Lynx-quest

Returned last night from five days in Spain, the fourth installment of our 'Big Cat Quest' (after Tiger, Lion-Cheetah-Leopard, Jaguar). While Iberian Lynx is at most an honorary Big Cat, it still is rare, beautiful and attractive, hence our interest. The team stayed the same - Amir, Eli, my brother Gidon and myself. We teamed up with Simon / Inglorious Bustards and stayed up in Los Piños, on the edge of Parque Naturel de la Sierre de Andujar.

On the way south we first stopped for a look at Laguna de Navaseca, about halfway between Madrid and Andujar - ideal birding stop with lots of birds, including many White-headed Ducks already getting into business:

Then it was up to the impressive Parque Natural de la Sierra de Andujar. We had planned to dedicate three full days and another morning for Lynx. Because of foul weather and various other limitations we spent much less time up on the mountain. 

Foul weather

When the sun did come out, we enjoyed spectacular Andujar scenery.

Embalse del Encinarejo

Sunset over Basilica de Nuestra Señora de la Cabeza

When planning the trip I got the impression that Lynx was almost guaranteed with the amount of time we had planned to spend. In practice, we had to work very hard to get just a glimpse of this phantom cat. We spent most of our time at La Lancha, that seems to be the place for Lynx nowadays. On our final afternoon, in fading light, news came through of a male that was spotted down the road. We sped there, joining a rather large crowd assembled there.

After a nerve-wrecking wait the large macho was finally spotted patrolling his territory slowly, thanks to a mischief of mobbing magpies. He was distant, and my camera didn't cope well with the harsh conditions. Check this abstract illustration called 'Lynx walking majestically by a bush'.

Amir, however, managed to obtain some decent footage:

Adrenalin levels were high, and we were pretty chuffed. However, sadly, not all of our team managed to connect with the cat, and viewing conditions for those who saw it were far from ideal. We left the mountain with a slightly bitter taste, and hunger for another visit.

Birding was good, especially when the sun was out, highlights being Spanish Eagle, Cinereous Vulture, Iberian Green Woodpecker, Rock Bunting, Dartford Warbler and generally large numbers of finches. Check this representative eBird checklist.

Spanish Eagle

Cinereous Vulture

Supporting mammalian cast was Spanish ibex near the dam, including these two playful young males:

We broke the long journey back to Madrid and home in some familiar agro-steppe habitat south of Tembleque (thanks Remco!). We found there large flocks of Great Bustards, Little Bustards, Calandra Larks and other birds sheltering from the horrendous weather.

Avutardas

As always, big, wet bessos to the team for yet another great trip. Harder work this time, but fun nevertheless. Thanks to Simon and Niki for support before and during the trip.

Decade summary #6 - Best of 2015

2015 was my first full year in the UK. I tried to get as much birding done in between family and work commitments, though admittedly much of my birding time was spent on twitching. I didn't develop into a top-class twitcher, though in 2015 I twitched an island for the first time - Great Blue Heron on Scilly:

Another exciting bird was the Acadian Flycatcher in Dungeness - the first for the Western Palearctic.

In March I did a short fieldwork session in Portugal and Spain where I got to spend quality time with my research subject - Great Bustard. 

In 2015 two dear friendships developed and intensified. James Lowen became my partner in crime in many twitches. Scotch eggs, laughs and lots of good birds together. Bessos, James.

I had the honour and privilege to spend a week on Shetland with Martin Garner. Through Martin I met many other lovely people who became my friends too. With winds blowing in the wrong direction for the entire week, birding was hard work, but we did connect with a Shetland specialty, Pechora Pipit, and I found a Blyth's Reed within the first hour of birding on the island.

Highlight of the week was of course the people - thank you Martin for making this happen.

Peter Colston, the late Martin Garner, moi, Paul Harvey and Roger Riddington

Full annual summary here.

Last days of fieldwork in Spain

I am almost back home, and have a lot of catching-up to do. In the last few days we worked in several sites in Badajoz and Caceres. We visited the SPA of La Albuera in western Badajoz, and were quite depressed to find there a huge vineyard planted right in the middle of the former lekking area. Back in 2015 this was a fantastic site - not anymore unfortunately. This is where the lekking area used to be:

Still quite many Montagu's Harriers there. This stunning male enjoyed the new perches in the early morning light:

We also worked in Campo Lugar which was actually quite beautiful. Large expanses of pastures and traditional cereal fields, and many steppe birds. However, I met a person monitoring grasshoppers there. The joy there is short-lived. In a few days the Extremadura government will send in an army of insect-busters to spray the entire SPA with insecticides, to combat 'grasshopper plagues'. Sad. Re'a did see a Pallid harrier there, most probably the same individual we had had in Sierra de Fuentes a few days earlier.

