Black-winged Stilt!

A manic twitch for the juvenile Black-winged Stilt at Druridge Pools earlier. With it having been very mobile for most of the morning I was a bit worried about missing this county mega, but in the end, I didn't need to worry as it spent the rest of the day showing nicely around the Budge Fields...

Hopefully it'll stick around for some better light!

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Fuerteventura: Days 1 & 2.

The week before last, me and my dad headed south to have a week's birding on the island of Fuerteventura. We had a superb week, managing to catch up with all of our targets, often getting fantastic views too. I am slowly going through my photos, and over the next few weeks I will be putting them on my blog along with a brief account of the days birding...

We flew out on Saturday the 16th of February and arrived early afternoon. After picking up a hire car, we drove to the town of El Cotillo which would be our base for the week. This drive did prove productive and our first tick come almost immediately with a couple of Plain Swift nicely lit as they flew next to the road. These would prove to be our only Plain Swifts of the trip. Two Canary Islands Stonechats and a Laughing Dove were also notable flybys on our drive from the airport.

Once we arrived at our apartment we had a bit of trouble getting in, so decided to have a walk on the beach we it looked onto. A couple of Common Sandpipers were feeding among the rocks as well a Redshank and twos of Turnstone and Whimbrel. A Barbary Falcon gave a brief flyby, but unfortunately too fast for photos.

As we headed back to the apartment, we looked up to see a pair of Southern Grey Shrikes sat on the roof, while Spanish Sparrows were also obvious.

Day 2

On our second day, we spent a really enjoyable eight hours at Barranco de Rio Cabras, seeing a great selection of birds around the water ad scrubby areas, although we did fail to find the Dwarf Bittern. Before we arrived, we also had a couple of Houbara Bustards by the FV-30 near La Oliva.

The water had attracted a few waders with ten Black-winged Stilts, a Snipe, Green Sandpiper and two Little Ringed Plover. Three Little Egrets and a Spoonbill were also on the grassy bank, and twelve Ruddy Shelduck included a brood of eight ducklings.

Birds around the scrub on the bottom and walls of the barranco included several pairs of Canary Island Stonechats, a party of four African Blue Tits, at least fifteen Trumpeter Finches, some Spectacled Warblers and good numbers of Berthelot's Pipits, Spanish Sparrows and Hoopoes. A few Laughing Doves were also flying around the barranco floor.

As we walked back to the car, eleven Egyptian Vultures were circling overhead with Yellow-legged Gulls and Common Buzzards, while a few Lesser Short-toed Larks were also singing from an area of low scrub.

Non-avian sightings included a Monarch butterfly and Barbary Ground Squirrels, while odonata was represented by Scarlet Darters, Epaulet Skimmers, Blue Emperors and Sahara Bluetails.

Canary Islands Stonechats - male, females and juvenile

Ruddy Shelduck

Egyptian Vultures - adult and immature

Common Buzzard ssp. insularum

Spoonbill

African Blue Tit

Scarlet Darter

Sahara Bluetail

Mallorca - Albufera (part two)...

Finally had the time to edit some more photos from Mallorca and on our penultimate full day of the holiday we returned to Albufera. Highlights included a male Little Bittern a few metres away, a Collared Pratincole, Temminck's Stint, 7 Little Stints, 50+ Spotted Redshank, a Water Pipit and a hybrid Little Egret x Reef Heron. We also had a Marbled Duck, but later found out this was from one of the reintroduction schemes taking place over the last few years to boost the population there...

Little Bittern

Cattle Egret

Sardinian Warbler

Black-winged Stilt

Collared Pratincole

Great Reed Warbler

Cetti's Warbler

Little Egret x Reef Heron

Water Pipit

Iberian Yellow Wagtail intergrade (?)

Purple Heron

Marsh Harrier

Mallorca - Birding at Albufera (Part one)

On our second day we spent the morning at the Albufera Marshes - one of the most important wetlands in the whole of the Mediterranean. Our target for the day was the Moustached Warblers, which despite having several hundred birds around the reserve, we had been told could be quite difficult to see.

After stopping to have a look at the Cattle Egret and Night Heron colony along the main canal (Night Heron was a long awaited lifer for me!), we reached the start of the Ses Puntes track. And there was a Moustached Warbler! We found them surprisingly easy to find, and were able to watch at least two birds both up close as well as more distantly through the scope over the next half hour.

A Water Pipit flew over the track on while we were on our way to the next hide; Cibollar 1. An excellent selection of waders were present on the muddy pools, including...

25+ Spotted Redshank
12+ Green Sandpiper
20+ Wood Sandpiper - some walked to within a few metres of the hide!
1 Redshank
1 Ringed Plover
25+ Kentish Plover
5+ Little Ringed Plover
1 Greenshank
20+ Avocet
40+ Black-winged Stilt
1 Common Sandpiper

Other birds from here included a Great White Egret, 3 Garganey, a Booted Eagle and 2 Purple Heron, while a Nightingale was singing behind the hide!

The area around the Sa Roca hide provided us with our first two Balearic Woodchat Shrikes of the trip, along with a Great Reed Warbler and a Black Redstart.

Other stuff around the reserve included good numbers of Fan-tailed, Sardinian and Cetti's Warblers, a couple of Purple Swamphen and Red-knobbed Coots and a few Marsh Harriers.

My next post will be about the Fermentor peninsula, including the Mallorcan speciality that is Balearic Warbler.

Moustached Warbler

Night Heron

Wood Sandpiper

Wood and Green Sandpipers

Hoopoe

Cattle Egret

Balearic Woodchat Shrike

Red-knobbed Coot

Green-eyed (Norfolk) Hawker