Fifteen members of the Andalucia bird society enjoyed a midweek break, staying in a superb apartment complex in Punta Umbria, a very nice seaside resort on the Atlantic Coast near Huelva. We were not here for the beaches however but for its proximity to the Odiel Marshes and the Donana Region, good birding locations.
Great Reed Warbler - acrocephalus arundinaceous
On the way to our meeting point at Dehesa de Abajo Elena and I pulled into Fuente de Piedra where I was very pleased to see and hear a number of Great Reed Warblers singing their hearts out in the reedbeds in front of the Visitors Centre. Thank you for the music guys.
Great Reed Warbler - acrocephalus arundinaceous
One cannot really describe them as songbirds but I have always liked their slightly raucous chattering call, it definitely has the x-factor for me. Males arrive at the breeding area about two weeks before the females. Unmated males trying to attract females sing at high intensity and use long song phrases, and fortunately for me they like to advertise their presence in plain view on tall reeds.
Great Reed Warbler - acrocephalus arundinaceous
Unfortunately the pools around the edge of the Main Lagoon were already dry so nothing was visible from the boardwalk. However as we strolled along by the tall reeds Elena spotted a Little Owl perched on a signboard, it stayed long enough for a quick photoshoot.
There were a number of waders on the still wet pond to the left of the access road. These included Curlew Sandpiper, Dunlin, Redshank, Litle Stint, Avocet and most notably I believe a few Knot - calidris canutus, which were unexpected. I am not 100% certain of my ID here but they were very pale, short-billed and differed from the Little Stints that were also present. I did not get a good enough photo to show them however. Waders do not inspire me particularly and I often ignore them, perhaps I should be more interested, but.........!
Other birds of note at Fuente include one or two Black Terns, which was nice. I post a long distance shot here for the record. Whiskered and Gull-Billed Terns were also present.
Other birds of note at Fuente include one or two Black Terns, which was nice. I post a long distance shot here for the record. Whiskered and Gull-Billed Terns were also present.
Black Tern - chlidonius niger
Onwards then to Dehesa de Abajo on Isla Mayor where we met with the other members of the group, all of whom were getting glimpses of a solitary Marbled Duck that was making flypasts across the lake. When all the others tired of this game I hung on and crept in closer as the duck settled & managed to get some fairly decent shots.
Marbled Duck - marmaronetta angustirostris
Because it is something of a speciality in this part of Andalucia we often forget that it is actually a rare and declining bird, on the IUCN Red list of threatened species, so I consider myself lucky to have taken these photos.
Marbled Duck - marmaronetta angustirostris
There were other birds to be seen of course, Black and Red Kites & White Storks overhead, a Black Crowned Night Heron flew in, Purple Swamphen and numerous wildfowl on and around the waters, three Grebe species etc. but nothing special. What I did find remakable was the almost total lack of birds along the road across Isla Mayor to El Rocio. Just a few years ago there were Buzzards or Shrikes on every other fence post, now almost nothing at all, an occasional Magpie, Common or Azure-winged. Very disheartening. What we did see though were lots of lorries collecting from the proliferating strawberry farms that drain the water table and interfere with the food chain in other ways we can only guess at, to the detriment of all the wildlife in the area. The same old story. El Rocio itself was preparing for the forthcoming Romeria, Spain's biggest party. The Lake held only a few waders, the Visitor's Centre/observatory was closed. No sign of the resident Imperial Eagles. We knew that the nearby Bird Centres were all dry so we headed on to Punta Umbria and our excellent accommodation in the Costa Luz Apartments.
Next morning Elena and I were first to arrive at the Odiel and we drove straight down to the lighthouse at the Southern tip, noting obviously visible birds along the way. It was clear to me then that bird numbers were down on all previous visits I have made to this estuary. The nesting Ospreys were there however and Spoonbills were one of the more conspicuous of the wading birds. This is probably the major site for spoonbills in Spain, or perhaps even all of Europe, and I was very pleased to get some close-up shots of this handsome species without the ridiculous bling that most of them seem to have been burdened with these days. The dreaded ringers usually strap them with so much labelling they look ready for a supermarket shelf.
Western Reef Heron - egretta gularis
Our target bird was the beautiful Collared Pratincole which had always been a certainty here as they nest on an area of sandy scrub near the Southern end of the Spit. Not any more! well done the Spanish in bulldozing this area and using it as a spoil ground for the channel dredgers, brilliant, another major nesting site destroyed probably without a thought, but then thought has never been one of their strong points. Interestingly the Little Terns appear to have been undeterred by this vandalism and were busy nesting on the bare sand. They do not require cover and their food is fish from the sea, not the insects destroyed by a bulldozer. Anyway one can only hope that in time the area will recover sufficiently for the Pratincoles to nest again.
