• Welcome to BirdForum, the internet's largest birding community with thousands of members from all over the world. The forums are dedicated to wild birds, birding, binoculars and equipment and all that goes with it.

    Please register for an account to take part in the discussions in the forum, post your pictures in the gallery and more.
ZEISS DTI thermal imaging cameras. For more discoveries at night, and during the day.

North & Central Spain - April 2017 (1 Viewer)

foresttwitcher

Virtually unknown member
United Kingdom
Having missed out on some new species on my last couple of trips to Andalucia, I decided on a spring tour of Northern and Central Spain targeting mainly steppe birds. So over the festive period, in order to try to help me ignore it as much as possible, and with some advice on timing sought on the forum, pretty soon a plan was hatched.

Thinking of a week initially, I got a better deal on flight prices with Ryan Air by going for a little longer. [I know, the additional hire car and hotel costs will more than outweigh the savings made on the cheaper flight but my poor brain does not think like this when on the flight booking sites. And it results in more time for birding.] Soon airport parking was booked and a hire car arranged through Rentalcars. After locating potential sites to visit in 'Where to Watch Birds - Northern & Eastern Spain' (Rebane & Garcia) cheap hotels were booked in nearby towns through Trivago.

Wednesday 19th April:

A mid-afternoon flight from Stanstead got me in to Zaragoza late afternoon, with airport birds being a hovering Kestrel & a Magpie seen whilst taxiing plus Feral Pigeon & House Sparrow around the terminal buildings.

On the drive to Fuentes de Ebro I soon added White Stork, seen nesting on many of the pylons & buildings, Black Kite alongside the road and Wood Pigeon & Collared Dove on roadside wires.

After finding the (strangely deserted) hotel, booking in and dropping off my bag it was a fine warm evening with still a bit of daylight left so I headed off to Los Galachos del Ebro. Parking near the Finca de la Alfranca I walked the track and boardwalk towards the nearest oxbow lake: kicking off nicely with a very close Nightingale singing from the top of a path-side dead tree and a flock of half a dozen Bee-eater overhead; Blue Tit, Chaffinch, Goldfinch, Greenfinch & Serin were all seen and heard in the scrub / trees; the lake from the hide was a bit quiet but held one each of Grey Heron & Moorhen with a pair of Mallard, Barn Swallow & Marsh Harrier over and a Cetti's Warbler yelling out of the reeds; following a track through the adjacent fields added Crested Lark, Blackbird & Corn Bunting. The walk back to the car as dusk fell featured many of the above plus large numbers of White Stork over heading South.
 
Thursday 20th April:

Early start and I arrived at the track to El Planeron just after first light but before sunrise. Despite driving really slowly and constantly scanning, at the first suitable habitat I flushed a flock of Black-bellied Sandgrouse from right by the track. I stopped at the first suggested point and there was a cacophony of lark song but being unfamiliar with most I was not able to nail any down and none of the singers were showing. As things began to quieten down a bit I had not heard my main target so carried on slowly along the track, stopping from time to time, until reaching a small parking area at the start of a walking route. I felt like a break from being in the car so set of along the path and within minutes had identified both Greater & Lesser Short-toed, Thekla and Calandra Larks and also flushed a small flock of Pin-tailed Sandgrouse with some brief but diagnostic flight views of my first lifer of the trip. The walk also added both Western Black-eared & Northern Wheatear.

Back to the car and I resumed the crawl along the track with windows down listening and looking out for anything. On reaching a point where the track petered out into a cultivated field I turned round and retraced the route. About half-way back to the trail car park something must have caught my eye as I stopped and almost straightaway heard a new lark song and there, perched up on a small tussock about 10 from the track edge was a Dupont's Lark! It moved around and sang from various positions for a while and I even got the scope onto it before it disappeared and went quiet. The return along the track back to the road was uneventful apart from a couple of Red-legged Partridge.

I then drove the surfaced roads north of Belchite stopping where possible for a scan and adding the common roadside species plus Griffon Vulture, Black Kite, Lesser Kestrels and a single Hen Harrier overhead plus Rook, Carrion Crow and Raven.

In the afternoon I parked at La Lomaza and walked one of the paths. It was a bit hot by then but I still picked up Whinchat, Stonechat and a small flock of Spotless Starling. I didn't walk to the end because of the heat and after retracing my steps was about to leave the car park when I stopped to get the bins on what turned out to be a Linnet and then heard and had reasonable views of another Dupont's.

