Salina salt pans: January 24th 2016

A new site and three new species

A report this morning of a Cattle Egret at Salina salt pans prompted me to hop on a bus and explore the area for the first time. Just 10 minutes from where I am based in St.Paul's Bay, the salt pans are overlooked by multi-story buildings on the outskirts of Qawra.

Salina salt pans looking east.

Some of the pans held water and it didn't take long to find the Cattle Egret. After a few minutes it flew off west, hopefully leaving Malta safely (or possibly just heading off to feed in the nearby fields). I have not yet seen the much more common Little Egret in Malta.

Cattle Egret Bubulcus ibis. January 2016.

A Shelduck feeding in one of the deeper pans was a nice addition. A few have been reported over the last two weeks from both of the reserves and passing offshore.

Common Shelduck Tadorna tadorna. January 2016

The westernmost pan had three Little Stint and one of three Common Sandpiper picking through the mud between rusty cans and semi-submerged plastic bags. 

Little Stint Calidris minuta. January 2016

Common Sandpiper Actitis hypoleucos. January 2016

Alongside the usual White Wagtails and Spanish Sparrows other birds of note included a large mixed flock of 470 Black-headed Gulls and 20 Mediterranean Gulls with a couple of Yellow-legged Gulls passing over. A scope would have been useful to scan the distant flock.

The end of the pans looking towards Qawra Point