John Witham has updated the 5th in his series of articles about bird watching not far from here in Almerimar. Thanks again to John for his articles.
Read More for details.
The lake is a man made shallow quarry excavated to provide materials for the greenhouse constructions and flooded about twenty years ago. During the subsequent period significant reed beds have developed, aquatic plants have thrived and a waterfowl, wader and general bird population of about 100 species has caused the authorities to give it a reserve status.
Only a few days ago I visited the lake. It was a bad day; windy, cloudy and cold. The birds were sheltering and I saw very few birds. Today was very different. The skies were bright blue, the temperature warm and the gentle breeze did not disturb the birds. You will have to take my word for it that I saw all the birds listed below and that they are not a figment of my fertile imagination. Indeed, an expert may well have identified two or three as many species.
Hopefully, by now, some of you will have obtained a bird book or found your way round internet sites to check what the birds I write about actually look like. Indeed many of the photos I use in these articles are from www.flickr.com, a site that I heartily recommend to you.
On arrival at the lake it was not the birds on the water which took the attention but the many hundreds of birds swooping in the sky. Swallows and Martins skimmed above the water whilst Swifts hunted at a higher level. Rarely have I been so close to the action, indeed on several occasions they passed within a few metres as they homed in on their prey.
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Swallows chasing clouds of flies
On a small spit of land jutting into the lake twenty large black Cormorants stood with their wings spread out to dry in the sun. These birds swim underwater for quite lengthy periods as they chase their diet of fish. Chinese fishermen captured and trained these birds to fish for them hundreds of years ago.
Alongside the Cormorants stood thirty or more white Egrets taking a rest from wading along the water edge. Seeking frogs, newts and small fish whilst only a few metres offshore a flock of about thirty White Faced Ducks slept whilst bobbing about on the water.
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Cormorants
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| Egrets | White-faced Ruddy Duck |
Turning towards the reed-bed I spotted two Purple Gallinules apparently constructing a well-hidden nest deep in the reeds whilst several of their distant cousins, the Moorhens scurried close by. At least six Grey Herons also live by the lake so the life expectancy of frogs is presumably fairly short.
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| Purple Gallinule | Grey Heron |
Throughout my visit I heard numerous warblers singing in the reeds but never saw a single one for more than a fleeting glance so was unable to make any firm identification. Experts, and I am not yet one of them, can differentiate the various species through their bird song so I must get a CD or DVD to pursue this skill.
Throughout the two hours period I positively identified the following 30 birds and maybe missed as many again. I only covered a small percentage of the lake and surrounding area and could reasonably expect to double this score over a series of maybe half a dozen visits to different areas. I will keep you posted – but better still why don’t you join me?
Land-based birds:-
Swallow, Red-Rumped Swallow, Chiffchaff, House Martin, Collared Dove, Swift, Pallid Swift, Alpine Swift, Spotless Starling, Pied Wagtail, Yellow Wagtail, Kestrel, Sparrows - House and Spanish
Waders:-
Grey Heron, Egret, Moorhen, Purple Gallinule, Coot, Black Winged Stilts
Gulls:-
Black Headed, Mediterranean, Herring
Ducks:-
Pochard, Mallard, Shoveller, Pintail, Tufted
Grebes:-
Black necked, Little (Dabchick)
You can see photos of all these bird in the bird watching album in Gallery here at Almerimar Today.
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2009-01-18 12:02:37 |Registered| mali
07:49
This is for John Wi.....
Met your friend the robin on the 9th tee the other day. He sat there and asked for something to eat, so we gave him bread and ham and he was very happy. Today he was there again so we said hello and gave him some bread.
Marianne and Sune