I then went back across the steppes to the car park north of the El Planeron track and did the short walk; the highlight being a Golden Eagle over plus what looked like convincing Rock Doves about.

It was such a lovely evening I did not want to stop so using information downloaded from the birding spain website, I drove to Quinto do Ebro and took the track towards the river. At first heading north it was not easy to get a view of the river due to the trees and vegetation and at the few points where you could gain access to the bank you tended to appear all of a sudden at the edge and hence flush anything on the near-side, as I did to a couple of Purple Heron but I did get a nice view of a Kingfisher in flight and Black-headed Gulls patrolling up and down the river. On the adjoining farmland there were the usual common finches, House Sparrow and Corn Bunting plus Zitting Cisticola, Bee-eater, Swallow and House & Sand Martin overhead and a nice male Pied Flycatcher in the track-side trees.

Following the track back and turning west at the junction you come to a place where you can drive down to a short causeway across the end of a forming oxbow and park up with easy access to the river on a meander. With Reed & Great Reed Warblers joining Nightingales and Cetti's Warblers as an accompaniment the tall trees hosted one each of singing Chiffchaff and Willow Warbler. On the far bank a couple of Little Egret, one Great White Egret and a number of Grey Heron stalked on the waters edge; in the main stream a few Mallard and Moorhen paddled about; and on a large gravel spit close by - a couple of White Wagtail, a number of Black-winged Stilt, a few Common Sandpiper and two each of Redshank and Green Sandpiper. What a spot and what a great day.
 
Yes, I had assumed my extra days may have had to be used up on finding one but two seen well on the first day was a definite bonus.
 
Yes, I had assumed my extra days may have had to be used up on finding one but two seen well on the first day was a definite bonus.

It was a gamble, for me, not going to El Planeron but I wanted to find a 'new' site for Duponts. I don't know why the tips I had didn't pay off! It rained at the wrong time - doubtful, I didn't spend enough time there - more likely.

I went to Lomaza with my father and also had a calling bird about 5 or 6 years ago. He remembered it from a visit round about 1990 but in between times the road has been developed and traffic use, lorries in particular, increased. It felt quite funny as a bird 'reserve' where El Planeron felt 'right'. The evening we arrived we spent a fair bit of time at El Planeron but didn't hear any anything and father was sceptical. After our morning visit to Lomaza we picked up, probably, 3 birds at El Planeron.

Hope the rest of the trip was as successful...
 
Thanks guys. Sorry for the delay in further posts but I have been (said with typical British understatement) 'a bit under the weather' this week.

Friday 21st April:

Headed for Los Monegros today in more fine weather seeing what were proving to be the usual common / roadside birds en route. Started in the west along the back roads linking Osera / Monegrillo / Farlete / La Almolda. Calandra, Short-toed & Crested Larks plus Zitting Cisticola singing and soon Black Kite, Common Buzzard & Griffon Vultures overhead and the first Iberian Grey Shrike of the trip on roadside wires. I then moved on to the east doing the circuit Candasnos / Ontinena / Alcolea de Cinca / Ballobar. The car I had was of very limited ground clearance so I was restricted mainly to the paved roads but did take a couple of gravel tracks as far as I could which added a nice male Spectacled Warbler in a small track-side bush, a pair of Red-legged Partridge on the track and a Marsh Harrier quartering over some crop fields.

The highlight of the morning was the impressive sandstone cliffs right by the road at Chalamera. Well worth a stop along here as the many ledges and holes hosted a variety of birds in some numbers: House Sparrow & Spotless Starlings commuting from the farmland opposite to the lower levels; Rock Doves & Jackdaw higher up; and Crag Martin & Red-billed Chough near the top. There were also Barn Swallow, House Martin, Swift and a few Alpine Swift overhead.

After refueling at Bujaraloz I headed south but found the salinas visible from the road to be dry and the tracks leading to the others too rough for the car. But a slow drive along the road provided a mid-distance fly-by flock of Black-bellied Sandgrouse, Bee-eater, Hoopoe, Lesser Kestrel and both Northern & Black-eared Wheatear.

At the Ebro crossing between Sastago and Alforque the trees held the expected finch species and both White & iberiae Yellow Wagtail down by the water.

Late afternoon I returned to the Belchite area and again drove the El Planeron track but it was noticeably quieter than yesterday. Back on the road and heading north I saw a slight movement of what seemed to be a reasonably large, upright bird on the near verge and stopped rapidly to see a Stone-curlew rush out of the short vegetation, stumble and fall flat on its beak on the carriageway. It quickly picked itself up, took a couple more steps and took off to fly over the field on the other side - I'm sure it managed to look embarrassed!

