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Spain, October 4-15,

Oct 4

We arrived in the afternoon but by the time we got the car hire sorted (this took nearly two hours, and we booked it in advance!) there was no time to get anywhere to bird before it got dark. We therefore decided to drive all the way from Madrid to Trujillo, where we stayed the night

Oct 5

We both had some guide books which indicated to us where to look for the key species for us. We found ourselves cursing these books, in particular the two "Where to watch birds in SW and NE Spain" books, as they painted a picture of extreme over-optimism, which turns out to be the norm with some of these guides. According to these books, we should even be seeing Ruppell's Vultures fairly commonly! We didn't even bother checking the Griffons for that one. Some may say we just simply weren't good enough in finding the birds, but, we even found key species outside areas described, and we saw most of our targets in an 11 day dash around the country - we did ok.

The sun had barely risen when we added our first lifer of the trip: Great Bustard. We started off at one of the recommended sites in the Caceres - Trujillo Plains in the WTWB in SW Spain book. Several were seen flying over the general area. We basically drove from one recommended spot to another and birded. We soon added Azure-winged Magpie and through the corner of my eye while driving, some Black-bellied Sangrouse. Other notable birds included several Red Kite, Short-toed and Booted Eagles, Little Owls, Marsh Sandpiper, Calandra Lark, Crag Martin and abundant Corn Buntings. After lunch we started driving up towards Monfraque. While crossing a bridge we noticed some birds and drove down a track towards the stream. We saw our first Thekla Lark here. It soon started to rain. The couple of hours we spent up at Monfraque were completely washed out. No Eagles or Vultures up there then. Late afternoon and it started to dry. We tried the Belen Plains. There were some Great Bustards in the fields, but no Little ones. We listened hard, but no sign of the "farty" calls!

Oct 6

Early morning and it's still raining. We try a couple more spots in the Caceres-Trujillo Plains area. There were more Black-bellied Sandgrouse, but nothing else more interesting than Dartford Warbler, Red-legged Partridge and Lapwing. So we drive down towards Badajoz and cross over the border into Portugal. The first bird to greet us is indeed a lifer for me: Black-shouldered Kite. We're basically trying back-up sites for the Little Bustard but its not looking good.  On we go down to Seville and beyond to Isla Menor. This is a great site with lots of birds but the tracks can get quite muddy. Purple Swamphen was a lifer for us, and there were lots of them around. There were also abundant White Storks (perhaps 1000+) and a couple of Black Storks also. Other birds of note were Squacco Heron, lots of Cattle Egrets, Marsh Harrier, Common and Green Sandpiper, Cetti's Warbler and Zitting Cisticola (Fan-tailed Warbler). We thought about staying in Seville, but our failure to find a motel easily meant we ended up driving towards Huelva and stayed in a motel right next to Donana National Park, our destination the following day.

Oct 7

Up before dawn, hoping we might see nightjars. The road from La Rocina to the Palacio Del Acebron yielded three Red-necked Nightjars sitting in the road. We managed to sit and study them for 10-20 seconds in the headlights before they took off. Unfortunately still no European Nightjar for me then! At dawn we birded around the La Rocina area, and there were some migrant passerines around, including a Grasshopper Warbler which I somehow failed to identify even though I found it first. Stavros recognised it when I pointed it out to him, and then it disappeared before I could get another look. And it would have been a lifer too. Also here were Serin, Tree Sparrow, Hoopoe, Spotted and Pied Flycatchers, Sand Martin, Red-rumped Swallow, and Sardinian, Garden, Dartford, and Willow Warblers, while a presumed Chiffchaff did not seem to be the Iberian form. We guessed these had already moved on - the guides state they leave as early as August. In the reedy areas we saw Water Rail, Purple Swamphen and Snipe.

At around lunchtime we arranged to go on the arranged tour of the park, which takes you into the areas that are normally of restricted access. First it took us along the coast, which gave me another lifer, the Audouin's Gull. Also here were Slender-billed Gull and Black, Sandwich and Common Terns, as well as Oystercatcher, Kentish Plover and Sanderling. Then through the forested area, and we were constantly looking out of the bus windows for something interesting. Then Stavros says I think I see the Imperial Eagle. I have a look and it looks suspicious, so I shout to the driver "STOP, Imperial Eagle!"  Sightings on the tour are not that regular, so the driver immediately brought the bus to a halt. We looked at it carefully from inside the bus and made out the markings well as it circled around for a while. Yes, it was indeed the most important find on the trip, the Spanish Imperial Eagle. Till that point we had seen Buzzards, Red Kites and Griffons in Donana that day, but luckily Stavros managed to pick out this distant raptor from the back of a bus on a very bumpy track.The rest of the day was a bit of an anticlimax, but we did see some rather distant Greater Flamingos in the El Rocio area.

