COTO DONANA & EXTREMADURA 8-DAY TOUR - DAY 8 - APRIL 17TH 2014

TRANSFER FROM EXTREMADURA TO MALAGA WITH BIRDING STOPS AT:  BELEN PLAIN – LLANOS DE LIBAR –RONDA – SIERRA DE VIJAN NEAR TEBA.

Our last full day on tour was spent travelling from Trujillo to Malaga with birding before and during the trip. It was another glorious day filled with sunshine and a nice temperature, you couldn’t wish for better.

We met at 7:15am in the car park for our last birding in the area, a Scop’s Owl had been calling from the large tree just above the bus some 3 hours earlier. We drove the short distance to Belen Plain in 15 minutes arriving just as the sun was coming up over the distant mountains to the east. Larks were singing their little heart’s out and were joined by Corn Buntings, Hoopoes and Stonechats.

It took us a while to locate our target species the Great Bustard and to our delight we found a male displaying to four females. With his head held back and his feathers inverted to display a white mass of colour he strutted around the girls flapping his extended wings, it was an extraordinary sight, but none of the females seemed the slightest bit interested. We left him to it and wished him luck as we continues deeper into the plains.



GRIFFON VULTURES WITH THE DIMINUTIVE EGYPTIAN VULTURE

 

WHITE WAGTAIL seen in the courtyard of the Finca

We were hoping for a sighting of the Great Spotted Cuckoo as our first sighting had been brief, but we couldn't find one in the hour that we had. However, in superb light we saw many species, Calandra Larks, Skylarks, many Eurasian Hoopoe, Black Kites, Ravens, White Storks and lots of Thekla and Crested Larks and hundreds of Corn Buntings. One of our stops produced a host of Vultures sitting in the canopy of the a row of trees. There was a few Egyptian Vultures sitting with the Griffon, they looked tiny besides the Griffon and Black Kites looked even smaller. On the way back to the Finca we stopped to look at a male Whinchat, a Little Owl and anything that resembled a cuckoo.


After a nice breakfast we said our farewell to the staff at Finca Santa Marta and set off for the journey to Malaga. It took us 3 hours to reach the south side of Seville where we stopped for coffee and picnic supplies. We ate our picnic a little nearer to Ronda and then we drove to the beautiful mountains around Montejaque, an area close to my Spanish home and one that I know very well.

A small patch of Yellow Orchids was nice to find as was a sturdy-looking male Spanish Ibex which sat on the top of a mountain peak, it was well endowed with an impressive set of horns. We then drove into the 'hidden valley' of Llanos de Libar where we spent a hot hour looking for Bonelli's Eagles and other montane species. We did find Blue Rock Thrush, Black Redstart, Red-billed Chough, Black Wheatear, Rock Sparrow, Crag Martin, Booted and Short-toed Eagles and lots of Griffon Vultures but no Bonelli's.

our last supper at Finca Santa Marta - yours truly with his eyes shut, ha!

 

The group decided that they wanted to see the famous bridge in Ronda so I dropped them in town for a while before we set off for the final leg of the journey. But before we drove onto Malaga I had one final trick up my sleeve, it was another Bonelli's Eagle nest site. This time the birds were found as they circled near their mountain home, a wonderful sight and a great species to end the trip with.
 

We arrived at our hotel near Malaga Airport at 6pm in good time to get ready for our last supper which we all thoroughly enjoyed. A few beers help wash the dinner down before we completed our checklist.



Serapias orchid species

The total bird count was now an impressive 173 with another 3 or 4 that were seen and not heard. The week had flown by with everyone having a great time - I have to repeat this trip in 9 days time I hope that it will be as good as this one was!