GRAN ALICANT TO PARQUE NATURAL, EL FONDO
Unlike Thursday 11th when we headed for the mountains, on Tuesday 16th we stayed local, between Gran Alicant and El Fondo. The temperatures have risen and we knew that our best birding would be prior to mid-day and so it was.
Last year in the pines between the beach and the Carabassi Road we searched and found Spotted Flycatchers and decided that we had seen two subspecies and it was blogged. Today, apart from one brief glimpse, they were not on view and neither was a Bushchat. However, we were pleased to hear and see at least ten Long Tailed Tits. We heard one Turtle Dove call. Just off the rocks a Mediterranean Shag fished giving us close up views.
We needed to get on and soon we were on the N332. Our first stop was in the pull-off spot by the Salt Tower. There was not a lot to see but on the opposite side of the road Little Terns were abundant and nesting in the dried up lagoon. One Collared Pratincole flew away over the reeds. The usual residents were there with Yellow Legged Gulls being noisy with a few Black Headed ones. Whiskered Terns flew over us.
Quickly moving on to El Pinet we found the parking area cordoned off. The effect was that the breeding gulls felt safer and were nearer to the fencing. On a bank there was a mass of adult Slender Bill Gulls and chicks and we have a photo to prove it. In the water very close by a recently fledged Slender Bill was photographed. Two Black Tailed Godwits in breeding plumage showed well.
At the beach, where the restaurant was preparing to open, there was a gathering of Common Terns out to sea and a Sandwich Tern perched on a buoy. There was not a lot else except House Sparrows.
Moving inland we expected to find both Rollers, (seven in total), and Bee-eaters and we did. They were not that plentiful but still seen with both species perched and flying. We lost count of the number of Little Owls. Southern Grey Shrikes were often around and it was not until later that we found two individual Woodchat Shrikes that are normally more abundant.
Okay we did have target birds, but what we wanted was a flooded field. The corn has been cut , the straw bailed and taken away. As we watched they began to flood the same field and on our return the water was pouring in. Bodes well for the next few days. There was water in the ditches alongside the road and from one we flushed a Black Crowned Night Heron. In a gateway within feet of the road a Yellow Wagtail was drying itself in the sun and preening. The bird look rough, but that's the reality. One decent sized Lizard scuttled into the undergrowth, but no snakes and I was looking.
In a recently tilled dry field there was a large group of gulls which included Mediterranean ones that we constantly heard calling. With them were Glossy Ibis with many flying around and feeding.
We were heading to Santa Àgueda where we did find a field that had been flooded and on it were Mediterranean Gulls, of both sexes and with young too. Again there was Ibis. Two Grey Herons were in the distance and Cattle Egrets were aplenty.
The lagoon at Santa Águeda contained water and we flushed two Marbled Ducks and a Green Sandpiper. Both Reed and Great Reed Warblers called and remained hidden. Zitting Cisticolas were around us for most of the morning. A Squacco Heron flew out often reeds.
Ariel combatants of Pallid Swift, House Martin, and both Barn and Red-rumpled Swallows were around but not in vast numbers. Almost home we saw a male Little Bittern.
In passing we saw Linnet, a male Greenfinch perched on a wire and singing, and Goldfinches often went by. We didn't expect to see many raptors and apart from two Kestrels that was it. Again another good day to be out and we did see plenty. But we are never satisfied and we intend to do the same thing again next week. Hopefully more butterflies too.
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