Wednesday 9th May (Evening Meal with the Birds)

Now Mr. Kite looked out of The Joint window on this Spanish morning to see clouds and hear the thrill of the spotless starlings. A leisurely morning ended with a walk along a track by the main road looking at the crested and thekla larks. Very few were seen so the more detailed study was put off for another day. However the corn buntings were in an energetic mood as they flew from bush top to bush top and provided the bird-watching experience.

A few hours gaps appeared in the clouds and the sun shone warming the earth and the air. Slowly the griffon vultures began to glide overhead, the booted eagles soared over the cork oaks. The white stork headed for the meadows to feed and three short-toed eagles hovered high above the ground searching for reptiles.

Mr. Kite kept an eye on the meadows birds and an eye on the sky. Sitting comfortably on a concrete post Mr. Kite identified the birds above him saying, “Grifffon, booted, black kite, red kite, griffon, short-toed, black kite, possible honey buzzard’.

Half an hour later Mr. Kite then said, “Black vulture”, as a larger and more dark shape glided towards him with some straggly feathers on the wing tips. Looking closely Mr. Kite noticed the straighter wings, a completely black underside and two lighter feet showing. Wow the first black vulture of the trip.

With the sun shining and the air warming Mr. Kite returned to The Joint to cook pasta for tea. At seven o’clock Mr. Kite and His Lady sat outside eating pasta and cheese while overhead white storks, booted eagles, short-toed eagles, red kites, black kites and kestrel flew. In the tree by the table a family of azure-winged magpies looked on waiting for a chance to eat pasta and cheese.

With a bottle of Kronenbourg 1664 in his hand Mr. Kite drank a health to the birds of the Extramadura. Cheers.

Wednesday 9th May (Dawn Chorus)

Mr. Kite looked out of The Joint window as the sun was peering over the horizon. Six thousands cuckoos were calling the dawn chorus with the occasional shrill of the spotless starling and ‘hoop, hoop’ of a hoopoe.

The world was waiting to be watched.

So at nine in the morning Mr. Kite set out into Monfrague National Park. Firstly Mr. Kite was going to identify three types of lark. So on the road he stopped to watch crested larks with their lighter colour and more slender shape. A little further on another lark sat singing with a neat stripe above it's eye. This bird sang very fluidly and had a slight crest that it baarely raised. A woodlark was added to the list.

On the slopes in the park Mr. Kite watched very green greenfinches and yellow serins with woodchat shrikes dropping onto insects nearby. A pair of larks caught Mr. Kite's eye. These birds were slightly stocky, darker and a neat darkish tail. Both birds had a white underside and flew into the air before dropping down rapidly into the undergrowth; thekla larks. Mr. Kite now had a target on warblers and wheatears. To cut a long story short neither really appeared in view at a close distance.

Now with vultures, eagles and stoks in the air and Belgians, French, Germans, Danes and the odd Spaniard Mr. Kite noticed linnets. Soon Mr. Kite was cycling past eagle owl chicks and spanish imperial eagles before stopping to watch a golden oriole and a nightingale. A monster of a green lizard crossed the road; thankfully the dragon disappeared into the undergrowth before too long.

In the late afternoon heat Mr. Kite cycled his new cycling machine back to camp stopping to listen to a cetti's warbler on the route. Soon Mr. Kite was enjoying a tipple of Leffe Ruby. Cheers to the Extremadura and the birds.