While the front half of my late winter Spain trip had been focused on seeing species I had not even tried for in my visit in May-June 2025, the back half was targeting the three species I had missed on that trip: Eurasian Eagle-owl, Moustached Warbler and Dupont’s Lark. I had put in a lot of effort but the timing was poor as they are more active earlier in the season.
I drove through the rain after my stop near Belchite and
ended up in a hotel a little north of Valencia. This was further south than I
had originally thought I would go prior to the trip but put me in a good area
for Moustached Warbler. In fact, it seemed I could probably walk to an area
near to hotel if I was so inclined. I settled on the Marjal dels Moros about 10
KM to the north that had a greater variety of other wetland birds and had some
viewing hides that I thought might be handy as a respite from the regular rain
squalls passing through. The better news on the weather front was the lack of
strong winds.
I arrived at 8.30 AM and set out on the trail system after donning
my rain jacket. The entrance track initially passed through some fields and
scrub and a couple of Booted Eagles was a nice start. I had only just gotten
into the wetland habitat when a rain shower started and forced me to take
refuge in a hide. From the hide I was able to see a Water Rail along with
Western Swamphen, Eurasian Coot and Moorhen, along with some ducks and Little
Grebe. There were numerous swallows and martins feeding. I began to hear
intermittent bouts of acrocephalus song that really could only be from a
Moustached Warbler. I did a bit of playback from the hide, more to encourage
the singing than in any hope the bird might show. During a break in the rain, I
did wander out to get closer to the bird, but it declined to pop up into view.
After retreating back into the hide, I began to hear a second Moustached
Warbler singing along the track to the hide. Once the rain abated again, I
ventured out and quickly discovered the bird was singing from a narrow band of
reeds alongside the track. It would pop up into view on occasion, and I was
able to get multiple good looks, although it never posed fully in open for more
than a couple of seconds.
I was very happy that my decision to move down to the coast
had completely paid off with getting the warbler so quickly. I carried on
birding around the reserve with the undoubted highlight being a flock of seven
White-headed Ducks, likely at the northern edge of their range here.
The previous evening, I had spent some time looking at the
RBAs in the area and had been struck by a nice group of shorebirds that was
hanging around one of the tower hides in the Ebro Delta. The flock had a few
dozen each of Common and Spotted Redshanks and Greenshank, along with one or
two each of Marsh Sandpiper, Lesser Yellowlegs and Long-billed Dowitcher! There
was also a Pacific Golden-Plover wintering nearby in a European Golden-Plover
flock. Throw in various wintering ducks and other shorebirds and it was clearly
worth some time. The big negative was that I was traveling without a scope and
shorebirds, or any other bird for that matter, in Europe are far less
approachable than in the Americas. I had decided to head up to the Ebro Delta
once I had successfully seen Moustached Warbler and therefore did just that.
I had put down the lack of reports of the shorebird flock for a couple of days to a combination of it being mid-week and the recent rains. However, when I arrived at the tower hide at Mirador David Bigas, there was no sign of the ‘shank’ flock or any shorebirds other than a few avocets and stilts. I eventually found a Common Snipe or two and a backlit individual wading out into a pond gave me temporary hope of one of the dowitchers. Although there were plenty of flamingos and other birds, most were too distant for critical study from the tower. Given the intermittent rain and wind, I decided to track back west to check a couple of sites: one was a sandspit that enclosed a more sheltered bay and a lake near there – El Clot – that had ducks. I would also look out for any shorebird concentrations in rice fields, as I was particularly keen to see a Spotted Redshank or two. Upon reaching the base of the sandspit, I found that the road was flooded and no longer paved. I decided it wasn’t worth the potential risk of getting stuck. I did see one hoped-for Spanish tick there in the form of some Caspian Terns and there were some tame Audouin’s Gulls hanging around for a hand-out.
I then headed on to El Clot. Although many ducks were
visible from the observation platform, they were mostly a tad distance to
easily identify, especially with strong wind. I decided to try around to the
back of the lake to see if I could get closer. Doing so took me past a large
pond that had four Spotted Redshanks at close range. A little further on, I
found some shallow flooded fields with more shanks, which I was very surprised
to see included a Lesser Yellowlegs. Given the unpleasant weather, I packed it
in after one more stop and booked into a hotel about 10 KM away.
My initial thinking was to mostly recheck the same areas the
next day, in the hope improved weather would lead to a few new Spain birds.
