I had the privilege to be invited to enter the vast area of the Saltpans in El Puerto de Santa Maria, to which access is normally prohibited. We spent four hours driving on narrow tracks counting all the birds that were present between 4 and 8 PM. There were thousands of birds, mostly Flamingos, Mallards and Gulls, but we also observed many waders and a few birds of prey like Marsh Harrier and Osprey.
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| In total we saw a whopping total of five Ospreys! |
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| Osprey flying over a mountain of salt |
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| Osprey overlooking the area from a wooden post |
It would have been impossible to take these photos being out on foot. Not only because of the mere distance you'd have to cover, but also because most birds would fly off as soon as they noticed any human presence. The car served as a huge hide and the birds allowed us to get relatively close.
The Osprey must be one of my favourite birds of prey. That fierce look with their bright yellow eyes, their powerful claws, their funny little crest, their gracious flight and their skilful talent to catch fish, just fabulous birds!
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| Oops, sorry to catch you in this intimate moment |
You would expect the Ospreys to be the rulers in this area, but there is a fearless species that doesn't want to respect this hierarchy: Gulls, which will even tackle a bigger and stronger Osprey in an attempt to steal a bit of food.
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| Yellow-legged Gull in flight |
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| On the lookout for something interesting happing around from a strategic point |
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| Even though Ospreys are bigger and stronger … |
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| … the Gulls are fearless whenever they see an opportunity to steal something edible. |
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| The other species of bird of prey we saw: Marsh Harrier |
We observed around thirty different species during our visit, some of which are documented in the photographs below:
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| Black-necked Grebe |
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| Part of a large flock of Stone Curlew |
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| Common Redshank |
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| Not a frozen surface of ice on the North Pole, but a shallow saltpan in the south of Spain! |
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| Sandwich Tern |
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| Little Egret |
A different but highly interesting safari in an unusual location, close to the publicly accessible saltpans of Cetina.
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| Final image of the protagonist of the afternoon, the sublime Osprey |
Happy birding!
Henry.
