On 10th October we provided a guided bird watching
trip for a couple from Berkshire. Both keen nature lovers, David and
Elizabeth were staying in Valencia as part of a trip around Spain. They
had requested a tour of Albufera, as they wanted to see some of the
classic wetland species of Valencia. As they were only here for a short
while, we combined Albufera with another local wetland with the aim of
improving our chances of spotting some of the target birds.
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| Albufera de Valencia |
We began the day with a visit to one of the reserves within the
natural park of Albufera de Valencia where we had great close-up views
of Marsh Harrier and Purple Gallinule. Wildfowl included Mallard,
Pochard, Red Crested Pochard and Shoveler.
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| Purple Gallinule |
Later, we enjoyed good views of Greater Flamingo and Yellow Legged
Gull before one of the highlights of the day – superbly clear views of a
pale morph Booted Eagle which kindly circled above us for long enough
for us to take in the beautiful tones of this stunning raptor.
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| Booted Eagle |
We then headed a little further along the coast where we saw the very
rare White Headed Duck, and had surprisingly long lasting views of a
Water Rail. Passage birds included Swallow, Sub-Alpine Warbler, Whinchat
and Wheatear.
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| Wheatear |
We ended the day back at Albufera where we spent some time focusing
on the key ID features of Great Egret, Cattle Egret and Little Egret. We
had further views of Marsh Harrier before finishing the day with close
views of Snipe and Kingfisher.
Written by David Warrington.
Bird Watching Guide at
Valencia Birding.
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