Marian's birds "ilustrated diary" 2011 (Spain) (1 Viewer)

[madamcoolpix]

My next outing took place to join the local birding club again in the Seabirds Monthly Survey. As usual in the weekend it was gloomy storm and the rain was a constant threat. But fortunately it didn't rain until the last moment and even if the bird migration was weak we witnessed a show never seen in this part of the country: about 1000 Common Dolphins passed in front of us during more than an hour, we could see them leaping over the water from close to the shore to the end of the sea where our scopes reached!!! WOW!!! Only for that to stay in the cold for 3 hours was worthwhile!!! o And a bonus was a tick in the year list!

2 April 2011: Faro Vidio, Asturias, N Spain

104. Balearic Shearwater (Puffinus mauretanicus)

And after this great morning we went to look for waders. It was still soon but we saw a few, some my first ones of the year:

2 April 2011: Zeluán, Asturias, N Spain

105. Dunlin (Calidris alpina)
106. Ringed Plover (Charadrius hiaticula)
107. Little Ringed Plover (Charadrius dubius)

As the weather was so poor I didn't take my cameras with me to the outings, but after lunch at my parents I saw the guy below (a Yellow-legged Gull), from the livingroom window, asking very vehemently to have its portrait taken! :-O

 

[madamcoolpix]

When I heard that migration was starting to be noticed I sneaked out of work again during a break to go to the local beach and check if waders were around. There were not many really but enough to make me happy! o Besides, I got two other year ticks:

13 April 2011: San Lorenzo Beach, Gijón, Asturias, N Spain

108. Rose-ringed Parakeet (Psittacula krameri)
109. Northern Wheatear (Oenanthe oenanthe)

The Parakeet was a passing-by one and I failed to photograph it storm but got the Wheatear (pic a) along with a lovely and relatively cooperative Ringed Plover (pic b). And a super surprise was to see the wintering Purple Sandpipers were still around! :bounce: (pic c)

 

[madamcoolpix]

Finally a bit of excitement!!! o My first Spring weekend birding away was spent in La Mancha (Don Quixote’s land, ), where I joined a sort of photographic marathon with the aim of photographing as many species of any kind as possible to better know the biodiversity of the area. This means the outing was not exclusively focused in bird, in fact during this first day insects were the main aim. But I could see plenty of new birds for the year, specially during the early morning:

16 April 2011: Tablas de Daimiel National Park, Ciudad Real Province, C Spain

110. Reed Warbler (Acrocephalus scirpaceus)
111. Willow Warbler (Phylloscopus trochilus)
112. Nightingale (Luscinia megarhynchos)
113. European Bee-eater (Merops apiaster)
114. Hoopoe (Upupa epops)
115. Gull-billed Tern (Sterna nilotica)
116. Fan-tailed Warbler (Cisticola juncidis)
117. Black-necked Grebe (Podiceps nigricollis)
118. Red-crested Pochard (Netta rufina)
119. Purple Heron (Ardea purpurea)
120. Knobbed Coot (Fulica cristata)
121. Pied Flycatcher (Ficedula hypoleuca)

The Knobbed Coot was the star of the day! :bounce: I had not seen one in 6 years and this was only my third sighting of one! I was so happy getting this picture that I didn't mind not having more chances with birds the rest of the day! :-O

More events from this magic weekend in the next post! o

 

[madamcoolpix]

Sorry, my life is a whirlpool at present and I hardly find time to come here and add updates, but I keep doing the best I can… Now I continue with the report on the visit to Tablas de Daimiel NP.

The rest of this day was spent mostly looking for Insects, so I hadn't really chances of photographing birds, but keeping my eyes in the sky just in case () I spotted:

16 April 2011: around Tablas de Daimiel National Park, Ciudad Real Province, C Spain

122. Common Swift (Apus apus)
123. Red-rumped Swallow (Hirundo dauurica)
124. White-whiskered Tern (Chidonias hybrida)

Next day, we big team visited a lagoon in the same area, which holds a terrific amount of bird species. Some people concentrated on photographing Insects but in my case I concentrated my efforts in birds, obviously, . And added to my list:

17 April 2011: Laguna de Navaseca, Ciudad Real Province, C Spain

125. White-headed Duck (Oxyura leucocephala)
126. Greater Flamingo (Phoenicopterus ruber)
127. Black-winged Stilt (Himantopus himantopus)
128. Black-crowned Night-Heron (Nycticorax nycticorax)
129. Yellow Wagtail (Motacilla flava)
130. Avocet (Recurvirostra avosetta)
131. Shelduck (Tadorna tadorna)
132. Great Reed Warbler (Acrocephalus arundinaceus)
133. Sedge Warbler (Acrocephalus schoenobaenus)

And here you have some images of my contribution to the study of Biodiversity in this spot (and now I use them too for my thead, ):

a) First attempt of the season with the Swifts in flight.
b) The emblematic White-headed Duck, a healthy population here, really I don't think I've ever seen so many in one spot! :eek!:
c) Plenty of Black-winged Stilts, not easy to approach but more cooperative than I'm used to.
d) The closest I've ever been to a breeding Black-necked Grebe… wonderful to see in its summer fineries! o

And more birds snapped here but added in a different post for room reasons.

 

[madamcoolpix]

And here you have more birds from this amazing place:

a) The Flamingoes in assorted poses…
b) An Avocet that got to the conclusion it was safer to be further away from humans.
c) These Shelducks shared the ideas of the Avocet. :-O
d) The only Black-crowned Night-Heron seen, a juvenile that crossed the sky discreetly… most of the people didn't realize of this visit!

From Navaseca we headed to Daimiel again… and more interesting stuff was found there, as you will see soon! o

 

[madamcoolpix]

As I told above, the second part of this fantastic day was spent in Daimiel NP again. As it was Sunday the Park was crowded with people but birds could be spotted anyway. I saw many of the species seen the day before, with the bonus of:

17 April 2011: Tablas de Daimiel National Park, Ciudad Real Province, C Spain

134. Green Sandpiper (Tringa ochropus)
135. Savi’s Warbler (Locustella luscinioides)

and I had better chances to immortalize typical species from the Park:

a) Cattle Egrets were everywhere in the area, this was photographed somewhere between Navaseca and Daimiel.
b) A Shoveler in a hurry... but I was quicker.
c) A flapping Red-crested Pochard… plenty of them in the Park.
d) One of the birds I was longing for photographing better than in previous years and I got it: the Whiskered Tern. :bounce: