Tuesday 10 May 2011

Spanish Birding – Night Heron – 10th May 2011

I’ve only ever seen these birds in mixed heron flocks moving through in the autumn, so when we found six or seven on the rivers edge as we drove down to the Jose Antonio Valverde (JAV) visitor’s centre in Donana it was a real find for me.

Once at the centre there were several more roosted in trees, some being 1st summer’s largely brown birds.  Later on our visit other birds cropped up on odd stretches of water and river banks in Donana and else where in Andalucia.

East Anglia Year Count: 133
Life bird count: 403. Year bird count: 203. Month bird count: 153
Photo:  Black-crowned Night-Heron (Nycticorax nycticorax)