Old Favourites

Salinas de San Pedro - 6.11.19

The more I go to the local salinas out of migration season the harder I find getting images of a type that I've not posted previous, mainly down to the fact that the waders aren't just around. It's a place where a few of the commoner species hang out over wintering from the colder north such as Dunlin, Greenshank and Sanderling but theses are can hard to pin down with the large number of water pans so sometimes you have to go back to the old favourites.

Avocet and Black-winged Stilts are common on the salinas and if your patiant and remain still it can prove quite fruitful. These images were taken whilst in the same location as the previous post of the Greater Flamingos, the water colour is a reflection of a mud bank that only appears early mornings with sun angle over your shoulder.

Avocet

Black-winged Stilt

Greater Flamingo

Dunlin

Best Of The Rest

A round up of a few other images that didn't make a post in it's own right, like the mating Black-winged Stilt were no more than grab shots before it was all over, or, just that it was too few photo ops on the day....hey ho !

Red-knobbed Coot

Image of a Red-knobbed Coot was about the only images I managed at San Felipe being surprisingly quite, also as the water levels were so high lacking the usual mud edges all the waders were occupying the nearby flooded fields, some day's are just like that !

Black-winged Stilt

Three images of mating Black-winged Stilts, unfortunately it was around midday by which time the sun was out big style and the light was way to harsh.

Ruff

Image of a very confiding Ruff taken at 3-4 meters distance, at one point it got to close. I've managed to get the sun somewhere behind me with this shot hence the colour looks pretty good.

Crested Lark

Taken early morning around 8.0 am as you can probably tell on a drive around Lo Romero Golf, at the time I was trying to get images of a Southern Grey Shrike I had seen the day before, then I found a Woodchat Shrike never managing to get images of either. This Lark just popped up on a stump...lucky to get an image of something !

Little Owl

On my drive I usually come across this chap at the less developed far end of the coarse but getting near can sometimes be difficult, other times will just site on a rock or wall as in this case...get out of the car and he's or she is off

Return to Murcia - September18

After the quiet period of the long hot summer (it’s still hot !) it’s a return to Murcia for some bird photography of returning summer migrants that have bred in northern Europe on route back to their winter locations in sub-saharan Africa. 

One area I visit often being a short drive away is the salinas de San Pedro. A working salt industry still occupies one end of the salinas, but the remaining area of extensive lagoons along with the adjacent sand dunes now all form part of a large nature reserve that extends right down to the sea. 

In summer the area is particularly good for breeding Little and Gull Billed Terns and during spring and autumn migration a magnet for passage migrant waders. Winter time can also be productive favoured by Black Necked Grebes which congregate in their hundreds, normally very skittish I can regularly photograph these grebes at distances as close as ten metres. The whole area has something to photograph year round but its also a welcome warm weather retreat from the UK's wet cold winter...it's win win !

Salinas de San Pedro - 18.9.18

My first visit of the trip and you've guessed it's too the salinas at San Pedro. Stopping at my number one spot it all looks very quite not what I was expecting or hoping for...autumn wader migration in full swing. After a couple of hours the only the waders to show for my efforts are Ringed Plover, Little Stint and a couple of Black Winged Stilts, time to have a look over the road.

A solitary Black Tail Godwit along with a Ruff are feeding in the corner of the muddy bay, slowly I get into position but the Godwit and Ruff move further away amongst the reeds, not much chance of getting an image here then, and move on.

Now at the second pull, the location being just about ok for photography I spot a small group of Dunlin feeding along the waters edge next to the path but its not a cleen shot, one of the Dunlin is in summer plumage probably having just arrived from the breeding grounds in norther Europe so this is my target bird.

After shooting a number of images it's evident there's too much clutter so I move round to the small bay then, my target Dunlin appears this time clutter free at the waters edge all be it the light angle is not the best. I get as many images at the Dunlin remains at a distance down to four or five meters something you don't often get in the UK

As a bonus a Little Stint and a Black Tailed Gotwit drop in, may be it's the Godwit seen earlier as there doesn't appear to be many about. The shutter's has been non-stop and my memory card is full with the battery on one bar, my others are in the car twenty metres away, if I move the waders will fly so the sessions over. For the remainder of the trip I will carry replacements in my pockets....tip !

After a very quite start it's good to finish with good encounter, you just never know with wildlife photography just how your day will turn out, perseverance.

Dunlin - summer plumage

(This appears to be the "alpina" race with the richest rufous colour and longer bill length that can been seen better in the fourth image, winters in Western Europe and Mediterranean)

Dunlin - juvenile

Black Winged Stilt

Black Tailed Godwit

Ringed Plover

Little Stint

If you look closely at the image you can just about see the wader has a ring on it's right leg, never close enough to read the number, the first ringed bird seen in Spain.

Wind Swept Waders

24th April - Salinas de San Pedro

Fantastic wader session down at the salinas San Pedro this morning which is mainly a result of the strong winds over the last couple of days with a fair few waders gathered in my favourite location.

Parking up I have a quick scan of whats about before I decide to set up, nothing particularly new but quite a number of waders along the waters edge, the light is good and I'm looking forward to spending a couple or three hours at this location which I prefer rather than a long walk around the salt pans.

Although it's been blue sky's and twenty fives degrees the strong northerly winds has resulted a large number of waders congregating in a small bay at one end of the salinas, with the aid of some camo to impersonate some of the shrubbery I've managed get really close to the action with some birds quite happy to approach as close as two meters, way to close for the "big white".

The images are just some of the many hundred taken over the last two mornings which include….male and female Kentish and Little Ringed Plover, Common and Curlew Sandpiper some in summer plumage, Ruff including a fantastic black male, Redshank, Oystercatcher briefly which I missed, Sanderling in various plumage states, Black Winged Stilt and Avocet. Also present was a group of photogenic Slender Bill Gulls and several paired up Shelduck and all within a twenty metre range !

A group of about twenty Sanderling always the easiest to get near, some in full summer plumage are scuttling clockwork like along the waters edge chased back and forth by the lapping waves.

Click image to view

Resting Sanderling

Sanderling - carrying out maintenance

A little further away in to deeper water are five Curlew Sandpiper feeding, one with some damaged tailed feathers and three showing the red of advanced summer plumage, the colour of the water seems to have be co-ordinated with the birds plumage.

Curlew Sandpiper - almost full Summer Plumage

Occasionally a Common Sandpiper will call an alarm and the waders disappear across the salinas only soon to return, in the interim a group of Slender Bill Gulls always make an alternative for some good images.

Slender Billed Gull

On previous occasions I've visited the San Pedro salinas I've rarely managed to get close to Common Sandpiper, normally all I've managed is a call and a backend view of the wader as it disappears across the salinas.

This wader came very close giving some good photo opertunites.

Common Sandpiper

Common Sandpiper

Alarm call, there goes all the waders disappearing into the distance....again !

Black Winged Stilts are present in numbers through out the year on the salinas, rather than the usual image pose of a standing wader I though these images in the strong wind would be more interesting.

Black Winged Stilt

There are three Ruff present but way over on the other side of the bay, brown, brown with a white neck and this all black Ruff complete with neck ruff, unfortunately this black wader was constantly chased off by the other Ruff never coming close.

This is one of several images of the wader carrying out some plumage maintenance which would have been superb if it was a little closer.

Ruff - Part Summer Plumage

Turnstones are busy further up on the high tide line doing what they do occasionally venturing into the water, these waders were easily spooked by the alarm call of the Common Sandpiper.

Turnstone

Other waders present were a resident pair of breeding Kentish Plovers, a Little Ringed Plover that's been around for some days and several Redshank, I have posted images of these waders previously so are not included in this post.

One wader that is new for me at San Pedro is the Oystercatcher, it was only after I stopped looking through the camera that I notice the wader flying away from the bay....a missed opportunity !