A bird watchers paradise

Staying at Villa Castillo Nuevo, San Miguel De Salinas and first ever day birding in Southern Europe at the El Honda reserve. Here is my list - including 23 new sightings! What a day, what a place. If you are a birder (or just enjoy nature) it’s a must visit. Fabulous place.

(Post submitted by John Fraser)

Black-winged Stilt (as in above picture)

Himantopus himantopus

------------------- Mallard Anas platyrhynchos ------------------- Marbled Duck Marmaronetta angustirostris ------------------- (Common) Pochard Aythya ferina ------------------- Little Egret Egretta garzetta ------------------- Great Egret Casmerodius albus ------------------- Grey Heron Ardea cinerea ------------------- Purple Heron Ardea purpurea ------------------- Glossy Ibis Plegadis falcinellus ------------------- (Greater) Flamingo Phoenicopterus roseus ------------------- Hen Harrier Circus cyaneus ------------------- Common Buzzard Buteo buteo ------------------- (Common) Moorhen Gallinula chloropus ------------------- (Eurasian) Coot Fulica atra ------------------- Red-knobbed Coot Fulica cristata ------------------- Purple Swamphen Porphyrio porphyrio ------------------- (Pied) Avocet Recurvirostra avosetta ------------------- Stone Curlew Burhinus oedicnemus ------------------- Collared Pratincole Glareola pratincola ------------------- Little Ringed Plover Charadrius dubius ------------------- Kentish Plover Charadrius alexandrinus ------------------- Dunlin Calidris alpina ------------------- (Common) Redshank Tringa totanus ------------------- Yellow-legged Gull Larus michahellis ------------------- Pallid Swift Apus pallidus ------------------- (Eurasian) Hoopoe Upupa epops ------------------- Crested Lark Galerida cristata ------------------- Barn Swallow Hirundo rustica ------------------- Red-rumped Swallow Cecropis daurica ------------------- White / Pied Wagtail Motacilla alba ------------------- (Common) Stonechat Saxicola rubicola ------------------- (Common) Blackbird Turdus merula ------------------- Zitting Cisticola Cisticola juncidis ------------------- (Common) Whitethroat Sylvia communis ------------------- Sardinian Warbler Sylvia melanocephala ------------------- Cetti’s Warbler Cettia cetti ------------------- Great Reed Warbler Acrocephalus arundinaceus ------------------- Spanish Sparrow Passer hispaniolensis ------------------- (European) Greenfinch Chloris chloris ------------------- (Great) Cormorant Phalacrocorax carbo ------------------- Squacco Heron Ardeola ralloides ------------------- Whiskered Tern Chlidonias hybrida ------------------- Little Tern Sternula albifrons ------------------- (Common) Greenshank Tringa nebularia ------------------- Slender-billed Gull Chroicocephalus genei ------------------- (European) Herring Gull Larus argentatus ------------------- Great Black-backed Gull Larus marinus ------------------- (Common) House Martin Delichon urbicum ------------------- Red-crested Pochard Netta rufina ------------------- (Common) Shelduck Tadorna tadorna ------------------- Black-necked Grebe Podiceps nigricollis ------------------- (European) Goldfinch Carduelis carduelis -------------------