Posts about Alicante

Traveller swallows

Spring has arrived to Alicante and prenuptial migration is all around us. Besides a surprising Rüppell’s vulture in Alcoy, the lowlands provide nuptial displays of ducks and different migratory warblers and swallows.

Reedlings amid the reeds

The bearded reedling is an uncommon inhabitant of reedbeds in south Alicante wetlands. Skulky and skittish, we eventually enjoyed some views of a couple of this stunning species in El Hondo.

Frenzy at the harbour

Exceptional days in Santa Pola — four different Caspian gulls hit the regional record of the species. Kittiwake, razorbill, eider, dolphins and hundreds of shearwaters have also been noted in the area lately.

Bouldering butterfly

The mythical wallcreeper is Spain’s 2025 Bird of the Year. One has shown up for almost a month near a recreational area, giving us great views of this special bird close to home.

Operation 1000

What started as a joke ended up as a quest. Through living between Finland and Spain and travelling across Africa and Asia, I managed to find 1,000 bird species in 2024.

Winter birds in Aitana and Penyagolosa

Hiking paid off lately with montane winter specialties. Aitana provided goldcrest, ring ouzel, fieldfare, and redwing. Penyagolosa with friends resulted in white-winged snowfinch, citril finch, and alpine accentor.

Firecrest business

Firecrests are working hard to defend their territories during my morning walk in El Romeral urban park in Alcoy today. A female hawfinch returns to this wintering hub for the species.

DANA brought an eider home

Two common eiders showed up in south Alicante after the deadliest storm of the century casted over Valencia. Looking at the sea seems promising this incoming winter, with jaeger, gannets, and shearwaters seen too.

Yellow-browed warblers in Font Roja

A Siberian migrant next to home: Birdwatching rarely gets as exciting as this! Only the 4th record of the species in Font Roja, the only inland place in the region where the species has been recorded.

Veles e vents

A light-hearted chronicle and gallery of a stormy day in the rocky shore of Cabo Cervera. Audouin’s and Mediterranean gulls, ruddy turnstones, sanderling, and black-bellied plover seen at close range.

Enjoying the hobby on Global Big Day

An intense full day watching birds in Alicante delivers a great final count for our party of three. Different migrant birds seen include four different Eurasian hobbies, definitely the top species of the day.

Closing loops during fall migration

September brought the opportunity to look for long-awaited species: dotterel and northern bald ibis. Bee-eaters, wheatears, flycatchers, honey-buzzards, and whinchats showed up everywhere.

Inland wildlife in a dry spell

A long drought is especially evident by June. Rufous-tailed rock-thrush, tawny pipit, pin-tailed sandgrouse, stone martens, and Lataste’s vipers are some specialties found with friends and family.

Storm-petrels of Benidorm

I join the monitoring staff of the local wildlife rescue center for a day to ring and count chicks of Mediterranean storm-petrel in the caves of Benidorm Island, a breeding bulkward for this seabird.

Releasing threatened waterfowl

Amidst an avian botulism outbreak, several birds are released after recovering in the local wildlife rescue center. These include the common pochard and ferruginous duck, both locally and globally threatened.

Adrián Colino Barea

Local birdwatching
Birds of Spain
Birds of Finland
Western Palearctic
Afrotropical
Indomalayan

Adrián Colino Barea

Adrián Colino Barea

May 2025
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