Spain Day 4 Fuente de Piedra

Sunday, 24th.

Having spent 2 days up the mountain in not such good weather we decided on a change of scenery and headed to Fuente de Piedra.  We drove down the motorway towards Malaga, cutting across country at Aquiler, via Puente Genil. A change of junctions had us heading down the wrong road but a dodgy sign got us there along the dirt track along the side of the embalse, seeing a flock of 40 little bustards fly up from a field and over the road and stopping a couple of times to scan the lake. DW heard cranes and a flock was seen flying up and heading away. More cranes could be seen in a field on the other side of the lake.

We visited the centre and then went out for a stroll. There were 1000s of flamingos dotted about with several hundred Black-necked grebes, shoveler, some coot. In the pools we found Black-winged stilts, a black-tailed godwit and a ruff. The bushes were alive with chiff-chaffs.

Returning to the visitors centre DW went to check out some hides which proved to be a good choice. From the 1) .... De Lagunato he found wh-headed duck, gadwall, coot and from the 2)....  He found a wryneck. Slurping ants from the ground. It seemed to clean up what was there and fly into cover for about 15minutes then return to slurp some more.

As I was leaving the hide to try and let CP and PL know about the duck, a very unexpected Grt Spotted cuckoo flew past me and glided into the bushes never to be seen again.

We spent the rest of the afternoon watching from these hides as hoopoe, chiff-chaff and blk redstart entertained us, the highlight being the appearance of 2 mongeese which were hunting along the backside. 

We retraced our steps back to LP as the sun set leaving a very vivid sky. We had ordered a paella for dinner which was excellent. We were presented with a bottle of 'limonella' liqueur. Very fresh lemon taste with a kick. Eventually we tore ourselves away and went to bed.

Spain Day 3 - More Lynx watching

Saturday 23rd.

An earlier start had us ready for breakfast as the restaurant opened at 7.30

Birds around the LP included aw magpie, blackcaps, hawfinch. A very friendly and persistent cat tried to join us. Even though we were much earlier, we were still about 15/20 minutes too late for a sighting. Lots of mist and low cloud to start with but soon cleared to give great light.

We had waves of griffon vult, blk vult, black kite. SIE, STE, kestrel, blue tit, crested tit, dart ford warbler, grn wdpker, hoopoe, mistle thrush, serin.

Through the morning herds of red deer and a few roe deer came running from the left (e?) down the slopes, stopping to look behind them, all in a high state of alert, plus some wild boor. Also reports of Mouflon had us driving the short distance down towards the dam but no luck. Photographing some angel tears and reprimanded by rangers for going off the road, "stay on the road" was the unmistakable message.

Returned to the watch point for lunch.

Sat around scanning until a car of Danes came up the road and told us their friend had a lynx further up, not sure where. Called the others on radio, collected scopes and drove up, collected others and drove on back till we saw a group of people scoping the hillside. The lynx had disappeared but hopeful as ever, we piled out, set up our scopes and scanned. It reappeared and was watched for ten minutes slowly walking east, stopping and spraying. it was calling constantly, a deep, growly meow, before it slipped into cover. As it was travelling in a steady direction we decided to move further down the road, in the hope that it would be relocated. After about 15 minutes it came into view and was watched for a further 15-20 minutes before it finally walked out of sight. Congratulations all round.

We decided to continue down to the river at La Encinajaro to see if could see any otters. No luck but we did have Hooped Petticoat narcissus, kingfisher, great spot, moorhen, cormorant, house Martin, black vulture. They were letting water through the dam and we watched as the water levels rose rapidly. We returned to LP as it was getting dark.

Spain Day 2 Lynx watching

Friday 22nd.

Breakfast, LP. Out 9.00 ish. To lynx watch point.

Azure w magpie, blackcaps, span imp eagle.

Very short view of lynx (DW)

Drive down to dam. Angel tears, ib narcissus.

Griffon, blk vulture. Blue rock thrush, com sandpiper, green sand.

Imp eagle. Crag martin.

Walk through tunnel, grtr mouse eared bat, daubenton's, plus ?

Back to watch point, short sunny spell, then rain.buckets of it. Short nap, more views of deer and a lovely big black boar, then more rain. Down the mountain and shopping in Carrefour. Back to LP and then out for dinner, diverting to the run down house and pond next door where we found stripeless tree frog, southern marbled newt and com frog by the restaurant. 

DW & PL went back and found terrapin.

Short Break in Spain - Day 1 February 21st.

We decided to take a short break from the cold and grey of Britain so we booked a flight from Stansted-Madrid for February and then organised our accommodation. The Villa Mathilde, where we usually stay, was full so we managed to book rooms in Los Pinos instead.
Our flight left Stansted at 8.30 and we were soon landing at Madrid where we picked up the hire car, being given a small, free upgrade to a Vauxhall Zafira and headed out of Madrid heading south along the E-5 through Man of La Mancha country. 

