After a great couple of days walking in el Rocio we headed for the bright lights of Seville. Of course I didn't take the highway, I chose instead to weave our way in the general direction of Seville via the lanes and tracks which I know so well from many years visiting the area. We saw many great birds on the way, but just as we were about to leave the area, I spotted a night heron roost of about 150 birds. I knew that the ponds in this area often hold red-knobbed coot so I stopped and had a quick look over the first pond we came to. No coots of any description, but right in the middle of the pond a drake ferruginous duck. An excellent result!
Spurred on I stopped at the second pond. This time there were a few Eurasian coots but they were soon forgotten because in the reeds were at least seven marbled ducks! This was a real result. Marbled duck is a very rare species these days, and very difficult to find. Unfortunately they were well tucked into the vegetation and most were asleep, so with time pressing I watched them for 10 minutes before heading back to the car and we shot off for tapas and sangria in Seville. Like I said previously, there's more to life than birds and there are two ways to look at this. You could say that it was an opportunity missed because I didn't hang around for hours waiting for a better photo opportunity of a very rare species, but the alternative viewpoint is that this was never meant to be a birding holiday so to pick up marbled duck on the way was a remarkable achievement and I should be content with that. I prefer the latter way of thinking, it makes for a much easier and ultimately more satisfying life!
Ferruginous duck.
At the night heron roost.
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