WATCHING RUFOUS-TAILED SCRUB ROBINS

Sunday morning we spent watching Rufous-Tailed Scrub Robins, only 60 k from the house as the crow flies but 1.5 hours by car.

As soon as we arrived we saw the first Black-Eared Wheatears of the day, together with Linnets, Blue Tits, Thekla Larks, etc. Lots of Sardinian Warblers were singing and we also later heard (and glimpsed) an Orphean Warbler.

Once we started walking we passed through territory after territory of Rufous-Tailed Scrub Robins – a real joy. In all we saw 8 territorial males in a 2 k stroll. But the best of all came when one we were watching a long way off through the telescope decided to to come towards us to bathe in a brook. The best thing about it was that it was the bird itself that decided to come up to us rather than us chasing him.

First of all a quick bramble-top recce to make sure there’s no danger before dropping down to bathe.

 Slowly he hopped towards the brook along along the path

Until he finally had a long bath, which he seemed to enjoy

We also saw Booted Eagles and loads of Black Kites.

A perfect morning, especially after the victory the night before of BARÇA!!!!!!!!!!!

JUST TO KEEP THE BALL ROLLING

For reasons too boring to explain I haven't been able to get out in the country much lately. But this fetching mother and her fledgling son came to see me in my own house, so I took the chance of a few snapshots from inside our living room. Hope I can soon get back to making trips a bit further afield!

SUBZERO IN MAY

SUBZERO IN MAY

We spent last weekend in Gredos, the high mountain range (2600 m) behind our house. On the first day (Saturday) we walked up from the car park at La Plataforma (1800) to the mountain pass called Puerto de Candeleda (c. 2000 m). The weather was bad at the start of the walk, with wind and driving rain, but then bucked up and we were able to see and hear Bluethroats on the way up to the pass (better was to come the next day). A calling flock of Choughs flew over our head.

 Lots of Wheatears, Alpine Pipits and some lovely Yellow Wagtails, like this one perched atop the broom.

  

Lots of mountain goats, as usual, and a few Cinereous Vultures among the Griffons.

  

One the Sunday we left the hotel at 5.30 in the morning with the temperature at -2 degrees and a strong ground frost on the way up the mountain!!!!! The first Bluethroats were all puffed up against the cold.

 Maybe because of the low temperatures we saw few Rock Thrushes, but when the day warmed up a bit we saw this lovely pair at the top of the climb near Circo de Gredos, quite a long way off, together with two Alpine Accentors that stayed outside camera range. Here are two photos of the male and female Rock Thrush.

  

Skylarks were up in the air singing nearly all the time but this bird came down to the broom scrub to sing from atop a bush.

 The ubiquitous Dunnocks are also worth a snapshot.

  

On the way down, with the temperatures now much higher, we found that the Bluethroats had sleeked down a lot.

 We're used to seeing Bluethroats singing and displaying with their tails cocked upright but this bird did a strange little strutting dance with his head pointed skywards too. Really curious to watch.

The Bluethroats of Gredos either have a white spot on their blue breasts or none at all, but this bird seemed to have a reddish spot like the northern European race

  

 

TWENTY KILOMETRES IN TWO AND A HALF HOURS

The photos posted in today's blog entry were taken only 20 K from our house here in Villanueva de la Vera. The trouble is that to get there we have to drive right round the massif of Gredos mountain range (1.5 hours) and then walk up the high-mountain broom scrub where they breed. Two and a half hours to get to a site that is only 20 K from our house as the crow flies! The bird in question is the beautiful Bluethroat, for me one of the handsomest high mountain birds, together with the Rock Thrush. On the morning last week when I took this photo the Bluethroats were very restless, still squabbling to settle their territories and hardly staying still a few seconds. I'm going up there again this weekend to see if I can get better photos of the Bluethroat, Rock Thrush, Wheatears, Yellow Wagtails, Alpine Pipits, Skylarks and all the other high-mountain birds that breed so close and yet so "far" from our house.