After about an hour we left the motorway at Tembleque and took the road towards el Romeral and Lillo looking out for birds as we went. As we left the motorway we saw Black Kites and Storks floating among the windmills. Nearing Lillo we took one of the tracks to the left into the olive groves where we had several small flocks of Great Bustard, lots of little passerines, including chaffinch, spanish sparrow, woodlark, as well as a flock of 90 Little Bustard which flew over with a Pintailed Sandgrouse among them.

Pintailed sandgrouse.

Heron, blk kite, blk stork, white stork, chaffinch, span sparrow, woodlark, linnet, flamingo, shelduck, mallard.

Late arrival at Los Pinos.

Atlanta Stopover

Landed at around 5.30 am, checked in for the home flight and rested in the airport until the sun came up - sorted out a taxi to take us to Chattahoochee River Recreation Area - mega dollars for the fare!
A lovely few hours walking along the river and through some woodland with lots of birds and very friendly people who stopped to chat. A couple of ladies, Marjorie and * wanted to take us home, get our luggage and take us to a concert! One lady spends 6 months every year on a narrow boat in Northampton and a gentleman spent 2 years in Mildenhall in the US airforce.
We were very lucky to have a Bald Eagle fly over our heads along with Cooper’s Hawk, Red-bellied Woodpecker, Red-headed Woodpeckers, Downy Woodpecker, White-eyed Vireo, Blue Jay, Tufted titmouse, Caroline Titmouse, White-breasted Nuthatch, Brown Creeper, Caroline Wren, Eastern Bluebird, Hermit Thrush, Northern Mockingbird, Brown Thrasher, Cedar Waxwing, Yellow-rumped Warbler, Prairie Warbler, Northern Cardinal, Eastern Towhee, White-throated Sparrows, Song Sparrow, Common Grackle, Purple Finch and American Goldfinch.

Our taxi retrieved us and returned us to the airport for a pretty hassle free trip through security before we boarded the plane for the long, overnight flight home.  

Day 12 - Back to Quito

Day 12 Back to Quito.

28^th November

The first couple of hours we spent around the Wildsumaco Lodge, the lower hummingbird feeder and along the access road before heading for Quito. We made several fairly uneventful stops en route until we reached Papallacta.

Around the Lodge we saw two Black-mandibled Toucan, Lefrayneses Piculet, Violet-headed Hummingbird and Gorgeted Woodstar. The lower feeders were almost empty but a hoped for Ecuadorian Pied-tail made a couple of visits along with a male Black-throated Brilliant and a male Napo Sabrewing. Also seen here were a male Red-headed Barbet, two Masked Tityra, a Lined Ant-shrike, Golden-faced Tyrannulet, Blue-browed Tanager and Paradise Tanager.

Walking along the road we saw two four Chestnut-fronted Macaws and Long-tailed tyrants,

We were lucky to have very clear views of Volcano Antisana and Sumaco and a Graell’s Tamarin.

A brief stop at a large lake above the town produced Yellow-billed Pintail, Blue-winged Teal and Neotropic Cormorant. However, the trip ended with a superb couple of hours spent in high paramo/polylepis forest at the pass where we were lucky enough to see three Variable Hawks, two Rainbow-bearded Thornbill, two Blue-mantled Thornbills, a possible Viridian Metaltail, Andean Tit-spinetail, Whte-chinned Thistletail, several Many-streaked Canasteros, Stout-billed Cinclodes, Paramo ground-tyrant, a Red-crested Cotinga, two Giant Conebills and Plumbeous Seedeaters.

Day 11 - Wild Sumaco 2

 Day 11 - Wild Sumaco

Heavy rain in the morning and then extremely humid conditions made for an exhausting birding session which finished earlier than normal.

The first event was the feeding of two Plain-backed Antpittas.

We went spent over an hour at the lower feeders which produced Green Hermit, Black-throated Mango, Gould’s Jewelfront, Napo Sabrewing, Black-throated Brilliant, two Many-banded Aracari, a Lineated Woodpecker and Spotted Tanager. A Swallow-tailed Kite flew over.

We spent more time around the lodge feeders although not seeing a great deal in the way of new birds but two Graells Tamarins gave excellent views from the balcony.

The afternoon was spent between the lodge and the F.A.C.E trail where we saw 15 Chestnut-fronted Macaws, three Mealy Parrots, two Chestnut-tipped Toucanets, two Golden-coloured Toucanets, White-crowned Manakin.

Late in the garden we saw Black-mandibled Toucan and a small colony of Crested Oropendula.