Having found such a nice spot yesterday I returned to the meander of river at Quinto de Ebro for a pre-dusk alfresco meal. Many of the same species where there again but the quiet back-water held a Little Grebe, a lone Cormorant sat on the spit, a couple of Coot fertled in the edges, 3 Little Ringed Plovers joined the other waders in the shallows and Sand Martins swooped near the surface - all the the sound of Nightingales & Cetti's Warblers on a warm sunny evening. It's not such a bad pass-time!
 
Last edited:
Saturday 22nd April:

Moving day today so after a quick pack set off early for a fairly long trip southward with a planned stop off at Laguna de Gallocanta on the way. The quiet roads resulted in a nice morning drive with birds of note being Black Kite, Griffon Vulture, Kestrel and a brief strop for a reasonably low Booted Eagle. I arrived at the (still closed) information centre between Bello and Tomos to find the lake to be apparently completely dry; I realised it was seasonal but had expected to see some significant amount of water at what I thought was still early season - I guess it had been a dry winter in the area.

I gathered enough information from the sign boards to realise there is a drive-able track loop around the laguna leading to various hides and view-points, so set off anticlockwise. The first thing I noticed on parking by the short walking route to the first hide at the eastern end was the amount of Skylark song. From the raised hide this end of the lagoon indeed proved to be dry and fairly bird-less but a bit of movement prompted me to set up the scope and a scan showed up a small number of Lapwing. Continuing to scan I picked up first one then two very distant and heat-haze affected flying Little Bustard heading to the opposite end of the laguna - one of my main targets so I had hoped for better views but thought there may be a possibility of picking them up when I made my way round to that side of the laguna.

I carried on round the track to the sound of the usual larks, with Stonechat, Bee-eater, Hoopoe & Iberian Grey Shrike also seen. From the hide at the end of the boardwalk at the new visitor facility at Gallocanta I could see a small area of water at the northern point and, although distant, it appeared to hold a few Egret & a couple of pairs of Shelduck. There were other smaller things as well and I could see another hide that appeared closer to the water. On resuming the circuit the trees just outside the village held Linnet, Goldfinch, Greenfinch, Serin, Corn Bunting, plus heard only Turtle Dove, Cuckoo & Golden Oriole. Just beyond, the track crossed a small bridge over a reed filled ditch that hosted a load of House Sparrows that on closer inspection included a couple of Tree Sparrow & at least one nice Rock Sparrow by a near-by partially ruined building.

The hide at the end of the laguna was a bit frustrating as it was obviously closer to the remaining bit of water but the views were obscured by reeds. The next hide round, on top of a crag by a church (complete with Spotless Starlings & Lesser Kestrel), did offer views of the water but was again very distant so the few smaller waders remained unidentified; partially due to distance and heat haze but also by the fact that by this time the mount between my scope and tripod had become cross-threaded so was held together by some very inadequate electricians tape! The remaining hide on the south side is another raised one and a scan of the dry laguna did not produce much at all but a quick look at the shore-line farm-land gave mid-distance but slightly hazy scope views of two displaying male Great Bustard each with an attendant female not showing too much interest in their efforts. The continuing route took me a little closer but the lie of the land managed to conceal even birds of this size. The remainder of the route added both Northern & Black-eared Wheatear, Zitting Cisticola, Raven and quite a large number of 'Spanish' Yellow Wagtail.

After a quick look at the information centre and a bite to eat I set of south again for a few hours on the road and after a bit of a fight with the only traffic I had really seen so far, on the route past Madrid, I checked in at my base for the next couple of nights at Daimiel. With plenty of daylight still available I dumped my bags and set off the few km to Las Tablas de Daimiel. I parked at the first car park I found and took the short boardwalk to the mill type building by the road bridge: Mallard, Gadwall, Moorhen, Coot, Little & Great Crested Grebe & Greylag Goose (with young) on the water; White Stork nesting in the surrounding trees & bill-clacking; Black-crowned Night Heron & a single Squacco Heron roosting in the scrub by the waters edge; a Sparrowhawk diving through and scaring up the smaller birds in the trees around the buildings.

