Sunday morning after breakfast, birding guide Pau Lucio picked me and 5 other Anglos up from our Madrid hotels. We 6 birders are a couple from Scotland, a British man who now lives near Valencia, an American couple from Ohio, and me. We took off in a van toward the region of Extremadura in southwest Spain.
It was another beautiful day, sunny and warm. We ate a picnic lunch that Pau had brought at some tables at a small park near the dam. Then we drove closer to Trujillo, where we would stay overnight, and birded the steppe and fields near Belen.
Around 5:00, we reached our lodgings, Las Canteras, a family-run country lodge (casa rural). Its on a hill overlooking a very large plain. There are about 25 nesting pairs of storks on the property. And it’s very quiet!
We had about 90 minutes to settle into our rooms, look around, and get ready for dinner. Dinner was in the town of Trujillo, about 15 minutes away by car. We parked in town and walked to the town square. There’s a statue of Pizarro in the square, since he came from there. After a few photos, we walked another 10 minutes through the old town to a restaurant, where we were seated toghether in the banquet room about 7:30. We had our choices of tapas plus 3 courses, and of course wine was on the table. I chose migas, a traditional dish, cod fish in a nice sauce, and creme caramel for dessert. It was all delicious. We finished about 10 p.m. and walked back to the car, then returned to our lodge by 10:45 or so.
Here are a few pictures.
We saw more than 50 species of birds yesterday, tallied up at dinnertime.
Today’s (Monday) birding was very good too. Another sunny day. We had breakfast in the lodge at 7:30 a.m. and then left soon after to go to another steppe area about 45 minutes away. Today we saw the hoopoe, an orange and black strange-looking bird. We birded around a dam again, and saw many more species.
Tonight, and our remaining nights at Trujillo, we’ll eat at the same restaurant in town.
I may not post to the blog tomorrow, since it will likely be very similar to the last two days.
Lori's Travels 