A day's gentle driving, walking and mostly sitting contemplating the scenery in the Sierra de Grazalema.
Puerto del Boyar (before breakfast)
There is a pull in on the road from Grazalema to El Bosque. Its a great place to see both resident and passage birds and its a remarkable place to see finch species. I've seen Hawfinches in three out of four visits and this trip was no exception. Two birds flew over! I was expecting another large finch perched ontop of a Pinsapo Pine to be another Hawfinch, but it turned out to be one of 5 Common Crossbills. The pines also held a couple of inquisitive Crested Tits that came within a few feet when pished at! There were also Linnet, Serin, Siskin, Chaffinch Greenfinch and Goldfinch in view. A singing Bonelli's Warbler eventually flew over the top of the pass, only to be replaced a few minutes later by another bird working its way up the valley. There also were plenty of Sardininan Warblers and Subalpine Warblers around the head of the pass, and what sounded like an Orphean Wabler. Also audible were singing Wryneck Cuckooand Woodlark.
On the drive back into Grazalema there were Red-rumped Swallows, House Martins and Swallows collecting mud from a roadside puddle and a rather fine male Cirl Bunting and the usual collection of singing Serins. Breakfast was accompanied by a lot of Swift passage, mostly Pallid Swifts, but also some Common Swifts and a couple of Alpine Swifts.
Breakfast complete and a picnic purchased, we set off.
Stop 1
Not long after the Puerto de Amarillo, we saw a stand of Poplars and tried our luck for an early Oriole. As ever in Spain, getting out of the car and just looking and listening for a few minutes resulted in a suprising amount of species. Just behind the car there was a singing Melodious Warbler and a Common Whitethroat. In the field in front of us there was a male Common Redstart as well as the usual Stonechats. Just as we were thinking of moving on another Wryneck called, so we tried to find it. We failed, but in looking for it found a Hoopoe nest hole and witnessed a territorial dispute between two pairs! Then a pair of Woodlarks started mobbing one of the Hoopoes. I thought I'd located a Wryneck when I caught something out of the side of my eye dive straight into a small hole in a tree. Alas it turned out to be a Spotless Starling. Just as we were about to leave I saw a small brownish bird on top of a pole with what appeared to be a prominent supercillium and short tail. Expecting a Woodlark, I was surprised to see a heavy bill. A Rock Sparrow!
Stop 2
A little further down the road we found a recreational area set in some open oak woodland with a small stream and a view of a crag which has produced Bonelli's Eagle every time I've been there. It seemed like a perfect picnic area. The Bonelli's Eagles performed almost immediately, and there were also plenty of Booted Eagles and Short-toed Eagles as well as a more or less continuous stream of Griffon Vultures for variety. Bonelli's Warblers were very vocal but rather elusive in the trees, and the bird that sounded like a Blackcap singing from cover turned out to be just that. Peregrine and Sparrowhawk came over, the former aggravating the local Choughs considerably. There were good numbers of Firecrests about, and after conveniently forgetting that there were no confusion species to worry about, a lot of effort clinched the ID of a Short-toed Treecreeper. We heard another Wryneck and were visited by a Grey Wagtail. The rioja and serrano ham was nice too. Time to move on.
Stop 3
We were looking for White-rumped Swift and Golden Eagle still, so decided to stop a little further down the road and walk up a goatherd's path to view down a spectacular rocky gorge. After a few minutes walking we found a hidden patch of trees set amongst a large number of limestone boulders. The first thing we saw was a Woodchat Shrike. As we settled down to watch it a couple of Orphean Warblers appeared in the bush an started to mob it. This seemed like a good place to stop and sit a little longer in the sun. The male Orphean Warbler, tiring of mobbing the Woodchat settled into singing. He shared his bush with a more showy male Subalpine Warbler and a Whitethroat. A Hoopoe flew in and yet another Wryneck started "quee quee quee quee queeing". We were sat in the middle of a Black-eared Wheatear's favourite singing places and he got closer and closer to us as we sat still. In fact this spot turned out to a be a little bit special for chats. The second species was predictably Stonechat but just behind it where a pair of Black Wheatears. Next we found a male Common Redstart and when looking again at the Black Wheatears, a Black Redstart popped up as well as three more Common Redstarts. 5 species of Chat almost at once. Then a male Blue Rock Thrush flew across the path and a few seconds later a largish and rather rufous bird dived for cover in front of us. I was hoping a Rufous Bushchat would emerge, but a minute or two later a Nightingale sputtered into song. 7 species of chat and no Robin! There were also plenty of Rock Buntings and Cirl Buntings in the rocks. Having spent the best part of two hours looking down, we started to pay attention to the ridges and though we saw many Griffon Vultures and a steady stream of migrant Booted Eagles we failed to see Goldies or White-rumped Swift but it would be churlish to complain. We walked back to the car - past a second pair of Black Wheatears and a new pair of Black-eared Wheatears. We continued the loop back towards El Bosque and then to Grazalema.
What a great list of birds!
Was it a recent trip?
This was last monday!