Ceuta, Spain.

A day of stress and some good birding.

Deb and Ian, Day Five.

Ebird List for Pîsta de Mendicuti, Ceuta. 

Ebird List for Ceuta.

Ebird List for Barriada el Sarchal, Ceuta.

Ebird List for Calle Ramón y Cajal, Ceuta.

Ebird List for Carretera Monte Hacho, Ceuta.

We were off early heading down to Algeciras where we were catching a ferry over to Ceuta which is a new area of "Spain" for me, just after we passed Loja on the A92 we had a Eurasian Eagle Owl (Búho Real / Bubo bubo) fly over the car and further along in the journey we added White Stork (Ciguena Blanca / Ciconia ciconia), Yellow-legged Gull (Gaviota Patiamarilla / Larus Michahellis), Common Kestrel (Cernicalo Vulgar / Falco tinnunculus), Common Woodpigeon (Paloma Torcaz / Columba palumbus), Eurasian Collared Dove (Tórtola Turca / Streptopelia decaocto), Common Swift (Vencejo Común / Apus apus) and House Sparrow (Gorrión Común / Passer domesticus).

We had to be there 2 hours before the sailing according to the paperwork and all was going well until we hit a huge traffic jam due to an accident just before Algeciras and were stuck for over an hour which made us 40 minutes late but thankfully it was not a strict time lime and when we did get through to the check in we were actually only around the 5th vehicle to arrive and most turned up much later.

After a while we were loaded on to the ferry and then settled our selves down for the hour long crossing which was a little rough but ok, on the way we saw more Yellow-legged Gulls along with a couple of Audouin's (Gaviota de Audouin / Larus audouinii), a Balearic Shearwater (Pardela Balear / Puffinus mauretanicus) and a single Sandwich Tern (Charrán Patinegro / Thalasseus sandvicensis).

Our first view of a cloudy damp Ceuta.

Once we were off the ferry we headed to our first spot but the sat-nav got me a tad confused and I took a slight wrong turn but along the road we weren't meant to have taken we found a small Embalse surrounded by some small fields and fences, here we found African Blue Tit (Cyanistes Teneriffae / Herrerillo canario) and Common Bulbul (Bulbul Naranjero / Pycnonotus barbatus) which were year ticks.

Common Bulbul (Bulbul Naranjero / Pycnonotus barbatus).

Spotted Flycatcher (Papamoscas Gris / Muscicapa striata).

We also saw Painted Lady (Vanessa cardui), Western Cattle Egret (Garcilla Bueyera / Bubulcus ibis), Whinchat (Tarabilla Norteña / Saxicola rubetra), Cirl Bunting (Escribano Soteño / Emberiza cirlus), Willow (Mosquitero Musical / Phylloscopus trochillus) and Melodious Warbler (Zarcero políglota / Hippolais polyglotta), Spotted Flycatcher (Papamoscas Gris / Muscicapa striata), Black Kite (Milano Negro / Milvus migrans) and Booted Eagle (Aguila Calzada / Aquila penntuas).

Levaillant's Woodpecker (Pito real bereber/ Picus vaillantii).

Levaillant's Woodpecker (Pito real bereber/ Picus vaillantii).

After 20 minutes or so we headed for the site were intending to go to and parked, it was cloudy and quite cool but we did get good views of another target species when a female Levaillant's Woodpecker (Pito real bereber/ Picus vaillantii) flew into a tree below us, we heard several of these birds calling in the area.

Levaillant's Woodpecker (Pito real bereber/ Picus vaillantii).

Levaillant's Woodpecker (Pito real bereber/ Picus vaillantii).

We also saw Common Swift, Great Spotted Woodpecker (Pico Picapinos / Dendrocopos major), Northern Raven (Cuervo grande / Corvus corax), Sardinian Warbler (Curruca Cabecinegra / Curruca melanocephala), African Blue Tit, Short-toed Treecreeper (Agateador Europeo / Certhia brachydactyla), Eurasian Wren (Chochin paleártico / Troglodytes troglodytes), Common Blackbird (Mirlo Común / Turdus merula), Common Nightingale (Ruisenor Común / Luscinia megarhynchos) and Cirl Bunting.

Looking down to a dam Ceuta.

Happy faces after getting the Woodpecker.

As we started to make our way down to our over night accommodation but stopped on the way were we had nice views of another lifer the African Chaffinch (Fringilla Africana / Fringilla spodiogenys) as well as Common Woodpigeon, Eurasian Collared Dove, Yellow-legged Gull, Great (Carbonera Común / Parus major) and African Blue Tit, Common Bulbul and Booted Eagle.  

African Blue Tit (Cyanistes Teneriffae / Herrerillo canario).

Booted Eagle (Aguila Calzada / Aquila penntuas).

We arrived in the area where we were staying but struggled to find the place so we asked for directions and a guy helped us to get there but then we couldn't find anyone until a nice American guy came out from the accommodation as he was staying there and he heard us talking, he rang the own but to start with he couldn't find our booking which gave me another bit of a panic but after a bit of searching he found it but we had to wait for him to turn up with the keys.

African Chaffinch (Fringilla Africana / Fringilla spodiogenys).

African Chaffinch (Fringilla Africana / Fringilla spodiogenys).

We were shown the way up to the terrace where we waited and did some birding seeing Yellow-legged and Audouin's Gulls, 6+ Cory's / Scopoli's Shearwater but they were too distant to get an Id, Common Kestrel, Western Jackdaw (Grajilla occidental / Corvus monedula), Western House Martin (Avión Común Occidental / Delichon urbicum) and Barn Swallow (Golondrina Común / Hirundo rustica).

African Chaffinch (Fringilla Africana / Fringilla spodiogenys).

Once we were settled in to our rooms we went to a nearby site where we had a walk up Carretera Monte Hacho where we only added Eurasian Sparrowhawk (Gavilán Común / Accipiter nisus) so as it was getting very windy we decided to drop down to the town and get a coffee before returning to the same spot later where we stayed until dark.

The sun setting from the spot where we were looking for the Owl.

As we were going to be there for a while we got the chairs out and staked out the area hoping to catch up with the Maghreb Owl (Cárabo del Magreb / Strix mauritanica), as we sat there we heard Common Bulbul and just on dusk I got a phone call from my son Alan back in the UK, just at the moment Deb called and had the Owl fly through the Street lights and away which I totally missed.