A couple of pretty spectacular days out on the plains and rolling hills of the Baixo Alentejo, between Mertola, Beja and Castro Verde.
All gripes about the pre-dawn start went out of the window with the views of the rising sun over the plains and the impressive total of 161 Great Bustards in a single 180 degrees view... The males were mostly in full display mode, their big white meringues spotting the hillsides with groups (or should that be droves) of females clustered around, sizing them up.
Much harder to come by were Little Bustards: each day we eventually found a handful of males, with at least one starting his leaping/flapping display and their delicate raspberry calls audible much more than the birds themselves were visible.
Elsewhere, the birds came thick and fast: five Black-bellied Sandgrouse, including a pair scoped on the floor; a pair of Great Spotted Cuckoos, another bird much more often heard than seen; three Black Vultures (a pair of adults and a juvenile) circling low over head, sizing us up for a quick snack; the wonderful antics of Lesser Kestrels at one of the largest remaining colonies in Portugal; a swarming flock of a couple of thousand Spanish Sparrows covering the road in front of us; Black-winged Kite, Bonelli's Eagle, Spanish Imperial Eagle... the list goes on!
But really, the highlight was simply the experience itself, two full days spent in such a wonderful, wildlife-rich part of the world.
(Photos from last year's day on the plains are here.)
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