Coto Donana - El Rocio

Just back from a weeks birding with Dave in the Coto Donana, so if you read both blogs they are going to look very similar. We had a great time and saw a lot of birds although the weather was far from ideal. We had strong winds, overcast skies and at times torrential rain.

Before we went I had been worried about the marshes being too dry. Up until early January, Spain and Portugal had been experiencing a severe drought, but I can confirm that it is now over. We found fields and roads flooded, fords that we wanted to use under deep and fast flowing water and in one case water coming over the bridge instead of under it. All part of the entertainment really.

There were a couple of locations that we couldn't get to and a few extended journeys to get around the blockages. We also had one occasion where we were lucky to be able to extract the car from a muddy track.

Sanctuario del Rocio

Perhaps the best place to start is El Rocio, the town in which we were based for the week. It is in a great location with a large lagoon "La Madre de las Marismas" just to the south of the town and with a promenade and viewing points from which to observe the birds. Be aware, however, that this looks more like a wild west town with sandy pot holed roads and horse rails outside every house. It is a bit touristy, the lagoon can dry up in the summer and you need to avoid the pilgrimage season when the town will be solid with people but it's certainly full of character.

Typical view over the Lagoon - Flamingos and Spoonbills

The novelty of seeing the Flamingos, Spoonbills and Black-winged Stilts soon wares off and our early morning walks along the promenade where mostly focused on the smaller birds, the warblers, hirundines  and and anything skulking in the foraging areas around the waters edge. A Little Bittern disappearing into the reeds in the half light was a missed opportunity but Purple Swamphen, Sardinian Warblers, Cetti's, Black Redstarts and Red-rumped Swallows were all worth following.

Cetti's Warbler

House Martins  looking for somewhere to roost

Red-rumped Swallows - couldn't get any closer

Sardinian Warbler

Mrs Sardinian Warbler - Looks well fed and ready for breeding season

Sardinian Warbler again

Iberian Yellow Wagtail

Zitting Cisticola (Fan-tailed Warbler to the traditionalists)

White Wagtail

It was also good to see a flock of Tree Sparrows but they got very little attention as they were closely followed by a small flock of Common Waxbills. Common they may be but these were a life tick for me and not a bird that I had expected to see in this location. They are usually sedentary in just a few locations in Spain and Portugal but had probably been driven to move by the high water levels.

Tree Sparrows

Common Waxbills

Common Waxbill

Common Waxbill

Black-tailed Godwit

Not a bad location to use as a base. More blogs on the Coto Donana to follow.

Mallorca - the rest

Raptors were in short supply during the week we were in Mallorca. An Eleonora's Falcon would have been nice but I think we were a couple of weeks too early. Best Raptor of the trip was this Black Vulture photographed above the Cuber reservoir.

Black Vulture

Booted Eagles were a common sight at various places we visited and we also managed to pick up lots of Kestrels and Marsh Harriers.

Booted Eagle

Marsh Harrier

Kestrel

The Boquer valley was a bit of a disappointment. It is a lovely walk and well worth doing but other than one distant Rock Thrush, a few Sardinian Warblers, and a couple of Booted Eagles we did not see much. Fortunately I had taken some reasonable pictures of a Rock Thrush at Beachy Head only a couple of weeks before (see here)

It was worth spending some time at the start of the walk in the area between the car park and Finca Boquer (Boquer Farm). The farm is private property but you are allowed to walk through it and it gives some wonderful views out across the adjacent fields and wooded areas.

Cirl Bunting in the fields below the Finca

Pied Flycatcher at the Finca

Woodchat Shrike in the fields below the finca

We saw three different Woodchat Shrikes but the only ones close enough to photograph insisted on giving me long views of their backs.

Sardinian Warbler at various sites

Serin at the Pine avenue

Yellow Wagtail (Iberiea) Albufereta

Spotted Flycatcher 

The local race of Spotted Flycatcher, balearica, is noticeably paler and less streaked than the ones we see in the UK.

Wheatear - Cuber Reservoir 

Yellow-legged Gull - Puerto Pollenca

The problem with birding in a place like Mallorca is that you want to visit every location and see every bird. It was our first time there and that is what we tried to do. I think that if I were to go back I would be a bit more selective. Identify just a few target birds and spend the time getting some really good pictures.

Cyprus

I had a week in Cyprus over Christmas on a family holiday. Whilst that meant no going off  by myself for the day birding, I did still get to see plenty of birds. We were based in Paphos so a walk around the headland always presented a good opportunities to see the birds, although unfortunately, not the Greater Sand Plover that I had been told were almost guaranteed there.

Waders were in short supply and the only ones I saw, Common Sandpipers and Golden Plover, hardly set the heart racing. Pictures were also harder to come by as I did not have the large lens with me.

Common Sandpiper

Common Sandpiper

Golden Plover

Golden Plover

And with a Kingfisher sitting by one of the rock pools it felt just like being at home.

Kingfisher

The most common birds were House Sparrows, Larks, Black Redstarts, Stonechats and Hooded Crows.

Crested Lark

Crested Lark

Woodlark

Woodlark

Skylark

Black Redstart

Hooded Crow

Hooded Crow and Kestrel

We had one day up in the Troodos mountains and this was the one that I had been looking forward to. I had great hopes of seeing some decent raptors - but it didn't happen. We got up over 6000ft and had some great views out over the valleys but there were no birds flying. All I saw all day were Chaffinches and Sparrows and one very distant raptor that was too far away to identify.


Back down on the Paphos headland I finally caught up with a couple of decent birds, a Spanish Sparrow and a Sardinian Warbler.

Spanish Sparrow

Sardinian Warbler

Sardinian Warbler

I didn't see any signs of shooting or of the lime sticks that I have seen on other Mediterranean islands but there were caged birds around, in particular Turtle Doves. Its sad when I think how long I spend each year trying to see them in the UK.

Linnet

As always, I would have liked to have seen more. Perhaps I will be able to get back sometime in the future and spend a bit more time tracking down some of the birds but that's it for now.