Birding Cadiz (& nearby) (4 Viewers)

[John Cantelo]

The dry reedbed at Dehesa de las Yeguas is one of the few local sites I know of for Savi's Warbler. The woods hold R-n Nightjar, Iberian Green Woodpecker and often migrants like Pied Flycatcher. Nearby, Marismas de Cetina attract good numbers of waders and is home to Lesser Short-toed Lark (and Bluethroat in winter)

 

[John Cantelo]

Laguna Tercios, a shallow laguna sunk in the hills off the Jerez-El Puerto road, goes by several names. Unlike most lagunas it isn't encircled by dense scrub so viewing is easy if distant. Of all the lagunas visited it had most birds of a greater variety, yet is infrequently visited and little known. The track down to it once had a sign claiming it was private but whenever I have used it all I had from farmworkers were friendly smiles and a cheery wave!

 

[John Cantelo]

In contrast to the above, the Lagunas de El Puerto de Santa Maria are in all the guides but often deliver a less interesting experience. Laguna Juncosa is now heavily screened by tamarisk scrub & hard to view even from the poorly placed viewing platform. It held few birds. Thankfully, the track down to Laguna Salada is now in good condition so you can drive right up to the official viewpoint. However, this offers only a distant view of the laguna which, as noted above, apparently held no ducks, grebes, etc. There is an illicit access point to the laguna's shoreline which would be an ideal site for a hide/screen but money was wasted instead on this fairly useless viewpoint!

The theme of lagunas brimful of water but lacking birds has been a recurrent one. This prompts me to wonder whether the long drought has so damaged the lacustrine ecosystem that it will take some time to recover. However, the secondary theme of neglect, absent management and poor infrastructure looks unlikely to change.

 

[njlarsen]

The theme of lagunas brimful of water but lacking birds has been a recurrent one.

I feel it is likely that the populations at the moment are adequate for the smaller number of lagunas with water, and that the additional water at the moment just means that the birds are spread out thinner. We can hope for a bumper-crop of young from the breeding this year.
Niels