Wednesday, 18th April 2012

Cabo de Palos lighthouse garden

Weather: Sky 3/8 cloud, wind SW F2-3, temp. 15ºC.  08:35 – 10:10.

At last the wind has turned round to SW and is a bit warmer, with the result that there’s been a few different birds today, the most interesting being a Tree Pipit (flying over, calling), an adult Night Heron flying in off the sea, and the bird (or rather birds) I was complaining about not having seen yesterday, 3 spanking male Ortolan Buntings.  The supporting cast wasn’t bad either, with a couple of male Redstarts, Northern Wheatear, several groups of 20 or so of both Common and Pallid Swifts flying in, a male Common Whitethroat, Willow Warbler, Swallows and a single House Martin, a very late Meadow Pipit and a couple of ‘flava’ Wagtail flyovers.  The only bird missing from the list was Woodchat, but just as I was finishing, one shot out of a bush as if to say “you can’t leave without seeing me!”

Male Redstart.  What a nice 'first bird of the day'

Shortly to be joined by another

But the bird(s) of the day has to be this group of 3 Ortolan Buntings

2 of which hung around when I got a bit closer

 

Having said that, this Night Heron coming in off the sea wasn't bad either

Good enough for 2 photos, anyway

Species seen/heard

Night Heron (Nycticorax nycticorax)

Kestrel (Falco tinnunculus)

Yellow Legged Gull (Larus michahellis)

Audouin’s Gull (Larus audouinii)

Rock Dove/Domestic Pigeon (Columba livia)

Collared Dove (Streptopelia decaocto)

Swift (Apus apus)

Pallid Swift (Apus pallidus)

Meadow Pipit (Anthus pratensis)

Tree Pipit (Anthus trivialis)

White Wagtail (Motacilla alba alba)

‘flava’ Wagtail (Motacilla flava)

Swallow (Hirundo rustica)

House Martin (Delichon urbicum)

Blackbird (Turdus merula)

Northern Wheatear (Oenanthe oenanthe)

Common Redstart (Phoenicurus phoenicurus)

Common Whitethroat (Sylvia communis)

Sardinian Warbler (Sylvia melanocephala)

Willow Warbler (Phylloscopus trochilus)

Woodchat Shrike (Lanius senator)

Spotless Starling (Sturnus unicolor)

Corn Bunting  (Miliaria calandra)

Ortolan Bunting (Emberiza hortulana)

House Sparrow (Passer domesticus)

Goldfinch (Carduelis carduelis)

Greenfinch (Carduelis chloris)