LAGUNA MEDINA - BONANZA POOLS - BONANZA SALT PANS - CHIPIONA MARINA
WEATHER: our hottest day yet, top temp. 32C with little or no breeze at times.
We drove inland today to escape the predicted strong winds at Tarifa, it proved to be a successful choice despite the high temperature. We took an early breakfast and set out for Laguna Medina, near Jerez, at 7:45am It took us 1.5 hrs to get there because we stopped several times to look at a few species along the way. The most notable sightings from the bus were BALD IBIS in flight!!! They landed to our left in an area of new ground-works, we turned the bus and parked up. Tweny minutes watching Bald Ibis feeding in loose soil was all we needed to be happy.
the ugly Blad Ibis, taken by Tony Moore
Our next stop was even better, we saw up ahead a couple of very large birds sitting on a pylon, assuming they were Griffon Vulutres until we got closer. OMG they were Spanish Imperial Eagles, we quickly stopped the bus and turned around. Our closer views were exceptional, what agreat sighting, I never expected that!
Spanish (Western) Imperial Eagle taken by tony Moore from the bus
Turttle Dove, Short-toed Eagle, Common Kestrel, Common Buzard, Cattle and Little Egrets, Jackdaws and White Storks was most of what we saw as we travelled.
Ducks on Laguna Medina, not many this year
Unexpectedly Laguna Medina was full of water and was quite bereft of birds. We took the main track from the car park and headed towards the hide. Spotted Flycatchers, Stonechat, Cetti's Warbler (heard), Common Nightingale, Sardinian Warbler, Zitting Cisticola and Goldfinches were all seen before we reached the first viewing-point.
Broad Scarlet
Scanning the water with our scopes from the raised boardwalk we soon realised that picking out a single Red-knobbed Coot amongst 100's Eurasian Coots was going to be an impossible task. We enjoyed finding other species instead: Common Pochard, White-headed Duck, Mallard, two species of Grebe (Little & Great-crested),Grey Heron, Little Egret and Moorhen.
White-headed Duck
We walked to the raised hide, two Ospreys flew over the lake as we did so. We spent some time sitting there just enjoying the sight in front of us. We picked out a Marsh Harrier that flew over the reeds, a sitting Booted Eagle and a Turtle Dove dashed across the water. Common and Pallid Swifts joined Barn Swallows, Red-rumped Swallows and a few Sand Martins feeding over the water. Two Whiskered Terns patrolled the margin of the lake and flew past us several times.
Whiskered Tern taken by Tony from the hide
We logged Reed and Sedge Warblers, Common Waxbills and a Penduline Tit was heard but not see.
Moving on we drove across country heading for Sanlucar de Barameda, we saw lots of Storks over a rubbish tip and on nests along the way. We stopped for a tapas lunch near Jerez before to continuing to Sanluca. Eurasian Magpies were an addition to the list we also saw some Jackdaws (the former of these two is quite rare in this part of Andalucia).
At the Pool at Sanlucar we added Night Heron to the list, there were about 20 of them, along with 100+ Glossy Ibis, some Little and Cattle Egrets. Green and Common Sandpiper were seen and we found Willow Warbler in the tamarisk bushes and a Western Olivaceous Warbler, that was a wowza!
At the Bonanza Pools we were again surprised to see that the water level was very high, no muddy margins and no islands. All three pools were quite scarce of birds compared to previous years. The first pool held four Common Coots, a few Moorhens, Little Grebes and both Little & Cattle Egrets, there weren't any ducks. We picked out a single Common Sandpiper.
one of the Bonanza Pools - full to the brim, no room for waders!
The second, much large pool had a few more ducks on it. White-headed Ducks, a single Common Pochard and about 20 Little Egrets were roosting in the tamarisk hedge at the far side. The star bird was a Little Bittern, it was found in the reeds not too far away by Keith. At least two pairs of Purple Swamphen showed well.
The biggest Pool and the third one we visited was exactly the same, very few birds were on the water. We saw many Cattle Egrets, some still had chicks in the their nests!
the only Squacco Herons seen today
A Kingfisher dashed from a post, seen only by myself, we could not find a Red-knobbed Coot on this pool which is usually a certainty. No a single marbled Duck was seen on any of the pools!
Glossy Ibis, Cattle and Little Egrets
Bonanza Salt Pans were not too bad, we saw hundreds of Greater Flamingos, a single Common Shelduck the dozens of Redshank, Greenshank, Avocet, Oystercatcher, Dunlin, Curlew Sandpipers, Sanderling, Little Stint and Ringed Plover.
Sanderling by Tony Moore
Curlew Sandpipers
. We parked on the bank beside the Rio Guadalquiver and scanned the river seeing only gulls and one or two Common Sandpiper.
Our final port of call, was in fact a port! The small port and marina at Chipiona. There we watched Little Swifts coming and going to their nests in a building next to the water. This colony has been established for about 20 years and is one of very few in Europe, all of them are in Spain housing this African species. A few Turnstones flew over us, leaving their high-tide roost on the boardwalks of the marina.
the nesting site of the Little Swift colony at Chipiona Marina
Little Swift carrying a feather to its nest - Tony Moore
After a nice cold ice-cream we left the area, it was around 6pm and we got back to the hotel at 7:30pm with 76 species in the bag.