A very narrow population of Dupont’s lark (Chersophilus duponti), seemingly the last remaining in the Valencian Community, breeds within the exclave of Rincón de Ademuz, merged between montane areas of La Mancha and Aragón. Guilem de los Santos, Darío Gijón and I have lately grown an interest to trace down this skittish species and get to know their only stronghold in our region. As we knew this phantom mostly sings well before dawn, we left Valencia on Saturday in the middle of the night only to find ourselves in El Mazarrón low shrubland plains in Castielfabib before 06:00.
The freezing wind was unforgiving as soon as we put the car blinds down. However, the songs of numerous lark species were even louder. Eurasian skylarks (Alauda arvensis) and Thekla’s larks (Galerida theklae) were very vocal in the dark. Even in the middle of the hubbub, we picked up some metallic, loud calls. The famous “ricotí” and “rocín” after which the Dupont’s lark is locally known. And to our surprise, we noticed such calls on the first car stop, and then again on a second, quick one. Are they more abundant than we first expected?
After a quick recording of a couple of distant birds, our high spirits encouraged us to drive forward. Unluckily, we bumped across two shepherd dogs which barked loudly as they followed our car for several hundred meters. The faintest of lights were just starting to lit up the sky, and by the time the dogs had calmed down, we failed to hear any “ricotí” ever again — or see, for that matter.
We discussed about how it was possible that all Dupont’s lark went MIA while thinking that we might had missed their calls even if we had made it just 10 minutes later. As we drove back and forth, trying our luck to bump into some lark to no avail, we enjoyed great views of some specialties of this montane scrub habitat, such as fine male northern wheatears (Oenanthe oenanthe), spectacled warbler (Curruca conspicillata), Dartford warbler (Curruca undata) and European stonechat (Saxicola rubicola).
We also connected with some raptors: several griffons (Gyps fulvus) flew over the plains despite the freezing wind and the early hour. So did a couple of golden eagles (Aquila chrysaetos) nearby. On a barren crop field with some sparse almond trees, an unexpected merlin (Falco columbarius) took off when the sun started to shine. Also noteworthy, we saw an Iberian green woodpecker (Picus sharpei) and several rock sparrows (Petronia petronia) mixed with house sparrows (Passer domesticus) in a fallen house.
Ademuz was a new spot for me and it proved picturesque and attractive even if winter did not seem to leave room for spring in its barren landscapes just yet. However, once we revisited our poor options to actually glimpse the Dupont’s lark, we set ourselves some other targets and spots to visit.
We visited the fields of Titaguas, where cereal crops feature a small but interesting steppe area. The green in the fields was mesmerizing, and indeed held several species. Besides a flock of rock sparrows and some crested larks (Galerida cristata), we enjoyed several migratory raptors such as short-toed snake-eagle (Circaetus gallicus), black kite (Milvus migrans) and a fine male Montagu’s harrier (Circus pygargus) which caught and fed on a snake in a vineyard next to us.
Further south, the gorges at Nevero de la Lácaba hold one of the extremely few nests of Egyptian vulture (Neophron percnopterus) in Valencian Community. The area allowed for some time catching up with numerous forest birds — short-toed treecreeper (Certhia brachydactyla), great spotted woodpecker (Dendrocopos major), long-tailed tit (Aegithalos caudatus), coal tit (Periparus ater), blue tit (Cyanistes caeruleus), firecrest (Regulus ignicapillus), serin (Serinus serinus) or rock bunting (Emberiza cia). A flyby hawfinch (Coccothraustes coccothraustes) was a welcome addition at the very end of a good season for the species.
We scoped through numerous nesting griffons to eventually find a nice Egyptian vulture guarding the entrance of its nest, while its partner seemingly sat on the nest, showing only the wing tips through a rock crevice. The local peregrine falcons (Falco peregrinus) engaged in chasing red-billed choughs (Pyrrhocorax pyrrhocorax). Additional raptors noted in the area included a sparrowhawk (Accipiter nisus), a kestrel (Falco tinnunculus), two snake-eagles and a booted eagle (Hieraaetus pennatus).
We soon realized that this expedition of ours, which started with a lark as a goal, was meant to end up with a focus on raptors. A large flock of almost 50 kites (a high number for our region) flew northwards, including mostly black kites and two red kites (Milvus milvus). Flying at a low altitude, kites seemed to cover the sky as they flew north. What a sight.
Our next stop involved some nice hiking next to Tuéjar river in Chelva, a formerly reliable spot for white-throated dipper (Cinclus cinclus) worth giving it a try. Though we did not find any dipper, we connected with some riverine birds including common kingfisher (Alcedo atthis), great cormorant (Phalacrocorax carbo), gray wagtail (Motacilla cinerea) and newcoming common nightingales (Luscinia megarhynchos), as well as gorge-dweller blue rock-thrush (Monticola solitarius) and singing black redstarts (Phoenicurus ochruros). On our way back, after finding two more hawfinches, we locate a small flock of siskins (Spinus spinus) feeding on a eucalyptus on the picnic area where we had lunch.
We devoted the afternoon to wetland birds in El Moro. Walking through the coast not only yielded shoreline species such as Audouin’s gulls (Ichthyaetus audouinii) or collared pratincoles (Glareola pratincola), but also an array of migrant passerines resting or foraging in the vegetation. Reed bunting (Emberiza schoeniclus), common redstart (Phoenicurus phoenicurus), western subalpine warblers (Curruca iberiae), western Bonelli’s warblers (Phylloscopus bonelli), willow warblers (Phylloscopus trochilus) and flocks of yellow wagtails (Motacilla flava) found shelter in the coastal vegetation in El Moro.
The tern colony featured my first common terns (Sterna hirundo) of the season, besides several Sandwich terns (Sterna sandvicensis) and whiskered terns (Chlidonias hybrida) and a flock of some 150 common redshanks (Tringa totanus). White-headed duck (Oxyura leucocephala), marbled duck (Marmaronetta angustirostris) and ferruginous ducks (Aythya nyroca) were nice additions, as so were several marsh-harriers (Circus aeruginosus), a new raptor species for the day.
Foraging in the reeds, some penduline-tits (Remiz pendulinus) collected material for their nest. Passing-by sedge warblers (Acrocephalus schoenobaenus) sang vividly along common reed warblers (Acrocephalus scirpaceus), moustached warblers (Acrocephalus melanopogon) and great reed warblers (Acrocephalus arundinaceus). It took more time to locate Savi’s warblers (Locustella luscinioides), but we eventually caught our eye on a confiding bird singing from an exposed perch on an inland lake.
The day ended with a pink-tinged sunset sky where we still pick some Alpine swifts (Tachymarptis melba), purple herons (Ardea purpurea), great egrets (Ardea alba) and night-herons (Nycticorax nycticorax). We called it a day while looking at dozens of glossy ibises (Plegadis falcinellus) gathering at their roost site.
We might have not seen the Dupont’s lark this time, but this only gives room to future experiences [EDIT: Darío kindly shared his phone-scoped picture of an obliging Dupont’s lark seen merely one month after around Zaragoza. I hope I will soon manage to get such awesome views of the species]. Moreover, we unexpectedly covered numerous habitats and stumbled upon many migratory birds. We checked out the day total figure — 125 different bird species including an astonishing 13 raptor species. These numbers showcase the bird diversity our region holds, especially now during prenuptial migration.
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