La Línea--Parque Princesa Sofía, Parque del Torrejón, Palmones--Paseo Marítimo, Cadiz Province, Spain.

A day with Ricky and Derek rarity hunting and general birding in the afternoon.

Ebird list for Parque Princesa Sofía.

Ebird list for Parque del Torrejón.

Ebird list for Palmones--Paseo Marítimo.

Red-rumped Swallow (Golondrina Dáurica / Cecropis daurica).

Over night Derek and I both heard the local Tawny Owl (Cárabo Común / Strix aluco) calling and then at 06:30 we started off down to La Linea and met Ricky who kindly invited us up to his place for breakfast where we caught up with his wife Sonia as well.

Little Bunting (Escribano pigmeo / Emberiza pusilla).

After a very nice breakfast the three of us headed down the coast road to the Parque Princesa Sofía which is a well known rarity hot spot and started the search for the Red-flanked Bluetail (Ruiseñor Coliazul / Tarsiger cyanurus) but even though the three of us searched hard along with a good number of other birders it was not seen again unfortunately.

Little Bunting (Escribano pigmeo / Emberiza pusilla).

However after a while Derek found a stunning looking Little Bunting (Escribano pigmeo / Emberiza pusilla) but I got there too late and the bird had flown so I went back to my search and after a short while I relocated the Little Bunting about a 100m away from where Derek had seen it and it was seen a few more times that day.

Yellow-browed Warbler (Mosquitero Bilistado / Phylloscopus inornatus).

We also went to another part of the Parque where we searched for and found a very smart Yellow-browed Warbler (Mosquitero Bilistado / Phylloscopus inornatus) which fed high up in the tree tops with several Common Chiffchaffs (Mosquitero Común / Phylloscopus collybita).

Yellow-browed Warbler (Mosquitero Bilistado / Phylloscopus inornatus).

Other species seen during our wondering around the park included 2 regular roosting Tawny Owls, Common Reed Warbler (Carricero Común / Acrocephalus scrpaceus), Red-rumped (Golondrina Dáurica / Cecropis daurica) and Barn Swallow (Golondrina Común / Hirundo rustica), Eurasian Crag Martin (Avión Roquero / Ptyonoprogne rupestris), Eurasian Blackcap (Curruca Capirotada / Curruca capirotada), Sardinian Warbler (Curruca Cabecinegra / Curruca melanocephala), Song Thrush (Zorzal Común / Turdus philomelos), European Robin (Petirrojo Europeo / Erithacus rubecula), European Pied Flycatcher (Papamoscas Cerrojillo / Ficedula hypoleuca), a Spotted Flycatcher (Papamoscas Gris / Muscicapa striata) which I missed, Black (Colirrojo Tizón / Phoenicurus ochruros) and Common Redstart (Colirroja Real / Phoenicurus phoenicurus), European Stonechat (Tarabilla Europea / Saxicola rubicola), White Wagtail (Lavandera Blanca / Montacilla alba), Common Chaffinch (Pinzón Vulgar / Fringilla coelebs), European Greenfinch (Verderón Común / Chloris chloris), African Grass Blue (Zizeeria knysna) x1, Monarch (Danaus plexippus) x1 and Small White (Pieris rapae) x6.

Tawny Owls (Cárabo Común / Strix aluco).

At around 14:30 we headed back Ricky's where the lovey Sonia had done us some lunch, on the way there we drove along the coast road seen a good number of Northern Gannets (Alcatraz Atlántico / Morus bassanus) and a couple of Sandwich Terns (Charrán Patinegro / Thalasseus sandvicensis).

Tawny Owls (Cárabo Común / Strix aluco).

It didn't take long to eat as we were all hungry and then later we headed out to do some more birding which took us to the area known as Parque del Torrejón, on the way we say a Booted Eagle (Aguila Calzada / Aquila penntuas) and when we arrived we parked at the entrance as the sign said there was no access to unauthorized  person but as we walked to go to the hide we found a car and three people drinking, playing loud music and by the state of them doing some extra sampling.

Monarch (Danaus plexippus).

We checked the area, scanning the salt marshes from gaps in the bushes where we found Western Cattle Egret (Garcilla Bueyera / Bubulcus ibis), Grey Heron (Garza Real / Ardea cinerea), Great Cormorant (Cormorán Grande / Phalacrocroax carbo), Black-headed (Gaviota Reidora / Chroicocephalus ridibundus), a single Mediterranean (Gaviota Cabecinegra / Larus melanocephalus) and Yellow-legged Gull (Gaviota Patiamarilla / Larus Michahellis), Sandwich Tern (Charrán Patinegro / Thalasseus sandvicensis), 3x Greater Flamingo's (Flamenco Común / Phoenicopterus roseus), Mallard (Anade Azulón / Anas platyrhynchos), Whimbrel (Zarapito Trinador / Numenius phaeopus), Common Greenshank (Archibebe Claro / Tringa nebularia), Common Redshank (Archibebe Común / Tringa totanus), Common Sandpiper (Andarrios Chico / Actitis hypoleucos), White Stork (Ciguena Blanca / Ciconia ciconia), Western Marsh Harrier (Aguilucho Lagunero Occidental / Circus aeruginosus), Western Osprey (Águila Pescardora / Pandion haliaetus), a distant Griffon Vulture (Bultre Leonado / Gyps fulvus), Eurasian Skylark (Alondra Común / Alauda arvensis), Eurasian Crag Martin, Barn Swallow, Eurasian Blackcap, Sardinian Warbler, Song Thrush, European Robin, European Stonechat, Common Chaffinch, Meadow Pipit (Bisbita Pratense / Anthus pratensis) and Red Admiral (Vanessa atalanta).

African Grass Blue (Zizeeria knysna).

Our final stop of the day was over on the other side of the Rio where we walked along the Palmones Paseo Marítimo but as the tide was still a tad high we didn't see big numbers of birds but we did find Eurasian Oystercatcher (Ostrero Euroasiático / Haematopus ostralegus), Common Ringed Plover (Chorlitejo Grande / Charadrius hiaticula), Grey Plover (Chorlito Gris / Pluvialis squatarola), Whimbrel, Common Sandpiper, Common Greenshank, Common Redshank, Dunlin (Correlimos Común / Calidris alpina), Sanderling (Correlimos Tridáctilo / Calidris alba), Slender-billed Gull (Gaviota Picofina / Chroicocephalus genei), Sandwich Tern, Eurasian Spoonbill, Grey Heron and Western Marsh Harrier.

By now the we were losing the light so we headed back to Ricky's and dropped him off and then headed back to John's at Alcalá de los Gazules.