From there we moved on to a few days of work in Llanos de Trujillo. We were based in Casa Rural El Recuerdo. The plains are vast and beautiful, but densities of steppe birds were relatively low. I had some extra birding experiences there. First, I found this Long-legged Buzzard south of Trujillo on May 16th, a good-looking massive bird. A good national rarity. These are record shots from a huge distance. Here it's on the right, with a Common Buzzard on the left:

It was very shy and kept its distance, but in this long-shot the frontal pattern looks good:

Again, we encountered low densities of steppe birds in Llanos de Trujillo. Only a handful of Little Bustards. Few Great Bustards.

It was very hot

Llanos de Trujillo has phenomenal livestock density, which may be the reason for the few steppe birds. The vultures certainly enjoy all the animals - plenty of dead sheep to feed on. Among the many griffons on a dead sheep, this rogue individual kept me on my toes. Striking bird!

A more standard looking Black Vulture, very low above my head:

Before heading back home to the UK we made time for a cheeky visit to Monfrague - more on that in the next post.

La Serena birds

We spent four days working in La Serena in southeastern Badajoz. It was actually pretty good. Good numbers of sandgrouse and larks, monty's and pratincoles, but few bustards sadly. Here are some photos I took during the days we were there. Quite many photos actually. Yes, I do work!
Let's start with some steppe birds for which I came to Iberia. First things first. King of the steppe, male Great Bustard:

Pin-tailed Sandgrouse are a new feature in our counts - they are absent from Portugal. Noisy flocks are seen flying to drink in the morning and evening too.

Calandra and Short-toed Larks were present in high densities in areas of short grass. This is a singing male Short-toed Lark:

Thekla Larks are found here on the rough rocky hillsides, away from dehesa / montado:

Zitting Cisticolas were present in much lower densities in dry La Serena compared to lush Alentejo. This is the first one I bothered to photograph this trip, a baby:

We found Collared Pratincoles breeding in several sites, in dry fields not far from water. Always a treat to watch and photograph.

Group photo with Little Ringed Plover and Crested Lark

One species that seems to be in BIG trouble is European Roller. We have been a month in Iberia now, and have seen a total of 6 birds! Something seems to be terribly wrong. What has happened to them so quickly? Eurpean Roller was recently downlisted from NT to Least Concern. My gut feelings is that this listing is horribly wrong. I photographed a pair I found breeding in an old house north of Castuera. Rockin' and rollin'.

Stunning birds

Red-billed Choughs are funny birds. They are found here is small numbers, are were surprisingly shy and difficult to photograph.

Now to some raptors. There are lots of raptors in La Serena. Especially vultures, which is not surprising given the incredible livestock density.

Sheep grazing with Castillo de Puebla de Alcocer in the background - see below

We saw only two Egyptian Vultures in La Serena, which is worrying too, but Griffons and Black Vultures were present in good numbers. Fences every direction you look...

Black Vulture

Eurasian Griffons

Short-toed Eagle - quite a few of them

Montagu's Harriers were seen everywhere, really important work done by ANSER to protect their nests. I didn't photograph any in La Serena. But this Marsh Harrier just insisted to get papped. I am actually not sure about its age and sex, need to do some homework. Not straightforward.

On 3rd May I finished work late. When I drove out of the field, I noticed this male Little Bustard singing in soft light post sunset. I loved the pastel colours of the dry grass and stopped to photograph him. Have I said before that I can't get enough of them?

Little Bustard

After I was done, I was sure it's the end of my day and returned the camera to its bag on the back seat. After a few minutes I was surprised to flush a harrier in half darkness. A quick look showed the distinctive boa of a Pallid Harrier! A rarity in Spain, I knew I had to get a record shot. The harrier flew away in haste, mobbed by a local breeding pair of Montys. I frantically grabbed my camera and fired off some shots in wrong settings. Most photos came out completely blurry or dark, but few are just about enough for identification. Sweet.

Pallid Harrier - 2cy female. Looking up towards the aggressive monty

It had a good meal apparently - full crotch

Diagnostic pattern to primaries - very pale wingtip compared to monty

And then it was gone, never to be seen again

After dark action didn't end. We found several singing Red-necked Nightjars in funny habitat here. We also saw several Eagle Owls sitting above the road north of Castuera. One night when we drove back we found a large chick (or 'chicken' as some locals call chicks) sat in the middle of the road. I slammed the brakes, and we relocated him to a safer spot away from the road. The ginormous parents watched us from above. Incredible experience.

One afternoon after work we visited Castillo de Puebla de Alcocer. I was told that White-rumped Swifts may occur there. Not yet. But the view from up top is breathtaking. 

There was a constant movement of local raptors, often at eye level, including this Black Vulture:

Lots of nice little birds were seen around the castle. Rock Buntings are lovely, aren't they?

A pair of Blue Rock Thrush breeds in the deserted cafe up there. The azure male brought to the nest a young, but still pretty big, Large Psammodromus (Psammodromus algirus):

This leads me to my next post, that a-typically will be dedicated to non-birds!