Madrid 2015 (1 Viewer)

At fairly short notice, my girlfriend and I decided to book a short break in Madrid, which while not for birding primarily, I would get out to do a bit of bird-watching in this ecologically rich area. Due to the limited time we would be there and the limited public transport options to a lot of the habitats I decided to do something I hadn't done before, and book a guide for a half day - I went with Luis Sitges for the morning for the cost of 75 euros, which for the number of lifers proved to be great value.

Quick key for skim reading:
BIRDS PREVIOUSLY SEEN
NEW LIFE BIRD
NEW SUB-SPECIES/POSSIBLE FUTURE SPLIT

DAY 0 - Arrival
We got a morning flight to Luton and arrived into Madrid at about 10am local time, a small number of birds were seen during landing from the window including SPOTLESS STARLING and HOUSE SPARROW. We were however well in advance of our check in time, so decides to do a bit of exploring. The temperature was 33 degrees, and about 40% humidity so a bit uncomfortable, but we explored the markets and shops around Sol and Plaza Mayor and quickly became aquainted with by far the most numerous bird of the trip - COMMON SWIFT - we saw thousands over the course of the visit and they were spectacularly abundant in most areas of human habitation. There may have been pallid swift in there but as I've never seen that species I couldn't pick them out. Plaza Mayor also had a population of HOUSE MARTIN which weren't so common elsewhere on the trip.

We passed to our hotel through El Retiro Park where we saw a few other species including GOLDFINCH, EURASIAN MAGPIE and GREAT TIT and as our hotel was near the edge of the park, we visited again later in the evening and walked up to the large lake area where EURASIAN COOT and MALLARD were added to the proceedings.


Day 1.
Luis picked us up from our hotel at 7.30 and drove through traffic to the sites he'd planned out in response to my request for Steppe species. My first sighting from the van was a probable female MARSH HARRIER, but the real sightings began when he drove down the first side road to look for species and Luis immediately picked out a small group of LITTLE BUSTARD at short range - a species which I had considered a fairly outside chance for the trip and Luis confirmed was difficult to see in Summer. A great start!

Luis then drove us down some farm tracks to look for other species - we first picked up RED-LEGGED PARTRIDGE, followed by CRESTED LARK but nothing particularly spectacular was showing at any visible range, so Luis turned the van around and we continued down another track. However, as we drove past a small olive grove farmhouse a HOOPOE flew out and landed on a branch right in front of us giving great views for a couple of minutes before flying off. We then drove on a little further and stopped in the drive to the farmhouse to scan the surrounding fields - a walker on the far side of the field flushed a GREAT BUSTARD and a BEE-EATER flew over, while Luis spotted another Little Bustard and a COMMON BUZZARD.

We pulled up a little further up the track, and only seeing the standard birds of Spain, turned round and went down another side track. This proved much more productive as I caught a glimpse of two birds in flight which turned out to be a pair of STONE CURLEW as well as a distant glimpse of a grey male harrier that vanished before it could be identified and some big raptor far too distant to get a clear ID on with a supporting cast of an Iberian Hare crossing the tracks behind us.

To be continued...

Part 2.

After that we continued on down the tracks, stopping briefly as Luis picked out a small bird that looked interesting sitting with some house sparrows on the wires and it turned out to be a ROCK SPARROW before heading back to the main road for a bit. We passed though a small town which had a number of WHITE STORK nesting on the roof of the monument in the centre of the town before continuing on out the other side. Almost immediatly out the other side, I spotted a large raptor circling and Luis pulled into the mouth of a farm track so we could check it out, and quickly identified this massive bird as a EURASIAN BLACK VULTURE, but then also picked out another raptor, a BOOTED EAGLE and then behind us, another Black Vulture accompanied by a EURASIAN GRIFFON VULTURE. The Booted Eagle also began to get mobbed by a LESSER KESTREL and a third, extra close Black Vulture began to soar by behind us, allowing for some better photos.

