Monday 8th
Technically not a birding holiday but i brought my scope anyway😉 So what was the first thing we did.. yes birding. So arrived at Malaga airport by 1300 hours and we always like to stop at the Parque Del Guadlhorce as its an excellent reserve. Unfortunately today was a blasted Spanish bank holiday so it was packed full of people, not birding either. Birding could have been better but it was still better than anything we have in the UK. Noticeable increase in Chiffchaffs and Black Redstart, a Desert Orange tip Butterfly was new to me.
At the first hide the excellent White Headed ducks were visible 1 Juvenile, 1 Female and a more distant male.
Pochards were here and plenty of Little Grebe, 3 Black winged stilts and 3 LRP with a Greenshank were pick of the waders. A swallow was hawking the pool and then a huge kettle of 150 White Storks appeared in the distance. Monk Parakeets everywhere.
4 Booted Eagles were a bonus as was a Common Buzzard. Zitters were calling everywhere as were the Kingfishers. 2 young Flamingo looked like they will be staying for the winter.
Moved onto the mound overlooking some different pools, Marble Ducks were the pick of the birds here with probably 8 birds seen. 4 Kingfishers chasing each other too.
Onto the main lagoon which had loads of birds on it, the usual Black necked grebes 12 at least, an Osprey perched up with the mass of Cormorants, Common ducks and waders with a few Sanderling and Grey Plover. A Showy Greenshank, 2 More Flamingo. Gulls were mainly LBBG, Some YLG and Black headed and a couple of Slender billed. The Monk Parakeets were being extremely noisy. Cormorants of the race Sinensis
A walk towards the sea brought our first and only Hoopoe of the trip, 2 very close Monk Parakeets and our only Crested larks too.
The Sea was excellent a Red Throated Diver must be rare here. Razorbills wintering and a Black necked grebe flew west. The spectacle was the 10s thousands of gulls mainly LBBG huge numbers, along with great views of 400 Balearic Shearwaters and a few Gannet.
When looking through the Balearic Shearwaters I found what looked like 2-3 Yelkouan Shearwater and after taking some pics others agreed. I ended up in a tavaner on the beach where i could watch the Balearics flopping onto the sea presumably feeding on something. Yelkouan and Balearics below.
Balearics only below. All pictures taken from the land.
Time to get to the hotel and check in Mijas Pueblo before dark.
Tuesday 9th
Started from the balcony of the hotel with Black Redstart, Crossbills, Firecrest and Crested Tits, not bad for hotel garden. Then headed for a day around Setenil de las Bodegas, a small village built into the rocky mountain, but birding was limited to a Sparrowhawk, 5 Grey Wagtail and many Spotless Starlings then a large group of 50 Griffon Vultures. I was hoping for some more mountain species but they didn't appear. So after spending most of the day here i got the option of nipping up a track along the Sierra de las Nieves, It was getting late so i didn't expect too much, first great bird though was a cracking Iberian Grey Shrike, it was camera shy however. Then at least 130 Griffons with some very close was great, 2 Black Vultures was a very nice surprise.
Ravens everywhere and further up the track where we stopped due to a large volume of birds i had my first target bird, a Rock Bunting, 2 infact along with Cirl buntings and a Mistle Thrush. Not seen Rock Bunting for many years. At the top of the track to a picnic spot Chough were flying over constantly and Firecrest and Crested tits showed nicely. This took us till dark so had to give in and head back to the Hotel.
Wednesday 10th
The weather wasn't nice today very rainy, so it was a case of doing the touristy stuff in Mijas, the only birding was with bins but it started excellently with a calling YELLOW BROWED WARBLER, probably my rarest bird to date that i have found in Spain. It didn't hang around unfortunately as the hordes of coach trips and school trips arrived making a great noise. Other bits were the Rock doves, more Firecrest and better views of Crested tit.
The afternoon again i didn't have long birding as the nights soon draw in here too but looking at the map an upland quarry could be good to look around. Sendero Cerro de la Medialuna, a spectacular looking quarry that had been planted with pines on the hand made terraces all around. Rock Bunting was common here with at least 8 birds seen and showed much better than previously at Nieves. Serin were common but never easy to photograph. I was still hoping for a couple more target species the Black Wheatear and Alpine Accentor but i failed on both counts. The Rock Buntings made up for it though. Again stayed till dark but nothing new found.
Thursday 11th
Thursday was just a tourist day in Malaga so that was the end of my birding, as we were due to fly next morning home. Malaga birds however ring necked parakeet with the Monk parakeet, YLG was the most prominent gull, Black redstarts and a Buzzard sp was about it.
Still in the short time we were in Spain i managed a respectable 94 Species.... Here.
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