King fisher vid at Botija (Cáceres, Spain) & old pics of insects (the province of Cáceres)

Harsh and rainy winter in Extremadura

This winter is being particularly rainy and with some strong winds. This means that together with a hectic time with various endevours, time for birding has been scarce. However, a few mini-trips to Los Barruecos, walks in the parks in Cáceres and a daytrip to the rice fields of Vegas Altas (Zorita and Madrigalejo are no longer suitable for cranes - no wonder with that disgusting shrieking noise of the solar power plants denounced here a few years ago when they were a project) has afforded a few nice pics, which I share, here.

Loads of wintering shoveller (pato cuchara, Anas clypeata) at the Sierra Brava reservoir. Wintering lapwing (avefría, Vanellus vanellus) by the pre-barruecos lagoons.

Resident white stork (cigüeña común, Ciconia ciconia) at the Barruecos.

Wintering female redstart (colirrojo tizón, Phoenicurus ochruros) on the Barrueco de Abajo dam, by the Vostell-Malpartida museum. Hide-and-seek-like shot, really, like the one for the great spotted woodpecker below, but at least in this case light was not fading away into the twilight.

A buzzard (ratonero común, Buteo buteo), perching on a decidous tree with the Sierra Brava as backdrop.

A pair of wintering greylag geese (ánsar común, Anser anser) by a common crane at the ricefields of Vegas Altas.

Rare great white egret (garceta grande, Egretta alba) in non-mating yellow-beak attire at one of the pre-Barruecos lagoon.

Same place for a beautifully proud grey heron (garza real, Ardea cinerea).

A family of common European crane (grulla común, Grus grus) and flocks in flight, and on ground below, wintering, at the rice fields in the Vegas Altas area.

At dusk, elusive but beautiful, a resident great spotted woodpecker (pico picapinos, Picoides major) at the Parque del Príncipe park, in Cáceres. 

Wintering female stonechat (tarabilla común, Saxicola torquata). Valdesalor area.

Two proud male Spanish sparrows (Passer hispaniolensis, gorrión moruno) at the Vegas Altas area.