El Purche, Sierra Nevada, Granada Province, Spain.

Finches and Buntings Galore and a few other goodies.

 

Yellowhammer (Escribano Cerillo / Emberiza citronella).

I drove part way up the Sierra Nevada and was very pleased that I was not going to the top as the hundreds of cars going up made me think it was not a good good place to be in these strange times.

Anyway I arrived at the spot where good friend Juan Perez had seen some good birds yesterday and had a walk through the snow, in the Hawthorns I found Goldfinch (Jilguero / Carduelis carduelis), Common Magpie (Urraca / Pica pica), Corn Bunting (Triguero / Emberiza calandra), Greenfinch (Verderón Común / Carduelis chloris), Black Redstart (Colirrojo Tizón / Phoenicurus ochruros) and then the first target bird a nice male Ring Ouzel (Mirlo Capiblanco / Turdus torquatus).

I dropped down the hill into the sun and had a group of 6 Redwings (Zorzal Alirrojo / Turdus illacus), a flock of passing Red-billed Chough (Chova Piquirroja / Pyrrhocorax pyrrhocorax), Rock Bunting (Escribano Montesino / Emberiza cia), Common Chaffinch (Pinzón Vulgar / Fringilla coelebs) and a single male Yellowhammer (Escribano Cerillo / Emberiza citronella) which flew passed.

I dropped down a little further and in another Hawthorn bush I was amazed to see a flock of 8 Yellowhammers, 5 males and 3 females. Just below this point there was a couple of flocks of small birds, most were Rock Sparrows (Gorrión Chillón / Petronia petronia), with a mix of Linnets (Pardillo Común / Carduelis cannabina).

Yellowhammer (Escribano Cerillo / Emberiza citronella).

During my walk and before I returned to the car I had another pair of Yellowhammers, possibly some of the original 8, Iberian Green Woodpecker (Pito Real / Picus sharpei), Red-legged Partridge (Perdiz Roja / Alectoris rufa), Robin (Petirrojo Europeo / Erithacus rubecula)Mistle Thrush (Zorzal Charlo / Turdus viscivorus), Blackbird (Mirlo Común / Turdus merula) and Blue Tits (Herrerillo Común / Parus caeruleus).

I drove back down towards the main road back to Granada and parked again adding a Blue-rock Thrush (Roquero Solitario / Monticola solitarius) and Short-toed Treecreeper (Agateador Común / Certhia brachydactyla) before driving back home.