Having realised there was another parking and visitor information area I carried on up the road to what turned out to be a busy spot even late in the day (should have realised it would be as it was a weekend) and took one of the way-marked boardwalk trails over the reed-beds and small islets on the edge of the main water body. Despite the family groups and guided tours the birds did not seem to mind the disturbance and there were numerous Savi's Warblers reeling, some out in the open on the top of reed stalks and one so close to the boardwalk that if I had been so inclined I could have poked it with the tripod. The water between the reed beds full of Common Pochard & Red-crested Pochard. I soon found a great spot for an end of day pic-nic with: Cormorant and Little & Great White Egret roosting on a scrubby island in the lake; a pair of Spoonbill over; a few each of Black Tern & Whiskered Tern over the open water; Nightingale, Cetti's & Reed Warbler singing in the reeds on the shore; Swift, Barn Swallow and House & Sand Martin in a large mixed flock overhead. What a great spot!
 
Last edited:
Sunday 23rd April:

Headed further south this morning to the Sierra de los Canalizos cruising (where possible with the light local traffic) the road along the north side from Luciana to Puebla de Don Rodrigo, retracing the route part way back and then turning up into the hills to Saceruela and on to Abenojar. As well as the usual common species, especially White Stork, raptors were more frequent than previous days with plenty of Griffon Vulture joined by the occasional Black Vulture, mainly overhead but with one of the latter seen well on the ground fairly close to the road, one Booted Eagle, numerous Buzzard & Black Kite and a couple of Montagu's Harrier. On the higher part of the road over the sierra I pulled over to let a car past and looking over into the adjacent crop field saw something that made me reach for the binoculars and there was a fine male Little Bustard strutting its stuff - a very fortuitous stop giving much better views than yesterday's sighting.

I then took the road to Almaden and headed for the Valle de Alcudia taking the local road from La Bienvenida to Alamillo. Many of the same species but as there was more dehesa habitat added a few small roadside flocks of Iberian Magpie and a couple of Woodchat Shrike on the tops of shrubs.

Having no luck with my target eagle I decided on a change of tack and headed to the Lagunas de la Mancha Humeda. Starting at the Lagunas de Villafranca, which is very popular with locals on a Sunday, I wasn't expecting much but there were Black-winged Stilts and Common Sandpiper on the shore-line, Black-headed Gulls, and Black & Whiskered Terns over the water, the usual finches, etc., in the trees along with a male Pied Flycatcher, a Willow Warbler, a pair of Great Tit and mixed hirundines in a flock overhead. A drive of the track circumnavigating the laguna added more of the usual dry farmland species; notable ones being Hoopoe, Bee-eater and Marsh Harrier over the reeds.

I then moved on to the Laguna de Quero but it was completely dry and unsurprisingly bird-less.

To the south the Lagunas de San Juan proved much more productive and packed with birds. From the screens on the main lake nearest to the town, as well as species already seen elsewhere, there were a number of Black-necked Grebe, a sizable flock of Greater Flamingo, some Avocet and a few White-headed Duck plus a large loafing flock of juvenile Yellow-legged Gulls. Finding the hide on the opposite side of this lake locked I moved on to a shallower lake further on which had a small flock of Gull-billed Tern on a small spit, a couple of Collared Pratincole perched close-by on the near shore and a variety of waders spread along the varied shallows, including a few each of: Little Ringed and Common Ringed Plover, Dunlin, Little Stint, Common Sandpiper, Redshank, Greenshank & Ruff. The tracks through the dry farmland / scrub back to the road also proved good with the expected species for the habitat plus good close views of two Great Spotted Cuckoo and a couple of nice Little Owls perched up on a ruin and wooden stake respectively.

A return visit to Las Tablas de Daimiel to do another of the trails to a hide overlooking the main laguna and then another open air, dusk dinner to the backdrop of song and other bird sounds did not add any new species and was a bit less 'birdy' than the day before but was still a great end to another good day.
 
Last edited:
It's a pity that you didn't visit the nearby Laguna de Navaseca instead of another try at Las Tablas! While the later has got the name, the former is usually much more productive for birders

Nonetheless, yours is a nice trip!

http://www.birdforum.net/opus/La_Mancha_wetlands

http://www.birdforum.net/opus/Laguna_de_Navaseca (I'm still editing the photographs in the entry, all the other info is ok)

Sunday 23rd April:
A return visit to Las Tablas de Daimiel to do another of the trails to a hide overlooking the main laguna and then another open air, dusk dinner to the backdrop of song and other bird sounds did not add any new species and was a bit less 'birdy' than the day before but was still a great end to another good day.
 
