Another smashing day with fantastic weather and some superb bird sightings. We went out at 7am in the dark and headed to Belen Plain. Unfortunately there were severe roadwork disruption with a diversion in the village and massive road repairs out on the plains. This only delayed us and did not prevent us having a tremendous time time as the sun began to rise.
Once the light had improved we began to find our target species, many Calandra Larks were singing alongside Thekla, Crested and Short-toed Larks. But it was the Great Bustard that caused a major reaction in the group, we saw at least four birds displaying, what a strange and unusual sight.
We then located a Little bustard, it was quite distant but showed well. The bird song all around was amazing all the larks were competing with Hoopoes, Corn Buntings, Stonechats and Starlings. A tawny Pipit was a nice find and many Griffon Vultures, Black Vultures, Black kites, Red Kites, Ravens, Cattle Egrets, White Storks and Montagu's Harriers began to fill the sky.
We eventually got back to Finca Santa Marta for breakfast just before 10am and it wasn't until 11am that we were back out on the road. The rest of the day was spent driving along the country lanes across the dehesa and open grasslands between Trujillo and Casares where we found an abundance of wildlife and some beautiful scenery. Everywhere we looked we could see a blaze of colour with thousands of spring flowers in full bloom. We found a flock of some 22 Pin-tailed Sandgrouse, a couple of Great Spotted Cuckoos, and hundreds of raptors.
We ate lunch at the Embalse Talavan where nearby we found the nest of a Golden Eagle, two birds were present and we were lucky enough to witness a nest change-over as one adult left whilst seconds later the other one appeared and settled on the nest. In and around the water we found a couple of good species worth mentioning: two Black Terns were feeding over the water a very unusual sighting for central Spain and a pair of Garganey fed close to the far shoreline.
Our search for Roller ended when we eventually found two of them sitting alongside one of the hundreds of nest boxes strapped to each powerline pole. We finally arrived back at the Finca at 6pm, it had been a long day but a very successful one, with 84 species on our day list we were all tired but well satisfied..
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| Common Cuckoo seen in the garden at Finca Santa Marta |
An evening walk after dinner produced only Scop's Owl and nightingale both heard not seen, no nightjars called at all despite perfect weather conditions.
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