The Birdman of Alcossebre (Spain)

The Birdman of Alcossebre(N/E Spain)

Hi birders world wide
This is my very first birding blog.
So a few details to fill you in. I retired and moved to this rural part of Spain in October,2002. I had lived all my life in the city of Glasgow - which is a good birdwatching base. So there was quite a contrast in the birdlife as you could imagine.
I have an almost daily routine of doing a two hour bird count walk with the oldest of our four dogs - ¨Scruffy¨now an amazing 20 years old!
I cover a variety of habitats on my walk. Being a rural farmland area the field crops comprise the biggest percent. The crops grown locally are Oranges, Olives, Almonds, Artichokes and Tomatoes. The majority of the cultivation and gathering is done by hand and very few pesticides are used. So this is wonderful for the birdlife. The weeds for example are ploughed every 2 or 3 months, so again good for the birdlife.
Other habitat covered in the walk are gardens, limited woodland with very few mature trees. The only mature trees are Carob (the pods of which are used for cattle fodder) and some Pine Trees. So the last birds I expect to see are Woodpeckers!
Another important habitat for the birds (and me) is the sea shore mixture of sandy beaches and rocky outcrops. There is also a small freshwater lagoon at a dried up river mouth - bathing place for gulls and terns and passage stopover for waders.
There is an area or two of heathland and a small sewage treatment plant both important for various species, either resident or on passage.
So hopefully that paints a picture of the habitat of the place.
Now for a list of birds seen in May of this year.

Alcossebre Bird List for May 2004

min/max Species

2 Mediterranean Shearwater
singles Gannet
1 to 2 Shag
1 to 2 Cormorant
1 to 7 Grey Heron
2 to 4 Purple Heron
30 Greater Flamingo
8 to 17 Cattle Egret
1 to 2 Little Egret
1 Montagus Harrier
1 Hobby
1 Quail
5 Black-winged Stilt
singles Kentish Plover
singles Common Sandpiper
1 to 113 AudouinsGull
1 to 8 Yellow Legged Gull
noted L.B.B.Gull
5 to 40 Sandwich Tern
noted Feral Rock Dove
1 to 3 Wood Pigeon
5 to 19 Collared Dove
1 to 4 Turtle Dove
singles Great Spotted Cuckoo
1 Common Cuckoo
1 to 2 Little Owl
3 to 159 Pallid Swift
1 to 16 Bee-eater
1 to 7 Hoopoe
4 to 15 Crested Lark
1 Sand Martin
10 to 320 Swallow
1 to 2 Red-rumped Swallow
1 to 16 House Martin
2 Blue-headed Wagtail
1 White Wagtail
1 to 2 Nightingale
1 Whinchat
2 to 4 Wheatear
1 to 4 Blackbird
3 to 14 Fan Tailed Warbler
1 to 4 Melodious Warbler
2 to 7 Sardinian Warbler
2 Common Whitethroat
1 Chiffchaff
2 to 4 Willow Warbler
1 to 4 Spotted Flycatcher
singles Pied Flycatcher
1 to 5 Great Tit
1 to 3 Golden Oriole
1 to 12 Woodchat Shrike
3 to 15 Magpie
2 Carrion Crow
noted Spotless Starling
noted House Sparrow
noted Tree Sparrow
2 to 11 Greenfinch
10 to 68 Goldfinch
8 to 35 Serin
singles Cirl Bunting
62 Total Species