PLAYA LOS LANCES PINE WOODS - ALGAROBBO RAPTOR WATCH POINT - PALMONES NATURAL PARK - CAZALLA RAPTOR WATCH POINT - TARIFA PUERTO DEL RETIRO CAR PARK
WEATHER: a very windy day, temp 28C
Last night the wind got up whilst we were at dinner and this morning it was even worse. Strong easterly gusts blasted the hotel as we ate breakfast. A thick cloud base had formed over Tarifa and rain threatened. We decided to visit the pine woods opposite the hotel as there would be shelter there on the western edge. We found several Hoopoes feeding on the ground, we saw at least two Iberian Chiffchaffs, our first Great Tit and we heard a Short-toed Treecreeper.
a Praying Mantis was found on Sue's terrace this morning
Sue and Bernie went down to the beach to take pictures of some flowers and found a Crested lark whilst I stayed in the woods watching Iberian Chiffchaffs, a Zitting Cisticola and some Blue Tits.
From there we drove across the hills above Tarifa to the Raptor watch-point at Algarobbo, thick heavy cloud shrouded the hillsides but we could still see raptors circling above the road. We made a quick detour into Algeciras to have a look for the now-resident House Bunting, a small population thrives in the suburbs of the old town. We failed to find any!
From Algeciras we could see Honey Buzzards rising above the distant hills, this prompted us to abandon our 'bunting' search and head off for Algarobbo. It was a good decision as we were amazed at the number of Honey Buzzards that were passing over despite the very windy conditions. Several hundred Honey Buzzards passed over in the next couple of hours, along with fewer numbers of Black Kites, Booted Eagle, Egyptian Vulture, Short-toed Eagle, Bee-eaters, Swifts and Swallows. A good number of Griffon Vultures were present too and we saw our first Eurasian Sparrowhawk.
these dots are Honey Buzzards, I wanted to show you the height at which they were flying over today
a typical Honey Buzzard shape, broad wings, small head, long tail
Hunger drew us away as the flow of Honey Buzzard passage slowed down but it did not stop. We drove down through Algeciras and onto Palmones, where a huge marshland lay bewteen Palmones and Algeciras. The river Palmones flows into Algeciras Bay and the estuary is easily viewed from the promenade which stretches a mile or so along the eastern bank.
my team at Palmones - Sue and Bernie with Gibraltar in the background and the promenade at Palmones
We went straight to a riverside cafe for lunch and coffee before grabbing our scopes and walking along the river. The tide was high and so not much wader activity was noted, the majority of the birds were roosting behind a sandbar and out of sight. We did find a Kingfisher almost immediately and a Whimbrel flew past us.
a Curlew, two Whimbrel and a Common Ringed Plover
Curlew, Oystercatcher, Whimbrel and several Common Ringed Plovers
Further down river we noticed small areas of exposed sand on the far side of the river, there we found a number of waders and some gulls. Sue spotted a couple of Sandwich Terns flying upriver and then we scoped four Whimbrels, a dozen Ringed Plover and singles of Dunlin, Oystercatcher, Curlew and Common Sandpiper. A bunch of gulls sat on the water, we found 3 Slender-billed gulls with Black-headed Gulls and quite a few Yellow-legged Gulls.
Two Slender-billed Gulls with two Black-headed Gulls for comparison, which is which?
On two or three occasions we saw a large flock of waders flying around but they always seem to settle out of sight, we did get a good look at them and picked out 6 Grey Plover, 3 Curlew Sandpipers amongst a bunch of 20-30 Ringed Plovers. There may have been a Red Knot amongst them but I can't say for sure.
our only butterfly species seen today, a Wall Brown
Scanning the marsh area we saw Greater Flamingos, Grey Herons and more Little Egrets, as we walked back upriver to the car park we noted a large flock of Cattle Egretssitting on the river bank and a few Honey Buzzards rising on the thermals. A search for an Osprey went unrewarded we left the area just after 3pm.
Three Slender-billed Gulls
On the way back to our hotel we stopped at Cazalla Raptor watch point, it was so windy up there that it was hard to stand up, we had to shelter on the lea-side of the buildings. A few birds were milling about in the distance wesaw Egyptian Vultures, Griffon Vultures, one or two large flocks of Bee-eaters, Short-toed Eagles and the odd single Black Kite.
From there we drove into Tarifa to visit the car park where in previous visits I have seen Common Bulbuls, it was quite sheltered down there. We spent just under an hour watching a lot of bird movement wthout seeing a Bulbul. Many birds were eating berrieswe saw Spotless Starling, Garden warbler, Blackcap, Sardinian Warbler and lots of House Sparrows. At least 5 Spotted Flycatchers were feeding on the plentiful flying insects, Blackbirds and Collared Doves were the only other species noted.
We got back to the hotel at 5:30pm having recorded just 56 species today. Our runing total is approahing 140.