Tweeters-Digest has been a great way to keep up what's happening in the
Pacific Northwest this year while I've been on sabbatical in Scotland.
Breaking with my lurker status, I'll describe here my family's recent
birding vacation in Spain.

I've never been one to go places to see new birds, but I've always found
finding new birds when I go new places very interesting and enjoyable.
Breaking out of this pattern, we (my daughter Meg, my wife Kathy, and
myself) recently took a package 6-day birding holiday in southern Spain.
(The so-called Spring weather here in Edinburgh was getting a bit old.)

First, some non-birding notes: The first three days were based around
Grenada in south central Spain, just north of the highest mountain range of
the country, the Sierra Nevada. We stayed in the town of Guadix, a small but
ancient town with amazing neighborhoods of cave-houses carved out of the
clay soil, with whitewashed front walls and chimneys poking out of the
hillside behind. We actually stayed in a cave motel (but one with all the
modern conveniences). We spent a day walking and birding in the Sierra
Nevada, and a half day seeing a bit of Grenada including the amazing
Alhambra moorish fortress and palace. The last few days we moved over to the
west of Seville, where we stayed in the unique town of El Rocio. This town
is the site of an annual enormous religious pilgrimage that draws a million
or so pilgrims, with many arriving by horse or horse drawn carts.
Consequently, the entire town has sand streets and hitching rails. As it
wasn't the time of this festival, the town was nearly deserted: it has a
year-round population of ~3,000. The town abuts the Donana national park,
where the Rio Guadalquivir meets the ocean. Some of you may have heard about
the near disaster a few years ago when a mining pond broke and the waste was
stopped only just before reaching the park. Donana is a seasonal swamp, with
huge flooded areas in winter and spring, but dry as a bone in the summer.
One of the high points of our park visit was a mammal sighting: an Iberian
lynx! Last we visited the town of Arcos de la Frontera, a beautiful 'white
town' (for the uniform color of the whitewashed buildings) with a
spectacular castle and church perched high on a hilltop.

We were in Spain from April 15-22. We were there a few weeks early for some
of the bird specialties, but it was still a terrific trip and I'd recommend
it. You can see the web site at www.birdingandalusia.com, if you're
interested. (My only association with the outfit is as a very satisfied
customer; I thought it was a terrific experience, both from birding and from
cultural aspects, and at a very reasonable price. I'd be glad to share
additional details of our experience; e-mail me if you are interested.)

Here's a list of the birds we saw on the trip. Of these, about 75 were
lifers for me, as I've had very little previous birding experience before
this.
Little Grebe
Black-necked (Eared) Grebe
Great crested Grebe
Little Bittern
(Black-crowned) Night Heron
Squacco Heron
Cattle Egret
Great Egret
Grey Heron
Purple Heron
White Stork
Glossy Ibis
Spoonbill
(Greater) Flamingo
Gadwall
Mallard
Shoveler
Garganey
MARBLED TEAL
Red-crested Pochard
(Common) Pochard
Griffon Vulture
Booted Eagle
Kestrel
Lesser Kestrel
Red Kite
Black Kite
Marsh Harrier
Hen (Northern) Harrier
Common Buzzard
Black Tern
GULL-BILLED TERN
WHISKERED TERN
Red-legged Partridge
(Common) Quail
Moorhen
Coot
RED-KNOBBED COOT
Purple Gallinule
(Pied) Avocet
Black-winged Stilt
STONE-CURLEW
COLLARED PRATINCOLE
Ringed Plover
KENTISH PLOVER
Lapwing
Sanderling
Turnstone
Dunlin
Curlew Sandpiper
Little Stint
Ruff
Green Sandpiper
Redshank
Marsh Sandpiper
Black-tailed Godwit
(Eurasian) Curlew
Whimbrel
Black-headed Gull
Lesser Black-backed Gull
Black-bellied Sandgrouse
Rock Dove
Stock Dove
Wood Pigeon
Collared Dove
GREAT-SPOTTED CUCKOO
Little Owl
Scop's Owl (voice)
Common Swift
Hoopoe
Bee-eater
Green Woodpecker
Skylark
DUPONTS LARK
Crested Lark
THEKLA LARK
CALANDRA LARK
Short-toed Lark
Woodlark (heard)
Sand martin (Bank Swallow)
Crag Martin
Barn Swallow
RED-RUMPED SWALLOW
House Martin
Water Pipit
White Wagtail
Yellow Wagtail
Grey Wagtail
Wren
Dipper
Dunnock
ALPINE ACCENTOR
Robin
Nightingale
SPECTACLED WARBLER
Black Redstart
Northern Wheatear
BLACK-EARED WHEATEAR
BLACK WHEATEAR
Stonechat
BLUE ROCK THRUSH
Blackbird
Blackcap
SARDINIAN WARBLER
SPECTACLED WARBLER
SUB-ALPINE WARBLER
Dartford Warbler
Cetti's Warbler
ZITTING CISTICOLA
Great Reed Warbler
BONELLIS WARBLER
Great Tit
Coal Tit
Blue Tit
Short-toed Treecreeper (heard)
Woodchat Shrike
AZURE-WINGED MAGPIE
Magpie
Jay
Jackdaw
Alpine Chough
Carrion Crow
Raven
SPOTLESS STARLING
House Sparrow
SPANISH SPARROW
Chaffinch
Linnet
Goldfinch
Serin
Common Crossbill
Corn Bunting
Rock Bunting