Sunday 20th May 2012 – Calblanque & Marchamalo salinas

Calblanque, 11:05 – 12:20 (37.601583, -0.751097 ringing area; 37.605403, -0.734413 Salinas de Rasall)

Weather: Sky 2/8 cloud, no wind; 17º.

                                                                                           

As I hadn’t been over to Calblanque for a while, I decided to have a quick look, both around the ringing site, and the abandoned Salinas de Rasall.  There weren’t many birds around at all, but in the ringing area, lots of finches (Linnets, Greenfinches & Serins), mainly young birds, and on the way there a couple of Woodchat Shrikes showing themselves in the tops of trees.  In the carpark area were 4 or more Thekla Larks.

Round at the Salinas were a Little Egret, 35 Yellow-legged Gulls and surprisingly, 17 Audouins Gulls, one of which was a first summer bird (unusual to see around this area).  The only other bird of note was a Willow Warbler in the bushes on the approach to the lagoons.

A Little Owl on its normal perch on the way to the salinas

Species seen/heard

Little Egret (Egretta garzetta)

Yellow-legged Gull (Larus michahellis)

Audouin’s Gull (Larus audouinii)

Little Owl (Athene noctua)

Swift (Apus apus)

Crested Lark (Galerida cristata)

Thekla Lark (Galerida theklae)

Fan-tailed Warbler (Cisticola juncidis)

Sardinian Warbler (Sylvia melanocephala)

Willow Warbler (Phylloscopus trochilus)

Spotless Starling (Sturnus unicolor)

Woodchat Shrike (Lanius senator)

Greenfinch (Carduelis chloris)

Linnet (Carduelis cannabina)

Serin (Serinus serinus)

House Sparrow (Passer domesticus)

Corn Bunting (Miliaria calandra)

Marchamalo salinas, 12:30 – 13:20 (37.631874, -0.726648)

Weather: Sky 2/8 cloud, wind SW F3 - 5; 18º.

Leaving Calblanque, I went over to Marchamalo Salinas.  On the La Manga side, I saw only a single Shelduck, but round at the Playa Paraiso side near to the beach on the second pool back, there was quite a gathering of waders and 18 Slender-billed Gulls, the waders consisting of 26 Avocet, 27 Curlew Sandpipers, 4 Black Winged Stilts, 8 Kentish Plover, 4 Ringed Plover, 4 Sanderling, 3 Little Stints, 2 Dunlin and singletons of Reeve and Greenshank.  There were also 15 Shelduck and 2 Little Egrets, and many House Martins dropping down to the muddy fringes to pick up mud for their nests.

A general view of the 2nd lagoon taken from the beach side (looking into the sun)

A closer view of some of the birds there - Slender-billed Gulls, a Greenshank and Curlew Sandpipers

 

Species seen/heard

Shelduck (Tadorna tadorna)

Little Egret (Egretta garzetta)

Black Winged Stilt (Himantopus Himantopus)

Avocet (Recurvirostra avosetta)

Ruff (Reeve) (Philomachus pugnax)

Curlew Sandpiper (Calidris ferruginea)

Little Stint (Calidris minuta)

Sanderling (Calidris alba)

Dunlin (Calidris alpine)

Ringed Plover (Charadrius hiaticula)

Kentish Plover (Charadrius alexandrinus)

Yellow-legged Gull (Larus michahellis)

Slender-billed Gull (Larus genei)

Audouin’s Gull (Larus audouinii)

House Martin (Delichon urbicum)

Fan-tailed Warbler (Cisticola juncidis)

Spotless Starling (Sturnus unicolor)

House Sparrow (Passer domesticus)