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Wednesday, 22 January 2025

Travelling South to Santo Domingo de Silos via Estación Depuradora de Aguas Residuales at Villalonquéjar, Burgos, Castilla y León, Spain.

An hours productive birding on my way South.
Ebird List for Villalonquéjar.
Ebird List for near Lerma

I left Leonor's accommodation after a very nice stay and headed south toward Burgos but I took the slower but shorter route on minor roads, it was dark for the first more mountainous section which made some of the hairpin bends interesting but once got light I started to see a few species.
As I drove I picked up good numbers of both Common Buzzard (Busardo Ratonero / Buteo buteo) and Red Kite (Milano Real / Milvus milvus) with double figures of both flying or sat on telegraph poles.
Other species included Common Kestrel (Cernicalo Vulgar / Falco tinnunculus), Carrion Crow (Corneja Negra / Corvus corone), Eurasian Magpie (Urraca Común / Pica pica) and Common Blackbird (Mirlo Común / Turdus merula).
Were the Rio Arlanzón and the Rio Ubierna meet.
I arrived at the Estación Depuradora de Aguas Residuales at Villalonquéjar where the Rio Arlanzón and the Rio Ubierna meet and started birding the Southern bank of the Rio Arlanzón finding Mallard (Anade Azulón / Anas platyrhynchos), Eurasian Teal (Cerceta Común / Anas crecca), Gadwall (Anade Friso / Mareca strepera), Northern Shoveler (Cuchara Común / Spatula clypeata), Great Cormorant (Cormorán Grande / Phalacrocroax carbo), Grey Heron (Garza Real / Ardea cinerea), White Stork (Ciguena Blanca / Ciconia ciconia), Common Woodpigeon (Paloma Torcaz / Columba palumbus), Northern Raven (Cuervo grande / Corvus corax), a pale morph Booted Eagle (Aguila Calzada / Aquila penntuas), Red Kite, Eurasian Sparrowhawk (Gavilán Común / Accipiter nisus), Eurasian Nuthatch (Trepador Azul / Sitta europaea), Iberian Green Woodpecker (Pito ibérico / Picus sharpei), European Robin (Petirrojo Europeo / Erithacus rubecula), Cetti's Warbler (Cetia Ruiseñor / Cettia cetti), Common Chiffchaff (Mosquitero Común / Phylloscopus collybita), Eurasian Blackcap (Curruca Capirotada / Curruca capirotada), Eurasian Blue (Herrerillo Común / Cyanistes caeruleus), Great (Carbonera Común / Parus major) and Long-tailed Tit (Mito Común / Aegithalos caudatus), Eurasian Crag Martin (Avión Roquero / Ptyonoprogne rupestris), Eurasian Wren (Chochin paleártico / Troglodytes troglodytes), Short-toed Treecreeper (Agateador Europeo / Certhia brachydactyla), Grey (Lavandera Cascadena / Motacilla cinerea) and White Wagtail (Lavandera Blanca / Montacilla alba), Black Redstart (Colirrojo Tizón / Phoenicurus ochruros) and European Serin (Serin Verdecillo / Serinus serinus) and Common Chaffinch (Pinzón Vulgar / Fringilla coelebs).
After some time I bumped into another birder, José who was local and soon got me to the right spot to see my main target bird the wintering Yellow-browed Warbler (Mosquitero Bilistado / Phylloscopus inornatus) and a little while later we had a very brief view of but it was quickly off again and it took an hour or so for José to relocate it on the far bank in some willows.
Booted Eagle (Aguila Calzada / Aquila penntuas).
We  spent a while watching it before it returned to our bank briefly but remained amongst the branches which meant the camera wouldn't focus before it flew back across the river.
I thanke José for his help and continued on towards Santi's at Santo Domingo de Silso, just after I went through Lerma I had views of an immature Golden Eagle (Águila Real / Aquila chrysaetos), an Iberian Grey Shrike (Alcaudón Real / Lanius meridionalis) sat on roadside wires and loads more Red Kites and Buzzards.
A bit of a Eurasian Sparrowhawk (Gavilán Común / Accipiter nisus).
Once I reached Santi's we had some lunch then sat and chilled for the rest of the day.

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