Day
1: Sunday 18 March
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| Red Kite Milano Real Milvus milvus |
Up very early having already packed last night and
met by Steve and Elena Powell to drive to Lucena to join up with Derek and Barbara
Etherton for breakfast at the motorway Service Station. No sooner in the car than the rain started
and absolutely through it down for the first art of the journey but we still
saw saturated Buzzards sitting on top of the pylons along with Wood Pigeons as we made our way
north. Once refreshed it was onwards and
upwards to Extremadura via Cordoba and much rain during the journey. Approaching Cordoba we added the expected Black
and Red Kites along with Wood Pigeon, Collared Dove, Spotless Starling and
White Stork. Plenty of Corn Buntings and
Crested Larks about and working our way to the north of the province we also
added Little Owl, Crow and Hoopoe. A
couple of distant Griffon Vultures added to the variety of species followed by Azure-winged
Magpie, Cattle Egret, Blackbird and Kestrel. Derek and Barbara managed to see both Great
Spotted Cuckoo and a Sparrowhawk whilst we all noticed the eight or nine Cranes sheltering
at the back of a roadside field.
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| Little Owl Mochuelo Comun Athene noctua |
A Barn Swallow as we crossed the river and then we
were in Extremadura and ready to meet the challenge of the steppes. Almost immediately Goldfinch, Greenfinch and
Red Kite before another distant Griffon Vulture and many roadside Crested Larks
and House Sparrows. However, before long
we saw our first very large flock of Spanish Sparrows and then numerous
sightings of the local White Storks. Both
Serin and a pair of Mallard were recorded along with a Black-winged Stilt in
one of the numerous ponds on the very many flooded fields along with a single Lesser
Black-backed Gull.
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| At home wit the White Storks Ciguena Blanca Ciconia ciconia |
No sooner had a trio of Pin-tailed Sandgrouse
crossed the road in front of us than seven Great Bustards took to the air in
the opposite direction. By now we were
seeing regular sightings of Calandra Lark and then a score or more Golden Plover
in the field to our left. Then followed
Corn Buntings and Raven and even a single, soaring, singing Sky Lark before the
first of many Hoopoe sightings and a couple of Meadow Pipits.
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| Meadow Pipit Bisbita Pratense Anthus pratensis |
Turning off road onto a track across the steppes it was not so much the Meadow Pipit, Hoopoe or many Magpies but the lone, presumably just-arrived, Subalpine Warbler that took pride of place. A short distance on we added first an Iberian Grey Shrike and then a rather lovely Little Owl. Just across the track a first Northern Wheatear then a male Stonechat and a posing Red-legged Partridge.
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| Northern Wheatear Collalba Gris Oenanthe oenanthe |
We were soon stopped by
the raging river across the normally shallow ford and no way we were
going to attempt a crossing, albeit Elena did venture in a couple of
metres in her "wellies" and then thought better of the exercise!
Whilst here we had our first sight of a Golden Eagle that took to the skies at the most inconvenient time of a comfort break behind the bushes but did reappear for the benefit of others on the other side of the track along with a Short-toed Eagle! A Curlew was heard calling then it was back to the main road.
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| Egyptian Goose Ganse de Nilo Alopochen aegyptiaca |
Not long along the road and we stopped to look at a small pool holding a pair of Mallard to discover feeding Barn Swallows above the water and a resting Egyptian Goose at the side. It was shortly after that Steve noticed the small flock of thirteen Great Bustards and we managed to get a few quick shots as the birds took to the air and as they returned we noticed that they had managed to pick up an extra individual.
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| First sightings of the resident Great Bustards Avutarda Comun Otis tarda |
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