June has been a busy month at work, leaving far less time for birding than during the previous months of this little challenge of mine. Even so, keeping up observing and reporting a different bird species every day proved to be a great excuse to get outside whenever I could. Most outings were necessarily short and local, but a handful of escapes added enough variety to keep the month surprisingly rewarding.
The highlight this June has been the time spent in El Hondo Natural Park looking for wetland birds — pictures of such outings illustrate this whole post. Local summer visitors including whiskered terns (Chlidonias hybrida), little terns (Sternula albifrons) and collared pratincoles (Glareola pratincola) put on a show while resident water rails (Rallus aquaticus) and slender-billed gulls (Chroicocephalus genei) had their fledglings discovering the wetland. The diversity of waders this June has been particularly high, with spotted redshanks (Tringa erythropus), common redshank (Tringa totanus), greenshank (Tringa nebularia), marsh sandpiper (Tringa stagnatilis) and even a couple of lesser yellowlegs (Tringa flavipes) I did not manage to relocate after seeing them last month. One wonders whether all these shanks — plus good numbers of black-tailed godwits (Limosa limosa) — have tried breeding and failed, and now head back to wintering grounds. In the meantime, while scoping through waders, the introduced common waxbills (Estrilda astrild) put on a show, offering the rare chance to shoot them in El Hondo.
Most days this month, however, involved watching birds between home and work. I spent a good deal of time in Elx, where the localized western olivaceous warbler (Iduna opaca) reared their offspring in the river vegetation within the city. Besides, I got acquainted with usual pallid swifts (Apus pallidus) and spotted flycatchers (Muscicapa striata), both breeding around my office building. Back in Alcoi, I managed to connect with crag martin (Ptyonoprogne rupestris), firecrest (Regulus ignicapillus), rock bunting (Emberiza cia) or blue tit (Cyanistes caeruleus) out in the field and Cetti’s warbler (Cettia cetti) or gray wagtail (Motacilla cinerea) within town. My best shots were late in the day, where conciliatorily short night outings offered barn owl (Tyto alba) and thick-knee (Burhinus oedicnemus) around Elx and scops owl (Tyto alba) plus an unexpected European nightjar (Caprimulgus europaeus) around Alcoi. Not too bad after all.
I also found some time to chase some targets and keep it spicy. Darío Gijón joined on a mandatory visit to Serra d’Aitana in summer, where we successfuly located one of the few territorial common rock thrush (Monticola saxatilis) males left. On top of that, we got point-blank views of breeding tawny pipits (Anthus campestris) -!: northern wheatears (Oenanthe oenanthe) and connected with western subalpine warblers (Curruca iberiae), western Orphean warbler (Curruca hortensis), spectacled warblers (Curruca conspicullata) and a much obliging Iberian chiffchaff (Phylloscopus ibericus) singing among numerous common chiffchaffs (Phylloscopus collybita) breeding in the forest.
Off on a different quest, Darío and I spent a couple of evenings around Villena. First, with Mario Marcos and his colleague Dunphy, enjoying some Mediterranean short-toed larks (Alaudala rufescens) at their typical spot and several peregrine falcons (Falco peregrinus) but failing our main target. On the second, just the two of us, while scoping among short-toed snake-eagles (Circaetus gallicus) and common buzzards (Buteo buteo), we located three smart Eleonora’s falcons (Falco eleonorae) catching flying beetles over a pine forest covering a mountain under the fainting sunset lights.
Darío and I also went on a short escape not related to birds — for a change! We drove to heatwave-barren Bilbao over a weekend for Zetak concert. While our city walks did not deliver any interesting birds, the drive across the Iberian Peninsula is always obliging. Although two massive plateaus covered in cereal crops occupy both Castilles, it is in the north, once one gets to Madrid and north beyond, that white storks (Ciconia ciconia), black kites (Milvus migrans), red kites (Milvus milvus), griffons (Gyps fulvus) and cinereous vultures (Aegypius monachus) become usual suspects. We even got great views of some Montagu’s harriers (Circus pygargus) crossing the road and making the long journey more interesting.