Oct 8

We stayed at the same motel, and the next morning we decided to drive along another part of Donana, with the target species being Pin-tailed Sandgrouse. We drove for several hours, with no luck. We did see some more Flamingos, along with Spoonbill, Red-crested Pochard among other ducks, some waders including Marsh Sandpiper, Avocet, Black-winged Stilt and Black-tailed Godwit and some of the passerines we had seen previously.

In the afternoon we headed off to Laguna de Medina, famous for breeding White-headed and Marbled Ducks. White-headed Duck was found easily, it is conspicuous and will often swim in the middle of the lake. Then came the major disappointment for me: Stavros has a scope, I do not. I couldn't see much from that distant with my bins, so wandered down the track to look for passerines while he studied the ducks. I soon found a Melodious Warbler, and shouted out to Stavros to come, as it would be a lifer for him. He seemed to look my way, so I turned to follow the bird. I look again, and he's not coming. I then lose the bird, and wander on. Stavros catches up 15 minutes later and is livid at missing out on the bird - he promises if he finds Marbled Duck he won't show it to me, and that's how it works out. So I miss out on one of the top three species of the region because of this pettiness. I did look hard with the scope after, but everything that looked anything like a Marbled Duck, near the reeds, turned out to be a female Red-crested Pochard. I did see my first Crested Coot, but that was little consolation. We ended up returning here on two other occasions because of this Marbled Duck business, but I couldn't find it. One begins to think about the whole point of going birding with someone else when things like this happen. Fortunately, future trips have not disintegrated into this kind of farce. There were Greater Flamingos here, along with Black-necked Grebe, Griffon Vulture, Booted Eagle, Osprey, Black Tern and Marsh Harrier to name but a few.

Oct 9

A pre-dawn start again, this time we are at the Rock of Gibraltar. We have driven in, which is not recommended, because of the huge delays to get out, but it is a fair distance from the border to the far side of the rock. We have driven right to the end and parked in a car park by the coast. We take a small trail up which ends with various no entry barriers, but looking around we see some partridges flying across and disappearing over a small wall. Barbary Partridge, they may have been, but what awful views. We waited a little longer but there was no more activity, so we went back to the car park to do a little sea-watching. I soon added Cory's Shearwater, of which there were loads, and they were coming very close in. There were also Gannet and Shag. Then we took the Cable Car up to the main part of the rock, hoping for the abundant migrants mentioned in the Southern & Western Spain guide. There was, like on my previous visit, very little activity, although Peregrine, Sparrowhawk and a flock of Black Storks was notable.

When we finally managed to get back through the border into Spain, we tried a migrant trap known as Montes de Tarifa, where there was little in the way of passerines, but we did see Short-toed and Booted Eagles, before driving along La Janda, which was just about our last chance at Little Bustard according to the guide. We were indeed fairly pessimistic - we missed this species in its stronghold in Extremadura, so finding a remnant population in Andalucia seemed like a tall order. We drove along for ages, saw Hen Harrier, White Stork, and finally came to a junction. I misread the map - this was the end of the site in actual fact, but we ended driving on, having turned left, for a couple more miles. Then I notice some birds in a field on the other side of the road and tell Stavros to stop so we can have a look. I can't make anything out through the car windows so get out. Before I can see, he says "it's the Little Bustards!" There were about two dozen of them, well camouflaged, in their winter plumage, foraging quietly. We watched for a good while, before heading back east, after a short stop at dusk at Sierra de la Plata, hoping for White-rumped Swift. We stayed the night in Fuengirola.

Oct 10

Another pre-dawn start, in fact we must have left just after 3am. We were heading out to the south-eastern tip, Capo de Gata. On arrival, it was raining. Ironic this, as the bird guide to SW Spain describes Almeria province as the driest region in Europe. Well we probably got its annual rainfall in this one day. Anyway, we tried another back-up site for Marbled Duck: Canada de las norias. Of note here were Greater Flamingo, White-headed Duck, Purple Swamphen, Black and Whiskered Terns, Bluethroat, Reed Warbler and Bearded Tit.

It eventually started to dry out, and this got the mosquitoes going. We headed on to the Sierra de Capo de Gata. Here, at the most intensely arid area in Europe with rainfall of 120mm per year, it also started to rain before long. We parked at the lighthouse and walked along the road east and before long found the key species: Black Wheatear. This is THE best place to find this species. Stavros said he saw one on our last day further north, but otherwise, they are quite scarce elsewhere. We saw several here, first at a distance, flying, showing off the contrasting plumage, then closer, sitting on telephone wires and other prominent perches. There were also some Northern Wheatears here.

We drove back through Grenada province to the Sierra de Camarolo in the Malaga area. It started to get foggy soon after our arrival, and Stavros wasn't happy with the views of Chough to add them to his life list. There were better views of Black Redstart, Coal Tit, Short-toed Treecreeper, Azure-winged Magpie and Cirl Bunting among others. A Merlin flew over the car on our way back down. We drove further north and stayed the night at a place recommended in THAT guide. Needless to say, there was a problem with the hot water at that place, but other than that, it was pleasant enough.

