Short trip-report from Western Spain November 2000

 I was in Madrid for a couple of days, and managed to get two days of birding in Extremadura. I spent the first night in Talavera (CM) and started from there early Saturday morning. I then drove up to Monfrague via La Bazagona. On the way I had 2-3 White Storks, which perhaps is not unusal these days, but I've not seen WS so late in Spain before. Then I drove up to Mirador de la Bascula. On the way I had several Black

Spanish Imperial Eagle, Monfrague

Vultures. Suddenly, just some hundred meters before the Mirador, I was aware of a very dark raptor sitting on a pole. And, yes, this was an Spanish Imperial Eagle. I managed to get out of the car, and it did not fly off until I was pretty close. An amazing sight. Further, I stopped frequently before arrival at Salto de Gitano. The usual stuff here, a Peregrine included. Just before I drove off, I had a flock of 6 Alpine Accentors. On the castillo I had a Golden Eagle were flying along the ridge.

From Torrejon el Rubio, I took the "inner way" to Trujillo via Santa Marta de Magasca. Here I saw the only Black-Winged Kite off the trip. Between Santa Marta and Trujillo I had at least two flocks of Black-Bellied Sandgrouse. The most common species in these areas were however Spotless Starling, Corn Bunting, Lapwing and Southern Grey Shrike. I also had several flocks of Rock Sparrow.

I spent the night in Trujillo, and went to visit Caceres the next day. After some hours in this nice town, I drove towards Trujillo, but took a side-road via Santa Marta again. On the way I spotted 6 Pin-Tailed Sandgrouses which landed in a field just in front of me. .However they flew off just after seconds. On this route, and the other steppe- and dehesa areas, Red Kite was the dominating raptor. I also had a few Kestrels and Buzzards and one or two Hen Harriers.

Then the rain started heavily, thus the best thng to do was to drive off towards Madrid.

A bit disappointing that no Cranes were seen. It would have been exciting to see them in their wintering-grounds, since these are so different from their breeding grounds in Norway. However, early November is perhaps to early for this species. At least this year with warm south-easterly winds dominating over Scandinavia from September almost to this day. Further, since I had very limited time, I could not stop frequently to scan the vast open areas for bustards. However, there were that many hunters out there so the bustards might have moved to real inaccessible areas anyway.

What to all these people hunt out there? Is it Red-legged Partridges, rabbits or even bustards?