Trip to the ‘Saladares del Guadalentín’

Although I’m out most of the time in the Spring looking for migrants, a special time for me is my first visit of the year to the ’Saladares del Guadalentín’ when I know that the Rollers have arrived.  The Roller, a bird about the size of a Jackdaw but predominantly brown, blue and black, is a fairly late arrival, and so once they’ve arrived I know that I can see them and also many of the specialities of the plains.

So when last week I heard that Rollers had been seen, I decided to fit a trip down to the ‘Saladares’ into my weekend schedule, and on Saturday after the almost obligatory trip to the lighthouse gardens at Cabo de Palos first thing, I headed off towards Alhama de Murcia.  I got to the ‘saladares’ at just after 11 0´clock – a bit on the late side for there, as it was starting to get hot.  I headed straight to the Guadalentín  river valley where the Rollers can normally be found, and there they were, two pairs, with the males doing their thing – chattering away and doing their ‘Red Arrows’ flight acrobatics.  Always such a spectacle to see, I was mesmerised by them for ages, hardly noticing the accompanying cast of about 10 Bee-eaters, and the songs of Cetti’s Warblers and Nightingales in the valley below.

 A sequence of the acrobatic display of one of the male Rollers

And some closer views of a Roller

After a while they stopped their displays and drifted off, presumably to find food, and so I continued on my exploration of the area.  The ´saladares´ have very few tarmacked roads - it’s mainly mud tracks between the fields that you have to use, which when it’s been wet, can be very tricky.  Luckily it hadn’t been wet of late so they were quite useable.   Different bird species seem to keep to different areas of the ‘saladares’, so on my circuit I decided to have a look next for larks.  I’d already seen a few Short-toed Larks and Crested Larks in some fields on my way to the Rollers, so now I wanted Lesser Short-toed and Calandras.  I thought it might be a little too late in the day, but the testosterone must be at its peak at the moment as quite a few males of both species were up in the air singing away.  Never easy to photograph, I managed a few flight shots and then came across a L.S.T.Lark on the deck that DIDN’T disappear the moment I got out of the car.

 Short-toed Lark ...

... and close relative, the Lesser Short-toed Lark ...

... and not quite so close a relative, Calandra Lark 

Continuing on the track I was on, I came to a crossroads where a male Little Bustard had been keeping low in some weeds and shot out when I reached them at a rapid rate of knots giving me a real shock!  As it flew off from beside me, I could hear the characteristic noise that the wings make (a ‘sis-sis-sis’, I presume giving rise to its Spanish name, ‘Sisón’).  Far too fast for me to photograph, but further along the track I did find a pair of Black-bellied Sandgrouse and managed to get a record shot or two before they ‘slithered’ away tortoise-like.

 

 If you can make them out, a pair of Black-bellied Sandgrouse slinking away

On another track again with waste land on either side I heard the typical song of a ‘sylvia’ warbler so stopping the car I waited for it to make its way over towards me, which it did, and then started singing to me – very inquisitive are Spectacled Warblers when you enter their territory!

 Inquisitive Spectacled Warbler

It was while I was photographing this that I noticed a distant raptor gradually making its way towards me.  It didn’t come that close, but close enough for me to identify it as a juvenile Golden Eagle and get a record shot of it.  The only other raptor of note (i.e. apart from Common Kestrels) was a light morph Booted Eagle that drifted through.

 A distant juvenile Golden Eagle

 Pale morph Booted Eagle

So that was it, a few hours seeing some very nice birds well (and others maybe not so well).  There were only two noticeable birds missing, Great Spotted Cuckoo (probably too late in the day) and Rufous Bush-chat which probably hadn’t come in yet, and I wasn’t too bothered, as it’s a great excuse to return there in a week or two’s time.

Some more photos taken on the trip

 

 Little Ringed Plover

 A close Jackdaw ...

 ... and a distant Bee-eater

Full list of birds seen

Little Grebe (Tachybaptus ruficollis); Golden Eagle (Aquila chrysaetos); Booted Eagle (Hieraaetus pennatus); Common Kestrel (Falco tinnunculus); Red-legged Partridge (Alectoris rufa); Moorhen (Gallinula chloropus); Little Bustard (Tetrax tetrax); Black Winged Stilt (Himantopus himantopus); Little Ringed Plover (Charadrius dubius); Stone Curlew (Burhinus oedicnemus); Yellow-legged Gull (Larus michahellis); Black-bellied Sandgrouse (Pterocles orientalis); Woodpigeon (Columba palumbus); Collared Dove (Streptopelia decaocto); Turtle Dove (Streptopelia turtur); Pallid Swift (Apus pallidus); Bee-eater (Merops apiaster); Roller (Coracias garrulous); Hoopoe (Upupa epops); Crested Lark (Galerida cristata); Calandra Lark (Melanocorypha calandra); Short-toed Lark (Calandrella brachydactyla); Lesser Short-toed Lark (Calandrella rufescens); Swallow (Hirundo rustica); Red-rumped Swallow (Hirundo daurica); Stonechat (Saxicola torquatus); Blackbird (Turdus merula); Cetti’s Warbler (Cettia cettia); Spectacled Warbler (Sylvia conspicillata); Sardinian Warbler (Sylvia melanocephala); Woodchat Shrike (Lanius senator); Southern Grey Shrike (Lanius meridionalis); Magpie (Pica pica); Jackdaw (Corvus monedula); Spotless Starling (Sturnus unicolor); House Sparrow (Passer domesticus) Serin (Serinus serinus); Greenfinch (Carduelis chloris); Goldfinch (Carduelis carduelis); Linnet (Carduelis cannabina); Corn Bunting (Miliaria calandra).

