Friday 4th May 2012 – Marchamalo Salinas & Cabo de Palos lighthouse garden

Weather: Sky 2-3/8, wind SW F4-5; 20º.  16:50 – 18:45

                                                                                          

Again I started at the Playa Paraiso side of the Salinas.  Waders were not quite as numerous as a couple of days ago with 34 Little Stint, 6 Curlew Sandpiper, 2 Black Winged Stilt, 30 Avocet, 2 Sanderling, 1 Dunlin in breeding plumage, plus a dozen Kentish Plovers, a single Little Tern on one of the walls dividing the different pools, 6 Flamingos and 38 Shelduck and 18 Slender-billed Gulls, two more of which were mating.

There were also a cloud of about 40 House Martins feeding over the pools.

Round at the other side of the Salinas, below the Go-Kart track on the lagoons there were 32 Avocets, 8 Redshank, 2 Shelduck and another Little Tern.  In the woodland area were a couple of Woodchats and a single Spotted Flycatcher but very little else (probably due to the wind that was blowing).

I arrived at the lighthouse garden at 5-35 p.m. Taking my normal walk, I saw 9 Spotted Flycatchers, 5 Woodchats, 2 Northern Wheatears, 1 Black-eared Wheatear (female), a male and female Common Redstart, a Whinchat and a Bonelli’s Warbler plus the normal resident birds.

One of the five Woodchat shrikes seen today

Spotted Flycatchers have been piling through over the last few days

Species seen/heard

Greater Flamingo (Phoenicopterus ruber)

Shelduck (Tadorna tadorna)

Kestrel (Falco tinnunculus)

Black Winged Stilt (Himantopus Himantopus)

Avocet (Recurvirostra avosetta)

Redshank (Tringa tetanus)

Curlew Sandpiper (Calidris ferruginea)

Little Stint (Calidris minuta)

Sanderling (Calidris alba)

Dunlin (Calidris alpine)

Kentish Plover (Charadrius alexandrinus)

Yellow-legged Gull (Larus michahellis)

Slender-billed Gull (Larus genei)

Little Tern (Sternula albifrons)

Rock Dove/Domestic Pigeon (Columba livia)

Collared Dove (Streptopelia decaocto)

Woodpigeon (Columba palumbus)

Swift (Apus apus)

Crested Lark (Galerida cristata)

House Martin (Delichon urbicum)

Swallow (Hirundo rustica)

White Wagtail (Motacilla alba alba)

Blackbird (Turdus merula)

Northern Wheatear (Oenanthe oenanthe)

Black-eared Wheatear (Oenanthe hispanica)

Common Redstart (Phoenicurus phoenicurus)

Spotted Flycatcher (Muscicapa striata)

Sardinian Warbler (Sylvia melanocephala)

Bonelli’s Warbler (Phylloscopus bonelli)

Woodchat Shrike (Lanius senator)

Spotless Starling (Sturnus unicolor)

House Sparrow (Passer domesticus)

Corn Bunting (Miliaria calandra)

Serin (Serinus serinus)

Greenfinch (Carduelis chloris)