When I arrived at the Medina Lagoon this morning, it was almost 30 degrees. At 7 AM that was. We are having some of the hottest days of the year and the weather forecast for the next fortnight is not showing any big changes. Not surprisingly, there was not much water left in the lagoon.
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| Sunrise at around 7:20 AM |
I did not have high expectations when I arrived. I came here this morning mostly to compare the water level to the one of exactly one year earlier. You can find last year's report here. As you can see, even less water this year. Instead of 140 Flamingos only 5. There were more Flamingos on the nearby small lagoons though, but still the difference was huge.
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| Full moon shot hand-held, just when I arrived. |
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| 5 Black-winged Stilts alongside 5 Greater Flamingos |
One of the advantages, if not the only one, of this hot weather is that you don't run into many other people when you go birdwatching. I only saw three hikers and two brave bikers during the three hours I spent here this morning.
The species I saw and heard most were Goldfinch and Greenfinch.
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| Greenfinch |
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| Greenfinch |
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| Goldfinch |
I also spotted some different kinds of martins, swifts and swallows.
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| Red-rumped Swallow |
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| Red-rumped Swallow |
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| Two Red-rumped Swallows on the dry lagoon floor |
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| Sand Martin |
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| Sand Martin |
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| Part of the track as temperatures were rising |
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| Absolute dryness in this part of the lagoon |
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| A flock of Glossy Ibis |
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| Black Kite |
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| Black Kite |
In total I observed 24 different species, which was way more than I had expected, given the harsh circumstances in the middle of a hot Spanish summer. I hope it doesn't take the lagoon so long to fill as it did last year, but I am afraid it will.
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| Zitting Cisticola |
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| Juvenile Woodchat Shrike |
At around 10 AM it had already got unbearably hot so I decided to head back home.
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| Little ringed Plover adult |
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| Little ringed Plover juvenile |
