Spain/Monfrague: where to go for raptors ? (1 Viewer)

hello

I am visiting Monfrague in Extremadua/Spain from March 25th to April 1st.
I will stay in a village close to the park.

I am especially interested in raptors. I would like
to see Short toed Eagles, Spanish Imperial Eagles, Booted Eagles
and Bonelli's Eagle. and Eagle Owl and Blue Rock Thrush would be great too.
they all occur in the park but the park is huge.

can anyone tell me some interesting places where I can watch those
birds without disturbing them ?

any other interesting places one should visit around the park ?

another question:
what is the best to to drive from Madrid Airport to the park ?
I have a map but all the highways around Madrid look a little confusing.

any hints welcome:




regards

Markus

aguila said:

hello

I am visiting Monfrague in Extremadua/Spain from March 25th to April 1st.
I will stay in a village close to the park.

I am especially interested in raptors. I would like
to see Short toed Eagles, Spanish Imperial Eagles, Booted Eagles
and Bonelli's Eagle. and Eagle Owl and Blue Rock Thrush would be great too.
they all occur in the park but the park is huge.

can anyone tell me some interesting places where I can watch those
birds without disturbing them ?

regards

Markus

Click to expand...

Hello Markus

Monfrague is fantastic and you should manage to see most of these species without too much difficulty at the end of March. I am assuming the Short toed & Booted Eagles will be around by then, I didn't see any of these at the beginning of March.
Spanish Imperial Eagle, Bonelli's Eagle, Eagle Owl, & Blue Rock Thrush can all be seen from the watchpoint at Portilla de Tietar. This is a well known stopping area in the park with a small hide and benches. You will know it as it is on a sharp corner looking over a very large vulture filled rock. This is not to be confused with the other good site Pena Falcon which is superficially similar but is situated under the castle (castillo) at the other end of the park.
For the eagles keep your eyes skyward as they do have a habit of just appearing overhead, and listen for Spanish Eagle, which can be quite vocal.
Eagle Owl is nesting on the crag opposite about 1/3 of the way up just under a tooth-like rock. It is not easy but hopefully someone will be there that knows it's exact location.
Blue Rock Thrush occurs here and all over really shouldn't be a problem.
Keep an eye out for Otter in the lake also below the crag as they have been seen on a regular basis during January & February.

Hope this helps, and have a great trip. Sorry cannot help with directions as i have always approached from the opposite direction. Sure it will be easy though.
Regards Jules

aguila said:

hello


another question:
what is the best to to drive from Madrid Airport to the park ?
I have a map but all the highways around Madrid look a little confusing.

any hints welcome:


regards

Markus

Click to expand...

Hi Markus,

Best bet is head to Madrid from airport, then follow signs for M40, stay on M40 (can be harder than it sounds) ignoring turn offs, keep following "todas la directions" - all other directions - until you see signs for Badajoz. the road number varies, sometimes it is the N5 or NV or E90(1) or ? but follow the Badajoz signs at all times. If the traffic is bad it may be helpful to pick up the R5 (which is a toll road, 'peaje', it only costs a couple of euros and can save you an hour at peak times). There are 2 route to the park, from the east turn off at Navalmara de la Mata on either the old road to Plasencia or, if the new motorway is open take that. Alternatively from the south through Torrejon el Rubio leaving the motorway at Jaraceijo.
Check the spellings and road numbers as I'm writing this from memory while I'm at work!!!!
As well as watching the road it could be worth keeping a lookout for birds (as if you wouldnt) apart from the usual starlings shrikes larks storks etc I had 3 Black winged/shouldered Kites, 1 near 175km junction and a pair at the 142km junction.

Have a great trip, and dont forget to do the Belen plains for the bustards and sit in the main square in Trujillo with a beer, or two, and watch the Lesser Kestrel, Pallid Swifts etc flying overhead.


Nick

thanks for your help.
I am back now and it was great. I saw everything that was on my wish list,
including Bonelli's Eagle, Booted Eagle, Spanish Imperial Eagle and Short-toed Eagle.

Monfrague is great. a place every raptor fan should visit.

