This morning we got to La Portilla at dawn with Blue Rock Thrush singing (not much, as yet) and a magnificent background din of trumpeting Cranes. An Imperial Eagle was perched on one of its favourite Holm Oaks to the right. We heard another one, which soon appeared from the left with twigs in its beak and also in its claws. A Peregrine Falcon suddently appeared, to put the fear of christ into a flock of pigeons. By moving about a bit we finally managed to get splendid views of the incubating Eagle Owl on its nest.
On the way to Tajadilla we saw a big female Sparrow Hawk fly over. In Tajadilla lots of Hawfinches as usual but nothing else. In Salto del Gitano lots of Griffons, another Blue Rock Thrush singing and couple of Song Thrushes who never quite got going (they don't breed here).
After breakfasting in Villarreal de San Carlos we were passing the viewpoint called La Higuerilla, when I suddenly remembered that a female Goosander had been seen there a couple of weeks back and we stopped on spec. As soon as we stepped out of car we saw her flying across the Tiétar and then fishing in the bays at the side of the river. Even though we saw thouands of Goosdanders a day in Norway last summer we still enjoyed seeing only the second ever bird for Extremadura.
There can't be many places in the whole world where you can watch an Eagle Owl incubating on its nest, a pair of Imperial Eagles building theirs, with a Goosander fishing in the water below them.
Although visibility was poor I did manage to get a couple of shots of the Griffons in flight.
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