I love Extremadura - must go back soon.To read the full bird list please see
http://www.donanabirdtours.com/cgi-bin/web.asp?pageid=5
to read John Butler's reports of this trip. It was fantastic!!
I didn’t see all the birds spotted…but still saw 129 (including a couple of lifers on the Saturday!!) 51 lifers!!!
I had a list of target birds and out of 23 only Bonelli’s Eagle failed to show!!
Highlights?
Spanish Imperial Eagle on her nest with two chicks…we were there for about an hour and a half and just as we were leaving…Corinna walking very, very slowly to the minibus…the female Eagle decided she would go and hunt…and we watched her make several turns in the sky before she went over the hill!
The tableau (if I can get the pc and camera to talk to one another you might get to share!!) several trees in the middle of fields…nesting White Storks, Cattle Egrets, Jackdaws and Kestrels…..and sitting among them Ibrahim the Bald Ibis!!
We have Sammy so John decided they would have Ibrahim….
The only Bald Ibis in Europe( apart from captives). He was particularly fetching in his green glossy feathers but he was having a bad hair day!!
The sheer joy of watching Eagles and Vultures gliding in the skies!! Monty’s Harriers ( in one area there was a Female, a male and a juvenile!!) and Black Kites (I had seen one previously in Hungary) at one time there must have been 200 in the sky!! 2 or three Red Kites…they are a winter bird in Donana. But a totally stunning bird was a Black Shouldered Kite the field guides do not do it justice!! The fact that there was a family was great, three young about to fledge, we saw them on Tuesday and when we went back on the Saturday they had all gone.
Little owls everywhere!! Sitting out!! On one day a family of three on the telegraph wires all neatly spaced out!!
Eagle Owl!! Much better views than I had in Hungary. Preening and moving about!! Those amazing orange eyes!!
Sorry meant to say I will do a short account for each day of incidents!!
I say short as in short story!!
If you were thinking of going to Donana and / or Extremadura GOGOGOGOGO!!
It helps to have a brilliant guide and thats what John is..give him your list (providing its sensible for the area and time of the year) and he will work hard to deliver. Any other information you need I'll happily pm you about!!
John is a member of Bird Forum and I also got another BF200 club tick in Siberian!
Sounds like a great trip I love Extremadura - must go back soon.