COTO DONANA & EXTREMADURA 8-DAY TOUR - DAY 6 - APRIL 15TH 2014

RIO MAGASCA - SANTA MARTA MAGASCA PLAINS – RIO ALMONTE – TALAVAN EMBALSE - TORRE EL RUBIO TRACK

 

ALL PHOTOS ON TODAY'S BLOG WERE TAKEN BY ELIZABETH ROTHWELL

 We had a superb day out exploring the area west of Trujillo and visiting the river valleys and open plains around Santa Marta and areas near to Casares. The weather was wonderful, clear blue sky with fluffy white clouds drifting by and a temperature in the lower 20’s.

 

only a few of these beauties were back on the breeding grounds - Roller

 

We set out at 9am after out buffet breakfast, we made a quick stop at the old bull ring on the edge of Trujillo to watch the Lesser Kestrels that nest in the roof-tiles, along the way we saw a Black-eared Wheatear which was new for our trip list.

After passing through Trujillo we took the old road towards Casares which is now virtually devoid of traffic because of the new motorway. An old bridge over the Rio Magasca is a favourite site of mine so we stopped for a short while. Both Cetti’s Warbler and Common Nightingale were singing from the scrub and soon we had a nice list of species. Eurasian Chiffchaff, Garden Warbler and Bonelli’s Warbler were feeding in the trees whilst Common Kingfisher, Common Sandpiper were seen along the river. Other species listed were Woodchat and Iberian Shrikes, Spanish Sparrow, Corn Bunting, Thekla Lark and lots of Black Kites.

Golden Eagle - sub-adult

Our next stop was for me the best of the day, we had superb light as we looked across an expanse of grassland with the sun behind us. We saw a male Little Bustard on the horizon and hundreds of Larks were singing or chasing one another across the fields. Calandra Larks showed very well then we heard the distinctive call of the Pin-tail Sandgrouse and to our great surprise a small flock of both Black-bellied and Pintail Sandgrouse flew directly over us. During the next 30 minutes we saw many more of both species and a couple of Pintail Sandgrouse landed fairly close to us.

 

Red Kite

To add to the excitement we found our first Great Bustard in the field right behind us. The bird list grew with the addition of another sought-after species was found as we drove off, a Great Spotted Cuckoo was sitting on the fence but flew off when we stopped to admire it.

Our next stop wasn’t as productive but we saw a few more species with great views of Black Vulture, Montagu’s Harrier and a few more Thekla Larks, we also saw Eurasian Hoopoe and European Bee-eater flying over.

We drove through the village of Santa Marta de Magasca making a brief stop at the river where we saw Little Ringed Plover, White Wagtail, Serin and a few more Spanish Sparrows. As we approached the plains near Casares we stopped to watch European Rollers and Lesser Kestrel both of which had chosen next boxes to make their nests in, a couple of male Montagu’s Harriers gave superb views as they performed very close to the bus.

 

Red-rumpled Swallow

 

Over the next hour we drove towards Casares across the plains and open cultivated fields viewing from the bus and making occasional stops. We never saw a great deal of species but added Whinchat, Red Kite and Northern Wheatear to our list.

At a large bridge over the river Almonte we stopped to eat our picnic lunch, the bridge attracted many birds most were swifts and hirundines. The swifts were Alpine Swift and it was fantastic to see at eye-level, they were joined by Crag Martins, House Martins, Barn and Red-rumpled Swallows it was truly a magnificent sight.

We searched the cocky slopes pf the rover for Black Wheatear and Blue Rock Thrush but found neither but we did find a superbly marked Golden Eagle as it drifted high over the river valley.

 After lunch we departed and headed for the embalse Talavan, which is a man-made reservoir which usually holds quite a few birds. Today it was fairly quiet but we found Gadwall, Great Crested Grebe, Mallard and we also had superb views of perched Black Kites and a small flock Red-rumpled Swallows. Many White Storks had nest built on platforms dotted around the water and hundreds of Spanish Sparrows had built their nests in beneath the Stork’s nests. As we left the area we stopped to look at a known nest site of the Golden Eagle, incredibly the nest sits only a few meters off the ground built in the fork of a large tree trunk. The adult bird could clearly be seen sitting on the nest, how extraordinary is that?

For our last hour of birding we visiting another Eagle’s nest near the town of Torrejon el Rubio, we turned off the main road and drove a few kilometres along a dirk track. The habitat was superb with open oak woodland and large cleared areas. We saw a few Northern Wheatears, Mistle Thrush, Azure-winged Magpies and we found our first Woodard. The a Eagle’s nest was unattended so we left it in peace, on the way back to the bus we found Long-tailed Tit and Subalpine Warbler.

We called it a day at that and drove back to our Finca passing through Trujillo along the way. It had been a superb day out, we had seen all the plain’s birds we had hoped for. Tomorrow we are heading for Montfrague National Park where raptors dominate the skyline.

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