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.
