THE SPANISH GEM: A 300 BIRD SPECIES SPOT

The best birding spot in the whole Spain, this small National Park, one of the most endangered wetlands in the World, still hosts amazing populations of fauna. In fact, 82 bird species still breeds here every year, two more than in other remarkable wetlands such as Doñana National Park.

Located just 25 minutes from Almagro, this park is a very small part of the Guadiana river, a floodplain where freshwater & saltwater blends and set up an ecosystem unique inland the World.

Over 300 bird species has been identified into the park. Egrets, ducks, waders & warblers are well-represented: Glossy Ibis, Spoonbill, Greater Flamingo, Little Bittern, Black-Crowned Night Heron, several breeding colonies of Purple Heron, Squacco Heron, Great Egret, Common & Red-Crested Pochard, Gadwall, White-Headed Duck, Water Rail, Great-Reed Warbler, Savi’s & Moustached Warblers are common sights into the park, but this is also a great area for finding shorebirds such as Collared Pratincole, Ruff or Pied Avocet, or even steppe birds such as Little Bustard, Pin-Tailed Sandgrouse or the nocturnal Stone Curlew.

White Storks occurs in good numbers, and Black Storks are seen on migration. Other treats include Nightingale, Western Olivaceous Warbler, Bearded & Penduline Tit and Reed Bunting, the endemics Iberian Woodpecker and the Iberian Shrike. Hoopoe, Kingfisher, Tree Sparrow, Spanish Sparrow, Corn Bunting and Jackdaw are resident and very common species that can be found all year round, while Redstarts, Spotted & Pied Flycatchers, Garden & Subalpine Warblers, Willow, Melodious & Bonelli’s Warblers, or even the scarce Wryneck, can be seen when they turn up from or to Africa.

Magic winter in Tablas de Daimiel offers fantastic birding experiences with Bluethroat, Water Pipit and thousands of Common Cranes, birds that uses the park for overnight.

Marsh Harrier is the only raptor that breeds into the park, but in the surroundings you can find amazing populations of nesting Lesser Kestrels. Dead trees or utility poles are used by Ospreys as vantage points, a bird that can be a common sight on May & September. The Dehesa de Zacatena, open woodland space covered with ancient Holm Oaks located north of the wetland, is used as a game ground by Golden Eagle, and, sometimes, by the rare Spanish Imperial Eagle. Here breeds the nice and powerful Short-Toed Eagle, and the silhouette of the scarce Black-Winged Kite is a regular sighting all year round. The endemic Azure-Winged Magpie is also encountered in the beautiful Dehesa.

Around Las Tablas the traveler can pass across one of the most representative steppe areas of La Mancha region, the Guadiana Steppes, with very good chances for Quail, Turtle Dove, Great-Spotted Cuckoo, Roller, Bee-Eater, Great & Little Bustard, Pin-Tailed Sandgrouse, Spectacled Warbler and Little Owl. Scops, Long-Eared Owl and Eagle-Owl can be found in the Tamarisk trees of the area or in the Holm Oak forests around the Guadiana river, while the very rare Red-Footed Falcon has been watched regularly in April/May and September/October.

Very common mammals in the park are Wild Boar, Red Fox and the playful Otter, whose traces are visible in any of the routes inside the park. Other small mammals like Iberian Hare, Weasel, Polecat, Southern Water Vole, Badger and Egyptian Mongoose are occasionally sighted at dusk.

Deserves special mention the Navaseca Lagoon, a place that can be reached is just ten minutes from Las Tablas where birders may be surprised by one of the best ranges of waterbirds of Europe, including Ferruginous Duck, Purple Swamphen, Black-Neck Grebe and over 80 breeding pairs of White-Headed Duck.

Year 2011 was excellent in all senses, and three uniques bird species in Europe, White-Headed Duck, Marbled Teal & Red-Knobed Coot bred into the park.

Vicente Malagon. Revised 2019.

Interested in visiting Tablas de Daimiel National Park? Two options for visit this fantastic spot in Spain:

Tablas de Daimiel Nature Trips OR Tablas de Daimiel & Navaseca Lagoon Birding Trips.