BELEN PLAINS – LLANOS DE SANTA
MARTA – LLANOS DE CASARES – RIO ALMONTE – EMBALSE DE TALAVAN – OAK WOODS NEAR
TORREJON EL RUBIO
The Belen Plains are the best and
nearest place to watch both the species of Bustards performing their courtship
display and today do not disappoint. We arrived just as the sun came up and
despite large scale road works we navigated our way to a high point along the
track to view the huge grass plains. We immediately found an area where 5 male
Great Bustards were performing and as time went by about 15 females appeared.
It seemed that the females were inspecting each of the males to assess the
quality of the display and eventually hung around one particular male, but we
never saw any attempt at mating.
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| SOME OF THE GANG AT BELEN PLAIN |
In the meantime many Little
Bustards were performing their own routines, males were calling from the grass,
sounds is exactly like blowing a ‘raspberry’, when two males got too close to
one another they would fly up and chase each other around. We had a very
enjoyable hour seeing all this as well as many Larks, Hoopoe, storks and kites.
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| female Great Bustards |
We had to return to the Finca to
collect those that decided on a late breakfast before setting off for the day.
After shopping in Trujillo for lunch supplies we arrived at the Rio Santa
Malacca just west of the town at about 10:30am. The sum was well up and the air
was very warm, we saw a few species at the river such as, Common Kingfisher,
Common Sandpiper, Melodious Warbler, Spanish Sparrow and both Cetti’s Warbler
and Common Nightingale shouted from the bushes without showing.
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| more females gatheringi |
Our visit to the grass plains
just outside the village was disappointing as far as seeing Sandgrouse was
concerned, none were seen or heard, heat haze spoilt our viewing but we
saw more of both Bustard species and we
found a pair of Stone Curlew. We ate our picnic lunch at 12 sitting under oak
trees close by.
We spent an hour or so crossing
the LLANOS de Casares shopping to look at European Rollers sitting on wires,
poles and nest boxes provided for them. Common and Lesser Kestrels together
with Eurasian Jackdaws and Spotless Starlings also use the nest boxes. At the
beginning of the Casares track we stopped to six Montagu’s Harriers chasing one
another around, pairing off we assumed.
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| Silver-Studded Blue |
The bridge over the Rio Almonte
provided nesting sites for lots of hirundines and Swifts, especially Alpine
Swifts and it is a fantastic place to view this species at eye-level together
with Crag Martins, House Martins, Barn Swallow and Red-rumped Swallows, we had
a great time watching from the shade of the bridge. A short walk to view the
craggy slopes of the river produced Black Wheatear and several butterflies.
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| typical sight in Extremadura |
The Embalse at Talavan was also a
little disappointing, we were hoping to see the Golden Eagle at the nest site
but the nest seemed deserted with no sign of any chicks. Both Great Reed and
Reed Warblers were singing from the rushes and many White Storks sat on their
nests most of which had chicks on show.
Lastly we visited an area of oak
woodland to try to find a few woodland species, it was now 3pm and it was very
hot so progress was slow and bird life very quiet, we saw a couple of Woodchat
Shrikes, some Thekla Larks and Chaffinches but not much else. Half of the group
decided to call it a day so one minibus set off for an early finish whilst six
of remained for another hour. We didn’t see much more, an Egyptian Vulture was
nice and a Hawfinch appeared briefly as we pulled away it was generally very
quiet.
On the way back to the Finca we
saw a Red Kite, our first of the trip! Later, just after dinner we walked the
grounds of the Finca to look for nightjars and owls in the twilight. The
weather conditions were perfect but we only heard a couple of Scop’s Owls and
no nightjars called or showed so we went off to bed.
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