We arrived on 12th Feb at dusk and thus too late to do any birding - although my pleas to visit Los Barrios rubish tip, admittedly the smelliest place in the known universe, to look for Eagle Owl were vetoed in favour of getting something to eat. However, as you're about to discover, despite starting birding on Friday 13th this was a great birding trip.
In February 2007 a trio of us enjoyed a pleasant week birding in Cadiz province. Our little group were described by a friend, somewhat harshly I thought, as ‘Victor Meldrew’ meets ‘Last of the Summer
Wine.’ With other two unavailable this February, I went out with two retired reprobates;Tony Morris (o
ur team photographer) and Jack Chantler. Despite the rest of the team’s obsession with something called ‘cricket’, a great time was had by all!
Wine.’ With other two unavailable this February, I went out with two retired reprobates;Tony Morris (o
ur team photographer) and Jack Chantler. Despite the rest of the team’s obsession with something called ‘cricket’, a great time was had by all! With Tony wanting to get shots of White-headed Duck, we opted to take a look at a site I variously call Algaida or Bonanza Pools. Previous guests to Chez Cantelo had reported finding some good pools near Algaida by which, mistakenly, I had assumed meant the backside (!) of Laguna de Tarelo. However, a quick search on GoogleEarth turned up a couple of small pools just off the Algaida road which I subsequently investigated and found to be far better than elsewhere for getting good views of this rare duck. Fortunately, for my reputation as the ‘local’ guide, the White-headed Ducks performed brilliantly. Despite a typical photographer’s complaint that the light was “wrong”, our team photographer got some excellent shots of the species. Also present was a a Purple Gallinule and the first of many Chiffchaffs. Chiff
chaffs were abundant in all good habitats throughout the trip – few were in song and those that were trotted out the familiar little ditty so presumably most, if not all, were Common rather than Iberian Chiffchaff (although this species does start to arrive in February).
chaffs were abundant in all good habitats throughout the trip – few were in song and those that were trotted out the familiar little ditty so presumably most, if not all, were Common rather than Iberian Chiffchaff (although this species does start to arrive in February). Returning to the main Bonanza – Algaida road we quickly encountered a group of 30+ Slender-billed Gulls on the saltpans beside the road. Most were adults although not all were sporting the blackish bill of high summer nor the full blush of pink that they later attain.
As they are just up the road the next logical step was a stop at Bonanza Saltpans. However, it quickly became apparent that the pans were exceptionally wet with relatively little exposed mud – which doubtless accounts for the poor numbers of waders here; c150 Black-winged Stilts, 3 Snipe, 1 Little Stint, 3 Sanderlings, 2 Dunlins, 1 Greenshank, 1 Wood Sandpiper, 6 Common Sandpipers & a Curlew. This was by far my lowest total at Bonanza, but at least we saw the site’s No1 speciality – Shelduck! Also of note were a couple of Caspian Terns, two each of Common Buzzard, Red Kite and Short-toed Eagle plus a single Booted Eagle. Most unexpected, and seemingly entirely out-of-place, were 3 Kittiwakes – Mediterranean salt pans hardly being typical habitat for this largely marine gull (but see anon!) We also had our first Great White Egret here – this species turned out to have spread somewhat since earlier visits and we kept bumping into them when in suitable habitat.
It may be a pretty hackneyed route, but from Bonanza we went on to Laguna de Tarelo & Pinar de Algaida. The laguna produced a further 49 White-headed Ducks, a Purple Gallinule, Red-crested Pochards, Common Pochards, Gadwalls, 6 Black-necked Grebes, 48 Night Herons (but not Squaccos which are o
ften present even in February). The hide here – which was pretty tatty – has now been removed which I suspect may account for the greater distance of the ducks & herons. We did get two species I hadn’t seen here before - a Penduline Tit and 4 Common Waxbills. Despite extensive searching the pines successfully concealed Azure-winged Magpie although not Serins, Crested Tits and Short-toed Treecreepers.
Heading out towards the Guadalquivir, we turned south along the river towards the Salinas de Monte Algaida (i.e. the‘back’ of Bonanza saltpans). As expected we quickly picked up several Lesser Short-toed Larks here plus another Booted Eagl
e and an Osprey. Heading back north towards Trebujena at the flooded salt pans about a kilometre beyond the sluice we found a large flock of waterbirds which included 250+ Pochards, c30 Red-crested Pochards and at least 10 Marbled Ducks. Although this was the site where I first saw Marbled Duck in August 2006, this species can be very elusive so it was excellent to catch up with them in winter. More raptors followed with two Booted Eagles, a single Griffon Vulture, a fine adult male Hen Harrier and a good number of Marsh Harriers. Amongst the Flamingos here one caught our attention as it was both distinctly smaller and a brighter orange-red. However, when it uncurled its neck the head and bill were typical of the common European version! With relatively high waters waders remained scarce with only Greenshanks and Black-winged Stilts being noted. As usual, despite careful scanning and this being a ‘known’ site’, Pin-tailed Sandgrouse remained elusive to the point of invisibility here. However, one stop proved very worthwhile as a couple of Bluethroats – one a fine white-spotted adult male – showed very well in a drainage ditch. (The reed fringes at both Algaida Pools & Laguna de Tarelo certainly hold this species, but you probably have a better chance of seeing them along drainage ditches on the marshes).
