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.

Monfragüe spectacles

Before heading back home to the UK, we made time for a cheeky visit to the spectacular Monfragüe National Park. I must admit that after spending 6 weeks in grassy plains, I was ready for a change of scenery. We had little time there but made the best of it. We had a few target species to catch up with, but also just enjoyed good birding and breathtaking scenery. Our first target was White-rumped Swift. After seeing them in Alangefrom a mile away a couple of weeks ago,  I was hoping for a more intimate encounter with them. So to the top of the castle we climbed, and indeed the sifts played ball. This pair of White-rumped Swifts breed inside the castle, and we enjoyed brilliant views of them zooming around. They are so quick and sadly my camera is almost dead, so I failed to photo them properly. Dan nailed them alright. But they are super quality birds and I couldn’t have asked for better views. 

The scenery off the top of the castle is mui espectacular. Vultures and other raptors pass at eye-level, three other swift species joined the party, Rock Buntings, Blue Rock Thrushes – the full experience.

Our second target was Spanish Imperial Eagle. Again, I saw them twice before this season but from a huge distance and no photos. And Dan needed them. The stakeout for them is the stunning viewpoint of Portilla de Tietar, overlooking a huge cliff wall. A pair of eagles bred nearby but sadly their chick died a few weeks ago, and since then they are more mobile. However we did enjoy a great performance by an adult, circling above us for a long period, interacting with griffons and other raptors passing by. Incredible bird and the views were brilliant. Not the best conditions for photography as it was very high most of the time, and my camera kept under-performing, but I cannot complain.

  

The best I could get of its upperparts when it banked

Here with a diminutive Short-toed Eagle

Target number three: Cirl Bunting. I saw one briefly a few weeks ago in the Hornachos, but that observation was completely unsatisfactory. And Dan needed them too… In Monfragüe they are common enough, and we encountered our first individuals pretty quickly. We got our photo opps just east of Tietar, along the road. Cracking bird.

Nearby Re'a found a breeding pair of Lesser Spotted Woodpeckers, sweet.

Target number four – especially for Dan. Crested Tit. I have seen many around Europe, but actually had never photographed them before. In Monfragüe they are found in conifer groves. Following the advice of Martin, we searched for them at the pass aboveCasas de Miravete. We found them rather quickly. They were extremely mobile and didn’t exactly play ball, but they are sure sweet little gems. This image does not show the red eye properly:

This one does:

Other birds there included quite a few Western Subalpine Warblers and surprising a trip bimbo – Common Redstart. Boom.

Western Subalpine Warbler

 Common Redstart

A change in vegetation and soil produced a couple of new butterflies too, including this Black-veined White:

Our last morning was spent outside of the park – more on that in the next post.

Beautiful Castro Verde

Spent most of today working in a couple of sites in Castro Verde in S Alentejo. A beautiful landscape, high-quality steppes, vast pastures, few fences, and lots of bustards. Also high numbers of Black-bellied Sandgrouse. We also had two 2cy Spanish Imperial Eagles, some Booted Eagles, Tawny pipits, Short-toed larks etc. A few mobile groups of babbler-like Azure-winged Magpies added colour to the day:

Spanish Imperial Eagle

Exceptionally yellow-throated Tawny Pipit

Male Great Bustard 

 Very good to see the general interest of the local communities in Great Bustard - figures and images everywhere, like in the small village of San Marcos:

Portugal is an interesting country. This is from Entradas:

Campiña Sur

Another full day out in the field doing bustard work. Today we wroked in Campiña Sur, in SE Badajoz. We worked in some leks in this extensive cereal bowl. Intensively cultivated landscape, but still holds a good amount of bustards. We had about 100 males today - not bad. Unfortunately, in normal fieldwork conditions, there are no photo opps of bustards. Either they are too distant, or they fly over from site to site:

Had too few Little Bustards, but this displaying male was nice:

In the afternoon we spent some time near La Encinilla, west of Campillo. We enjoyed great views of a pair of Spanish Imperial Eagles (lifer!). At first the male caught a partridge, and perched on a dead tree to eat it. Then the female joined, he passed the partridge to her, and she continued munching on the partridge. Very cool scope views but way too distant and into the sun so no photos.

Then we checked Embalse de Azuaga and the bridge where Rio Satillo crosses the road towards Andalucia. It's a good site for White-rumped Swift but they probably hadn't returned yet so we didn't see any. It was pretty good there though, with a couple of Choughs, and a Western Subalpine Warbler - never seen this subspecies before:

In the evening we checked the wetland at Esparagalejos, NW of Merida, where a Crested Coot had been present for the last week or so. We couldn't find it but there were quite many birds around - about 10 nice and rosy Water Pipits, a couple of Yellow Wagtails (one was Iberian), and quite many shorebirds.

After dusk we looked for Red-necked Nightjars near Don Alvaro but none were present - they probably hadn't returned yet either.