Day 27 06.05.2017
For our first day based in Merida we drove an hour north to
Sierra de Fuentes near Cacares. We will be working here for the best part of
the week, but this is somewhat unfortunate as the birdlife was very limited
today. I had a single Great Bustard fly past, but that aside the best I could
manage was a flyover Bonelli’s Eagle. On the other hand, the reptile life was
buzzing. I finally got a chance to spend some time with Moorish Geckos, which
were showing very well along the walls of the roads. We also got a new species
of wall lizard Guadarrama Wall Lizard, which was also quite abundant. A new species
of damselfly was also a welcome addition to the day; Goblet-marked Damselfly.
It was also crazy cool to find a massive centipede (20cm) under one of the
rocks. Apparently it’s a Mediterranean Tiger Centipede, which has a ‘rarely
fatal’ bite… Still it was pretty awesome to see!
-Mediterranean Tiger Centipede
-Guadarrama Wall Lizard
-Moorish Gecko
Species List
Sierra de Fuentes:
Lesser Kestrel, Short-toed Eagle, Bonelli’s Eagle, Booted Eagle, European Black
Vulture, Griffon Vulture, Raven, Jackdaw, Grey Heron, White Stork, Cattle
Egret, Magpie, Azure-winged Magpie, Serin, Greenfinch, Linnet, Goldfinch, House
Sparrow, Great Bustard, Short-toed Lark, Crested Lark, Calandra Lark, Sardinian
Warbler, Black Kite, Red Kite, Corn Bunting, Mallard, Gadwall, Moorhen, Common
Swift, Swallow, House Martin, Red-rumped Swallow, Moorish Gecko, Guadarrama Wall Lizard, Spanish Terrapin, Iberian
Water Frog, Black-tailed Skimmer, Iberian Bluetail Damselfly, Goblet marked
Damselfly, Meadow Brown, Western Dappled White, Small Copper, Painted Lady,
Small Skipper, Brown Argus,
Day 28 07.08.2017
The morning walk included some pretty cool habitat and as I
result I got decent views of Great Bustards, but frustratingly little besides.
A few Griffon Vultures and European Black Vultures overhead were also quite
nice. The evening transect was equally as poor, but with good numbers of
Calandra and Short-toed Larks. A quite showy Tawny Pipit was probably the highlight
of the day.
In between transects I was left in the area to explore the
wooded hillsides near out transect squares. They were frustratingly
disappointing, with only a few birds in them. A Spotted Flycatcher was a new
bird for the trip for me, and a Black Stork that flew over was only the second
of the trip. Short-toed Treecreeper was also nice, as were the few Woodlark
that were singing. Long-tailed Blue and Dainty Damselfly were two nice insect
lifers for me, about the best of it.
-European Black Vulture
-Long-tailed Blue
-Western Clubtail
-Dainty Damselfly
Sierra de Fuentes: Lesser
Kestrel, Short-toed Eagle, Bonelli’s Eagle, Booted Eagle, European Black
Vulture, Griffon Vulture, Raven, Jackdaw, Grey Heron, White Stork, Cattle
Egret, Magpie, Azure-winged Magpie, Serin, Greenfinch, Linnet, Goldfinch, House
Sparrow, Little Bustard, Great Bustard, Short-toed Lark, Crested Lark, Calandra
Lark, Sardinian Warbler, Black Kite, Red Kite, Corn Bunting, Mallard, Gadwall,
Moorhen, Common Swift, Woodlark, Short-toed Treecreeper, Great-spotted
Woodpecker, Wren, Chaffinch, Swallow, House Martin, Red-rumped Swallow, Spanish
Sparrow , Iberian Water Frog,
Black-tailed Skimmer, Iberian Bluetail Damselfly, Goblet marked Damselfly,
Meadow Brown, Western Dappled White, Small Copper, Painted Lady, Small Skipper,
Brown Argus,
Day 29 08.05.2017
For our day off we intended to try and catch up with a few
of the species that we would not encounter on our transects. So we headed off
to a small wooded valley in the hunt for cirl bunting and orphean warbler. We
were not successful! We had no sign of cirl buntings and our orphean warblers
were limited to distant heard only birds. Not an ideal way to spend the
morning, especially given that there was not a great deal of other birdlife. I
did have a butterfly lifer though; Queen of Spain Fritillary, a super looking
butterfly.
-Queen of Spain Fritillary
-Griffon Vultures
In the afternoon, once the heat of the day had worn off, we
headed back out hoping for a bit more luck. We met up with a Spanish birder
that Yoav knew and he helped us with a few locations. We started by dipping
pectoral sandpiper but did get nice views of Gull-billed Tern and added
Black-tailed Godwit to my ‘birds I’ve seen in every country list’. After we
climber the castle at Alange to watch the Swifts. We were finally in luck as we
got distant views of two White-rumped Swifts. Not ideal views but we have
finally seen them. The Alpine Swifts were amazing once again, and we had more
Blue Rock Thrush and Crag Martin showing well. So a nice end to what had been a
disappointing day up to that point.
-Short-toed Eagle
-Alpine Swift
Species List:
Merida: Corn
Bunting, Sardinian Warbler, Griffon Vulture, Black Kite, Thekla Lark, Crested
Lark, Melodious Warbler, Crag Martin, Greenfinch, House Sparrow, Woodchat
Shrike, Iberian Grey Shrike, Magpie, Azure-winged Magpie, Jackdaw, Woodpigeon,
Collard Dove, Clouded Yellow, Queen of
Spain Fritillary, Large White, Small White, Western Dappled White, Small
Copper, Brown Argus, Red Admiral, Painted Lady,
Alange: Alpine
Swift, Common Swift, White-rumped Swift, Crag Martin, Red-rumped Swallow, Barn
Swallow, House Martin, Short-toed Eagle, Griffon Vulture, Black Kite,
Cormorant, Bee-eater, Hoopoe, Black-winged Stilt, Black-tailed Godwit, Common
Sandpiper, Little Ringed Plover, Gull-billed Tern, Black-headed Gull, Egyptian
Vulture, Blue Rock Thrush, Cattle Egret, Black-crowned Night Heron, Cormorant,
Grey Heron, Little Egret,
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