On the way to Crevillente we saw Cattle Egret, Collared Dove, Iberian Grey Shrike, Spotless Starling, and White Wagtail.
As we drove up the canyon I remarked that if I didnt see a Little Owl today I was giving up birding! Luckily one Little Owl was sitting on a wire. It’s still the only one we’ve seen since we’ve been here which is unusual.
Arriving at the top of the canyon there were plenty of Serins and Sardinian Warblers singing and flitting about. A Black Wheatear appeared briefly. A Raven also made an appearance giving its characteristic ‘cronking’ call, several Common Swifts were in the air and a Greenfinch was heard calling.
We spotted some Chough taking off at the top of ridge and noticed they were mobbing an Eagle, most likely one of the local Bonelli’s Eagles.
We hung around for an hour or so, and eventually I spotted a Bonelli’s Eagles perched on top of the ridge in front of us. Before John could find it, the bird took off and it flew around the area for about ten minutes giving us great views. We were satisfied to have found our target bird.
As we were about to leave, a bird I thought was probably a Blue Rock Thrush, flew from the cliffs and landed somewhere around the house formerly known as Finca Bonelli’s Eagle. John found the bird perched on the roof and we watched it for a little while.
We moved on to San felipe and immediately saw lots of Glossy Ibis and Flamingos on the first lake. We headed for the picnic area to eat our lunch. A Red-knobbed Coot was on the pool and a Marsh Harrier flew nearby.
Next we walked round to the second hide where the lagoon held Flamingos, Avocet, Pochard, Red-crested Pochard, Little Grebe, and a Black-necked Grebe. Some Shelduck and a large number of Cattle Egrets and Little Egrets were on a distant island with a Grey Heron amongst them.
Walking back to the first hide we heard Blackcap, Chiffchaff, Sardinian Warbler, Crested Lark and numerous Cetti’s Warblers.
We walked back around the boardwalk seeing three Western Swamphens a few Red-knobbed Coots and hearing a Great Reed Warbler and more Cetti’s Warblers.
As we walked back towards the car park we checked the lagoon on our right finding a late staying Teal, three Snipe and two Western Swamphens.
We had a brief stop at El Pinet where the usual Avocets, Flamingos and Slender-billed Gulls were present along with a Kentish Plover. We walked to the first hide from where we could see large numbers of Black-headed Gulls, Sandwich Terns and a few Common Terns and Mediterranean Gulls.
