Andalucia – Day 1 Malaga and Gaucin

SUN 25 MAY 2014

After a early flight, Alan, David and I arrived at Malaga airport for a week’s bird watching in Andalucia, led by Bob Buckler of Wingspan Bird Tours. Once we had found Bob we all piled into his car and drove the short distance to an area of waste land near Guadalmar to get straight on with the birding.

Guadalmar

Target species were Hoopoe and Bee-eater, and both were found within a few minutes in the trees on the opposite side of the small river. Spotted flycatcher and Turtle dove were found in the same trees, and Barn swallow, House martin and the odd Red-rumped swallow swooped over the river. A new species for all of us was Monk parakeet – a non-native South American species. Alan noted a few butterflies including small skipper and clouded yellow, and a hummingbird hawk-moth was also spotted. Gulls were of the yellow-legged variety and Spotless starling, Swift, Crested lark, Jackdaw and Kestrel completed the list.

Guadalhorce Natural Park

We drove on a short distance to the Guadalhorce Natural Park, named after the river that flows on two sides of this triangle of land next to the Med. Collared dove and House sparrow were unspectacular starters for the list. On the water were Coot and Little grebe, and above, Whiskered tern patrolled along the river. From the bridge the unmistakable song of a Cetti’s warbler exploded in the air and the bird then flew a short distance along the river bank. The monotonous zip zip song of a Zitting cisticola punctured the air. A high point overlooking a shallow lagoon produced Spoonbill, Little egret and a couple of pairs of White-headed ducks. A Reed warbler was singing nearby. As we walked on towards another lagoon, more Bee-eaters and Monk parakeets flew over. From the screen at the next lagoon were added Black-winged stilt, Pochard, Yellow-legged gull and Gull-billed tern. Amongst the swifts chasing insects over the water was at least one Pallid swift. The final area of water produced Little tern, Avocet, Sanderling, Ringed plover, Dunlin, Whimbrel, Mallard and Red knot. As we made our way back to the car, final species bagged were Serin and Red-rumped swallow.

Crestellina and Gaucin

As it was now getting on for 3.00pm it was high time we made a start on the journey to the town of Gaucin; Bob’s home and our base for the trip. After an hour’s travelling, we turned-off the excellent A-7 onto the twisting and turning A-377 for the  20km climb up to Gaucin, nestled high (640m) in the mountains. We pulled up under the long ridge of Crestellina to watch the Griffon vultures soaring above the mountain. The distinctive chow call alerted us to the Red-billed chough  also present on the crags. A pair of Bonelli’s eagles breed on this mountain, but they were feared not to have been successful this year. Looking at the eyrie through our ‘scopes we were able to prove otherwise, as a large chick could clearly be seen patiently waiting for its parents to return. The adults were soaring around with the vultures, probably today’s star birds.

The road steepened and became more twisting as we got closer to Gaucin, and when at last we had finished the ascent and the town was spread in front of us a bird of prey caught our eye circling above the town. It had a snake in its talons so we pulled off the road to have a good look. A Short-toed eagle, of course, and as we watched it transferred the unfortunate reptile form its talons to its beak – no doubt destined to be a meal for its youngsters.

We had done little more than four hours birding since our arrival, but this had produced 48 species (including seven news ones for my life list), so a great start for our Spanish adventure.

See also Bob’s Wingspan blog for Day 1.

Today’s List
Mallard	Pochard
White-headed Duck	Little Grebe
Eurasian Spoonbill	Little Egret
Griffon Vulture	Short-toed Eagle
Bonelli's Eagle	Common Kestrel
Eurasian Coot	Black-winged Stilt
Pied Avocet	Ringed Plover
Little Ringed Plover	Whimbrel
Red Knot	Sanderling
Dunlin	Yellow-legged Gull
Gull-billed Tern	Little Tern
Whiskered Tern	Turtle Dove
Collared Dove	Monk Parakeet
Swift	Pallid Swift
European Bee-eater	Hoopoe
Red-billed Chough	Jackdaw
Crested Lark	Barn Swallow
House Martin	Red-rumped Swallow
Cetti’s Warbler	Reed Warbler
Zitting Cisticola	Spotless Starling
Blackbird	Stonechat
Spotted Flycatcher	House Sparrow
Serin	Greenfinch
Goldfinch	Corn Bunting
48 Species

Hungary Day 5 – Exploring Hortobágy

Thurs 9 May 2013

No before breakfast excursion this morning, so no need to get up so early. I left my morning walk until 6.50 and just had a short (30 minute) stroll along the lane that lead uphill from the hotel entrance. The lane eventually opened out onto fields of grape vines. Nothing new to report, but a pair of red-backed shrikes were nice.

