Many thanks to BF member Marian Alvarez for sending me details of how to get to the sites by public transport
Part 1
13.06.07
After arriving on the afternoon Easyjet flight from Asturias, I caught the Metro into the city centre and checked in to ‘Los Amigos Hostel’. With a few hours of daylight left I took the Metro out to the Cassa de Campo, a large park, on the Western edge of the city. Despite being very busy with people, there was still a decent selection of common birds around. The highlight being several noisy Monk Parakeet, an exotic feral species here in Europe. Also of interest were a few flyover White Stork, and a sharpei (Iberian) Green Woodpecker
14.06.07
Looking forward to the first full days birding in the city, I took the Metro to the ‘Moncloa’ station, then the 601 bus to Mingorubio and the nearby El Pardo Nature Reserve. On arrival at the river, just below the Dam, Nightingales were loudly singing all over the place, seemingly competing with Cetti’s Warblers to see who could sing the loudest. Serins were also buzzing away from almost every tree.
Walking along the river back towards Mingorubio I soon bumped into one of my biggest ‘bogey birds’, a fine pair of Bee-eaters perched up on the telephone wires. A Hoopoe flew over my head from the vast woodlands on the other side of the river and a solitary Azure-winged Magpie completed a very colourful trio, then to add the scene, a male Golden Oriole flitted between trees on the opposite bank and a Kingfisher whizzed downstream. The riverside scrub held a few singing Reed and Melodious Warblers.
A quick stop by the bridge in Mingorubio for a drink and a sandwich was very productive, with a confiding pair of Lesser-spotted Woodpecker, Short-toed Treecreeper and Nuthatch feeding young in the trees on the side of the river. I walked up the hill to the observation tower, which regrettably seemed unavailable for public use. The surrounding woodland was well worth the walk however, with several male Subalpine Warbler, a group of 4 Hawfinch in the pines near the restaurant, a Cardinal Butterfly and a Wild Boar.
Walking back down to Mingorubio a pair of Griffon Vultures flapped lazily overhead and were followed soon after by a light phase Booted Eagle.
A walk around the scrubby grassland between the river and road North of Mingorubio produced a Sardinian Warbler and Cirl and Corn Buntings, along with a few Black Kites overhead and a Red-rumped Swallow that shot through.
I then crossed over the road to explore the relatively dense woodland there. A group of 20 or so Azure-winged Magpies passed through noisily and the Crested Tits called occasionally throughout the woods. I also bumped into a family group of Wild Boar, which luckily decided that they would rather hide than try and see me off!
On the bus back I saw my only gull of the trip, a single Black-headed Gull flying south over the river, and a Peregrine floating around the edges of the city.
More to come soon...........
Photos:
1: Lesser Spotted Woodpecker
2: Nightingale
3: Subapline Warbler
More pix on my blog