But then it proceeded to rain buckets. Janet opted to stay behind and visit the historic centre of Caceres, but when the rain lightened and the skies looked promising, Leo and I set off for a tour of some local reservoirs.
It soon began to rain again, a deluge really, but we persevered, scanning the fields for bustards from the car. We passed through some beautiful countryside, including dehesa thick with oaks and the ground covered with bright yellow lupines. Alas, it was raining too hard to even attempt to take a photo, but Leo did stop to take a picture of some Iberian pigs in pasture.
These famous pigs are much more in evidence as ham legs found in every grocery store than they are in the field.
We drove through a cattle ranch . . . and came across the farmer with a tractor-load of feed, calling his cows over to dine.
No other birders to be found today; the only people out were farmers in rubber boors and full raingear, looking after their cattle.
We arrived at the Alcantara Reservoir to find a roostery of griffon and black vultures sitting on the cliffs above a flooded canyon. This would have been a beautiful spot on a sunny day, but we had to huddle under a dripping oak tree to spot them.
Next we headed for the Portaje Reservoir. We happened upon a group of Eurasian spoonbills (Bird of the Day!) feeding in the river, a lucky find, since they are endangered here and in the rest of Europe. A new species for us, though we've seen their cousin the roseate spoonbill in the Everglades and Mexico.
We crossed the dam and found a hide right in the middle. Excited to find a dry place to sit with our binoculars, we parked our car at the first possible turnout (a rarity in Spain even on a single-track road) and walked back through the deluge to find the hide locked with a sign to pick up the key at the gas station in the next town.
The reservoir was filled with dead trees, and on each stump was an occupied stork nest. This would have made a great photo on a better day.
There was also a tree full of black kites.
Lastly we spotted a few black winged stilts dipping their bills in the lake. Some consider this bird to be the same species as the North American black-necked stilt, but since one clearly has a black neck
and the other does not,
we're calling this another lifer.
Now some may call us crazy for driving around in the pouring rain to see a couple of wet birds, but we'd prefer to do this than shlep around on cobblestones from church to museum to look at old body parts of reputed saints and portraits of long-dead despots, so to each their own.
Janet clearly agreed since we returned to find she spent the entire day curled up next to the woodstove in the campsite cafe charging her devices.
The tents were, of course, completely sodden under our inadequate canopy, so we moved into our most luxurious bungalow yet, a two bedroom with two heaters, and the luxury of washing the dishes and opening the front door without shuffling beds or chairs.
Soon after we moved inside, Leo drove back to take down the tents and punctured a tire. There followed a comedy of errors while I attempted to contact our complementary roadside assistance. Finally I found the proper number in fine print on our key ring, and eventually we figured out the proper sequence of numbers to connect.
We then learned that a repairman would come to put on our low profile spare tire, but that we would have to return our car to the nearest rental agency to get a replacement rather than repair the tire. The nearest office is in Madrid, 322 km away. We are not keen to drive that far on our crappy mini-spare. I guess we will be repairing the tire ourselves and returning the vehicle for exchange on the day we leave.
Thankfully, the flat didn't happen when we were out on a country road in the pouring rain.
We spent the evening arranging for a solid roof over our heads for our remaining days in Spain.
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