More Gallivanting: Extramadura

I am knackered, it is just non-stop at the moment. I've just returned from a whirlwind tour of Extramadura, with a day in Doñana tagged on at the end. Booked for ages, the purpose was father son bonding, with a teensy bit of birding and and even more miniscule amount of photography. Happily this all went according to plan, and he and I are now back, complete with 2000 RAW files each, and a lot of new Western Palearctic ticks bonding under our belts. I now have no trips for nearly two months, I am not sure how I will cope. Whilst I organise my thoughts, do a stack of washing, and finally change my pants (a victim of poor packing, the less said about this the better), here are a few shots straight off the memory card. In due course I'll bung a few meaningful words down about quite how wonderful Extramadura is, both for birds and opportunities to point cameras at them, but for now, I hope you enjoy these.

Oh, and before I forget, the final morning of the Harlequin twitch allowed just enough time for a spot of Black Guillemot pappage. Given quite how much I intend to spam you all with Extramadura photographs in the next few days, I thought I'd better quietly place these somewhere else....

Lesser Kestrel, Trujillo

Corn Bunting, approx one per metre in Extramadura

Great Bustards. The ultimate Turducken.

White Stork. Brilliant. Why don't we have them?

Red-rumped Swallow. Ditto.

Rock Bunting. I got quite close.....

Egyptian Vulture. Better than Egyptian Goose.

Grifffon Vulture. Stonking.

 

Black-eared Wheatear. Oh boy! Likely the subject of a blog post all of its own. Possibly two.

Garden ornaments.

Azure-winged Magpie. Kerching.