Monday 24th April:

Moving on again today, a little to the north west this time. But first a trip to the Parque Nacional Cabaneros, starting with a slow drive along the minor roads Pueblo Nuevo del Bullaque / El Molinillo / Retuerta del Bullaque seeing many of the sierra species I had become accustomed to, notably both Vultures, Great Spotted Cuckoo, Woodchat & Iberian Grey Shrikes and Iberian Magpie, and adding a small flock of Black Stork from the view point over the Embalse de la Torre de Abraham.

Having spent a fair bit of time in the car over the last couple of days I wanted to fit a walk in today so headed to Navas de Estena to take the trail along the Rio Estena in the Garganta de El Boqueron gorge. As the approach track started to narrow I found a small parking spot & headed downhill, soon spotting a group of Red-rumped Swallow over the valley, a smart male Subalpine Warbler in a track-side bush, a male Golden Oriole singing from a tree top and a Golden Eagle overhead. I then found the car park so returned to get the car so it could be parked in the purpose built shelter - I may well have missed all the above had I not initially picked the wrong spot. Starting the walk again there were many familiar woodland birds and I added the first Wren, Robin, Blackcap, Jay and Long-tailed Tit of the trip in the trees plus a couple of Grey Wagtail down by the river, Sardinian Warbler & Cirl Bunting in the scrubbier areas and a fine male Blue Rock Thrush singing from a crag top.

Further exploration of the local roads added no new bird species but included an interesting mountain road descent and a very, very near miss when a Roe Deer jumped out in front of the car - I really don't know how I missed it!

Later the developing heavy thunderstorms prompted me to head for Torrijos, my base for 2 nights.
 
Last edited:
Thanks Stephen, I'm glad you're enjoying it. I had done close to 3,000km by the end - possibly underestimated the distances involved in Spain and was a bit too greedy in terms of sites covered in hindsight but I had a great time.
 
Tuesday 25th April:

With my remaining main target species proving elusive I headed a little north to the village of Chapineria where there is an Information Centre (Centro de Educacion Ambiental El Aguila) dedicated to them with a roof-top viewing area from which they can sometimes be seen. There were quite a few nice birds seen from the balcony but of raptors only a single Black Kite and numbers of both Griffon & Black Vulture. So after a while I did one of the waymarked walks down through the scrub woodland / dry fields below the village. The walk provided good views of a number of the more common species already seen, particularly Hoopoe, Iberian Magpie & numerous Bee-eaters, and added a new species in the form of a number of singing Woodlark, both perched and in flight.

The nice young lady in the information centre had suggested I took a road west from the village and beyond Navas del Rey for a possibility of seeing the eagle. Due to a confusing section of road I don't think I found it but headed generally west anyway to the Upper Tietar Valley and cruised the local roads between Oropesa / Corchuela / Navalcan / Candeleda / Calzada de Oropesa; nice scenery with notable birds being large numbers of White Stork and Vultures, a few nice Montagu's Harrier and some roadside Woodchat Shrike. I then continues southward to the Llanos de Oropesa driving the route Calzada / Valdeverdeja / El Puente del Arzobispo / Calera y Chozas; much the same species as above but also with numbers of Lesser Kestrel.

Heading back in the direction of my base, I spent the evening at the Embalse de Castrejon enjoying the impressive views from and of the Las Barrancas cliffs. The reservoir was a bit quiet with just a few Yellow-legged Gull & Common Sandpiper on the water, a Marsh Harrier over and Feral Pigeon & Red-rumped Swallow on the cliffs. I could not find a way to access the shoreline from the dam end.
 
Wednesday 26th April:

Moving further north today, so as it was probably my last realistic chance for my target eagle I headed back to Chapineria for further scanning from the roof-top but with no luck and even fewer raptors than yesterday. After a while I gave up and this time from Navas del Rey headed north towards Robledo de Chavela seeing a single low-flying Red Kite and a fine Roller perched on the roadside wires, the latter unfortunately in a place I was unable to stop. Turning off towards Valdemaqueda the road-signs soon indicated that this was the village in which to see the eagle and just as I reached the outskirts a large raptor soared over and I was able to pull up at the roadside and get out for good binocular views of a Spanish Imperial Eagle that flew out of sight over the village.

I drove through the settlement and stopped at the start of a path that seemed as though it may lead in the direction that could give views over the valley in the sort of area in which the eagle had disappeared. I had a number of vultures overhead but no further views of the eagle. The pine woods hosted some familiar woodland birds and added both Firecrest and Short-toed Treecreeper to the trip list.

