Four out of Five

Saturday morning we decided to go to Monfragüe. It’s really quite outrageous not to go more often when it’s so close by. It’s a place that never lets you down and Saturday was no exception. We saw a Nightjar sp. in the road driving in at dawn. At Salto de Gitano we had a great time watching the pair of peregrines repeatedly buzzing a Golden Eagle, probably a second winter bird with quite a bit of white in wings and tail. This prompted us to try for the “full set” of five eagles, since the Golden Eagle is the one that’s always let us down in the past, and especially after seeing the two summer visitors up at the Castle, which could have proved tricky in October.

 Short-Toed Eagle 

From the Castle we also watched a nice group of about eight White-Rumped Swifts. It was difficult to photograph the bullet-speed buggers in a very strong wind, but here are a couple of snaps I did manage.

One of the strong suits of Monfragüe is always the magnificent Griffon Vultures, which take up all sorts of beautiful postures landing and taking off or even flying by.

This next individual is either a new species of Red-Headed Vulture or it’s just come straight from a stand-up buffet.

 Now we needed the Imperial and Bonelli’s Eagle.

At the Tajadilla, one of the best spots for Bonelli’s, we had no luck but we did see this lovely Pied Flycatcher, easily the most common migrant round here right now.

We ended up at the Portilla, where we did see a couple of Imperials . . .

. . . but no Bonelli’s. Maybe next time . . .