Weather: Sky No cloud, wind SW F1; temp.15
- 30ºC. 09:30 – 18:00. With Mark Powell.
Having
heard that over the last couple of days a pair of Cream Coloured Coursers have
been seen in fields around the village
of Alpera, near Almansa
which is just over the Murcian border, Mark and I decided we’d try twitching
them. The only problem was that we
didn’t have exact directions, but we hoped that we’d bump into other birders
once there. However, as happens
frequently in Spain, once we got there not a birder was to be found, and
although we spent 5 hours peering into ploughed fields, it was literally like
looking for a needle in a haystack.
One of the few birds seen - Short Toed Lark
At
mid-afternoon with the temperature at
30º, we decided to retrieve something from the day and went further west to the
lagoon at Pétrola (to be honest we also hoped we might find some birders there
but again it was not to be). The lake
there was looking good with a fair number of breeding Greater Flamingos, and
driving along the track on the eastern side of the lagoon, had good numbers of
Black and Whiskered Terns all in breeding plumage. Also in almost full breeding plumage were a
couple of resplendent male Ruffs, various Little Stints and a single Grey Plover. Other birds of interest were Ringed, Little
Ringed and Kentish Plovers, Collared Pratincoles, Common Sandpipers,
Gull-billed Terns and a large number (I estimated at 200+) Red Crested Pochard. Raptors were few and far between - we only had
a couple of Common Buzzard and a single male Marsh Harrier.
Ruff - almost got its breeding plumage
Group of three Black Terns
And a Whiskered Tern
And the two species together
Another Black Tern
And another Whiskered
Pair of Kentish Plover
And a Common Sandpiper that was skulking around the edge of the pool
On the way
back we called into a place where I have always seen Great Bustard, and it kept
up it’s 100% record – we saw a group of 8 in the distance sheltering from the
sun in the shadows of a couple of trees, and a closer male strutting around
with its tail cocked-up.
Traveling
back home again we tried to find out more information on the Coursers, but the information
we got only added insult to injury – not only had the 2 Coursers been seen
today, but a third had been located some 20k to the west of the originals
together with a breeding plumage Dotterel!
Back in the
region of Murcia and closer to home, I called in rapidly before the sun set at
the Salinas at San Pedro in the hope I might see some more Black Terns there,
but no, not a single one. Plenty of
Little and Gull-billed Terns though.
Species seen/heard
Great
Bustard (Otis tarda)
Greater
Flamingo (Phoenicopterus roseus)
Gadwall
(Anas sterpera)
Red-Crested
Pochard (Netta rufina)
Mallard
(Anas platyrhynchos)
Coot
(Fulica atra)
Moorhen
(Gallinula chloropus)
Common
Buzzard (Buteo buteo)
Marsh
Harrier (Circus aeruginosus)
Stone
Curlew (Burhinus oedicnemus)
Collared Pratincole
(Glareola pratincola)
Avocet
(Recurvirostra avosetta)
Black
Winged Stilt (Himantopus himantopus)
Lapwing
(Vanellus vanellus)
Ringed
Plover (Charadrius hiaticula)
Little
Ringed Plover (Charadrius dubius)
Kentish
Plover (Charadrius alexandrinus)
Grey Plover (Pluvialis squatarola)
Ruff
(Philomachus pugnax)
Redshank
(Tringa tetanus)
Little Stint (Calidris minuta)
Common Sandpiper (Actitis hypoleucos)
Black Tern (Chlidonias niger)
Whiskered Tern Chlidonias hybrida)
Gull-billed Tern (Gelochelidon nilotica)
Little Tern (Sternula albifrons)
Yellow
Legged Gull (Larus michahellis)
Black-headed
Gull (Larus ridibundus)
Collared
Dove (Streptopelia decaocto)
Woodpigeon
(Columba palumbus)
Bee-eater (Merops apiaster)
Swift /Pallid Swift
(Apus apus/palidus)
Hoopoe (Upupa epops)
Crested
Lark (Galerida cristata)
Short-toed Lark (Calandrella brachydactyla)
Swallow (Hirundo rustica)
House Martin (Delichon urbicum)
Sand Martin (Riparia riparia)
Blackbird (Turdus merula)
Sardinian
Warbler (Sylvia melanocephala)
Woodchat Shrike (Lanius senator)
Southern
Grey Shrike (Lanius meridionalis)
House
Sparrow (Passer domesticus)
Linnet
(Carduelis cannabina)
Greenfinch
(Carduelis chloris)
Serin
(Serinus serinus)
Corn
Bunting (Miliaria calandra)
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