The views of the Eagle could have been better but I was relieved to have finally seen one. Time to head north for the last part of the trip. I broke up the long drive when I saw sign for a bird observatory and ended up at the Laguna de Pitillas. A short walk along the dam to a screen produced: a very loud Great Reed Warbler in a small reed bed; Great Crested Grebe, Mallard, Gadwall, Pochard & Coot on the water; Grey Heron in the margins; a Marsh Harrier overhead; and a massive mixed flock of Swift, Barn Swallow and House Martin hawking just over the surface. The alternative path from the observatory was closed to prevent disturbance to nesting birds.

Continuing the journey, and having checked-in to my accommodation for the night at Ekai, I spent the evening walking around the woodlands adjacent to the main parking area in the Selva de Irati. I had planned this additional trip to the Western Pyrenees at the end of the holiday to target White-backed Woodpecker but in hindsight I did not have the time to find suitable habitat to give it a realistic attempt and in fact did not hear any woodpeckers at all. A number of woodland species were singing in the dusk and both Song & Mistle Thrush were new for the trip.
 
Last edited:
Thursday 27th April:

The original plan for this morning had been a return to the Irati beech forest to hunt for the woodpecker but decided that as I had a late afternoon flight to catch it may be better to do the tourist bit for some scenery and a wider range of birds than spend time looking for something I was unlikely to find. A good decision it turned out to be too.

An early start had me at the Embalse de Yesa for first light and I took a slow drive up the Valle de Roncal admiring the scenery on the way up to the Collardo de la Piedra de San Martin. My first thought was to walk one of the waymarked nordic trails but the crust was very icy; it was -7 at the summit and I had passed the gritting truck on the way up! On returning to the car park there was a pair of Ring Ouzel in the stunted trees on the car park embankment. Heading over to the French side I soon stopped where the road passed through a rock cutting to see two female Crossbill and a Citril Finch picking through the grit on the tarmac and a male Crossbill perched up in a tree on top of the small crag. I turned round in the car park of the next ski area with a small flock of Alpine Chough flying around. On the descent I stopped off at the old refuge picking up Northern Wheatear and Water Pipit in the car park and Raven & Red-billed Chough overhead.

Below the steep section at the head of the valley I parked up and walked a couple of the waymarked trails in the Belagua forests seeing familiar woodland species plus adding Crested Tit. I hit a flurry of 'birdy' activity in a scrubby area where the forest edge met alpine pasture and a small stream; a singing Blackcap and male Black Redstart in a hedge, the female Black Redstart on the rocks in the stream bed and a fine Yellowhammer and a single Marsh Tit in the same bush. On turning round when reaching a more farmed area a Griffon Vulture appeared low over the trees and soared up the adjacent ridge, followed by another, then another - 10 in all with the last being the unmistakable shape of a Lammergeier, which seemed to gain altitude much faster than the others as they thermalled upward.

I stopped a bit further down the valley to do part of a wooded stream-side walk looking for woodpeckers but with no luck. However the gems in this valley had not finished as I had a low Egyptian Vulture overhead in the Foz de Burgui gorge section.

Time to head for the airport. My route took me along a scenic road between Jaca and Huesca and past the very impressive sandstone cliffs at Los Mallos de Riglos. I couldn't find a safe place to stop on this road so took the side road further south leading up to the village. I only had a brief time to look at the climbing routes so did not have a chance to look for any birds around the cliffs.

So, back to the airport to drop off the car and check-in for my flight home after a great trip - four main target lifers seen and a total of 152 species without having even seen the sea.


Mammals:

Roe Deer - surprisingly common - as well as the suicidal one in PN Cabaneros I also saw a couple of singles in the same area, a group of three in the crops at Laguna de Gallocanta, a pair from the Autovia over a high plains section and another that ran out in front of me on the way down the Valle de Roncal (I had some warning of this one as I saw it coming down the embankment).

Red Fox - one at the end of the walking route at El Planeron & another spooking the Lapwings from one of the raised hides at Laguna de Gallocanta.

Rabbits - everywhere in crop, dehesa & steppe areas.

Hare - one on the road through PN Cabaneros.

Red Squirrel - one in mixed woodland in Valle de Roncal.

Unidentified Martin - one crossed the road in front of me pre-dawn near the Embalse de Yesa - possibly Beech Martin!?

Egyptian Mongoose - 2 roadkill in the sierras west of Madrid.
 
Warning! This thread is more than 7 years ago old.
It's likely that no further discussion is required, in which case we recommend starting a new thread. If however you feel your response is required you can still do so.

Users who are viewing this thread

Back
Top