A day of Gull hunting.
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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.
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Ring-billed Gull (Gaviota de Delaware / Larus delawarensis). |
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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.
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Little Gull (Gaviota Enana / Larus minutus). |
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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.
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Common Gull (Gaviota Cana /Larus canus). |
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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). |
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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.
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Tufted Duck (Porrón Monudo / Aythya fuligula). |
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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.
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Sanderling (Correlimos Tridáctilo / Calidris alba). |
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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.
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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).
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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.
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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.
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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.
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Common Sandpiper (Andarrios Chico / Actitis hypoleucos).
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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.
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Lesser Black-backed Gull (Gaviota Sombria / Larus fuscus) 1st winters and adults. |
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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). |
Herring Gull (Gaviota Argéntea Europea / Larus argentatus). |
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Herring Gull (Gaviota Argéntea Europea / Larus argentatus). |
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Herring Gull (Gaviota Argéntea Europea / Larus argentatus). |