I spent this morning and evening out on the steppe lands to
the east (morning) and north (evening) of Caceres. I headed south for the
middle of the day to look for waders near Santa Amelia but they were few and
far between. Sunrise found me in Torreorgaz heading north into the Caceres
plains. The highlight was a total of 300 (three hundred) Great Bustards. This
probably triples the number of Great Bustards that I’ve seen in my life! Rather
disappointingly I only managed to see 2 Little Bustards, two females crouched
in the grass at the end of a grassy field. The steppes were full of birds.
Hundreds of Spotless Starlings, Spanish Sparrows, Corn Buntings, Meadow Pipits,
Crested, Thekla Larks, Calandra and Skylarks and good numbers of Hoopoe, Red
Kite, Hen Harrier, Little Owl and a couple of small flocks of Black-bellied
Sandgrouse. The Calandra Larks were particularly good value and provided some great photo opportunities.
After that I headed down to Santa Amelia. I was hoping to
see lots of waterbirds in flooded fields to the east of the town, but
unfortunately most of the fields had dried out, along with the numbers of
waders. I explored to the south of the town and witness an Extremadura special
– the sight of hundreds of cranes thermaling overhead before heading off to
their destination (see video below).
It was then back off to the steppelands, this time taking
the EX-390 north from Caceres and then the track east towards Santa Marta de
Magasca. The highlight of this trip was 58 Pin-tailed Sandgrouse, 54 of them in
the same flock! Again there were lots of larks, Corn Buntings and Spanish
Sparrows with good views of Hoopoe and Southern Grey Shrike.
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