Birding Extremadura central Spain.. 24th - 28th March 2016.


With Gary Waddington,  Adrian Zabukas and Seamus McManus aka Sean.
Click any image for larger view.

Two and a half  hours drive south west of Madrid airport lies the beautiful town of Trujillo. Charming and unspoilt by any modern architecture  the town sits neatly above the quiet countryside around it. The town is worthy of a visit if you are nearby, with a beautiful central square and a host of shops, restaurants and cultural points of interest to explore.
Staying only a few miles away at Las Canteras birdwatching centre, Trujillo was visible from our patio and  clearly seen glowing in the distance at night.

The journey from Liverpool to Madrid was straightforward. Landing at Madrid airport  and taxiing along the runway was interesting when a Marsh Harrier flew alongside the aircraft making it the first bird we spotted whilst on Spanish soil. Arranging a 4x4 vehicle for four grown men with cameras scopes and tripods was a slight ordeal though once we exited the airport. A Dacia Duster served us well and surprised us all by the end of the trip.Several birds of note were spotted as we drove from Madrid. Buzzard, Short toed Eagle and Kestrel were 3 raptors that we noted. Stopping at a greasy spoon cafe somewhere along the Spanish A5 for a quick bite and brew gave us chance to bird  some fields and a patch of water behind the cafe. Here we picked up Little Egret, Gadwall, Blackcap, Little Grebe ( a bird that I seem  to spot everywhere I visit ) Greenshank and Black winged stilt. Closer to our destination we spotted Black Kite, Whitethroat and Little Owl.
The open plains and valley's from Trujillo towards Monfraque national park was to be our patch for the next few days. We had a wish list of target birds to find and throughout our stay the weather was fine but also cool for two of the days of our stay.

Griffon Vulture

Around our guest house was a large number of nesting White storks, the garden of the Las Canteras held Hoopoe , Spotless Starling and lots and lots of Corn Buntings. The first full day was spent around the nearby area. We found a good area a couple of miles down the road where Gary picked up our first Great Bustard. We also found our only Great spotted Cuckoo pair close by.House Martins and Red rumped Swallows passed over . A small number of Azure winged magpies flew by but at distance, these birds seem very flighty compared with their cousins in England. The first of many Griffon Vultures was seen, Sandgrouse were heard in this area but identification was hard at distance and we needed to return later to catch up and identify them. Stonechat and Crested Lark perched along the fences. We drove through the flat open plains stopping and searching frequently picking up Linnet, Greenfinch and a cracking Woodchat Shrike along the way.

Woodchat Shrike

One of the gorgeous valley's where we stopped gave sightings of Crag Martins flying under the bridge that crossed a small river. At this stop we picked up a Sardinian warbler,  and a Terrapin basking on rocks near the waters edge. We had lunch at a roadside cafe where Gary picked up 3 Common Cranes that had should of migrated weeks earlier. After lunch we made our way towards Trujillo and the well known Bull ring where a colony of Lesser Kestrels bred. This was a highlight for me, the bull ring is a circular building obviously and we had to predict where the birds would appear from next. Sometimes they would chase each other quickly giving little chance of a decent Photograph but once or twice they would hang in the air momentarily.

Lesser Kestrel

We stayed awhile and grabbed some good results. We slowly headed back towards Las Canteras stopping now and then, Seamus picked up Stone Curlew at one of our Pit stops  and we chased Cetti's warbler for a short time close to our guest house. Whilst chasing this elusive warbler a large raptor glided from the right hand towards our accommodation on the left. Gary was quick with his scope and identified it as a Golden Eagle, it flew across the front of Las Canteras. We overshot our turning and headed towards the corner where we had seen the Great Bustard and Sandgrouse earlier. We drove on and stopped to scan around, a small group of 8 Little Bustards  flew in as the light faded and looked like settling to roost in the field full of long grass in front of us. I shot away with the camera as they circled around and landed in the grass for the night. As the light faded more I photographed Thekla lark and became a little more certain of  the difference between these and Crested Larks.

