IF YOU ARE LOOKING AT THE BLOG ON A PHONE PLEASE CHANGE TO WEB VIEW AT BOTTOM OF PAGE AS IT WILL LOOK BETTER, THANKS MICK.

Thursday 31 March 2022

Fuente de Piedra, Malaga Province and Huétor Fields, Granada Province, Spain.

A few new birds for the year in the rain.
 
Wood Sandpiper (Andarrios Bastardo / Tringa glareola).

After getting an Email to say the delivery I was expecting was going to be delayed I decided to go over to Fuente de Piedra after Jenny and John Wainwright told me they had a Lesser Flamingo (Flamenco Enano / Phoenicopterus minor) a few days earlier.
Wood Sandpiper (Andarrios Bastardo / Tringa glareola).
Wood Sandpiper (Andarrios Bastardo / Tringa glareola).
I arrived and checked the Roadside pool on the way in finding a Wood Sandpiper (Andarrios Bastardo / Tringa glareola), Black-winged Stilt (Ciguenela Común / Himantopus himantopus), Avocet (Avoceta Común / Recurvirostra avosetta), Mallard (Anade Azulón / Anas platyrhynchos), Northern Shoveler (Pato Cuchara / Anas clypeata), Eurasian Teal (Cerceta Común / Anas crecca), Eurasian Coot (Focha Común / Fulica atra), Common Moorhen (Gallineta Común / Gallinulas chloropus), Black-headed Gull (Gaviota Riedora / Larus ridibundus), Barn Swallow (Golondrina Común / Hirundo rustica), several White Storks (Ciguena Blanca / Ciconia ciconia) and Greater Flamingo's (Flamenco Común / Phoenicopterus roseus).
Purple Heron (Garza Imperial / Ardea purpurea).
I parked and walked out to the Mirador below the Oak tree where the wind was rather strong making scanning the distant flock of Greater Flamingo's hard going, I could not find any of the Lesser Flamingo's in the nearby birds so I went around to the hides over looking the fresh water pools where I added
Red-crested (Pato Colorado / Netta rufina) and Common Pochard (Porrón Común / Aythya ferina), White-headed Duck (Malvasia Cabeciblanca / Oxyura leucocephala), Gadwall (Anade Friso / Anas strepera), Little Grebe (Zampullín Común / Tachybaptus ruficollis), House (Avión Común / Delichon urbica) and Sand Martins (Avión Zapador / Riparia riparia), 2x Raven (Cuervo / Corvus corax) which were sat on a Pylon and on the fields between the hide and the water lots of Rabbits (Conejo / Oryctolagus cuniculus).
Greater Flamingo (Flamenco Común / Phoenicopterus roseus).
Greater Flamingo (Flamenco Común / Phoenicopterus roseus).
As I sat down in the second smaller hide a
Purple Heron (Garza Imperial / Ardea purpurea) flew in and landed in the reeds at the back of the pool and in the nearer reeds a Sedge Warbler (Carricerin Común / Acrocephalus schoenobaenus) was singing loudly.
Water Pipit (Bisbita Alpino / Anthus spinoletta).
Water Pipit (Bisbita Alpino / Anthus spinoletta).
Water Pipit (Bisbita Alpino / Anthus spinoletta).
I returned to the Mirador and again scanned the main Lagoon finding
Gull-billed Terns (Pagaza Piconegra / Gelochelidon nilotica), Lesser Black-backed Gull (Gaviota Sombria / Larus fuscus), Dunlin (Correlimos Común / Calidris alpina), Little Egret (Garceta Común / Egreeta garzetta) and just as friend and fellow guide Bob Buckler and his party of American Biirders arrived I found a very distant Lesser Flamingo in amongst a large group of displaying Greater Flamingo's.
Barn Swallow (Golondrina Común / Hirundo rustica).
Barn Swallow (Golondrina Común / Hirundo rustica).
Bob and his group went around to the fresh water pools and I dropped down to the lower track and walked to the Boardwalk pool adding
Nightingale (Ruisenor Común / Luscinia megarhynchos), Sardinian Warbler (Curruca Cabecinegra / Sylvia melanocephala), Jackdaw (Grajilla / Corvus monedula), Blackbird (Mirlo Común / Turdus merula), Goldfinch (Jilguero / Carduelis carduelis), House Sparrow (Gorrión Común / Passer domesticus), Woodpigeon (Paloma Torcaz / Columba palumbus) and Spotless Starling (Estornino Negro / Sturnus unicolor). 
Marbled Duck (Marmaronetta angustirostris).
Avocet (Avoceta Común / Recurvirostra avosetta).
At this point the rain started so I headed back to the car and again parked along side the pool on the road in where I tried to get some shots of the Wood Sandpiper but the light was awful so they are not great.
Montagu's Harrier (Aguilucho Cenizo / Circus pygargus) male.
Other species seen here were Water Pipit (Bisbita Alpino / Anthus spinoletta), Spanish (Yellow) (Lavandera Boyera / Motacilla flava iberiae) and White Wagtail (Lavandera Blanca / Montacilla alba), Snipe (Agachadiza Común / Gallinago gallinago), Serin (Verdecillo / Serinus serinus) and a pair of smart Marbled Ducks (Marmaronetta angustirostris).
Woodchat Shrike (Alcaudón Común / Lanius senator).
The rain just kept getting heavier so I headed off to Villanueva del Trabuco where I had a very late breakfast and a couple of coffee's whilst I waited for the Craft Group Ladies to arrive, Jayne used to come to these meetings so I took some of her material and bits over to see if they could be used by them.
Corn Bunting (Triguero / Emberiza calandra).
Later I headed back home via a spot near Loja where I saw 7+
Montagu's Harriers (Aguilucho Cenizo / Circus pygargus) at a regular spot and when I reached Huétor I did a walk around the patch, highlights were 3 Marsh Harriers (Aguilucho Lagunero Occidental / Circus aeruginosus) 1 male and 2 females, a single Black Kite (Milano Negro / Milvus migrans), a good passage of Sand Martins with 60+ birds over the Lucerne fields as well as singles of Clouded Yellow (Colias corceua), Painted Lady (Vanessa cardui), Red Admiral (Vanessa atalanta) and Speckled Wood (Pararge aegeria).

No comments: