Yesterday we went birding at Empordà Marshes Natural Park. We choose the main trail of the park, that goes from the visitor's center (Mas El Cortalet) to the beach, hoping that we could see some waders and waterfowl. However, after a week of rain, birds had taken the first chance to go north and few birds remained at the park. We started at the Quim Frank observatory. This is not the best observatory in the morning, as at that time of the day the sun is in front of you. However, we managed to see some nice birds, such as Common Shelduck or Greater Flamingo. As the light was bad there, we continued to the next observatory, the Gantes. There was a better light there, and we saw a nice Avocet, a Northern Pintail and a scaped Cinnamon Teal which has been there since some weeks. We continued to the beach having fast looks at the least interesting obsetvatories (Daines and Germans Pallejà, usually there is almost nothing, but it's worth having a look) until we reached El Matà Pond. This is one of the best areas of the park to see waders. Sandpipers, Stints or Godwits are common there during migrations, and rarities recorded here include White-rumped Sanpiper, Pectoral Sanpiper, Wilson's Phalarope or Long-billed Dowitcher. But this was not to be a great day. There were lots of Black-winged Stilts, some Greater Flamingos, some Ruff, some waterfowl and few things else. There I heard my first Great Reed Warbler of the season! We looked to the Closa del Puig from it's observatory looking for Purple Swamphens, without luck. Formerly, this used to be a very good place to look for them, but now it seems that they have moved somewhere else. We climbed the Senillosa Towers, to scan the area from a higher elevation, without seeing anything new. We continued our way to the beach, and our next stop was El Bruel observatory. It uses to be crowded of waterfowl in winter, but there was almost nothing yesterday. At least, there was a male Great Crested Grebe in summer plumage. We arrived to the beach, where we saw a Kentish Plover and a nice Arctic Loon in summer plumage.It was not a great day, but we managed to see some nice things, and we will continue going there as often as we can to have an excellent migration day!
Spices seen: Mute Swan, Common Shelduck, Gadwall, Green-winged Teal, Mallard, Northern Pintail, Garganey, Northern Shoveler, Arctic Loon, Little Grebe, Great Crested Grebe, Greater Flamingo, Great Cormorant, Gray Heron, Great Egret, Little Egret, Cattle Egret, White Stork, European Honey-buzzard, Short-toed Eagle, Western Marsh-Harrier, Eurasian Sparrowhawk, Northern Goshawk, Eurasian Buzzard, Eurasian Kestrel, Water Rail, Common Moorhen, Eurasian Coot, Black-winged Stilt, Pied Avocet, Northern Lapwing, Common Ringed Plover, Little Ringed Plover, Snowy Plover, Jack Snipe, Common Snipe, Black-tailed Godwit, Wood Sandpiper, Common Redshank, Ruff, Black-headed Gull, Yellow-legged Gull, Common Wood-Pigeon, Eurasian Collared-Dove, Alpine Swift, Common Swift, Eurasian Hoopoe, Lesser Spotted Woodpecker, Green Woodpecker, Bank Swallow, Barn Swallow, Red-rumped Swallow, House Martin, Meadow Pipit, Water Pipit, White Wagtail, Western Yellow Wagtai, Winter Wren, Eurasian Blackbird, Zitting Cisticola, Cetti's Warbler, Great Reed-Warbler, Willow Warbler, Common Chiffchaff, Blackcap, Sardinian Warbler, European Robin, Stonechat, Great Tit, Eurasian Blue Tit, Short-toed Treecreeper, Eurasian Jay, Eurasian Magpie,Eurasian Jackdaw, European Starling, House Sparrow, Eurasian Tree Sparrow, Chaffinch, European Greenfinch, European Goldfinch, Eurasian Linnet, European Serin, Cirl Bunting, Corn Bunting
