Saltwater Lagoon Calpe (Las Salinas de Calpe) a good example of birding sites Spain

This area is located in the centre of the town of Calpe and as it is also close to the Parque Natural del Peñón de Ifach. So a visit of  these two places can be combined. Also it is only a short 35 minute car journey from Refugio Marnes to get to the saltwater lagoon.

Birding sites Spain; According to historians, this place has been used for salt making from Roman times, and continued right up to 1988. For many types of birds it is an important place. Not only providing a habitat for resident species, but also migrating birds and for those breeding. There have been 173 species of birds recorded here since 1987 and the two which stand out most are the populations of Flamingos (Phoenicopterus ruber) consisting of several hundred birds. And the second is the population of the Black-winged Stilt (Himantopus Himantopus). Both the flamingos and the stilts can be seen throughout the year.

Other interesting species that can be observed here include the Audouin’s Gull (Ichthyaetus audouinii), the Slender-billed Gull (Larus genei), the Squacco (Ardeola ralloides), the Night Heron (Nycticorax nycticorax), the Blue Rock Thrush (Monticola solitarius) and the Kentish Plover (Charadrius alexandrinus).

The saltwater lagoon has recently built several wooden walkways and therefore birds can be viewed from a reasonably short distance away.   The website www.naturalicante.com (in Spanish) holds the entire list of the 173 observed species. Look for further birding sites Spain on  the other pages on this website, we are trying to get the whole Valencian community covered, but we are still working on that. For a list of observed birds have a look here