The 3rd Bird Fair in Extremadura was a good excuse for me to make the long haul in my “trusty” white Rover from Lleida to Cáceres province for the last weekend in February.
So it was not really a birding trip – I was not there to make a concerted effort to search for interesting birds, but rather to check out a few new areas, to drive back and forth from the fair, to take some landscape shots, etc. Even so I still managed to see a pretty good selection of our feathered friends. Here is the roll of honour:
Imperial Eagle at Monfragüe
The Imperial Eagle is the one in the middle
Bonelli’s Eagle – 2 soaring over the fair car park on Saturday
Short-toed Eagle – the first of the year in Monfragüe
Golden Eagle – 1 at close range in Monfragüe
Black-winged Kites – 5 different birds in one day, to the north of the park.
Great Spotted Cuckoo – 1 noisy bird, another first of the year.
Egyptian Vulture – 2 in Monfragüe, also my first for 2009
Black Vulture, Hawfinch, Azure-winged Magpie – relatively easy at various locations
Azure-winged Magpies seem to be very conspicuous at this time of the year
Spanish Sparrow– groups at 3 different sites
Spanish Sparrows – aren’t they cute?
Black Stork – 1 at Monfragüe
The timid Black Stork
Great Bustard – 7 or 8 on the plains near Cáceres
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