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Thursday 18 May 2023

El Temple, Granada Province, Spain.

A day birding and storm watching with Polly.
Ebird List list for El Temple in the afternoon.
 
A bit of interesting Weather out on El Temple.
I met Polly at Restaurante La Abadía and after having a coffee we headed out onto El Temple but before we got very far we were watching a female Marsh Harrier (Aguilucho Lagunero Occidental / Circus aeruginosus) which looked like it was carrying the remains of the rear end of a Rabbit (Conejo / Oryctolagus cuniculus).
Booted Eagle (Aguililla Calzada / Hieraaetus pennatus).
In the same area we added
Common Swift (Vencejo Común / Apus apus), House Martin (Avión Común / Delichon urbica), Barn Swallow (Golondrina Común / Hirundo rustica), Greater Short-toed (Terrera Común / Calandrella brachydactyla) and Crested Lark (Cogujada / Galerida cristata), Spotless Starling (Estornino Negro / Sturnus unicolor), House Sparrows (Gorrión Común / Passer domesticus) and Serin (Verdecillo / Serinus serinus).
Common Stonechat (Tarabilla Común / Saxicola torquata) male.
We continued on to a nearby semi-abandonded Cortijo where we had good views of a pair of Booted Eagles (Aguililla Calzada / Hieraaetus pennatus), Lesser Kestrel (Cernicola Primilla / Falco naumanni), Rock Dove (Paloma Bravía / Columba livia), Rock Sparrow (Gorrión Chillón / Petronia petronia), Serin (Verdecillo / Serinus serinus), Goldfinch (Jilguero / Carduelis carduelis), Collared Dove (Tórtola Turca / Streptopelia decaocto), Woodpigeon (Paloma Torcaz / Columba palumbus) and as we were leaving we heard a snippet from a Nightingale (Ruisenor Común / Luscinia megarhynchos).
Short-toed Eagle (Culebrera Europeo / Circaetus gallicus).
Short-toed Eagle (Culebrera Europeo / Circaetus gallicus).
We continued on out onto the fields proper, on the way we had Common Stonechat (Tarabilla Común / Saxicola torquata), Turtle Dove (Tórtola Europea / Streptopelia turtur), Corn Bunting (Triguero / Emberiza calandra), Woodchat Shrike (Alcaudón Común / Lanius senator) and Red-rumped Swallow (Golondrina Dáurica / Hirundo daurica).
Short-toed Eagle (Culebrera Europeo / Circaetus gallicus).
Short-toed Eagle (Culebrera Europeo / Circaetus gallicus).
Out on the first of the tracks we picked up Short-toed Eagle (Culebrera Europeo / Circaetus gallicus), Calandra Lark (Calandria / Melanocorypha calandra), Little Owl (Mochuelo Europeo / Athene noctua), Linnet (Pardillo Común / Carduelis cannabina), Black-winged Kite (Elanio Común / Elanus caeruleus), Common Kestrel (Cernicalo Vulgar / Falco tinnunculus), Common Buzzard (Busardo Ratonero / Buteo buteo), Common Magpie (Urraca / Pica pica), Red-legged Partridge (Perdiz Roja / Alectoris rufa), Sardinian Warbler (Curruca Cabecinegra / Sylvia melanocephala), Blackbird (Mirlo Común / Turdus merula), Jackdaw (Grajilla / Corvus monedula) and Hoopoe (Abubilla / Upupa epops).
Polly taking some storm shots.
As we turned back towards the road through the site we started to hear the first rumbles of thunder  and saw the first flashes of lightening, just before we reached the road we stopped and spent quite a while photographing the approaching storms.
We crossed to another set of tracks finding
Spanish (Yellow) Wagtail (Lavandera Boyera / Motacilla flava iberiae), Iberian Green Woodpecker (Pito Real / Picus sharpei) heard only, House Martin (Avión Común / Delichon urbica), European Bee-eater (Abejaruco Común / Merops apiaster), Common Chaffinch (Pinzón Vulgar / Fringilla coelebs) and a pale immature Short-toed Eagle.
An unfortunate new but growing problem, intensive planting of Olive trees.
European Bee-eater (Abejaruco Común / Merops apiaster).
Little Bustards (Sisón Común / Tetrax tetrax).
A pale immature Short-toed Eagle (Culebrera Europeo / Circaetus gallicus).
We went back across to the far side of the road and found one of the main targets of the day a very smart
Roller (Carraca / Coracias garrulus) and an equally stunning Ocellated Lizard (Timon lepidus) which unfortunately disappeared into a wall before Polly could get the camera on it.
Red-footed Falcon (Cernícalo patirrojo / Falco vespertinus) female.
We returned to the meeting point where I dropped Polly back to her car after a very enjoyable day, later on my way home I called into another more sensitive area where I soon found the female
Red-footed Falcon (Cernícalo patirrojo / Falco vespertinus) sat out in the middle of a ploughed field but as I scanned I was amazed to find a male Red-footed sat around 20m away and right next to that bird there was a nice adult Hobby (Alcotán Europeo / Falco subbuteo) but this bird immediately flew off into the Almonds.
Male Red-footed Falcon (Cernícalo patirrojo / Falco vespertinus).
Male Red-footed Falcon (Cernícalo patirrojo / Falco vespertinus).
The rain arrived so I decided to head for home.

2 comments:

stephen said...

Red-footed Falcon and Hobby together nust have been a thrill Mick. Nice photos of the falcon.

LojaWldlife said...

Thanks for the comment, yes it was a great sight.