Unsurprisingly, my night in the car mostly sleepless, although I finally dozed off for about 45 minutes just prior to dawn. Waking up, I walked up the road to where a track led off that went around the edge of the barranca. As well as Trumpeter Finch, I was keen to see Rock Sparrow as it was more frequently seen here than any other site I was planning to visit.
The first notable bird I located was a smart male Western Black-eared Wheatear, which was shortly followed by a Black Wheatear. It wasn’t too long before I located the first Trumpeter Finch, a juvenile that showed well. Over the next three hours, I saw several more Trumpeter Finches in a variety of plumages. Rock Sparrows proved decidedly elusive and every sparrow I saw or heard turned out to be a House Sparrow. Other than a pair of Red-rumped Swallows, the other species present were mostly widespread ones such as Serins and Sardinian Warblers. Several Nightingales were singing but I was never able to see more than movements in the vegetation. An Iberian Gray Shrike did make an appearance, but I knew these would be common on the central plains I would be visiting later.
I then headed back south to bird some wetland areas, beginning with the Salinas at Santa Pola. These are a breeding and roosting location for various species of shorebirds, gulls and terns. The closest salt pans had numerous Pied Avocets feeding and nesting with a scattering of Black-winged Stilts and Collared Pratincoles, a species I had expected to see, but missed, at the Tabillas. There were various terns and gulls flying by and the next salt pond held a large colony of at least 600 Slender-billed Gulls along with smaller numbers of Sandwich, Little, Gull-billed and Common Terns and Black-headed and Mediterranean Gulls. Looking further I could see a few larger gulls. Working my way down in the that direction brought me to another set of salt-ponds that had over 30 Audouin’s Gulls and about a dozen Yellow-legged Gulls. I was delighted to catch up with Audouin’s Gulls again, which is restricted to the Mediterranean as a breeder with a winter range that extends down the northwest African coast. Unlike most of the large gull species that widely hybridize and are mostly minor variations of each other, Audouin’s is very distinctive. I had very nice looks of birds both perched and in flight and noted the pearly gray mantle, dark red bill and black legs.
There was little in the way of small birds around the salinas and I next headed over to the El Hondo nature park that offered freshwater marshes and extensive reedbeds. The area near to the Interpretive Center had a boardwalk that offers close looks at many species.
Red-knobbed Coot
Upon arrival, I started checking all the coots and soon found a Red-knobbed Coot. Over a series of several visits, I saw double digit numbers of both coot species, with Eurasian being slightly commoner. Western Swamphens also showed nicely here.
I saw both Purple and Squacco Herons well, the latter being another species that I could only expect on the coast. A Little Bittern flyby, a few Black-crowned Night-Herons coupled with a Great (White) Egret and several Little and Cattle Egrets completed a nice set of herons.
Up to eight Collared Pratincoles fed overhead, giving superb flight views and stilts and flamingoes waded in the shallow water areas. Both Reed and Great Reed Warblers sang from many spots with a few showing well.
Ducks included Common Shelduck, Mallard and both Pochard and Red-crested Pochard present but the key one was Marbled Duck, a species I had missed in Spain the first time but subsequently seen in Morocco and a couple of places.
There were up to 18 in the wetland along the boardwalk and they gave excellent views, far better than I had experienced in other locations. At one point, I noted an apparent display with one bird stretching back its neck and head and calling.
Displaying Marbled Duck
One key species on the SE Spain leg I was most concerned about missing was Moustached Warbler. The species has been declining in recent decades, but is still present in small numbers at El Hondo. I had noted that there were more ebird sightings in April and suspected that they might be difficult since they would no longer be singing. Despite a significant amount of searching around the Interpretive Center and the southern part of the reserve, I was not able to see or hear one. I eventually met a local birder who told me that the species was very difficult at this time of year as they were no longer singing. He also mentioned that he birded the boardwalk everyday at dawn and had not seen or heard one there the whole year. He was clearly dubious of the reports of them from there. He mentioned that the “main reserve”, which is only open on Saturdays was the best spot, but that the southern area was also good. I headed off to retry the southern area and came up blank again. Three White-headed Ducks were new for the area for me. Given that Moustached Warbler was not elsewhere on the trip itinerary, I was confronted with the first ‘dip’ of the trip. A ‘dip’ is British birder slang for missing a bird. I consoled myself with the fact that I could also catch-up with one in Austria or nearby if I headed to central or eastern Europe on a future trip.
Just before lunch time I began the drive back to central Spain so I could arrive there in time to do some evening birding.
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