RIO GENAL – TRANSFER TO MALAGA AIRPORT
Weather: no change a beautiful cloudless morning, temperature rising to 25C
Our last day had arrived! We had listed 158 species so far but a couple more wouldn’t go amiss. Fiona and I set off in the dark at 7:15am down the hill to the Rio Genal, we only had an hour or so until breakfast followed by our trip to Malaga Airport.
The morning air was warm, not a whiff of air stirred the trees, the only sounds were of the babbling river and the ‘dawn chorus’, it was magical. As it got light the surrounding scenery appeared and birds started to move. We saw and heard a good variety, but nothing new for the list, the hoped for Hawfinches did not materialise.
We did see many common birds as well as hearing, Cetti’s Warbler, Blackcap, Sardinian Warbler, Spotless Starling and Grey Wagtail. A Green Sandpiper dropped down to the river and many Goldfinches came down to drink.
All too soon it was time to go! We drove back to Gaucin, had breakfast and set off for Malaga. I left Fiona around 11am and had an uneventful journey back.
We have had a great week in Southern Spain, Fiona particularly liked the raptor migration of the first couple of days and the visit to the salt pans. I enjoyed every minute of it despite the heat and strong sun-glare.
Tomorrow I start another week-long tour with a group of 8, looking forward to it already!