Yecla - Friday 29th January

On Friday 29th January I again travelled to Esteppes de Yecla with Michelle and Bryan Thomas. Previously there had been seen both Little and Great Bustard and these would be two of our target birds.

It was cloudy with poor visibility, and only ten degrees with a light breeze. This got a tad stronger later and with the temperature being a mere 10 degrees, it felt colder. It did not look promising at all and with a hint of rain in the air at times we had to remain optimistic. We worked at it and although there was bird song around us there was not that much to be seen.

Eventually we saw a buzzard flying and then a Black-bellied Sandgrouse flew and landed within our view. We had to wait a lot longer for any more and then six flew and landed in sight. A poor reward really, but that is birding for you.

We had travelled well into this valley when we saw a tractor scuffling the ground between rows of dormant vines. Our luck was about to change to make our day much more interesting. Here we saw flocks of White Wagtails and Linnets. Over and around the tractor where the earth had been a stirred up were three Kestrels, flying, hovering and facing into the wind to dive down and apparently feed. We all concentrated on these and there were two cameras clicking constantly. The question Bryan was asking was 'are these Lesser Kestrels'? His suspicions had been aroused in the last two months when he suspected that some of the Kestrels were not all common ones, but possibly Lesser ones that had stayed longer than normal! But now in January were these Lesser ones? We had superb views for about an hour with good close up ones, which were ideal for the photographers. The proof is in the photos shown in this blog where the distinctive features can be seen of the male and also in one of the female. The details are there to be examined and in the Collins Bird Guide too. A super hour well spent. It does go to show that attention to detail is so important. I am learning on every trip.



Earlier, in a bush, two birds flew into it and these were two Great Tits - our first ones for here. All three of us had a first for Spain when a Redwing was viewed and photographed in an Almond Tree.



Our list for the day was not great, but the views of the Lesser Kestrels more than made up for it and no Bustards. It is as follows:

Black-bellied Sandgrouse
Blackbird
Black Wheatears - two
Calandra Larks - a flock
Collared Doves
Common Buzzard
Common Kestrel
Corn Bunting
Crested Larks - some singing
Crows
Eurasian Starling
Goldfinches
Great Tits
House Sparrows (no Tree ones this time)
Lesser Kestrels
Linnets - flocks of them
Magpies
Mistle Thrushes - a good showing
Redwing
Rock Sparrow
Skylark
Southern Grey Shrike
Spotless Starling
Stock Doves
Stonechat - male
White Wagtails
Wood Pigeons - a good number

All photos taken by Bryan Thomas (Copyright Bryan Thomas 2016)