Psychiatric Hospital

After breakfast our first visit was to the woods surrounding a psychiatric hospital (I do not know the location). The sharp clicking call of a hawfinch led to the discovery of a pair attending to their nest. At last I managed to add woodpigeon to my list when one was spotted perched high on a dead tree. A woodpecker did not remain long enough to be identified – was it a great spotted or Syrian? Both Savi’s and river warblers were singing, and we spent a few minutes trying to locate the latter. Though it was probably no more than five metres away we could not find it.

Karcag

As we travelled south we stopped at a hotel in the small town of Karcag for our morning coffee. In fir trees in the adjacent park we were lucky enough to find a firecrest, another scarce species for Hungary.

A large fish farm 4 km south west of Karcag was our next destination. In only a short twenty minute visit we added several new species to our tally. Yellow-legged gull and teal were fairly run-of-the-mill but collared and black-winged pratincole were more exciting. These two species are incredibly difficult to tell apart, but we were confident that we had seen both as they flew over our heads. Roy was later able to confirm this when Sandor, the park ranger that we met earlier in the week, told him that both species were present at this lake. A white-tailed eagle flew over in the distance (but close enough to see that it had one of its primary feathers missing). Stonechat, avocet, great egret, marsh harrier, mallard, grey heron, ringed plover (little?), and black-headed gull were also ticked. An interesting yellow wagtail with a white supercilium, dark grey ear coverts and a yellow throat was probably the Romanian sub-species dombrowskii.

Near Nádudvar

We moved on to the southern end of the Hortobágy National Park in the vicinity of the village of Nádudvar (I am not sure of the exact location). We explored around the neighbourhood, occasionally stopping to see what was about. At one such stop a group of seven common crane were soaring high above and a red-footed falcon passed over. Steve found a hoopoe and a stonechat. We left the metalled road and continued on a dirt track.  Several ruff were close to the track, along with lapwing, purple heron and assorted marsh terns. 

The track led us to a derelict control tower, which suggested we were on an old
airfield, though I could not see evidence of any runways in the extensive wetlands that surrounded it. A reed filled ditch had many whiskered and white-winged terns patrolling along it that did not seem to be particularly bothered by our presence. A pair of black-necked grebe were diving for food on an area of open water and the deep booming of a bittern could be heard occasionally from somewhere close by. Steve photographed an interesting barn swallow with the usual white belly and chest showing as a rusty-red colour. We think it was probably the sub-species transitiva from the eastern Med/Levant, though it could have been savignii  from Egypt.

We discovered that the bricked up entrance to the control tower had been broken open, which allowed us to climb a couple of flights of stairs and emerge onto a flat roof that gave us a great viewing platform (taking care not to go too close to the unguarded edge). There was an incredible number of great egrets – Peter stopped counting at 98! A bittern flew across, disappearing into the reeds, where a bit of a commotion ensued. Whether it was a scuffle with another male, or some interaction between a male and female, we could not tell. Three individuals were eventually seen.
 

Coot, cuckoo, reed bunting, purple heron, tree sparrow, greylag, marsh harrier, garganey and little grebe (a new bird for the list) were all seen as well. Great reed warbler and skylark were heard.

In the distance we could see a small lake that appeared to be worth investigating so we moved on to try and get a bit closer. Here we found pochard, corn bunting, black-winged stilt, white-winged tern, black-necked grebe and ferruginous duck. The fast, rippling call of a whimbrel was heard. A farmer on horse-back and his dogs were slowly driving a herd of cattle towards us – a pleasantly bucolic scene.

Journey Back

On the way back we called into a lake/wetland run by the Hortobágy Environmental Association. Time was pressing, so this was only to be a quick visit, but in the brief time we were here we found black-winged stilt, little ringed plover, and new species for the week,  common tern, shoveler and redshank.

Those travelling in Roy’s car had a fleeting glimpse of a moustached warbler as it flew across the road in front of them.

Back at the hotel a huge moth that had been there in the morning was still on the wall of the hotel. It was a Giant Peacock Moth, Europe’s largest species and without doubt very impressive.

Additions today

Teal	Shoveler
Little Grebe	White-tailed Eagle
Crane	Collared Pratincole
Black-winged Pratincole	Whimbrel (h)
Redshank	Yellow-legged Gull
Common Tern	Moustached Warbler
Firecrest
13 additions