Fuente de Nava, Palencia Province and Encoro de Cecebre, A Coruña, Spain.

A Spanish lifer and a few other nice bit and pieces for the year list.

Great Bustard (Avutarda Común / Otis tarda) before the hunters arrived.

I left Santi's in Silos and headed to Fuente de Nava arrivining before dawn but did not see any owl species as I had hoped for on the way, I parked at the Observatorio de Corralillos and waited for the light to improve as I sat in the corner of the hide trying to keep out of the very cold wind.

Great Bustard (Avutarda Común / Otis tarda).

The first species I saw in the air were several Marsh Harrier (Aguilucho Lagunero Occidental / Circus aeruginosus) and I soon started to hear the Geese getting restless and soon they were on the move but they flew straight out right in between the two places I could park so I missed most of them and only saw Greylag Geese (Ansar Común / Anser anser).

Great Bustard (Avutarda Común / Otis tarda) when the hunters arrived.

Great Bustard (Avutarda Común / Otis tarda).

Species seen in the area included Common Crane (Grulla Común / Grus grus), Mallard (Anade Azulón / Anas platyrhynchos), Carrion Crow (Corneja Negra / Corvus corone), Cetti's Warbler (Ruisenor Bastardo / Cettia cetti), Water Rail (Rascón Europeo / Rallus aquaticus), Spotless  (Estornino Negro / Sturnus unicolor) and Common Starling (Estornino Pinto / Sturnus vulgaris) and several Greenfinch (Verderón Común / Carduelis chloris).

Common Crane (Grulla Común / Grus grus).

Common Crane (Grulla Común / Grus grus).

I looked at the direction the Geese were leaving in so I decided to head to Laguna Boada de Campos, on the way I came across a group of 12 Great Bustards (Avutarda Común / Otis tarda) and a small flock of Common Cranes (Grulla Común / Grus grus) but the light was still not great so I continued on to the Laguna.

Greylag Geese (Ansar Común / Anser anser).

I parked at the point where it say no access beyond this point and walked to the hide, on the way I had several Greylag Geese, Red Kite (Milano Real / Milvus milvus), Skylark (Alondra Común / Alauda arvensis), a good sized flock of Tree Sparrows (Gorrión Molinero / Passer montanus) and Common Kestrel (Cernicalo Vulgar / Falco tinnunculus).

Canada (Barnacla Canadiense /Branta canadensis), Greylag Goose (Ansar Común / Anser anser) and Greater White-fronted Geese (Ánsar Careto / Anser albifrons).

I got up into the hide to give myself a break from the wind, I set up the scope and found good numbers of Northern Lapwings (Avefria Europea / Vanellus vanellus) along with Shelduck (Tarro Blanco / Tadoma tadorna), Gadwall (Anade Friso / Anas strepera), Eurasian Teal (Cerceta Común / Anas crecca), Northern Shoveler (Pato Cuchara / Anas clypeata) and White Stork (Ciguena Blanca / Ciconia ciconia). 

Canada (Barnacla Canadiense /Branta canadensis), Greylag Goose (Ansar Común / Anser anser) and Greater White-fronted Geese (Ánsar Careto / Anser albifrons).

I retraced my way back towards Fuente de Nava again, I was surprised to find the Great Bustards and Common Cranes were still there and they behaved very nicely until a convoy of 6x 4x4 full of Hunters came by with the hands on their horns and yelling out of the window at me flushing everything, Assholes.

3x Greater White-fronted Geese (Ánsar Careto / Anser albifrons).

As all the birds had settled way off on the fields I made my way back to Observatorio de Corralillos where a decent sized flock of Geese were feeding on the fields and when I scanned them I found most were as expected Greylags but mixed in the group there were 17x Greater White-fronted Geese (Ánsar Careto / Anser albifrons) and 2x Canada Geese (Barnacla Canadiense /Branta canadensis) which were new for my Spanish list.

Other species seen before I moved on were Zitting Cisticola (Buitrón / Cisticola juncidis), Corn Bunting (Triguero / Emberiza calandra), Linnet (Pardillo Común / Carduelis cannabina) and Great Egret (Garceta Grande / Egretta alba).

Canada (Barnacla Canadiense /Branta canadensis), Greylag Goose (Ansar Común / Anser anser) and Greater White-fronted Geese (Ánsar Careto / Anser albifrons).

I left the site and hit the road for Galicia, the postponed part of my Christmas holiday but before I arrived I checked Encoro de Cebere, a resovoir where there had been Lesser (Porrón Bola / Aythya affinis) and Greater Scaup (Porrón Bastardo / Aythya marila) but as it was raining when I arrived I just took my bins with and found a way down to the water where I found a good sized flock of Tufted Duck (Porrón Monudo / Aythya fuligula) and I could see some Scaup species in the flock but could not Id which from the distance.