DEPARTURE DAY - TRANSFER TO MALAGA AIRPORT
WEATHER; clear blkue sky, light winds. temp 18C
Our check-in time at the airport was 11am so we had a few hours before we had to travel the short distance to the aiport, Howvever, none of the group wanted to go birding, so we met at a civilised 8am for breakfast and completed our bird list for yesterday's sightings.
During the trip we had amassed a respectable 185 species and heard both Firecrest and Quail without seeing them. A few target species were missing from the list as always: Black-winged Kite, Spectacled Warbler, Little Ringed Plover, Little Stint, Caspain Tern and believe it or not a Robin or a Coal Tit were found!!! So our list could have been aproaching 200 in perfect weather condtions, this just show's what a great place Spain is for spring birding, why not join us next year?
Here are some of Paul Edlin's pictures form the trip:
European Bee-eaters taken at Acebuche Visitor's Centre Coto Donana
Male Ferruginous Duck - a pair of these landed just in front of us at Laguan Dehesa de Abajo, Coto Donana
we had several sightings of Whimbrel at Marismas de O'Diel, Huelva and this one was taken at nearby El Rampido on the Rio Piedra.
Our first Great Spotted Cuckoo was found by Vanessa! She spotted it low down in a tamarisk shrub as we were driving along a track to the Presa (dam) de Laguna Talavan in Extremadura. We went on to see 3-4 more of these special birds.
voted bird of the trip, this Black Tern gave unbelievable views at Laguna Fuente de Piedra on the way to Malaga from Sevilla on the 13th April.
Thank you Paul for use of some of your pictures on this blog and the trip report which will follow shortly.