Kaleidoscope of flowers and raptor rapture


It had been a great day, the morning on the plains with good views of Black-bellied and Pin-tailed Sandgrouse, a bachelor group of 15 Great Bustards, Tawny Pipit, four species of lark and lots of Montagu's Harriers. At lunch we had watched a Little Bustard calling amidst a field of kaleidoscope colours of masses of wild flowers. Then, just as mid-afternoon approached, the temperature was edging upwards and what could very easily have been the quietest part of the day, we had what could only be described as fifteen minutes of sheer magnificence. We had stopped to take a walk, beside a field where hay was being baled. I spotted an immature Golden Eagle, quite low over the back of the field, apparently searching the cut hay for any prey. We watched it as it hunted, with the farmers working the machinery in the foreground. We then heard the barking of a Spanish Imperial Eagle and an immature flew swiftly in from the right, intent on chasing the Golden Eagle away. A pursuit ensued, the slightly smaller Spanish Imperial Eagle mobbing the Golden Eagle vigorously. As we watched them, something caught my eye above us. It was another Golden Eagle, this time an adult, soaring above us. We then noticed that below it was another juvenile Golden Eagle! Three in the sky at the same time!

A second juvenile Spanish Imperial Eagle arrived on the scene and flew low and rather heavily to the left and then back again in front of us. Less than a minute later an adult Bonelli's Eagle flew past, chasing the imperial! Above us a second Bonelli's appeared soaring high amongst Griffon Vultures. The first Bonelli's returned, giving us a superb flypast.

It had been a great day for raptors, earlier we had seen two Bonelli's Eagles, four Short-toed Eagles and four Booted Eagles..so all five eagle species, and ten other raptor species as well! What a day!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Big Year 2022 Part Three: More special moments - November to December

Image
  Part Three: More special moments - November to December Little Owl (Martin Kelsey): first seen 15 January By the start of November, I reappraised my progress. There were a few species, like Grasshopper Warbler (a scarce autumn passage bird and always seen just by luck) that I had missed and with now little chance of recovering. There were also a few winter birds that I had missed at the start of the year that I still had a chance to find. The first one I found was just 500 metres from my front gate: a pair of Bullfinches feeding on desiccated blackberries in brambles growing over an old wall. They were first I had ever seen so close to home. At my local patch Alcollarín where the water levels were extremely low because of the prolonged drought, the waders had been better than usual (probably because the nearby rice fields were so dry) and the winter gull roost was starting to build up in numbers. I paid a visit one late afternoon. Below the dam, something made me pause. The Alcolla
Read more

Big Year 2022 Part 2: Windows of Opportunity - April to October

Image
  Part 2: Windows of Opportunity - April to October Black-winged Kite (Martin Kelsey) : first seen 28th January April is a crucial month in any Big Year attempt in Extremadura. This is the peak month for the northward passage of waders. Waders such as Grey Plover, Sanderling, Red Knot, Turnstone, Whimbrel and Bar-tailed Godwit are very scarce. Although most migrate along the coast, some follow an overland route across Spain. If they meet adverse conditions, they might pause and stop off for a very brief rest. The rice fields in the centre of Extremadura and the shores of reservoirs provide places for them to stop and feed. Whilst there is still some migration of Arctic-bound waders in early May (especially Common Ringed Plovers) and some of these species can also make an appearance in early autumn, April offers us the best opportunity. It is a narrow window of opportunity. April is also a time when I am out every day with clients, visiting the full spectrum of habitats, the rice fiel
Read more

Big Year 2022: Part One The rising curve - January to March

Image
Spanish Sparrow (Martin Kelsey): first seen 8th January. The rising curve - January to March   I had never intended to do a “Big Year” in Extremadura in 2022, to see how many of birds I could record in twelve months. We spent the New Year in Galicia, the wonderfully wet and windy north-west of Spain, and it wasn’t until January 6th that I saw my first birds of the year in Extremadura. I was planning to be quite relaxed about my birding. But by February, it was clear that, thanks to strokes of luck and a lot of time spent in the field, I was doing rather well in the accumulative total of birds seen. So, I decided then that I would set myself two targets: to break my own record of 256 species and to see more species than anyone else in 2022.  However, I would also set some rules. First, only to twitch (i.e to make a special journey to see a specific individual bird found by someone else) if I had never seen that species before in Extremadura, all other birds would be “self-found”. I woul
Read more