An amazing Doñana & Extremadura birding tour

A journey into the vast plains of Cáceres and Magasca, where we will be looking for a rich stepic bird community. Both Little and Great Bustards are possible -hopefully with some of them displaying!-. We'll tune our ears to try and locate both Black-bellied and Pin-tailed Sandgrouses, even if these are declining sharply! Bee-eaters, Rollers and Hoopoes will hopefully top up a great day along these flowered fields.

North of Cáceres, Monfragüe National Park is one of the highlights of the tour. We will visit some strategic viewpoints, from where we'll enjoy good numbers of many of the iberian birds of prey. Spanish Imperial Eagle, Eurasian Black Vulture, Griffon Vulture, Egyptian Vulture, Bonelli's Eagle and even Otter are possible sightings for the day. We will have good chances of seeing Black Stork, Alpine Swift and Blue Rock Thrush, to name but a few of the local specialties.

Today we will visit a feeding station built for a variety of birds of prey. We should have excellent opportunities to see and photograph Griffon, Black and even Egyptian Vultures at short distances! For the rest of the journey we will check a few other nice birding spots near Monfragüe National Park. Among these, we'll stop at a specific location to look for the charismatic Dartford Warbler, one of your guide favourite species!

Today is a transfer day in which we'll cross Extremadura southwards and enjoy a couple of strategic stops on route to target any missing bird we may have. We'll cross Sierra Morena mountains again and arrive to Doñana in the afternoon. Our second base for the tour will be in El Rocío, a truly picturesque unpaved little town at the heart of Doñana. We'll plan to enjoy some birding time locally before dinner, which should produce Eurasian Spoonbill, Black-tailed Godwit, Black Kite and many other species.

Today we'll cover many of the territories of Northern Doñana, from wetlands to forest and scrub. The birdlife will be overwhelming, with many summer birds already arriving, in full breeding plummage and quite showy. Purple Heron, Purple Swamphen, Marbled Duck, Glossy Ibis and, of course, Greater Flamingo are some of the many birds we should enjoy on this day. One of the highlights will be our stop at José Antonio Valverde Visitor Centre, where normally a big community of egrets nests.

There will be an early call for those willing to join for Red-necked Nightjars before breakfast. After a relaxed breakfast we will enjoy a few hours birding in new locations locally near El Rocío and will look for Savi's Warbler, Lesser Spotted Woodpecker, Tree Sparrow and many other local highlights. We can plan to finish the tour in Seville by 15:00.