro / Sturnus unicolor), Serin (Verdecillo / Serinus serinus), Goldfinch (Jilguero / Carduelis carduelis), Collared Dove (Tórtola Turca / Streptopelia decaocto), House Sparrow (Gorrión Común / Passer domesticus) and just before I set off for the hotel a couple of Little Swift (Vencejo Moro / Apus affinis).