The second week of September is upon us, and Kiersten and I headed out on familiar tracks up the mountain today, to catch up on seasonal arrivals and departures on the hillsides around the village.
What we got was a fabulous day of birdwatching, with a couple of real surprises along the way. Our first stop, a flat, open patch of thorny scrub at the start of our journey uphill, which got the day off to a flying start. Resident Black Wheatears showed well, along with their migrant Black-eared and Northern Wheatear cousins, giving us all three of the region’s species in a just a few minutes.
As we moved on, the car was escorted as always by small parties of Crested Larks, and good numbers of Stonechat. Nice to get good views of both Sardinian and Dartford Warblers along the way, foraging in family groups along the roadside. A shade more forthcoming perhaps, than at other times of the year…but still frustratingly camera shy!
With many of our year-long residents showing well, what of our migrant summer species? Our local Crag Martins are still sharing the skies with plenty of House Martins, and there were still Red-rumped Swallows to be picked out from the throng. We had to wait a long time to find a Woodchat Shrike however – Kiersten did eventually snap this late-stayer juvenile, with our first and only sighting of the day – and maybe our last of the season.
Not all our summer visitors have headed south , however…and our Bee Eaters put on a fantastic display today. Large flocks continue to congregate on the sunnier, south-facing slopes above the village – kept this side of the Mediterranean by continuing good weather perhaps, and a bountiful supply of late-summer insects on which to feed.
The drive back downhill added a Hoopoe to the day-list, and we got a good look at our Southern Grey Shrike – all in all a cracking few hours, and typical of how varied this busy month can be. We returned, too, with some real ID challenges that we’ll take a closer look at over the next few days. …
…so please as always keep checking our posts! And if you’d like to join us on one of our birdwatching trips and holidays, simply click here for more information and you too could enjoy some of the best birding southern Spain has to offer!
