Booted eagle and architecture in Extremadura, Spain

Posted on May 17, 2016 by petrel41

This video is about flowers and birds in Parque Nacional Monfragüe in Extremadura, Spain.

After 23 April 2016, on 24 April 2016 we left Extremadura.

Before we left, for the last time the cuckoo, hoopoe, blackbird and collared dove sounds.

We went to Jaraicejo village. Next to the church, two gates.

Around the church, as usually, domestic pigeons flying. Suddenly, a bit of a panic as a booted eagle tries to catch one.

Swifts flying.

A white wagtail on a street.

Two inhabited white stork nests on the church.

We walk around, looking at Jaraicejo buildings.

We walk around some more.

We walk back to the village center.

Not far from there, we meet an elderly widow.

She shows us her home. Judging from the antlers on the walls, there were deer hunters in her family.

We leave, as we have to catch the bus to Madrid airport.

Extremadura, bye-bye!

Chaffinch, Sardinian warbler, bees, flowers in Extremadura, Spain

Posted on May 17, 2016 by petrel41

Still 23 April 2016 in Extremadura, Spain. After the bee-eaters, spotless starlings and rock sparrows of the morning, we went to the Garganta del Cubo stream. Above the valley, we saw this female chaffinch calling from a cork oak.

More cork oaks.

A blackbird flies across the path.

Gum rockrose flowers.

A Sardinian warbler sings.

A nightingale sings.

Many beehives with many bees.

A fungus. This species was present in many places along the path, also along the road at lower altitude. It did not seem to mind stony soil.

The introduction of Eucalyptus trees to Extremadura brought also Australian fungi.

Next, beautiful white flowers, with a beautiful blue butterfly with folded wings on them.

After our arrival in the valley, and resting there a bit, we walk back.

Sometimes, the footpath goes downwards, but mainly upwards.

A cinereous vulture flying.

Still, beautiful flowers. Like these rosemary ones.

And this lavender one.

Spotless starlings, rock sparrow in Extremadura, Spain

Posted on May 11, 2016 by petrel41

Still 23 April 2016 in Extremadura, Spain. From the hide near Jaraicejo one cannot only see the bee-eaters mentioned on this blog earlier. There are also spotless starlings like these ones, trying to squat in tunnels dug by bee-eaters in their nesting colony.

Sometimes they make lots of noise and spread their wings.

Sometimes they behave more quietly.

Sometimes they sit on a branch close to the hide.

A rock sparrow did that as well. Note also the lichen on the branch.

Extremadura, Spain bee-eater photography

Posted on May 10, 2016 by petrel41

This is a 2015 bee-eater video.

23 April 2013 was our last full day in Extremadura.

To the bee-eater colony, in the dehesa not far away from Jaraicejo village.

Though spring this year is colder and more rainy than usually, bee-eaters have already arrived at the nesting colony.

The photos of this blog post are from a small hide, not far from the sandy slope where bee-eaters dig their nesting colony holes (not the hide on the right of this photo; a similar one).

Though the bee-eaters are back from their wintering in Africa, they have not really started mating and digging nests yet.

They don’t yet often sit on the branches close to the nests and the hide. This bird is an exception.

Most bee-eaters are further away.

Like on a branch near the other hide.

Until, finally, again, a bee-eater sits down on the ‘right’ branch.

House martins, stonechats in Extremadura, Spain

Posted on May 9, 2016 by petrel41

After 21 April 2016 came 22 April 2016 in Extremadura, Spain. In Jaraicejo village, this spotless starling singing on a chimney.

Just outside the village, house martins gathered mud for their nests from dirt road puddles.

Two crested larks not far away.

We walk further. A hoopoe flying.

Many flowers.

A corn bunting sings on a fence.

A white stork flying.

As we walk back, a female and a male stonechat on a bush.

A booted eagle flying.

In the village, house martins’ nests under a roof.

A big grasshopper on a flower pot.

We continue to the two lakelets just outside the village. In the one closest to the road, as usually, a little grebe. In the one further away from the road, two little grebes and their nest; and a coot.

We continue past lupine flowers.

Later, a red kite flying.

Bee-eaters sitting on a leafless branch.

A nuthatch on a tree.

Poppies, other flowers, birds in Extremadura, Spain

Posted on May 7, 2016 by petrel41

Still 21 April 2016 in Extremadura, Spain. After the little owls and egrets of that day, we saw these poppies and other flowers near Trujillo town.

In a lakelet, two little grebes call. Also two mallards.

We continued to dehesa scenery.

In Huertas de la Magdalena village, a goldfinch singing on a TV antenna.

A bit further, one has a beautiful view of Trujillo.

More flowers still.

A male stonechat on a wall.

Little owl, egrets, red-legged partridge in Spain

Posted on May 6, 2016 by petrel41

Still 21 April 2016 in Extremadura, Spain; after seeing the great spotted cuckoo, booted eagle and other birds. Next, we saw this corn bunting, singing next to a thistle flower.

A woodchat shrike on a pole.

Two great crested grebes swimming in a lake. Also a mallard with ducklings. On the bank cattle egrets, little egrets and a spoonbill.

We are near a stone wall and eucalyptus trees. A little owl couple are said to live here. Will putting mealworms on the wall attract them?

There is the male little owl in an eucalyptus tree. You have to look hard at the picture puzzle style photo to find him.

Then, the female little owl appears from a hole in the wall.

She looks at the sky, to see if there is any threat from a booted eagle or other raptor.

Litte owl female on wall, Extremadura, 21 April 2016

Then, she feeds on the mealworms.

And disappears into the wall again.

Along the road, a red-legged partridge.

We arrive at a nesting colony where hundreds of birds live. Like this cattle egret.

As far as I could see, most birds in the colony were cattle egrets, but there were also little egrets, great egrets, grey herons, great cormorants.

And white storks.

A zitting cisticola sings while flying.

A short-toed snake eagle flies.

A short-toed lark along the road.

We arrive at the Trujillo bullring. Lesser kestrels and spotless starlings flying.

Booted eagle, great spotted cuckoo, whinchat in Spain

Posted on May 5, 2016 by petrel41

After 20 April 2016 came 21 April 2016. Probably the highlight of our stay in beautiful Extremadura in Spain. The day we saw this hoopoe.

Before that, at a filling station, a black kite, a house martin and a great egret flying.

We went to the Belén steppes (east of Trujillo).

Two lakelets. In the first lakelet, two black-winged stilts. In the second lakelet behind it, a cattle egret. And a female northern wheatear on the bank.

A barn swallow.

A crested lark on a fence. Spotless starlings.

Then, the hoopoe I mentioned. On the same pile of rocks, a little owl as well.

A corn bunting on a fence.

And a corn bunting on a rock.

Then, a booted eagle flying. It tries to catch a hoopoe; in vain.

However, a second booted eagle does catch a second hoopoe.

Then, a crested lark on a fence along the road.

Another bird on the fence on the other side of the road. A really special bird: a great spotted cuckoo. This species is only rarely seen, so we are lucky. They are bigger than common cuckoos. Like their relatives, great spotted cuckoos are nest parasites. But contrary to their relatives, young great spotted cuckoos don’t chuck out the eggs of their hosts. According to recent research, having a young great spotted cuckoo in one’s nest may even benefit carrion crows. On the Belén plain are no carrion crows. Great spotted cuckoo females here lay their eggs in eg, the nests of common magpies.