A Visit to San Felipe by David and Margaret Gartside

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Collared Pratincole by Bryan Thomas©
Collared Pratincole by Bryan Thomas©

We took a passing visit to El Fondo visitor centre on Monday and came across CBBC member Paul. Thanks to his guidance we were able to see 16 Collared Pranticoles, a new bird for us. They were on the far shore of the new scrape, best viewed from the “bridge” in the centre of the elevated walkway to the rear of the centre. They were on the ground and all separated by at least 10 metres.  From our reading, they were probably nesting, although we could not see eggs with our binoculars and they do not make a nest but just use a scrape in the ground.  At present there is an unmissable opportunity to see several species very clearly before the vegetation grows around the new scrapes. A Cuckoo was heard but not seen during visit.