Happy birding,

Richard

For more up-to-date details of my birding exploits, search for 'Richard Howard' on FaceBook

Sierra Espuña and the Saladares del Guadalentín

Hi all,

 

Last Thursday (12th March), with superb weather for photography, I decided to call into the ‘Pozos de la Nieve de Murcia’ (Murcia Snow Pits) in Sierra Espuña (for further details see my post of the 13th February 2014).  My last visit there back in January wasn’t too successful, with it being very cold, and there being a strong northerly wind blowing, and the pools there had run dry so there was no water for the birds to drink.  So although there has been some snow since then, it was with bated breath that I approached the ‘pozos’.  On my way up to them, there was plenty of birdsong around, mainly of Coal Tits singing, but I also picked out the high pitched song of a Firecrest.  The song, quite similar to that of a Goldcrest although slightly stronger, is still a fairly quiet one, and so it defies the imagination as to how the male manages to pull in a female.

 Coal Tit - one of many heard singing

 Firecrest - quietly singing away ...

 ... and waiting for a mate

On reaching the ‘pozos’ I found my fears about possible lack of water to be unfounded – there wasn’t a lot but enough water below the hawthorn bush so that the birds perch in it before dropping down to the ground for a drink and bath.  So positioning myself with the sun directly behind me, I just had to wait to see the birds.  I sat there for a couple of hours and built up quite a list of birds that came down to drink.  It was impossible to photograph all of them as once they get into the bush, they are almost lost to view.   The species that came down were Blackbird, Redwing, Ring Ouzel (at least 25 of these still around), Black Redstart (it must have been a day of passage for these as I saw at least 15 of these), a couple of Blackcaps, Crested Tit, Goldfinch, Greenfinch, Linnet, Chaffinch, Cirl Bunting and Rock Bunting. 

 One of the commonest birds seen during the morning - Black Redstart ...

 ... and the other common bird, Ring Ouzel

 

 Another Ring Ouzel

 Female Black Redstart

 One of the alpine 'alpestris' sub-species

 Watching me watching the birds, a Barbary Sheep (Ammotragus lervia) or Arrui

 Regularly flying over, (Red-billed) Chough

 Male Ring Ouzel in lookout mode

 Female Ring Ouzel ...

 ... and another

Flying over on several occasions were Chough (of the ‘Red-billed’ variety), a couple of Ravens and Carrion Crows and a single Peregrine shot through with some avian prey. Beginning to get a bit stiff, I left the ‘pozos’ at about 1-30pm and headed back to my car for a sandwich lunch.  A perfect time made all the better by the lack of people on a bright sunny and warm morning.

And on my way back it was quiet and windless enough that I heard a Crossbill calling and then could hear another one as it was munching its way through a pine cone, and found a third in another nearby tree – the full family, male, female and juvenile.

 

The Crossbill family - ma ...

 

... pa ...

 and baby

It was as I was having my lunch in the car that I realised that I hadn’t seen any Short-toed Treecreepers yet this year, and so instead of taking my usual route out of the Espuña reserve (via Aledo), I took the other route out, passing the ‘Centro de Visitantes Ricardo Codorniu’.  It is close to this visitors centre that I know of some sites for the Treecreepers, so I stopped here for a while, and heard and saw a minimum of three of these little delights singing and running up the tree trunks.

 Short-toed Treecreeper

As it was still quite early when I left Espuña, I decided to make a short call into the ‘saladares del Guadalentín’ on my way home.  I wasn’t expecting to see much, as I’ve realised from previous visits that the afternoon can be pretty quiet here, but I did have a couple of Kestrels (one of which could easily have been a Lesser Kestrel, but I couldn’t get close enough to confirm i.d.),  three Marsh Harriers, a Raven, my first Great Spotted Cuckoo of the year, and on the ground various Stone Curlews, Red-legged Partridges and my first Lesser Short-toed Larks of the year (surprising this considering they are all year round residents).

 Marsh Harrier

 Great Spotted Cuckoo

 Great Spotted Cuckoo

 Displaying (and fighting) Stone Curlews

And that was it for the day – a relaxing day out inland from the coast.

Ciauu