Spanish Birding

We've just been on holiday to Spain (Murcia) and armed with my bins and European field guide managed to do a spot of birding. We took in the common birds as well as going on a couple of little birding trips... and it was fanastic with quite a few new ticks!

General
I saw quite a few common species in a variety of places around Mazzaron... House Sparrow, Feral Pigeon, Swallow, Swift, Blackbird, Black Wheatear, Spotless Starling, Serin, Crested Lark and White Wagtail. Quite a common site down on the beach were Yellow Legged Gulls and a Little Egret who spent many hours hopping around the rocks just out to sea, persumably after the little fishies.

07/05 - A Mountain Road
We just stopped for 10 minutes after a Bee Eater flew across us (I'm not 100% on this as I have a suspicion it may even have been a Roller. Anyway, we did hear a Cuckoo and got a new tick with a Woodchat Shrike. There was also another Black Wheatear.

09/05 - Sierra De Almenara
A mountainous national park... which was shut. Neverless we saw a few things... Blackbird, Jays, Serin and Chaffinch. We also saw brown coloured squirrels.

10/05 - Coastal Path
We walked along the coastal path just a short distance and saw Yellow Legged Gull, Serin, Kestrel, Black Wheatear, Spotless Starling and Crested Larks... which as the week went on we discovered are everywhere as soon as you're out of the town. We also came across some small lizards, greeny/browny and stripey but with orange tails and legs. I will look up what these were, remember my blog is mainly a place to write up my notes :)

10/05 - Birding Drive
We set out on a drive to look for Hoopoes and Bea Eaters... and we found them!! We followed a mountain road that also went through various fields and over a large river bed (home to nesting Bee Eaters. Crested Larks were everywere we looked and we even managed to come across a family of Quail complete with chicks. And just as we were heading back a Little Owl was sat in a tree right at the side of the narrow mountain road and even flew away to the mountain side when he's decided he's showed long enough. And not to format mammals, we even saw a tiny rabbit by the side of the road. A great wildlife drive for sure.

11/05 Salinas de San Pedro
This place is a great little reserve... salt lakes and bits of desert right on the coast. And it certainly didn't disappoint... Ringed Plover, Avocet, Shelduck, Hoopoe (amazing views here), Black Headed Gull, Crested Larks, Flamingoes (yes real wild ones!!) and best of all, Black Backed Stilt. This was my favourite bird of the whole trip, an amazing looking creature that looks even more amazing in flight. There were also some little waders around, probably Little Stint but my small brown wader skills are poor... so I'm not sure. But I will make sure I'm better equiped for next time!

There were also lots of lizards around but we came across a Common Chameleon (see photo)... it was moving extremely slowly across the path, I don't know if he hadn't warmed up or he was old but it was most odd. An amazing creature to see though!!




15/05 - Final Walk
I think I must have got my eye in by now as on the final day we walked for 10 minutes along the dry river bed near the house and saw most ticks I'd been collecting all week in one go!... White Wagtail, Black Wheatear, Blackbird, House Sparrow, Collared Dove, Spotless Starling, Swallow, Serin, Bee Eater (sitting on a wire as they do) and Hoopoe... some great views of him cracking a seed pod on the floor and gorging on it's contents.

In short... go to Spain... the birding is fantastic and I only dabbled!!