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Message: <blockquote data-quote="foresttwitcher" data-source="post: 3562956" data-attributes="member: 97625">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.</blockquote>

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