Birding in Spain

There is so much I could say about traveling in Spain, but as this is at least nominally a birding blog, I will begin with the birds. Kathleen and I had a blast birding around Spain, during the period of Sept 1 through Sept 21: the Madrid area, Monfrague National Park and other sites in the region of Extremadura, and then more extensively in Andalucia, ending in Granada. We saw 163 species (63 new) in 52 families. We hired a guide in Madrid and one in Extremadura for a half-day each, which worked out really well; although most of our new birds we found on our own, the guides were instrumental in helping us see some really desired birds like Great Bustard, Black-bellied Sandgrouse, Red-legged Partridge, and Stone Curlew (with Aitor in the Madrid area) and Bonelli's Eagle and Spanish Sparrow in the west. Also, Martin, our Extremadura guide, was extremely helpful in ID information, particularly with larks (we saw 4 species with him, including Greater Short-toed and Calandra, then later got two more on our own, including Lesser Short-toed in the dunes of Tarifa beach).

Ruddy Shelducks in El Pardo area, north of Madrid

Waterbirds:
It was fun to find a pair of Ruddy Shelducks near Madrid, but I am sure that they are escapees and not countable as wild birds (if you know differently, let me know!). We were early in the fall for much variety in ducks and geese, but really lucked out at two separate ponds in the southern Doñana National Park area. In the first one, a chance stop by the side of the road, we found a female Red-crested Pochard, and both Purple and Squacco Heron. In the bushes nearby there was a flock of Common Waxbills moving through. The other pond on the eastern side, in a short period of time, had a female Garganey and a White-headed Duck. For all of these species, this was the only time that we came upon them. The White-headed Duck is a close congener with our Ruddy Duck, so much so that feral Ruddies in Spain are being removed due to their propensity to breed with the White-headeds. Greater Flamingos and Eurasian Spoonbills were common in the south, and always a pleasure to see.
Raptors:

landing Griffon Vulture

Monfrague National Park is a dramatic, rocky setting in the western mountains of Spain, renowned for its raptors. While we missed the extremely rare Spanish Imperial Eagle, we did get good views of hundreds of Eurasian Griffons and several Cinereous (Black) Vultures, as well as Short-toed Eagle. Down south in the Tarifa-Gibraltar area we caught up with several Booted Eagles, of both light and dark morphs. We saw the three common Harriers, including great looks at immature Montague's hunting in fields. Falcons were numerous, especially Common Kestrels, although we did also see Lesser Kestrel, Merlin, and Peregine, the latter two from the rock of Gibraltar. I had hoped for some migrating masses over Gibraltar, the winds were favorable and the day clear, but it was very quiet, we only had a Marsh Harrier and an Egyptian Vulture, along with the buzzards and falcons. The huge miss was the Honey Buzzard! These should have been going over our area in droves, but we missed them. If they got close enough, they were always Common Buzzards. There were a few way, way out overhead that I just could not ID well enough, although they seemed to be a good structural fit. Way back in Madrid Aitor was picking a few out, but again, they were too distant for me to count them.
Shorebirds:
Again, lucked out in finding something other than the omnipresent Dunlins and Sanderlings. We had a single(!) Little Stint on the salt pan pools of eastern Doñana, and in the Huelva area found Wood and Marsh Sandpipers, as well as some Curlew Sandpipers. We managed just one Little Ringed Plover, on migration in a wetlands in the Cáceres area. Otherwise we found the expected Redshank, Greenshank, Avocet, Whimbrel, both Godwits, plenty of Black-winged Stilts, etc. Both Ruddy Turnstones and Snowy Plovers (aka 'Kentish') were present in fairly large numbers.
Gulls and terns:
As expected, the dominant numbers of gulls were Lesser Black-backed and Black-headed. After trudging down the Tarifa beach for a mile or two, we found a small flock of Audouin's Gull, one of my big target birds. Mediterranean and Yellow-legged Gulls were present in small numbers, the latter dominating the gull life of Gibraltar. Looking tern-like in its foraging over an estuary river near Huelva, was a single Little Gull in second-year plumage. My pictures unfortunately were wretched. We found 4 terns, Sandwich, Little, Caspian, and a single Common in migration.
Doves, pigeons:
We saw plenty of the common Eurasian Collared-Dove and Common Wood-pigeons, the former, of course, the same species that we wake up to in Santa Barbara. The city of Zafra, in Extremadura, in particular, was overrun by the collared-doves, and we woke up thinking we were in SB! Again, one of my more modest target birds was the Turtle-Dove, and we managed to run into a small flock on the plains of Jara, outside of Tarifa.
Exotic Monk Parakeets were obvious in the Botanic Gardens in Madrid, but I am also assuming that they are uncountable. We have seen these in Brooklyn and Florida as well.
Swifts and swallows:
We eventually found all of the swallows on the Spanish list. As for the swifts, Common and Pallid were easy enough, but other than a single cooperative White-rumped Swallow at Monfrague, we did not find other swifts.
Woodpeckers and African birds:
Just 2 woodpeckers, the common Great-spotted and Green. Really wanted the Lesser-spotted! Looked a bunch! We did have some amazing Bee-eater encounters, as they were in large flocks at the tail end of their migration. One large flock passed overhead of us on top of Navacerrada mountain, over 2200 meters, making their distinctive calls. The colorful Rollers appeared to have already migrated out of Spain. We had some good close Kingfisher sightings, as well as the incredible Hoopoe which we picked up several times.
Warblers:
Beyond the very common Sardinian and migrating Willow Warblers, it was tough sledding. A single Melodious, a couple of Blackcaps, a couple of Subalpines, and Western Orphean was the most we could manage. I had an at best shaky view of a singing Cetti's in the reeds. The wonderfully named Zitting Cisticola were plentiful just in one location, Bolonia beach and sierra outside of Tarifa.
Others:
Winchats and Stonechats were everywhere! Found Nuthatch (once) and Short-toed Treecreeper (ditto) at roadside rest breaks. We easily found Blue Rock-thrush and enjoyed their singing. We were lucky to find a few immature Cirl Buntings down south, no other buntings except for Corn! We did manage to luck into a small flock of Citril Finches at the aforementioned Navacerrada ski station. That, along with the Queen of Spain Fritillaries, made the hike up to the top worthwhile!
Although we did find ourselves a few times in quite gritty areas, in terms of trash and run-down buildings, we found the people uniformly friendly and helpful, and always felt safe. If you are a strong coffee drinker, it is amazing to be able to go into any village bar and find a 'cafe con leche' quickly available for 1 to 1.5 euro (about $1.30 to 1.90US). Neither of us speak fluent Spanish, but we get by okay, Kathleen is more proficient than I am. I'll be coming back to some of our encounters and experiences in further blogs. In any event, if you haven't birded in Spain before, consider it if you can get over there before the dollar deflates any more against the euro.
Some bird photos, along with other vacation photos,  may be found at http://picasaweb.google.com/theairyway though I must say, I really missed having my 1.4x extender lens, which I left at home because of weight and size.