However, I had signed up to hourly ebird RBA alerts for Calatonia and saw that
a Marmora’s Warbler had been discovered late afternoon on the outer coast of
the delta, quite near to where I had been birding. The bird was unlikely to
leave given the overnight conditions and was a species I had only ever seen
once before in my life. In addition, it was a bird I felt I was very unlikely
to see again as it required a dedicated trip to Corsica or Sardinia. The bird
has already been chased successfully once that evening. Although I didn’t have
the exact location, this was such a major rarity that I anticipated plenty of
folks would be chasing it on a Saturday.
The weather was much better when I arrived in the general
area just after 8 AM the next morning and I was disappointed to see no other
birders around. I did eventually notice a car parked further north but it was
just a single car and I could see no birders. No driving down to the car
transpired to be a fatal mistake…
It seemed likely the warbler must be in the row of bushes
along the road that ran parallel to the beach. I walked along looking but with
little hope of finding a skulking sylvia in such a large area. The nearby
fields were flooded and had good numbers of shorebirds, White Wagtails and
Meadow Pipits, while three Pintail were another addition to my Spanish list.
Since there were no other birders around, I decided to head back to try the
sandspit again for loons (divers). The flooding was mostly gone and I drove out
to the viewing platform. I saw a couple of birders scoping from there and
picked up a distant Arctic Loon (Black-throated Diver). Just to confirm I was
correct, I asked them if they had seen the loon. They immediately pointed in
the direction of the bird and then asked me if I knew about the Marmora’s. They
were the original finders and said it had been seen again that morning. I
mentioned that I had gone to area to look and seen no birders at all. They
agreed they were surprised there had not been a lot of reports but did give me
more details on where it was. It was of course near the car I had seen. I immediately
jumped back into my car and drove the 20 minutes back to area. A couple of
minutes before I arrived there, I noticed that the sky has ominously darkened
and the pleasant morning weather gave way to wind and rain. Ideal conditions
for seeing a skulking warbler – NOT! Even worse, a check of forecast showed
that these conditions were going to persist for most of the daylight hours,
although the next two hours would be the worst. Another birder arrived and told
me it was a bit of a walk to get to spot the bird was, but given the
conditions, I felt it was not worth getting soaked in a hopeless attempt.
To kill time in the difficult conditions, I drove all the
way back to El Clot. This time I was successful in finding a better spot to see
the duck flock and duly added Eurasian Wigeon, while there was a nice
concentration of 49 Red-crested Pochards there. I then headed back to get
closer to the Marmora’s area and check out an area that had a wintering golden
plover flock that included a Pacific. I easily found the correct area as it was
a sod farm. I had 133 European Golden-Plovers, but only about 20% gave close
views and my lack of a scope precluded finding the Pacific. I went on to the
Mirador David Bigas, which was not too far way, where I ended up meeting the
birders who had successfully twitched the Marmora’s earlier in the morning.
They gave me some exact details on how to find the spot but also mentioned that
you needed rubber boots to get there and that it took them over an hour to see
the bird (in much better conditions). They were also talking about seeing some
owls, which I guessed correctly were Long-eared and Short-eared Owls in a place
called Eucaliptus. I got exact directions for their locations and decided to
pursue these rather than the Marmora’s, of which I had seen no further reports.
Of course, later that evening several reports of the bird popped up on the RBA
of it being seen from around 2.30 PM onwards, so had I gone out there, I might
well have seen it. However, no one got photos indicating it was obviously not
showing all that well, which was hardly surprising given the unpleasant
weather. So, I may have made the right call, especially as I dislike getting
poor looks at a bird.
The owls were roosting in a small park in Eucaliptus,
appropriately enough in eucalyptus trees. I was very surprised to learn that
Short-eared Owls would roost in eucalyptus as I have always associated that
species with roosting on the ground in tall grasses or similar cover. At the
first location I had been given, I duly found two Long-eared Owls. I then moved
over to the second location, where I found a Short-eared Owl. I think it would
be pretty easy to dismiss a tree-roosting Short-eared as a Long-eared, if one
is not careful. On closer inspections, there were several obvious differences
in face pattern, the streaking on the underbody, eye color and “ear” length,
although the latter was less obvious than I had thought it would be.
Since there had been as many as three of each species, I
spent some time searching other eucalyptus trees in the park but failed to turn
up any more individuals. I then started the long drive to the Belchite area to
try again for the elusive Dupont’s Lark.
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