A WEEKEND OF CONTRASTS

Saturday was a long trudge. We walked up from our own house, at a height of 500 m, to about 1200 m in search of our favourite middle-altitude hillside birds: Pied Flycatcher and Redstart. It was very hard going, walking through virgin brush and rock without trails and with a final slope of about 50%. But it was all worth while because we found 10 pairs of Pied Flycachers on the way up and then two gorgeous male Redstarts singing at the top of the climb where the oakwood thins out.

Sunday was a lazier day. We drove to the Llanos de Cáceres to see the grassland species. In the nestboxes hanging from the telegraph posts we saw 6 species nesting: Spotless Starling, Jackdaw, Common Kestrel, Lesser Kestrel, Little Owl and, the most beautiful of all, the Roller with its spectacular display flights. In all we saw about a dozen Rollers.

And here's a photo of the Little Owl.

We found another Montagu’s Harrier Colony and I got this snap of a quartering male:

Among other raptors we saw a young Bonelli's Eagle at dawn and an adult at midday. The big grassland species put in quite a good showing, with about 8 Great Bustards, some doing their courtship ritual, 2 Stone Curlews, singing at times, and loads of Quail singing - and, miraculously we even managed to see one! Little Bustards were everywhere but we never managed to catch one glimpse. A flock of 3 Black-Bellied Sandgrouse flew over but we didn’t see any Pintailed Sandgrouse.

As for the small grassland species, Calandra Larks were always up the sky singing, accompanied lower down by Thekla Larks, Crested Larks and Corn Buntings, with their indefatigable jangle. Here’s one at it:

Two very different days but both splendid in their different ways.

Today (Monday) I'll be going up to the Gredos mountain range to see if there's any luck with the high mountain species. I'll let you know how it goes.

GOING FOR THE OWL FIVESOME

Our nearest Roller site is a 40-minute car drive away on the border between Cáceres and Toledo. The local village is called Corchuela. Every year we like to get there very early, at about 6, and then walk in to the Roller spot as the light grows. One year we recorded 5 different species of owl on this pre-dawn walk-in, namely Eagle Owl, Long-Eared Owl, Tawny Owl, Little Owl and Scops Owl. This time the two smallest owls let us down but we did hear 2 or 3 Eagle Owls, singing a lot, 1 Long-Eared Owl as soon as we stepped out of the car and 3 or 4 tawnies.

The Roller eventually turned up after a one-and-a-half hour wait, and then we saw the pair fighting off 4 Jackdaws from their nesting holes. Then we saw them a few more times later in the morning.

The floor was carpeted with Tongue Orchids (Serapias lingua).

As well as Nightingale, Cuckoo and the other dawn choristers we also heard two Orphean Warblers and the first Golden Oriole of the year.

But the best birds of all (Roller permitting) were the gorgeous Bee-eaters, which at last let me take some decent shots.

A fabulous morning in a splendid spot.

 

A DAY ON THE PLAINS

Sunday last we decided to visit a place we'd never been to before and it turned out to be mindblowing.

The site was Santa Marta de Magasca and all its surrounding plains and Holm-Oak woods, about one and a half hours from our house by car. We arrived at a spot called Las Canteras at about 7:30. As soon as we stepped out of the car we heard 3 or 4 Little Bustards calling and many Calandra Larks singing. We had cracking views of a male Little Bustard in full breeding plumage and we saw the little head shake it makes when it emits its call. They turned out to be very common in the area and we heard them at every stopping point.

In another place we saw a Great Bustard displaying to a female with all his plumage turned inside out, strutting along like a great white two-legged ball. Amazing!!!!! Here we also saw the first Black-Bellied Sandgrouse and Pintailed Sandgrouse. A young Imperial Eagle flew overhead and a friend found this lovely Ladder Snake coiled up under a stone.

The biggest flock of Pintailed Sandgrouse was 47, all of them calling in the air. Really beautiful.

Later we saw an impressive breeding colony of Montagu's Harriers. We watched their tumbling display flights and saw seven males in the air together. It was like watching a tern colony in Norway.

To wind up a fabulous day we found two Long-Eared Owl fledglings. We also saw the adult nearby but didn't get a shot of him/her.