"Top of the World" Gary Seamus and Adrian.

The next day we headed towards Monfraque National Park . On our way we stopped and scanned along the Almante river  ticking off Green Sandpiper and Kingfisher as well as Robin, Dunnock and Mistle Thrush. Inside the National park we made our way towards Pena Falcon a well known spot that had nesting vultures. The place is a bit of a tourist attraction but the views are stunning and the vultures do not dissapoint. The rock face of Pena Falcon juts high from the lake below and is a stunning place to photograph and watch birds. Vultures nest in the crags and cracks along with Black Storks whilst Ravens soar over . At this area the Griffon Vultures are plentiful with Egyptian vultures also, if you scan the soaring flocks.

Egyptian Vulture

On the rocks below the view point we had cracking Black Redstarts Rock Bunting and Blue rock Thrush.This is a great place to visit and worth a good looking at. We had a tip off that Spanish Imperial Eagle maybe nesting a half hour drive away so off we went. The site we had been given was not unlike Monfraque, a sheer rock face towering high from the lake below and a viewing area on opposite side. The vultures soared around but after a few minutes another bird came from our right hand side, a large raptor but with obvious white landing lights across the fore wings glided across the rock face in front of us. A full adult Spanish Imperial Eagle giving superb views and we had only been at the site a few minutes. The previous day we had been told about a man who had photographed a Spanish Imperial Eagle taking a vulture chick from one of the nests but we had not taken this too seriously . Whilst we waited for more views of this stunning bird a Spanish guy showed Gary and myself a photo he had taken on his mobile of this event happening... from the rear screen on the back of someone else's camera. Tenuous I  know but still it was evidence of the fact.

Spanish Imperial Eagle

We had more sightings of this cracking Eagle before moving on to the chapel and castle above Monfraque. A tight and steep climb that will take you 30-40 minutes and tighten your leg muscles. Once at the top the views are stunning and the climb is then worthwhile. One thing that is worth noting is that the Vultures that we viewed from below at Pena Falcon we could now view from above at the castle. We had clear views for miles around and a full panoramic view of the whole area, if the weather had been wet and damp we would of been in the clouds. The walk down was a breeze and we set off to go birding around a nuclear reactor at Arrocampo...  birding takes you everywhere !

Great Bustards

Arrocampo Reservoir is a good site though we only spent a couple of hours here, a marshland with good areas all around. They have bird hides here but when we arrived they were locked. Looking around we soon had Spoonbill and Great white egret and Great crested grebes . Savi's warbler sang from the reeds and Purple herons flew over the ponds. Little Bittern showed and Purple Swamphens were not shy. We walked around and searched around finding some decent birds including  Stonechats, Cattle Egrets and Black shouldered Kite. A large reservoir cools the nuclear reactor here and it good for fishing and birdlife i believe though we didn't see much whilst we looked around from the banking,but this was still a good area. One thing that I did notice was the warmth that came from this large body of water. A few yards away from the waters edge was normal but at the the waters edge the temperature increased by several degrees.....how much cooling does a reactor use ? I was surprised at the difference !

Red Rumped Swallow

Our last day started well, we had great views of several Little Bustards mostly males chasing each other around and occasionally ruffling up their neck feathers in display mode. We listened to the raspberry call note that these birds make and admired their mating ritual even if it was from a distance. We stopped at where we had seen the male Montague's Harrier previously and as we stopped one flew from a fence post away from us. Checking the open fields in the area we picked up a female quartering the area . We also had a good views of Short toed snake Eagle perched high on a pylon.Another quality sighting.

Short Toed Eagle
We moved towards Trujillo for lunch but picked up Calandra Lark on the way as well as a good group of Pin tailed Sandgrouse around 30 in total and Black Kites gathering nesting material. Lunch in Trujillo brought an end to our birding in Extremadura and we soon headed for the motorway towards Madrid. We had bagged all our target birds except for Bonelli's Eagle. It was a superb place to visit and a place i will visit again sooner rather than later, but next time I will stay longer.