Spent a nice day birding and working in Extremadura (the perfect combination?). I met up with two local birders from Merida, Carlos and Angel, with whom I will be doing fieldwork later on in spring. They courteously took me around in the morning to some nice sites south of Merida. We first checked an agro-steppe site - Finca Palacio Kemado. It was very cold but pretty good with 6 Little Bustards, several Black-bellied Sandgrouse, Black-winged Kite, many Calandra Larks and few Short-toed Larks, and in nearby open woods we had some early migrants. Highlight for me was a Western Orphean Warbler, and we also had Cuckoo and Whitethroat.
Our next stop was the mountains near Matachel and Hornachos Mts. We kept our eyes up to the sky most of the time as this is a good area for raptors. We had Golden and Bonelli's Eagles, and about 15 Black Vultures, but we didn't find the hoped-for Spanish Imperial Eagle. We had a few Lesser Kestrels as well.
Black Vulture
Pretty scruffy
Thekla Lark
Lots of eagle-food around - Red-legged Partridge
After saying goodbye to the guys, I followed their advice and headed over to Castilla Alange, to look for Black Wheatear. I hiked up the rocky hill to the castle, and walked and searched all over the place, but no bloody wheatear was to be seen. There were some other typical mountain species - 1 Alpine Accentor, 1 Rock Bunting, some Blue Rock Thrushes, Rock Sparrows and Crag Martins.
Blue Rock Thrush
When I reached back down there was again some good raptor action low overhead. Nice to see an adult male Bonelli's Eagle with a 2cy female (his daughter from last year?).
Bonelli's Eagle - adult male
With Crag Martin
Bonelli's Eagle - 2cy female. Interesting how immaculate the plumage is, no wear at all.
And then they interacted a bit - the juvenile chased after the adult:
Very close size comparison
Eurasian Griffon
Castilla Alange
How I missed flowering almond trees
Hi Yoav, along the track that is south of the Alange castle along the lake, we had last year at the same time of year 2 territories of Black Wheatears, worth checking this track as well.
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