Birding in Extremadura (1 Viewer)

Dutch Birder · Jun 22, 2013

bird sightings June 16th – 21st, 2013

Changing weather conditions, the one day raining and misty with 15 degrees, next day awful sun, 32 degrees. So we decided not to travel much and to concentrate on the raptors and so of the mountains of Las Villuercas, in the North-East of Extremadura, between Cañamero and Retamosa.

Griffon Vulture: several little nesting colonies, in total some 25 couples;
Black Vulture: no nests found, but we saw them every day;
Egyptian Vulture: 2 couples;
Peregrine Falcon: 3 couples;
Golden Eagle: every day present, but nesting in the mountains more to the East;
Honey Buzzard: 1 couple.

Everyday we recorded at least 2 Short-toed Eagles, also 2 Booted Eagles.
Bonelli’s Eagle incidentally.
Furthermore we saw every day Black Kite, Red Kite, Sparrow Hawk, Kestrel. Until now no Hobby yet.

At dawn and in the evening we heard Eagle Owl (3 couples), Scops Owl (many), Little Owl, Barn Owl (there are not so many here, we recorded only one calling) and Tawny Owl ( 2 couples). We missed both species of nightjars until now.

Dutch birder - Henk

Dutch Birder · Jul 2, 2013

Vultures....

Reading the weather predictions, June 21 could be the last day with moderate temps, so
I gave one of our hides a try. With only a few left-overs from the local butcher, I tried to attract the local Vultures and Eagles of this zone of Las Villuercas.
A juvenile Golden Eagle and some Black Kites were curious, but a Griffon Vulture and
Five minutes later a Black Vulture, some more Griffons and a juvenile Egyptian Vulture did the eating. Here a portrait of a Griffon (in morning mist) and a photo of all three species of Vultures here on the same spot.

ciao

Dutch Birder · Jul 5, 2013

Western Olivaceous Warbler

No so many bird news this week, but one superb record of
a Western Olivaceous Warbler (Iduna opaca).

Take a look at:
http://aves-extremadura.blogspot.com.es/2013/07/el-zarcero-bereber-en-extremadura.html
(only in Spanish)

You can also click from there to an English version of birdnews of
Extremadura.

bye

Dutch Birder · Aug 24, 2013

The Figs are ready to eat

very hot & dry last weeks. Nevertheless good visions of
flocks of Bee-eaters, Barn-swallows and Swifts.
All three species of vultures everyday, many Snake Eagles, Booted Eagles,
Red Kites. Woodlarks start singing again, as do the Tawny Owls
and Red-necked Nightjars.

The figs are riping now, and especially the Azure-winged Magpies and
Golden Orioles seem to like this (see photo of a female Golden Oriole and
a young one).

Summer can be hot and hard, but never dull!

see you -henk

Dutch Birder · Sep 27, 2013

Finding Birds in Extremadura

(1) This is the title of the latest DVD (going with a booklet) of the filmers Daved Gosney and Liz Hall. Our share was guiding them last winter to the best places to find migrated Cranes from the North.
For details apps, other books and DVDs please visit www.easybirder.co.uk

(2) Migration is very actual now: most birds left, like Bee-eaters, Black Kites,
Rollers, Woodchat Shrike. Some are still to bee seen, like Booted Eagle, Short-toed Eagle, Little Bustard, Calandra Lark. But amazing is te notice how many Red Kites, Pied Flycatchers, Lapwings, Greenshanks, ChiffChaffs etc. suddenly come in. Next fortnight we expect Cranes and Greylegs to see (and to hear!).

(3) From down under we welcomed our first Australian birdwatchers. They had only three wishes: Vultures, Great Bustard, Little Bustard. No problem of course, they left with a list of nearly 100 species in only 2 days!

ciao

binus1963 · Oct 2, 2013

ref the mink

hi henk and lisbeth hope your both well, i was looking through my pictures the other day and found the picture of the mink so i put it on this forum in the mammals i.d. section (you can have a look look, its under mink extramadura) the answer was american mink not eurasian as i had hoped. i don't know if you need to let anyone know, the pic was taken the other side of berzacona were you took me to find the melodious warbler by the stream. me and sue are heading to goa next month and gambia in april but i'm always looking for a chance to come back to extramadura so fingers crossed. all the best trace.

Dutch Birder · Oct 16, 2013

Hi Tracy, I put minky minky already on facebook as an american.
Here everything and all fine, we just came back from a little holiday in the Gredos mountains. We saw the mountain goats (Ibex) there, but the weather was awful: only
sun, blue skies, high temperatures (around 25 degrees), so everyday BBQ.
Hope to see you here in Extremadura, last days the first Cranes flew in, many Red Kites, Melodious Warblers etc.
henk

Dutch Birder · Dec 1, 2013

Cranes in Extremadura, Moheda Alta

Yesterday Nov 30th, took place the annual Crane festival in Moheda Alta, Extremadura. We guided a group of some 30 children and their parents through the feeding areas (corn and paddy fileds), and were impressed by the huge number of Cranes. See photos.
In whole Extremadura are the numbers of hibernating Cranes increasing from 70,000 some years ago till more than 100,000 last winter.

