I did another search on BirdingPals and found Dereck and Barbara. They are avid birders and have been birding in this area for over 15 years. This kind of local knowledge is what makes for a successful outing. I got on the train at 6:45 and it was still dark. It was still dark when I got off the train at the Plaza Mayor stop, the last stop before the airport. They were waiting for me and we took off for points north right away. We stopped for toastatas and tomatoes, aka toast and pureed tomato. Then we were at the first lake, Fuente de Piedra. Normally Dereck would not be stopping at this lake, as it is not as seasonally interesting, however I had put the European Thick-knee on my wish list. We saw half a dozen thick-knees within meters of the entrance of the park. A very auspicious start to our trip. We looked through the hides that had water and then went to the other side of the lake. On the way an Iberian /gray Shrike was on a wire and a group of European Bee Eaters were swarming all around us. We stopped in a small town and parked by a little park. Dereck walked up to a specific tree and found a long eared Owl that he knew roosted in this particular mulberry tree. Our last lake Laguna Dulce had much more water and therefore more birds. We saw three here, European Honey Buzzard, Egyptian Vulture and the lesser kestrel. Finally we stopped a a large rock outcrop favored by the Eurasian Griffon. That was 8 ner birds for the list, 1001 to 1008.
Just some toast, not and some tea verde
Yaddi Molina, are you to the left?
The town is very proud of their flamingoes
A newly hatched chick
A couple off on holiday
The Eurasian Thick-knee, lifebird #1001
Thistles
Barbra hiding behind a sign
A long elevated walkway without water to be elevated above
Look how dry it is!
The flamingoes are very far away
The bunnies are loving the dry areas
The pasky bird of the day was the woodchat shrike. We saw dozens of them
A teensy tiny snail
Workers were present and working
A common sandpiper
A Western yellow wagtail and a little ringed plover
Some ravens hanging out
Occasionally a group of flamingoes fly by
A great themed fence
And matching gate
Who da hoopie
Iberian Gray Shrike lifebird #1002
Many old farm buildings are abandoned
Dry lake from the other side
A great amount of bird chatter erupted as the bee eaters came in for a snack
European Bee-Eater lifebird #1003
Sunflowers
Another lake, the Laguna Dulce
Bird hides galore
Black Winged Stilt
Ready for the close up
The flamingoes don't turn pink until their fourth year
Brilliant scarlet dragonfly
White headed duck
A trifecta of birds, little grebe, common pochard and Eurasian coot from bottom to top
egyptian Vulture lifebird #1004
Great Crested Grebe
European Honey Buzzard lifebird #1005
Not a bird...fyi
Long Eared Owl lifebird #1006
Who you looking at?
Another lake another group of flamingoes
Approaching the Malage reservoir system
Little Kestrel lifebird #1007
Approaching a large rocky outcrop popular with the soaring birds
Rocky sign
Eurasian Griffon lifebird #1008
Malage built a series of flood controlling dams that also created a series of reservoirs. Dereck said that this was almost empty just one year ago. This system went from 8% full to 100% full due to the wettest winter in 20 years
These trees all lean towards the water
Teh Camino del Rey is a walkway that was created in the 1920's to get labor over the mountains to work on the reservoir system. It is built along cliff faces and is quite rugged. That make is very popular with folks.
A big barb of barbed wire
Hay and more hay
It has been 4 years and 88 days since we began our Migration