After watching these, we continued onwards and pulled in at one of the next tracks and found a lovely male MONTAGU'S HARRIER hunting at the bottom of the field. Four raptor lifers in 15 minutes! We then pulled back into the road and headed to the next town where we spotted a thermal of Griffon Vultures before heading into one last track which we headed down, stopping to look at an obliging Crested Lark, and then Luis picked out both a pair of MARSH HARRIER and then HEN HARRIER bu the track itself was disturbed by a dog walker and a jogger, so Luis wasn't holding out much hope of better views of Bustard, and a quick stop at a possible Sandgrouse site didn't reveal anything (as they are apparently impossible to see there unless they decide to move).

We continued on to a small green valley, which produced a handsome SOUTHERN GREY SHRIKE and a BLACK KITE - a bird which I have seen in Japan, but of a different subspecies which I've heard is being considered for splitting. Heading back to the main road briefly before one last stop which didn't produce any bustards, we were a bit ahead of schedule so Luis took us towards a small valley he knew which was a site for a good selection of species. On the way, he spotted a lovely WOODCHAT SHRIKE on a wire and turned the car round and pulled up into a driveway to have a look.

To be continued...

Part 3.

We continued on and parked on the edge of a small village near a valley (I do know the name, but as it is Luis's site, I don't want to direct people to it without going through him) where we were immediately greeted by another booted eagle circling, this time seemingly holding something that looked suspiciously like a snake. As we went up the valley, I was bombarded by new or previously seen only a few times species in quick succession - NIGHTINGALE, BLUE ROCK THRUSH, MELODIOUS WARBLER, EUROPEAN SERIN and CRAG MARTIN , were the most frequently seen.

As we got half way up, Luis picked out a handsome male ROCK BUNTING which then moved onto feeding on the path so we could get better views of it. We also had a further two booted eagle (including one dark phase - apparently in the minority in Spain) and a brief flyover from a GOLDEN EAGLE and further Griffon vultures. There was also glimpses of a pair of BLACK WHEATEAR atop the cliff edges, and as we reached the top, a very bold RED-RUMPED SWALLOW litting on a wire over the path let us get in right underneath it without flying off, allowing for great views.

After that, we returned to the van, getting glimpses of further hoopoe, griffon vultures, melodious warblers, blue rock thrush, crag martin and others as we descended.

To be continued...

Sounds like an amazing morning - and the prospect of more to come is a touch mind-boggling - 15 ticks already!

Cheers
Mike

The rest of the trip is admittedly not nearly so exciting from a birding perspective as that morning, the next day we took a walk though Parque Oeste on the way to the Museum of the Americas - half way through we had an IBERIAN GREEN WOODPECKER land on a tree directly infront of us and it stayed to a very close distance as we continued down the path we were on before. Just as we were nearing the exit, we had a pair of CRESTED TIT turn up in a tree directly ahead of us. Unfortunately, they wouldn't sit still for any decent photos but got some cracking close range views of them.

We did see some stuff on the other days, but I'll summarize that in my overall species list:

Overall, the list for the trip was (in no particular order):