Oct 11

Back to Sierra Camarolo, according to the guide THE best place for Rock Sparrow. No sign of them. It was very windy on this day, and we saw cars overturned - one knocked down a post on one side, and a tree on the other before ending upside down in a field. Back to the birds, and I did manage a lifer at Camarolo. A couple of Rock Buntings obliged as we were leaving. We also saw Tree Pipit, Thekla Lark, Cirl Bunting and Sparrowhawk among others. In the afternoon, the gales continued and our last visit to Laguna De Medina failed to yield the Marbled Duck.

Oct 12

This day was spent mainly in the car, as we headed up right through the Castille La Mancha province. We did see some good birds along the way though. We stopped early at Los Cabaneros (from now on the sites are mainly from the NE Spain guide book). Here it didn't take long to see lots of Black Vultures, a lifer for Stavros. There were also some Black-shouldered Kites here.

It took nearly three hours to get out of Madrid, as we got stuck in the mass exodus that is the Spanish National Day (we think). All routes out of Madrid were jammed. WE headed towards Zaragoza, and our destination for the afternoon was Las Esteppas de Belchite.

We got there with perhaps an hour or two of sunlight left, and started looking for a particular area shown in the guides. We couldn't find it, but saw a Golden Eagle, and soon after Chough, Southern Grey Shrike,  Hoopoe, Calandra Lark, Lesser Short-toed Lark and amongst a dozen or so Black-bellied Sandgrouse, we saw three Pin-tailed Sandgrouse. Couldn't find any Dupont's Lark in the recommended area (which we weren't sure we were in anyway) and the mozzies started getting bad. WE headed off toward Zaragoza.

Zaragoza is perhaps the worst town to try and get through ever. Well we have been to lots of places and this one stands in the memory. Ok it was a festival occasion but not only was the traffic shocking, but the road signs were either non-existent or completely misleading. Eventually we did manage to head up into the Pyrenees. We failed to find any available room at perhaps two dozen motels at towns and villages on the way up. Like I said, the whole of Madrid had already filled every last room. By 1am we gave up. Already in the Pyrenees, we sneaked into a campground and slept in the car.

Oct 13

Having slept in the car, we were damn cold in the morning, and didn't last long at the supposed Wallcreeper site. So on to Ordesa National Park, a beautiful place with sheer cliffs and Lammergeiers! It wasn't long before we spotted them and saw at least 5 in all, juveniles and adults. There were also good numbers of Golden Eagles and in the forests we saw things like Goldcrest and Firecrest, Crested Tit and Treecreeper, and there were also Red Kite and Chough about. A Dipper was a welcome addition to our Spain list.

Oct 14

We tried a few more sites in the Pyrenees, hoping for a few more lifers, perhaps something like Citril or Snow Finch, Capercaillie or Ptarmigan. No such luck. Cleaning up in the Pyrenees needs a lot longer than one and a half days. The sites we visited included Hecho Valley and Valley de Roncal and the most notable birds were one Lammergeier, Blue Rock Thrush, Alpine Chough, Meadow and Water Pipit, Grey Wagtail, Yellowhammer, Crag Martin and also lots of Northern Wheatears. I was hoping for Black Woodpecker, and we may have heard one (Stavros thought he recognised the call). Before it got dark we tried birding San Juan De la Pena, on the way back down south. We got there fairly late, having underestimated the time it would take on the windy road, but did see Mistle Thrush, Buzzard, Red Kite, Great Spotted Woodpecker and Raven.

Oct 15

Last day and we had two absolute musts to find. We started out at Las Esteppas de Belchite once again. We targeted the spot recommended and started flushing some larks. What were those ones running around? Dupont's Lark at last, we saw a few well. There were also Calandra, Lesser short-toed and of course Crested Larks also. 15 Stone Curlew were also around, and the mozzies were really biting hard! We saw more Black-bellied and Pin-tailed Sandgrouse but failed once again to find Rock Sparrow, perhaps the most noticeable absentee from our list - shouldn't it be common?

Early afternoon and while heading back to Madrid, we try a place recommended in a trip report for Citril Finch. This is Sierra de Guidarama, in the Navacerrada area. We find the place, see a Black Vulture as soon as we get out of the car, and, within five minutes I see some small finches flying by. I tell Stavros I think I've found them and we go back towards where they went. Before long we find them feeding on the ground. Crippling views of a European endemic, the Citril Finch. We birded a little more in the area before heading back to Madrid to find a hotel near the airport, and then go out on the town and celebrate. We did that a little too hard, and missed our flights early the next morning!

Systematic List (Sibley & Monroe format)

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