Bustards & Cuckoos 19/03/25

Wednesday 19th March 2025 🌤️ 13C ~ NW @ 8MPH ~ One of the highlights of my visits to Spain is spending time with my friends Derek and Barbara Etherton, whom I've known for nearly 10 years. Today, we took a drive to Huétor Tájar, a municipality and town located in the province of Granada.

The landscape consists primarily of farmland growing asparagus, corn, and tomatoes, and it offers many dirt tracks for exploration. As expected, the drive included several stops to observe various sights. Our first notable sighting was a smart-looking Western Yellow Wagtail, and we ended up seeing at least five of them during our drive.

Western Yellow Wagtail - One of five today.

A Northern Wheatear next perched up on one of the crop spikes and at every stop we seemed to hear Corn Buntings. Zitting Cisticolas were also noisily calling overhead and below in the odd water ditch Cetti's Warbler could be heard. It was a good day too for Woodchat Shrike with five seen around the area.

Woodchat Shrike - five seen today.

Over the fields, we noted a couple of Crag Martins, plus Barn Swallows and House Martins and our next stop was to photograph a very confiding Hoopoe. Crested Larks were abundant in the area, with additional sightings including a Eurasian Sparrowhawk, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Sardinian Warbler, Tree Sparrow, Serin, and twenty-three Skylarks.

Hoopoe

We arrived at a well-known area for observing Little Bustards. Before focusing on finding them, we took a moment to watch a pair of Black-winged Kites. This location is known for nesting, and it was evident that spring was in the air! Our search for the Bustards wasn't going well, but just as we were about to leave, we spotted a pair that had just emerged from the undergrowth into an open area.

Male Little Bustard in breeding plumage.

I ended up experiencing some of the best views I've ever had of the Little Bustard, and we recorded a total of six sightings. At one point, two males engaged in a brief battle, which also benefited us as they startled a rather surprised Stone Curlew. After all the excitement we paused for a while before moving on, only to be surprised by a calling Quail just below us. 

A surprised-looking Stone Curlew - But then again how can you tell 😉

A short drive further north our next stop was El Temple, which is the countryside located between Granada city and Loja. This area features a mix of arable fields and woodlands, including olive groves and almond plantations. It is particularly notable for its asparagus and garlic production, especially the former. 

Our lunch break looking over towards Sierras Navada.

As we entered the tracks, I noted that there were many Magpies in the area. Derek told me that this location is ideal for Great Spotted Cuckoos. While I was aware that Common Cuckoos lay their eggs in the nests of Meadow Pipits or Dunnocks, I learned that Great Spotted Cuckoos specifically prefer magpies as their hosts for brood parasitism. It's true what they say: you learn something new every day!

Pair of Great Spotted Cuckoos with the female firmly grasping a hairy caterpillar. 

He wasn't wrong; unbelievably, we recorded no less than fourteen birds in an area of around 2 km. It was the most that Derek had ever seen. At one stop, a pair of birds entertained us by gorging on caterpillars right next to the car! They primarily eat hairy or spiny caterpillars, which are unpalatable to most other bird species. We witnessed them removing the hairs from the caterpillars by beating them against the ground or the branch of a tree before eating them. 

Pair of Great Spotted Cuckoo.

Our final stop on route home was Contraembalse de los Bermejales and here our only wader was a single Common Sandpiper. On the water Little Grebe, Coot and Moorhen but we did note Short-toed Eagle, dark phase Bootle Eagle and five Western Marsh Harriers to end a superb day out and my thanks to Barbara and Derek for driving. 

Woodchat Shrike

Little Bustard