As we made our way back along the road going North we stopped to admire some of the waders on the mud flats and while watching a group of Godwits and Whimbrel a large, dark coloured elegant bird landed right next to them. I had a double take as Elena muttered "What was that?" because before I could steady my camera it had flown. We moved on keeping a close eye out for it as other members of the group started to arrive. We stopped to tell John & Jenny Wainwright about the strange sighting and fortunately we exchanged phone numbers in case either of us saw it again. Sure enough as Elena and I stopped to chat with Bob Wright and the larger group, John called to say they were watching a Western Reef Heron close by. Naturally I drove back to them & saw their photos but the bird had moved on. I decided to cruise up and down the road & hope to see it again, and before long we had it in our sights again in close proximity.
| It was slate blue/grey with the classic plumes of a dark morph egretta gularis in breeding plumage. There was clear demarcation to the white chin and throat. The yellowish bill was larger than a Little Egret's with a clear curvature to the upper mandible and the feet were very large and yellow on black legs. |  egretta gularis - note the plumes and curved upper mandible |
All this was exactly as the description for Western Reef Heron in Collins Guide. The people in the Visitors Centre claim to have had a regular melanistic Little Egret. Well this is not it and such a bird would be an even rarer sighting, I suspect they are mistaken. There are a number of confirmed records of WRH interbreeding with Little Egrets in Spain and the resulting offspring are usually easy to distinguish, having characteristics of both parentage. This bird looks pure WRH. It is sometimes claimed that Little Egret has a dark morph but there is little evidence of this, in fact the whole taxonomy of these species in debatable, I quote Sibley's Guide on this,
Rare plumage variations
Whether or not Little Egret has a rare dark morph is under debate. A few individuals identified as such in southern Europe and western Africa may have been Western Reef-Herons, or hybrids between Little Egret and Western Reef-Heron. Importantly, DNA evidence suggests that Little Egret and the western African populations of Western Reef-Heron Egretta gularis gularis are so closely related they could be the same species, and morphologically there is little to refute that idea. In that case Western Reef-Heron is simply a southern population of Little Egret, which is predominantly dark morph.
Rare plumage variations
Whether or not Little Egret has a rare dark morph is under debate. A few individuals identified as such in southern Europe and western Africa may have been Western Reef-Herons, or hybrids between Little Egret and Western Reef-Heron. Importantly, DNA evidence suggests that Little Egret and the western African populations of Western Reef-Heron Egretta gularis gularis are so closely related they could be the same species, and morphologically there is little to refute that idea. In that case Western Reef-Heron is simply a southern population of Little Egret, which is predominantly dark morph.
Whatever the taxonomic truth, this was a great sighting. Bird of the trip for sure.
Western Reef Heron - egretta gularis
Western Reef Heron - egretta gularis
Grey Plover - pluvialis squatarola Of course we saw many other birds this day, a whole gamut of waders including Curlew, Turnstone, both Godwits, and some very lovely Grey Plover in summer plumage being one or two highlights. Others include a Bonellis Warbler in a windswept bush and a solitary Purple Heron in the salt marsh. Our redoubtable leader Bob Wright had total of 111 species seen by the group by this time, which is a respectable total but I will not list everything here, preferring to leave that to others.
Purple Heron - ardea purpurea
The final day was to be a bus trip up into the Sierra Pelada, provided by the local equivalent of the "Tourist Board" at the instigation of Marta, the lady who ran our apartment compex. It was ostensibly to be a birding tour with an English speaking guide provided, and in fact they did take us to see Black Vultures in the Sierras above the village of Aroche. However as I found myself pointing the Black Vultures out to our guide I realised that he was not exactly a birder. It was refreshing to discover though that they do in fact have an ongoing conservation project and the public are not permitted into this area of Natural Park in order to protect the species. We, it seemed, had been granted special permission. I did think it slightly absurd though that we were taken up just two at a time to the viewing point to observe a nest. It was about one kilometer away and even with a telescope one could barely discern a dark shape in the top of a distant pine tree.
Some of the ABS group, with guide, park rangers & Marta our host
The trip was actually part of a drive to promote rural tourism in Huelva Province, away from just its Atlantic beach resorts, so after the Vulture excursion we were taken on a 4x4 adventure trail to a country retreat for lunch. The problem was that our bus was anything but a 4x4 and I had some sympathy for the driver as his vehicle virtually disintegrated around him.
| The country retreat turned out to be a large finca in a delighful area of oak and broadleaved woodland. It was a working Iberica pig farm and lunch consisted of large amounts of home cooked local produce, including various delicious pork dishes, cheeses, gazpachos and bread, all washed down with some excellent wine. A stroll around the estate after lunch introduced us to some of the pigs that eat the fallen acorns of the holm oak trees. As a sideline to his pig farming the owner had built accommodation for tourists looking for a peaceful hideaway in the campo. And very nice it was too. |  Ham - the Iberica pig |
As for birding today, apart from the two Vultures we did see Short-Toed and Booted Eagles, Black Kite and Sparrow Hawk, a variety of woodland species, a Grey Heron and a Kingfisher by the small lake. On the homeward off-road leg we saw Red Deer and a family of foxes, all observed while praying the bus would survive the battering it was taking. We already had the door tied on with string by this time and I'm happy to report that it did get us back in one piece, albeit at 11.30 that night. It had been quite a magical mystery tour, all good fun and provide absolutely free, amazing. Bob's trip birding total had reached 126 species. Not bad. Elena and I made an early departure the following morning as I had an impending hernia op. to look forward to later that day.
