Trip reports
A Trip To Coto Doňana
Thursday, 17 April 2008
We stayed at a campsite on the edge of El Rocío in mobile homes which provided all the amenities and were reasonably comfortable for two people, but the three ladies who shared one were
rather cramped.
El Rocío is like a town in a western film, the houses mainly two storeys high, with verandas and hitching posts. This is a place of horses with wide streets of sand and dominated by a large, white church.
At the edge of El Rocío is a large, shallow, wet marsh in which horses graze. On our first morning we set up at its edge. On the water was a variety of species including Purple Heron, Red-crested Pochard, White Stork, Spoonbill and Black-winged Stilt. As a Black Kite and Slender-billed Gulls flew over we watched Bee-eaters in trees on the far side of the water. Another sighting was Ian Davies, a teenager from Massachusetts, with remarkable birding skills who frequently joined us on excursions.
On grassy wetlands bordering the town Glossy Ibis, Black-tailed Godwits and Spoonbills were joined a small group of Sacred Ibis: these were found later to be mainly escapes from collections.
As everywhere there were raptors, a Booted and a Short-toed Eagle circling above us and, giving a lifer to many, two distant Black-shouldered Kites.
The La Rocinas Visitor Centre, which is wooded mainly with umbrella pine, has hides overlooking expanses of water. Little Egret, Purple Gallinule, Squacco Heron, Spoonbill, Kingfisher and calling Golden Orioles were added to the list. Raptors appeared in the form of two Marsh Harriers, a Booted Eagle and, very high up, five Griffon Vultures.
We returned the following evening as we had been told of the location of the roost of a Red-necked Nightjar. Luckily we met a chap who knew exactly where it was. He led us to a high wooden fence over which we peered. The bird was almost invisible in the gloom as it squatted motionless, camouflaged against the ground litter of fallen cones and pine needles.
At the edge of the city of Huevla - Columbus sailed from here - are the immense Odiel Marshes. The northern part is extensive saltpans where we found a pair of Blue-headed Wagtails and a Green Woodpecker. And more raptors - an Osprey, a Montagu's Harrier and a pair of Hen Harriers which landed on the road.
The visitor centre of the marshes overlooks a large expanse of water edged by a sandy beach and mud flats. A good list here included White Wagtail, Little Stint, Whimbrel, Curlew Sandpiper, Kentish and Little Ringed Plover, Sanderling, Black-tailed Godwit, Little Tern, and Yellow-legged Gull. From the marshes we made our way to the coast road, near which are several large ponds worth investigating. In one lagoon a Red-knobbed Coot, a rare species, gave a very short showing, a disappointment, as it was a lifer for many. But we returned on another occasion and got a better sighting.
Part of the way to the José Antonio Valverde Visitor Centre is on a very rough track on top of a long, low raised dyke. On one side is farmland and on the other wetland. The wetland was very rich in birds with Red-crested Pochard, Squacco and Purple Heron, Coot, Black-winged Stilt, Little and Great Crested Grebe, Purple Gallinule, Black-tailed Godwit, Cattle Egret, Gadwall, and Whinchat. In front of us Turtle Doves flew from the track. The farmland was less productive but it did give Yellow Wagtail, Greater Short-toed Lark, Calandra Lark and Corn Bunting.
Two marvellous sights were of a large flock of Collared Pratincoles flying past and of a flock of Greater Flamingos taking off, wheeling round to show their beautiful pink colouration, before returning their original location.
A Short-toed Eagle took off from the side of the road, a large snake uncoiling from its talons. Further on about twenty Black Kites circled far away but not high and later a flock of about a dozen Lesser Kestrels wheeled and hovered over a field of horses. Marsh Harrier, and Booted Eagle were also seen.
At the Valverde Visitor Centre a Black Kite was mobbed by a pair of Kestrels which had a nest in the roof of the centre. The building was blessedly cool. In front of it, in reeds, a singing Great Reed Warbler gave a good sighting and ordinary Reed Warblers skulked. From a boardwalk could be viewed a pool with Coots, Little Egrets, Flamingos and Avocets. Little and Cattle Egrets, Night Herons and Glossy Ibises roosted in small tamarisk trees fringing the pool. Over a hundred Purple Herons were counted here as well as a many Gull-billed Terns.
One afternoon we had just returned to the campsite when Ian panted in to say that two juvenile Imperial Eagles were perched in a tree at the lagoon. One bird was still there when we rushed there, near the top of a tree on a leafless branch. It gave a good, if distant view and another lifer for many.
In the scrub bordering the track to the Palacio del Acebrón two Dartford Warblers popped up. A Great Grey Shrike and Bee-eaters perched on fences and a Kestrel on a power line. A Quail and a Woodlark called while Nightingales sang in a thicket. A nature trail led through a swampy thicket, where a Cetti's warbler was noted, then into fairly dense woodland. A Great Spotted Woodpecker drummed and Blackcaps were seen while a Black Kite and a Booted Eagle were glimpsed through the canopy.
To the north-east of El Rocío are extensive woods of umbrella pine. We parked where wide, sandy tracks led from either side of the road into forest. Two Hobbies dashed above us, with a Black Kite below them. A Booted Eagle and an unidentified eagle floated over. Two Crested Tits were high in a eucalyptus tree. We also got Greenfinch, Hoopoe, Azure-winged Magpie, Woodchat Shrike, Pied Flycatcher and, nesting under a culvert, a pair of Red-rumped swallows.
At the Dehessa de Abajo Visitor Centre a long track leads through extensive wild flower meadows to a lagoon where, on the water, were Black-necked Grebe, Great Crested Grebe, Pochard, Mallard, Gadwall, Pintail and Flamingo. Black Terns skimmed the surface.
Our last foray was to a site where some of the group had previously seen a Stone Curlew. This would have been a nice end to the trip, but no luck. But we had had a most enjoyable week with warm, dry days. There was a good selection of birds with Our last foray was to a site where some of the
group had previously seen a Stone Curlew. This would have been a nice end to the trip, but no luck. But we had had a most enjoyable week with warm, dry days. There was a good selection of birds with many raptors and several lifers. The species count was 149
Spring trip in 2009