At the end of the day we called in at Laguna de Medina which harboured c50 White-headed Ducks plus 10+ Black-necked Grebes plus all the usual waterfowl. However, numbers of Coots were well down on last autumn (and no Crested Coot were seen in their favoured spot) which may reflect the very high water level here. A Sedge Warbler was singing in the reeds and, as usual, the scrub held many small passerines – predominantly Blackcaps. We never did allow enough time to walk down to the WWH (the World’s Worst Hide) here which was probably no great loss, but the failure to investigate the new boardwalk at the far end of the reserve was a disappointment.
As they are just up the road the next logical step was a stop at Bonanza Saltpans. However, it quickly became apparent that the pans were exceptionally wet with relatively little exposed mud – which doubtless accounts for the poor numbers of waders here; c150 Black-winged Stilts, 3 Snipe, 1 Little Stint, 3 Sanderlings, 2 Dunlins, 1 Greenshank, 1 Wood Sandpiper, 6 Common Sandpipers & a Curlew. This was by far my lowest total at Bonanza, but at least we saw the site’s No1 speciality – Shelduck! Also of note were a couple of Caspian Terns, two each of Common Buzzard, Red Kite and Short-toed Eagle plus a single Booted Eagle. Most unexpected, and seemingly entirely out-of-place, were 3 Kittiwakes – Mediterranean salt pans hardly being typical habitat for this largely marine gull (but see anon!) We also had our first Great White Egret here – this species turned out to have spread somewhat since earlier visits and we kept bumping into them when in suitable habitat.
It may be a pretty hackneyed route, but from Bonanza we went on to Laguna de Tarelo & Pinar de Algaida. The laguna produced a further 49 White-headed Ducks, a Purple Gallinule, Red-crested Pochards, Common Pochards, Gadwalls, 6 Black-necked Grebes, 48 Night Herons (but not Squaccos which are o
ften present even in February). The hide here – which was pretty tatty – has now been removed which I suspect may account for the greater distance of the ducks & herons. We did get two species I hadn’t seen here before - a Penduline Tit and 4 Common Waxbills. Despite extensive searching the pines successfully concealed Azure-winged Magpie although not Serins, Crested Tits and Short-toed Treecreepers.Heading out towards the Guadalquivir, we turned south along the river towards the Salinas de Monte Algaida (i.e. the‘back’ of Bonanza saltpans). As expected we quickly picked up several Lesser Short-toed Larks here plus another Booted Eagl
e and an Osprey. Heading back north towards Trebujena at the flooded salt pans about a kilometre beyond the sluice we found a large flock of waterbirds which included 250+ Pochards, c30 Red-crested Pochards and at least 10 Marbled Ducks. Although this was the site where I first saw Marbled Duck in August 2006, this species can be very elusive so it was excellent to catch up with them in winter. More raptors followed with two Booted Eagles, a single Griffon Vulture, a fine adult male Hen Harrier and a good number of Marsh Harriers. Amongst the Flamingos here one caught our attention as it was both distinctly smaller and a brighter orange-red. However, when it uncurled its neck the head and bill were typical of the common European version! With relatively high waters waders remained scarce with only Greenshanks and Black-winged Stilts being noted. As usual, despite careful scanning and this being a ‘known’ site’, Pin-tailed Sandgrouse remained elusive to the point of invisibility here. However, one stop proved very worthwhile as a couple of Bluethroats – one a fine white-spotted adult male – showed very well in a drainage ditch. (The reed fringes at both Algaida Pools & Laguna de Tarelo certainly hold this species, but you probably have a better chance of seeing them along drainage ditches on the marshes).At the end of the day we called in at Laguna de Medina which harboured c50 White-headed Ducks plus 10+ Black-necked Grebes plus all the usual waterfowl. However, numbers of Coots were well down on last autumn (and no Crested Coot were seen in their favoured spot) which may reflect the very high water level here. A Sedge Warbler was singing in the reeds and, as usual, the scrub held many small passerines – predominantly Blackcaps. We never did allow enough time to walk down to the WWH (the World’s Worst Hide) here which was probably no great loss, but the failure to investigate the new boardwalk at the far end of the reserve was a disappointment.
A good day without too much talk from the other two about this mysterious thing called C-R-I-C-K-E-T which seems to have some totemic relevance for the other two poor old fellows!
ALL photos © Tony Morris
To see more of Tony's excellent photos see :-
http://www.flickr.com/photos/tonymorris/collections/72157614157792303/
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