Markus

aguila said:

hello
I am visiting Monfrague in Extremadua/Spain from March 25th to April 1st.
I will stay in a village close to the park.
I am especially interested in raptors. I would like
to see Short toed Eagles, Spanish Imperial Eagles, Booted Eagles
and Bonelli's Eagle. and Eagle Owl and Blue Rock Thrush would be great too.
they all occur in the park but the park is huge.
can anyone tell me some interesting places where I can watch those
birds without disturbing them ?
any other interesting places one should visit around the park ?
any hints welcome:
regards
Markus

Click to expand...

Hi Markus.

I was in Monfragüe on Friday and Saturday last week, leading a group of 13 Danish birders.
The Eagle Owl that Jules has described is visible with 2 chicks in the nest.
To the right of the rockface where the Eagle Owls have their nest (About 50 metres in the trees) is a nest of a Spanish Imperial Eagle. We had excellent views of it for over 15 minutes.
At Bascula we saw 3 Short-toed Eagles, 2 of which were performing mating rituals and will probably breed locally.
At Penafalcon we saw 2 Bonelli´s Eagles, Egyptian, Black and Griffon Vultures, 2 Peregrines and Kestrels, plus about 5 Blue Rock Thrushes and loads of Rock Buntings.
At the Castillo there were 2 nesting Red'billed Choughs and Blue Rock Thrushes.

All of the sites are well signed, so once you enter the park you will have no problem finding the sites and, as Jules has said, there will probably be other birders present that will point out the important birds to you.

Good luck and good birding.

aguila said:

Monfrague is great. a place every raptor fan should visit. Markus

Click to expand...

Amen! I could not agree more.

I'll be birding in Monfragüe and other corners of Extremadura over 8-15 May so if anyone has any more up to date information from the area I'd be very interested to hear it!

Stuart

StuartReeves said:

I'll be birding in Monfragüe and other corners of Extremadura over 8-15 May so if anyone has any more up to date information from the area I'd be very interested to hear it!

Stuart

Click to expand...

Me too, so I thought I'd bump it up the list. Any gen anyone?

John

Hi Stuart & John
Just got back from leading a party to this area and here is some up-to-date info. Our tour was through Castilla la Mancha so some of the specialities were found easier there, and a trip list of 192 seen & heard species proves how successful it was.
In Extremadura the things John mentions earlier are there but we did not see any Bonelli´s Eagles in Monfrague (elsewhere).
Black winged Kite - found around Oropresa, not easy around the plains etc but there is a pair just outside Saucedilla
Great Bustard - flock of 14 on Belen at x-roads turn left and look to fields on right. More in la Mancha.
Little Bustard - fairly easy on Monroy road.
Both sandgrouse - again on the Monroy road in small(ish) numbers. Showed them to some Italians and they certainly know how to celebrate a bird.
White rumped Swift - 1 at the Monfrague Castillo on May 2nd, since then heard there are now 2 being seen.
Little Crake - found at Arrocampo on May 4th, showed another tour group and I nearly got a BJ!!!.
Citril Finch - Parador at the Gredos
Rock Thrush - the Platforma in the Gredos.

Any other birds give me a PM but there should be a trip report in the next few days on my website.

Photos courtesy of Mike Gould

Cheers Jules

Many thanks Jules,

Cheers,

Stuart

Hi there Stuart

I've just been in Spain the last four days on a semi-birding trip with my girlfriend. Although not quite in Extremadura, dependent upon where you're flying into, I had the following sightings: -

6 Little Swifts and 3 White-rumped Swifts near Tarifa, Provincia de Cadiz as well as Western Olivaceous Warblers amongst a good selection of other birds and hundreds of Cattle Egrets at Los Palacios, Provincia de Sevilla. Good numbers of Calandra Larks and Bee-eaters at La Janda as well.

Decent numbers (at least by British standards) of Honey Buzzards passing through Tarifa and Gibraltar although the weather may have been a bit fine...

If you want any other info, please feel free to PM me.

Cheers and good birding

Rich

Monfrague

Hi everybody,

just coming back from Monfrague: It was another great trip! Spanish Imperial Eagle is again breeding at Portilla de Tietar (Eagle Owl is quite difficult to find, but it is there!), a pair of Bonelli's has a nest near Villareal de San Carlos. Black-winged Kite is best seen south of the road which leaves the EX 208 to the east in direction to Malpartida de Plasencia. From the Mirador La Bascula (better you walk the small track to the right a bit) are three active nests of Black Vulture visible!


Best wishes,

Robert