Thursday 15th March 2012

Cabo de Palos lighthouse garden

Weather: Sky 1/8 cloud, no wind, temp. 13ºC.  08:45 – 09:30.

An early morning walk to check for migrants, but the only birds of note were a group of 31 Audouin’s gulls, heading north, and a few Black Redstarts and Blackbirds about.  I didn’t even see or hear a Robin!

Species seen

Audouin’s Gull (Larus audouinii)

Yellow Legged Gull (Larus michahellis)

Sardinian Warbler (Sylvia melanocephala)

Serin (Serinus serinus)

Blackbird (Turdus merula)

Chiffchaff (Phylloscopus collybita)

Black Redstart (Phoenicurus ochruros)

Spotless Starling (Sturnus unicolor)

Rock Dove/Domestic Pigeon (Columba livia)

White Wagtail (Motacilla alba alba)

Cormorant (Phalacrocorax carbo)

Shag (Phalacrocorax aristotelis)

House Sparrow (Passer domesticus)

Collared Dove (Streptopelia decaocto)

Marchamalo Salinas, La Manga

Weather: Sky 1/8 cloud, wind NE F1, temp. 15ºC.  09:40 – 09:50.

On the way back from the lighthouse garden, I very rapidly called in at the Marchamalo Salinas and checked over the lagoons visible from the car.

There appeared to have been some movement here, as there was a good group of 42 Little Stints on the first lagoon down from the Go-Karts, together with 15 Kentish Plover and a total (that I could see) of 20 Black-winged Stilts, a couple of Spotted Redshank and a single Greenshank.  However I couldn’t hang around too long as I had to go to work!

Species seen

Little Stint (Calidris minuta)

Kentish Plover (Charadrius alexandrinus)

Avocet (Recurvirostra avosetta)

Black-winged Stilt (Himantopus himantopus)

Slender-billed Gull (Larus genei)

Audouin’s Gull (Larus audouinii)

Shelduck (Tadorna tadorna)

Spotted Redshank (Tringa erythropus)

Greenshank (Tringa nebularia)

Southern Grey Shrike (Lanius meridionalis)

Serin (Serinus serinus)

Greenfinch (Carduelis chloris)

Chiffchaff (Phylloscopus collybita)

Fan-tailed Warbler (Cisticola juncidis)

Monk Parakeet (Myiopsitta monachus)

Calblanque, Los Belones

Weather: Sky 1-2/8 cloud, wind NE F1, temp. 17ºC. 15:00 –16:50.

After lunch I paid a quick call into the Salinas de Rasall in Calblanque, to read Audouin’s Gulls ring numbers.  Apart from the Audouins, of which there were 205 (their numbers are definitely dropping from the peak at the end of February), there was nothing too out of the ordinary, although I did hear a single Dartford Warbler which may have been a migrant.

Species seen

Black-winged Stilt (Himantopus himantopus)

Audouin’s Gull (Larus audouinii)

Yellow-legged Gull (Larus michahellis)

Red-legged Partridge (Alectoris rufa)

Blackbird (Turdus merula)

Songthrush (Turdus philomelos)

Spotted Redshank (Tringa erythropus)

Meadow Pipit (Anthus pratense)

Southern Grey Shrike (Lanius meridionalis)

Green Woodpecker  (Picus viridis)

Greenfinch (Carduelis chloris)

Fan-tailed Warbler (Cisticola juncidis)

Dartford Warbler (Sylvia undata)

Cabo de Palos

Weather: Sky 1-/8 cloud, wind NE F3, temp. 15ºC. 17:00 –18:00.

On leaving  Calblanque, as there was still an hour or so’s light left, I decided to do an hours seawatch from Cabo de Palos (the rocky peak to the east of the lighthouse.  Here I struck lucky, as apart from the fact that the light was good so birds were easier than normal to pick out (I normally seawatch in the morning when you’re always looking into the sun), the passage of Puffins had started and I managed to latch on to a good few of them  - 77 in total (and also saw another 31 unidentified auk sp. too far to identify, but which were in all probability Puffins as well).

No-one knows much about these birds, but there seems to be a strong passage the last 2 weeks of March.  We first noticed them a couple of years ago, but no-one on any of the other Mediterranean Cabo’s has seen them.  They come down from the north, just inside Islas Hormigas  off Cabo de Palos, pass our seawatch point and then head out south-east, and the best time to see them is definitely mid-afternoon, when the sun reflects off their bodies and they are easy to see (but best with a telescope).  Sometimes they come close enough that you can see the full pattern on their bills, but this is not often.

Apart from these, I noticed another species that was obviously on the move but in the opposite direction – Mediterranean Gulls.  I had two groups of 9, another of 7 and another of 4, mainly adults in breeding plumage, heading out northwest, quite distant (I needed the ‘scope to identify them).

All in all, quite a productive afternoon.

Species seen

Gannet (Morus bassanus)

Shag (Phalacrocorax aristotelis)

Balearic Shearwater Puffinus mauretanicus)

Mediterranean Gull (Larus melanocephalus)

Audouin’s Gull (Larus audouinii)

Sandwich Tern (Sterna sandvicensis)

Great Skua (Catharacta skua)

Puffin (Fratercula arctica)

Razorbill (Alca torda)

Auk. Sp.