Some more observations this day:
Cormorant, Great crested grebe, Litlle grebe, Gray legged geese (many)
Mallard, Gadwall, Shoveler, Pintail, Grey heron, Cattle Egret, Great egret, Little egret, Marsh harrier, Hen harrier, Buzzard, Black-shouldered kite, Griffon Vulture, Black Vulture, Sparrowhawk, Peregrine falcon, Kingfisher,
Southern shrike, Red-legged partridge, Snipe, Lapwing, Golden plover, Sanderling, Greenshank, Green sandpiper, Ruff, House sparrow, Spanish sparrow, Tree sparrow, White wagtail, Grey wagtail, Goldfinch, Chaffinch, Red avadavat, Zitting cisticola, Spotless starling, Red fox, Genet, Mangoose.

Yes, looking for Cranes is very pleasant.

andrea86bert · Dec 13, 2013

Hi guys,
I will go in extremadura as a part of the honey moon travel in the end of may-beginning of june 2014. Is this a good period in order to observe raptors? I'm interested in particular in bonelli eagle and imperial eagle.
Which are the best places to observe them?

Thank you very much,

Andrea

jascha777 · Dec 13, 2013

HI Andrea,
Probably the easiest place to see both is in Monfrague national park.
The viewpoint at Puente del cardenal(spelling?) overlooks a Bonelli's territory and they can usually be seen with a bit of patience.Imperial Eagle can be seen at Pena Falcon,La Bascula and probably most easily(and reliably ) at the other end of the park at Portilla del Tietar,where they often patrol the cliffs almost at eye level towards the end of the day...terrorising the hapless Griffons! Hope that helps,I'm sure someone more local will have other suggestions. Mark

andrea86bert · Dec 14, 2013

Thank you Jascha!
Do yu think that a map/field guide like Dave Gosney's "finding birds in Extremadura" could help?

Andrea

Dutch Birder · Dec 16, 2013

Hi Andrea,

I can recommend the Field Guide of Dave Gosney (not only because I helped him a little bit with some routes), because the information is very practical, although the hand-drawn-maps on first sight look very simple. But most other guides give good info about Monfragüe too.
Most Bonelli's can be seen there from the 3 viewpoints between Salto de Gitano and the village of Villareal. The imperial is mostly been seen at the viewpoint called Portilla de Tietar.

Hope this will do, but there are more possibilities except Monfragüe...
Good luck

andrea86bert · Dec 16, 2013

Thanks Dutch Birder!
I'm going to spend 2-3 days in extremadura in the search of raptors. Do you think that I have to stay in Monfrague all time or there are other good places as good nearby?

Andrea

Dutch Birder · Dec 17, 2013

Hi Andrea,

3 days Extremadura....is to less ;-)
Anyone visiting Extremadura must have seen Monfragüe once,
it has excellent viewing points, but is very crowded with
cars and people also.

If you f.e. choose to stay in Torrejon el Rubio, you are in easily reach of
Monfragüe, but you can also go to Monroy and Talaván (5o kms) for many raptors underway and Golden Eagles nesting, or choose to go direction of my
favorite habitat, Las Villuercas (70 kms) where all types of raptors and vultures
breed. Good views of raptors-n-action you find in steppe-areas, such as
those between Belén and Torrecilas de la Tiesa (30 kms).
Yes, you have always have to travel a bit here.
Very effective is to hire a guide (see the website of reliable guides, GUIDEX,
www.guidextremadura.com)

ciao, henk

andrea86bert · Dec 23, 2013

Can you Advice me about some good apatments nearby monfrague for 2 people?

Dutch Birder · Dec 29, 2013

Hi Andrea,

sorry for the delay.
If you want apartments close to Monfragüe,
take a look at:
http://www.birdinginextremadura.com/birdex/live/empresas-especializadas_en.html
and choose the ones in Torrejón el Rubio.

Did you already look at www.guidextremadura.com ? most guides
offer accommodation as well.

Good luck -henk

Irvo52 · Jan 17, 2014

May 2014

I've booked a trip for 11th - 23rd May this year. I'll be based around Trujillo. Any tips on best spots for black shouldered kite and stone curlew in that general area? Also 'hot spots' for bustards?

Brian

Dutch Birder · Jan 17, 2014

Hi Brian,

For Bustards and Stone Curlews you can go to the fields close to Santa Marta de Magasca: take f.e. the motorway from Trujillo to Cáceres and take the 2nd oportunity to Santa Marta (km sign 37 - I believe). The fields directly North after this turn are good!
Fot the same species and good chance to see the Black-shouldered is to go South, direction Zorita - Madrigalejo. Between Zorita and Madrigalejo turn to Campo Lugar: superspot for Bustards and Stone Curlews (and Rollers). Between Madrigalejo and Vegas Altas on the West side of the main road, good chance for Bustards also.
For Black-shouldered Kite I recommend furthermore: the Arrocampo region and de areas between Zorita and Obando (along an other road running from Zorita to the South).
The most of this spots you can look up in he book of Dave Gosney "Finding birds in Extremadura", see the website of easybirder.co.uk

hope this will help.....good luck
henk

Birdman7 · Jan 22, 2014

Irvo52 said:
I've booked a trip for 11th - 23rd May this year. I'll be based around Trujillo. Any tips on best spots for black shouldered kite and stone curlew in that general area? Also 'hot spots' for bustards?

Brian

Iv had good sightings of both species of Bustard in the Belen area near Trujillo, but there are many for good areas for them. Good luck

Birdman7 · Jan 22, 2014

andrea86bert said:
Can you Advice me about some good apatments nearby monfrague for 2 people?

I normally stay in the Torrejon el Rubio area, many places to stay, good luck

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