1) COMMON SWIFT - Massively abundant in Madrid, Toledo and the villages we passed through with Luis/
2) MALLARD - Present on various rivers including at Toledo and in El Retiro.
3) RED-LEGGED PARTRIDGE - Several seen on the trip with Luis.
4) BLACK-CROWNED NIGHT HERON - One flying down the river at Toledo.
5) GREY HERON - Seen flying over at various points.
6) CATTLE EGRET - One seen flying over Toledo.
7) WHITE STORK - Various times in flight, 1 nesting on a pylon on the road to Toledo, a colony in one village.
8) GREAT BUSTARD - One at a distance with Luis.
9) LITTLE BUSTARD - Two at close range with Luis, and another later at a distance.
10) EUROPEAN BEE-EATER - Two in flight glimpsed with Luis.
11) MONK PARAKEET - Abundant in Madrid.
12) DUNNOCK -
13) ROCK BUNTING - A pair seen in Luis' valley.
14) CARRION CROW - Seen a few times throughout.
15) EURASIAN JACKDAW - Seen a few times throughout.
16) EURASIAN MAGPIE - Seen regularly throughout.
17) EUROPEAN SERIN - Fairly common in parks and in the valley.
18) GOLDFINCH - Common in city parks.
19) LINNET - Some seen in the valley with Luis.
20) GREENFINCH - Seen a few times.
21) CRESTED LARK - Seen regularly in the fields with Luis.
22) SKYLARK - A couple seen in the fields.
23) BLACK REDSTART - Seen in the valley with Luis and near the river in Toledo.
24) BLACK WHEATEAR - A pair seen in the valley.
25) BLUE ROCK THRUSH - Seen a lot in the valley, frequently flying back and forth throughout the walk.
26) ROBIN - Seen in parks.
27) NIGHTINGALE - Heard and glimpsed in the valley.
28) SOUTHERN GREY SHRIKE - One seen with Luis.
29) WOODCHAT SHRIKE - One seen with Luis on a wire near the road.
30) HOUSE SPARROW - Abundant throughout.
31) ROCK SPARROW - One seen with House Sparrows on farm track.
32) SPOTLESS STARLING - Abundant throughout.
33) BARN SWALLOW - Seen regularly in various locations.
34) HOUSE MARTIN - Plentiful in Plaza Mayor, less so elsewhere.
35) CRAG MARTIN - A good number seen in the valley, including some very close range nests to the path.
36) RED RUMPED SWALLOW - One seen at very close range in the valley, another below the walls of Toledo.
37) BLACKBIRD - Seen and heard throughout.
38) BLUE TIT - Seen a few times in parks
39) GREAT TIT - Seen a few times.
40) COAL TIT - One seen washing itself in Retiro.
41) CRESTED TIT - Two seen in Parque Oeste.
42) WHITE WAGTAIL - A few seen at Toledo.
43) MELODIOUS WARBLER - A few seen in the valley.
44) SARDINIAN WARBLER - One or two seen inthe valley.
45) COLLARED DOVE - Seen throughout.
46) FERAL PIGEON - Seen a number of times, massively abundant on the rocks below Toledo.
47) BOOTED EAGLE - Several seen throughout the morning with Luis, including a dark phase.
48) GOLDEN EAGLE - One seen in the valley with Luis.
49) BLACK KITE - One seen with Luis, one seen from the glass lift on the outside of the Reina Sofia.
50) SPARROWHAWK - One seen in a Madrid Park.
51) COMMON BUZZARD - Two seen with Luis in farmland.
52) HEN HARRIER - Two seen with Luis over fields.
53) MONTAGU'S HARRIER - Several seen throughout the morning with Luis over fields.
54) RED KITE - One seen with Luis in farmland.
55) MARSH HARRIER - A pair seen distantly with Luis.
56) COMMON KESTREL - Seen on a few church buildings in Madrid.
57) LESSER KESTREL - One mobbing the first Booted Eagle over farmland.
58) EURASIAN BLACK VULTURE - Several seen over farmland.
59) EURASIAN GRIFFON VULTURE - Seen with Luis in the valley and over farmland. Several over Toledo.
60) STONE CURLEW - Two spotted on farmland.
61) LAPWING - One or two spotted on farmland.
62) IBERIAN GREEN WOODPECKER - One seen in Parque Oeste, heard in El Retiro.

I have probably missed a few of the more common ones I can't remember specifically if I saw or not, but in general had a superb trip even with only one mornings proper birdwatching. I would highly recommend Luis if you are thinking of a trip to Madrid.

I would also recommend Madrid in particular as a location - this was only one trip really, and if I was to head back (which I am sorely tempted to do) there are a large number of other desirable species in the area in sites I didn't get a chance to visit including Sandgrouse, (we had a quick look for them but none were apparent) Purple Gallinule and Spanish Imperial Eagle. I could have easily spent the whole trip birdwatching and got to explore a different habitat every day.

For people who like raptors, it would be especially worthwhile - I got 13 species in 4 days with only that one morning dedicated to birding, and by my count a further 9 or 10 so are possible in the area in Summer.

The flight plus hotel cost around £230 per person, but could have been done for up to £100 per person less depending on how cheap you are willing to go and where you want to be based. We were on the edge of Retiro, but could have probably got more central for the money we paid.

Luis currently charges 50 euros for a single person for the morning, or 75 euros for 2 people, which worked out about £50 for the two of us and included all petrol money etc, which for me, as the first time I've ever hired a guide, I found to be great value - especially given the 16 lifers I racked up over that short space of time!