Thursday 22 March 2012

Wednesday 21st March 2012



Cabo de Palos lighthouse garden
Weather: Sky 6/8 cloud, no wind, temp. 8ºC.  07:45 – 08:45.

A bit more hopeful today to see migrants as it was cloudy but calm, and there obviously had been some movement with more Robins than of late (7), Chiffchaff, Hoopoe, Black Redstarts (7) and White Wagtails (4).

Species seen
Yellow Legged Gull (Larus michahellis)
Sardinian Warbler (Sylvia melanocephala)
Blackbird (Turdus merula)
Robin (Erithacus rubecula)
Chiffchaff (Phylloscopus collybita)
Black Redstart (Phoenicurus ochruros)
Hoopoe (Upupa epops)
Kestrel (Falco tinnunculus)
Spotless Starling (Sturnus unicolor)
White Wagtail (Motacilla alba alba)
Cormorant (Phalacrocorax carbo)
Shag (Phalacrocorax aristotelis)
House Sparrow (Passer domesticus)
Sandwich Tern (Sterna sandvicensis)
Collared Dove (Streptopelia decaocto)

Marchamalo Salinas, La Manga
Weather: Sky 5/8 cloud, no wind, temp. 12ºC.  08:55 – 09:30.

On the way back from Cabo de Palos, I called in at both sides of the Marchamalo Salinas.  All the lagoons were very full after all the rain all day yesterday.  On the La Manga side, birds of note were a group of 6 Ruff, another 6 Kentish Plover, 15 Little Stint and a total of 50 Shelduck.
Round at the ‘Playa Paraiso’ side, a single Spotted Redshank beginning to moult into breeding plumage, a Greenshank, a single 1st year Greater Flamingo and a couple of Swallows resting on a fence.

Male Swallow resting on the fence

Species seen
Shelduck (Tadorna tadorna)
Ruff (Philomachus pugnax)
Avocet (Recurvirostra avosetta)
Black Winged Stilt (Himantopus himantopus)
Little Stint (Calidris minuta)
Redshank (Tringa tetanus)
Spotted Redshank (Tringa erythropus)
Greenshank (Tringa nebularia)
Kentish Plover (Charadrius alexandrinus)
Grey Heron (Ardea cinerea)
Greater Flamingo (Phoenicopterus roseus)
Yellow Legged Gull (Larus michahellis)
Swallow (Hirundo rustica)

El Algar countryside
Weather: Sky 2/8 cloud, wind NE F2, temp. 16ºC.  16:00 – 17:50.

In the afternoon, I took a tour round the south western end of the Mar Menor, starting with the rambla de Albujon where I had Jack Snipe and Southern Grey Shrike; the ‘Marina de Carmoli’ where there were 3 Booted Eagles soaring on the thermals.  I then came back to Calblanque where the only birds of note were 4 Alpine Swifts and 3 Pallid Swifts.

Species seen
Cetti’s Warbler (Cettia cetti)
Jack Snipe (Lymnocryptes minimus)
Marsh Harrier (Circus aeruginosus)
Southern Grey Shrike (Lanius meridionalis)
Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos)
Moorhen (Gallinula chloropus)
Linnet (Carduelis cannabina)
Blackbird (Turdus merula)
Chiffchaff (Phylloscopus collybita)
Little Egret (Egretta garzetta)
Booted Eagle (Hieraaetus pennatus)
Coot (Fulica atra)
Shelduck (Tadorna tadorna)
Common Sandpiper (Actitis hypoleucos)
Black Winged Stilt (Himantopus himantopus)
Little Grebe (Tachybaptus ruficollis)
Swallow (Hirundo rustica)
 
Cabo de Palos (seawatch)
Weather: Sky 2/8 cloud, no wind, sea calm, temp. 12ºC.  18:05 – 19:05.

My last stop of the day was an hours seawatch from Cabo de Palos, but things were very quiet, and the only birds seen were 7 distant auks flying south, 5 Sandwich Terns north, 8 adult  Mediterranean Gulls in breeding plumage north, and a couple of Gannets, 1 adult, the other sub-adult, both south.

Species seen
Gannet (Morus bassanus)
Mediterranean Gull (Larus melanocephalus)
Sandwich Tern (Sterna sandvicensis)
Auk. Sp.

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