Costa Blanca Bird Tour

Today we decided to use a rented car to explore the region more thoroughly and hopefully see some good sights. It was my first time guiding, and I was extremely nervous before the trip started. 

When we got underway, after a delay of half an hour, our first stop was the tower in the Santa Pola Salinas. I wasn't expecting to show much here, just say something about what was visible. And hopefully show the flamingos, which occur here in immense numbers. 

Our next destination, vastly more exciting, was the twin lagoons of Torrevieja. This had become the best place to view Montagu's harrier for an impressive distance around, and given my consistent failures at seeing and photographing these birds in the past, I aimed to correct that and hoped everyone would get good views. Near a citrus plantation, we observed a ringtail Montagu's circling very, very close to us. 

Later on, at a viewpoint near the pink lake, we spotted five Montagu's harriers in the air. Including what I had dreamed of for a long time- a male Montagu's harrier

I wasn't expecting them to be impressed by this, but they actually were. We watched a male Montagu's flying nearby, regularly stooping at the ground and flying around at reed level. After everyone had got a good look, we pressed on with our trip, me claiming this was merely an appetizer for what was to come and inside dreading what would happen if it didn't turn out to be the case. 

Because one of us required a soup at exactly 13:00, I had to rapidly figure out a diversion to a top-rated restaraunt. The restaraunt was completely empty, but the workers claimed it was fully booked. Afterwards, we managed to find a sushi bar and ate there before continuing. 

As we approached the Sierra Espuna, I kept looking in its direction, but thought that I would not see anything for some reason. After leaving civilisation on a narrow road which then turned into a brutal serpantine up the mountain and with a cloudy sky, I was surprised that others felt excited about it. We approached the first viewpoint with a parking lot, and immediately I saw a bird of prey. It was rather close, and even looking with just my eyes I could see its long, elegant wings and long tail. It was a golden eagle, I thought. We decided to stop on the road to get a better look, but at that moment another car came up behind us and we had to move. 

When we got to the actual viewpoint, the eagle reappeared, soaring over a small mountain nearby. Initially it was rather distant but, as we watched, it came closer and closer to us. It was being mobbed by a peregrine. That is quite a big falcon, but it looked tiny compared to the eagle. Using my binoculars and images from my camera, I then confirmed it was a golden eagle. A lot of people had wanted to see it since the morning, and kept staring at it. A second eagle then appeared, and the pair soared nearby. I was not expecting to see an eagle at all, let alone a pair, let alone so close.

After spending around ten minutes near us, the eagles disappeared. The peregrine calmed down as well. As we walked up a track, we passed an orchid. 

I was not able to identify what it was immediately, but later confirmed it was a sawfly orchid. There was another one growing nearby, but it hadn't flowered at all yet. It was beautiful, but I felt it was dull compared to the mirror orchid I had seen at the beginning of April. After we had a walk, we returned to talk to one of us who had stayed behind to view the mountains with a stargazing telescope and had actually managed to get one of the eagles into the view. I wanted to show him the sawfly orchid, but on the way there I found another orchid, a different species

Yellow bee-orchid. After this immense surprise, with the eagles and added to by the orchids, we went to a higher viewpoint. I was hoping they would get a look at another bird of prey, like a Bonelli's eagle or griffon vulture, but we were ultimately out of luck after a nice walk. 

We then set out home, going down an even worse serpantine than before, and observing a booted eagle soaring at the base of the mountains. There was also a squirrel which ran straight at our car.