Here is the archive of the birds of the day for June 2026. Birds are reported in scientific, English and Valencian names (in the local variety of my hometown, as requested for the challenge), together with the location of each sighting.
- 1 June 2026: Common firecrest (Regulus ignicapilla) reiet safraner (PN Font Roja, Alacant)
- 2 June 2026: Long-tailed tit (Aegithalos caudatus) senyoreta (Sant Vicent del Raspeig, Alacant)
- 3 June 2026: Pied avocet (Recurvirostra avosetta) alena (PN Salines de Santa Pola, Alacant)
- 4 June 2026: Eurasian nightjar (Caprimulgus europaeus) enganyapastors (Alcoi, Alacant)
- 5 June 2026: Eurasian crag martin (Ptyonoprogne rupestris) pardet (PN Serra Mariola, Alacant)
- 6 June 2026: Common rock thrush (Monticola saxatilis) merla roquera (Serra Aitana, Alacant)
- 7 June 2026: Red-legged partridge (Alectoris rufa) perdiu (PN Serra Mariola, Alacant)
- 8 June 2026: Spotted flycatcher (Muscicapa striata) papamosques gris (Alcoi, Alacant)
- 9 June 2026: Eurasian blue tit (Cyanistes caeruleus) ferrerolet (PN Font Roja, Alacant)
- 10 June 2026: Black-tailed godwit (Limosa limosa) tètol cuanegre (PN El Fondó, Alacant)
- 11 June 2026: Common pochard (Aythya ferina) boix (PN El Fondó, Alacant)
- 12 June 2026: Pallid swift (Apus pallidus) falciot pàl·lid (Elx, Alacant)
- 13 June 2026: Marsh sandpiper (Tringa stagnatilis) siseta (PN El Fondó, Alacant)
- 14 June 2026: Eurasian blackcap (Sylvia atricapilla) cabet negret (PN Serra Mariola, Alacant)
- 15 June 2026: Eurasian scops owl (Otus scops) xot (PN Serra Mariola, Alacant)
- 16 June 2026: Western barn owl (Tyto alba) òbila (PN El Fondó, Alacant)
- 17 June 2026: Mediterranean short-toed lark (Alaudala rufescens) terrerola rogenca (Villena, Alacant)
- 18 June 2026: Common greenshank (Tringa nebularia) picarot (PN El Fondó, Alacant)
- 19 June 2026: Black kite (Milvus migrans) milà negre (Ariñiz, Gasteiz)
- 20 June 2026: Yellow-legged gull (Larus michahellis) gavinot de potes grogues (Getxo, Bizkaia)
- 21 June 2026: Cinereous vulture (Aegypius monachus) voltor negre (Torregalindo, Burgos)
- 22 June 2026: Eurasian stone-curlew (Burhinus oedicnemus) torlit (Elx, Alacant)
- 23 June 2026: Spotted redshank (Tringa erythropus) xuït (PN El Fondó, Alacant)
- 24 June 2026: Eleonora’s falcon (Falco eleonorae) falcó de la reina (Villena, Alacant)
- 25 June 2026: Western olivaceous warbler (Iduna opaca) bosqueta pàl·lida occidental (Elx, Alacant)
- 26 June 2026: Western house martin (Delichon urbicum) avionet (Alcoi, Alacant)
- 27 June 2026: Rock bunting (Emberiza cia) sit negre (PN Serra Mariola, Alacant)
- 28 June 2026: Barn swallow (Hirundo rustica) oroneta vulgar (PN Serra Mariola, Alacant)
- 29 June 2026: Gray wagtail (Motacilla cinerea) cueta torrentera (Alcoi, Alacant)
- 30 June 2026: Cetti’s warbler (Cettia cetti) rossinyol bord (Alcoi, Alacant)
