Trujillo a Stellar Day of Birding

It was a short drive from Merida to Caceres so we took a birding detour from Caceres to Trujillo along the Magasca River.  We were blessed with a warm, dry, and sunny day.  You couldn't have asked for more except to see 20 pairs of European rollers

 and some great bustards.  So we did!  Though the great bustards were too far away to photograph, we watched the male fan his tail for the female who did not look very impressed.

There were birdhouses mounted on every power pole and these were either populated with jackdaws or rollers.

We also saw this

                                                   Little Owl

and this

                                        Woodchat Shrike

We drove across steppe habitat to the small town of Santa Marta where we stopped into a local bar for cafe con leche. It was filled with locals but then the door opened and twelve Brits came in with their local guides.  The first birders we'd seen all trip, but then they came on with a vengeance.  Two more vans of birders stopped at the town square while we were leaving.  We were truly in birding territory now.

We stopped at the bridge over the Magasca River and met two more carloads of birders coming from the north.

A good time to introduce the flower of the day

Spanish lavender, nice and pungent, but not as cloying as the French kind.

We continued on to the hilltop village of Trujillo, stopping for a cafe con leche at the beautiful plaza mayor with its many impressive buildings, dating to the 16th Century and older.  One mansion was crowned with statues of musicians, including this particularly talented one (no trombonists, alas).

We climbed to the top of the hill and the (surprise!) Alcazara, an Arab fortress.  We walked through the inviting keyhole entry

and around the ramparts for a magnificent 360° view.