The wild and beautiful country of Extremadura holds some of Europe's most endangered bird species in their last strongholds. The rolling plains of the 'Spanish Steppes', well-represented here, are home to Europe's strongest remaining population of its largest bird, the great bustard, together with good numbers of little bustard, and both pin-tailed and black-bellied sandgrouse. A spectacular assemblage of raptors includes black vulture, Spanish imperial eagle and black-shouldered kite.
High on the list is a visit to Monfrague National Park, possibly the best year-round raptor-watching site in Europe. Situated to the north of Trujillo, the park is the Spanish stronghold for black vulture, which breeds here together with both griffon and summering Egyptian vultures. Eagles are also well represented, with the star birds being around ten pairs of Spanish imperial eagle, which is considered by many to be one of the world's most endangered raptors. Golden and Bonelli's eagles are also resident and are joined in spring by booted and short-toed eagles. Several of these species breed on and around the dramatic pinnacle of Peñafalcón, which also holds chough, crag martin and Alpine swift, the occasional black wheatear, and the breeding eagle owls nearby can sometimes be found at their daytime roosts. In spring, it is also one of the easiest places in Europe to watch shy black storks at a breeding site, while significant numbers pass through in the autumn and a few now winter. Our autumn trip should give us plenty of raptors to watch and we also hope for one of Europe's rarest birds, the late-nesting white-rumped swift.
The nearby rolling countryside holds good stands of the open oak woodland, or 'dehesa', which is a distinctive feature of Extremadura. Here we can find good numbers of Iberian azure-winged magpie in its stronghold and keep our eyes open for the very scarce black-shouldered kite. In spring, incoming migrants include colourful bee-eater, woodchat shrike, black-eared wheatear, great spotted cuckoo and often roller.
Various wetland sites in the area hold purple heron, little bittern and other waterbirds, including purple gallinule, which can be surprisingly easy to see, while the bulrushes and reedbeds hold breeding Savi’s warbler in spring, plus red avadavat and common waxbill, the latter two intriguing introductions to Iberia that are slowly spreading. If rice fields are being harvested in late summer and autumn, surprising numbers of waders can also appear. Alongside the locally breeding black-winged stilts and collared pratincoles, with a variety of sandpipers, plovers and other commoner migrants possible, though the numbers and species present vary on an almost daily basis.