Day 7 - 18th Feb - A Little Swift Adventure!

DAY 7 - Wednesday 18th February
As usual the Lesser Kestrels (15+) above the village provided the first excitement of the day.
Chipiona We arrived a little later, at 10:10 or so, than intended, but within minutes we found Little Swift - first one, then another and another until we had eleven birds weaving around above us. Yet within ten minutes all vanished with extraordinary speed; moral get here as early as possible! In the bright sunlight the birds showed extremely well; dark plumage, ‘wrap round’ white rump, prominent white chin, narrow white forehead and distinctive wingshape. Checking the small harbour for any odd gulls we had a dozen Kittiwake, but none of the white-winged gulls we’d hoped for (there having been an unprecedented invasion of these birds in Spain this winter).

Algaida Pine Woods Hoping to pick up some more species (notably a certain elusive magpie!) we headed straight back to the Algaida area. Pausing en route by the road near Bonanza, we had 4 (or more) Booted Eagles and c50 Slender-billed Gulls. On Laguna de Tarelo we had both pochards, more White-headed Ducks, Night Herons and, above the marshes beyond the lagoon, 3 Little Gull and 500+ Black-tailed Godwit.
Salinas de Monte Algaida Turning back towards the river we explored the ‘back’ of Bonanza where we had 4 Common Cranes, c100 Lesser Short-toed Larks, a handful of Calandra Larks, 5 Spanish ‘Yellow’ Wagtails, a Great White Egret, a fly-over flock of 150+ Red-crested Pochards and the inevitable noisy gaggles of Flamingos.

Trebujena Marshes Instead of heading back along the river we opted for exploring the track running south to the east of Algaida. Above the woodlands we had a Short-toed Eagle, 10+ Booted Eagles, 3 Red Kites and c20 Lesser Kestrels. The eagle was an obliging bird, but the initial rear-on view as it perched on a small pylon made ID less than obvious – until the bird’s extraordinarily large, broad head was noted. Also present on the flooded ‘polders’ were c20 Glossy Ibis and another Great White Egret. Closer to Sanlucar the rough track gave way to a new metalled road (and evidence of future building developments). Here a couple of ‘settling pans’ provided excellent feeding for a flock of Little Gulls and Kittiwakes. A speculative stop here revealed that there were c100 of the former and c10 of the latter, but I was surprised to find a winter plumaged Whiskered Tern lurking amongst them. (In fact, on checking references back in the UK it transpired that Whiskered Tern winters in small numbers on the Coto). Also present on these pools were c10 Black-necked Grebe and many Pochards and Coots. The flooded field adjacent to the ‘settling pans’ provided a productive feeding ground for c100 Glossy Ibis, c50 Black-winged Stilt and a lone Greenshank. This looked a superb habitat to explore later in the year (esp. for pratincoles).

Presa de Embalse de Barbate Foregoing a second visit to Laguna de Medina, we headed for the dam at Embalse de Barbate in the hope of a Spanish Imperial Eagle. Although this hope proved false, we did find the flock of Common Cranes (34) we’d seen on the 14th, a distant Bonelli’s Eagle and c30 Griffon Vultures. Amongst the latter was an individual that, although it was a typical Griffon on plumage grounds, consistently soared with drooping wings; an instructive lesson either in the variability of birds’ habits or the fact that they don’t read the same field guides!

La Janda Before dusk fell we made a quick dash to La Janda - here we had a Hen Harrier, numerous Golden Plovers and Lapwings, 43 Purple Gallinules and, as dusk finally fell, 111 Black Kite slipping into roost!