Yecla

Before I had left San Miguel De Salinas a Stone Curlew and a Little Owl flew over the road. Later a Kestrel was perched and in Gran Alicant eighteen Glossy Ibis flew over our heads. Usually there is a Blue Rock Thrush to be seen or heard, but not this morning.

In the Estepes de Yecla the wind had dropped, the sun shone and the temperature rose from a chilly eight to thirty-two degrees by the afternoon. We knew that the migration was moving north and we hoped that we would see some of it.

Just before 9am we turned off the A31 at junction 171B signposted for Cuadette and then taking the road heading past our steppes area to ensure that we entered from the direction that we would have normally taken if we had entered from Yecla. This was incredibly good choice as we soon saw Great Spotted Cuckoo (Críalo Europeo) and watched several for some time.





You can hear them before you see them! They were very active as they would be in the process of creating the next generation. At one point we listened to Great Tit, Song Thrush, Mistle Thrush and Stone Curlew. The Mistle Thrushes were everywhere and easy to see.

We moved onto our usual route and eventually we heard both Black-bellied and Pin-tailed Sandgrouse and saw both, but at a distance and we hoped to do better. Crested Larks were everywhere and we did have very good sightings of Calandra either in flight or in the ground. The growing corn is no more that twelve inches high, but tall enough to conceal some ground birds.



The renovated farm buildings are still home to Lesser Kestrels, Spotless Starlings and Stock Doves. We knew that the Kestrels had been seen recently and we counted four in total.

There was songbirds everywhere and we saw and heard Linnet, Goldfinch, Chaffinch and Blackbird apart from the others previously mentioned. Two Stone Curlew flew nearby. Hoopoes called, flew and perched to be photographed. Almond trees were still in flower just emphasizing the difference in temperature between the coast and here.



Towards the latter part of our journey we had a good view of one Buzzard that eventually perched on rock. There were also Kestrels flying around. Again we saw more Great Spotted Cuckoos and the total for the day was fourteen individuals. What a good haul!

Buzzard In Flight

Later, back in San Miguel, the House Martins had arrived.

There were many absentees and they should all be there later in this month or by April. There is so much to look forward to seeing.

All Photographs by Bryan Thomas Copyright 2017