Friends Derek and Barbara Etherton kindly offered to help us try for the Wryneck they had been seeing on their local patch at Zapata recently. This is a bird I have wanted to photograph for a long time but which continues to elude me, I knew it was a slim chance but there is always good birds to see at this spot by the Guadalhorce River near Malaga Airport.
Common Redstart - phoenicurus phoenicurus
We duly met at the Zapata Arches & transferred into Derek's very comfortable car before setting off in search of the target bird. In the event it was heard but not seen, which is a shame but the Common Redstart and a Zitting Cisticola in very good light helped to make up for it.
Zitting Cisticola - cisticola juncidis
Zitting Cisticola - cisticola juncidis
There were of course many other birds around, including a resident Osprey, this low flying Buzzard, Night Herons and a few waders on the Rio, but no visible Wryneck, oh well that's birding.
Common Buzzard - buteo buteo
After a cup of coffee and very nice tapas at a local cafe we went to the Rio Grande up past Cartama. It was very dry but we did find a nice patch of water further upstream with a good selection of birds including a solitary Black Stork, a Great Egret along with a Grey Heron and several Little Egrets. I tried to get all of them in one frame but the Great Egret would play ball. Here is a photo of the others however which makes a nice scene.
Black Stork - ciconia nigra
Rio Grande scene
