Birding in Huelva Province

[Bob Wright]

Just had a great week based at the Tierra Mar Golf Hotel in Matalascanas.  Great birding on the way down and back from Lake Vinuela near Velez Malaga and then the opportunity to sopend two days on the Odiel Marshes near Huelva, a day looking at the far, western end of the Province and over the border into Portugal, two days in the Donana itself and a day to please the ladies by travelling up to Rio Tinto.

A total of 114 species recorded including Squacco Heron, Black Stork, Black Vulture, Great White Egret, Black-shouldered Kite, Spanish Imperial Eagle, Spotted Redshank, Whimbrel and Curlew.  Lots of Red Kites and Common Buzzards and hundreds of White Storks, 40 Glossy Ibis and 4 Common Crane at the Jose Valverde Centre along with the resident Purple Swamphens.  However, the best is yet to come; not the large number of Spanish Sparrows in a mixed sparrow flock on the Odiel Marshes nor even the the thousand plus flock of Spotless Starling which included a good number of Common Starling just west of Osuna, rather the 12 Great Bustards that we found at the same time on the return journey.  Considering that we also saw 9 Little Bustards and a number of Red-legged [partrige in the same area ion the outward journey, a visit to the minor roads near the new high speed rail line being built south of La Lantejuela could prove a worthwhile journey.  It also helped that the new, high over bridges that have replaced the former level crossings are great for scanning the neighbouring fields.

So get on out there and find your own Great Bustards.  Perhaps those living/visiting the area frequently can pass on some information on the size of flocks that are likely to build up during the winter.  Do they stay in the same area and if not, where else will they settle in the coming months?

For further details about our visit above, visit the website at www.birdigaxarquia.weebly.com[/color]]www.birdigaxarquia.weebly.com.

Bob Wright

[john]

Very interesting, Bob.  I've lookd around Osuna several times for bustards (both Great & Little) without seeing them so it's good to hear that someone's had some luck!  (Although I did get Black-bellied sandgrouse which is probably harder!)  I absolutely agree re: the new bridges over the high speed link,

John

[Peter]

Very interesting Bob, but would love to have seen the whole account here on the forum. As John will know, I had the same number of Great Bustard in this area last year and the year before that. I wonder where they go in the summer? I checked it out several times this last summer, but didn't see them, but there was an awful lot of building work going on in the area for the new road construction.

Great site and the surrounding plains always reward the visitor.

Peter

[hjvandijk]

Hi Guys,

Last week I was at Osuna, and saw a Great Bustard female with chick (not visible on the pictures). Reading this topic, this could be an interesting find. Here you can see my sighting: http://observado.org/waarneming/view/49109442?lang=en&local=xx or in Spanish http://observado.org/waarneming/view/49109442?lang=es&local=xx. De pointer is about exactly.

More of my sightings you can find here: http://observado.org/user/view/12971

greatings,
Hendrik Jan, The Netherlands