birds on the meseta

[anna klara klintegaard]

Hello fellow pilgrims,
When you hike up onto the Meseta a few km before Hornillos, there are groups of great birds of prey cycling in the air high above. Such an impressive sight. Can anyone tell me what kind of birds they are?
Thank you for your help and buen camino to everyone
Anna, Denmark

 

[Mark Lee]

If they were large raptors in large groups and circling like that, they were probably griffon vultures.
Over the agriculture fields all up and down the Camino I quite frequently saw various species of hawks circling low, scanning the rows for mice and such.

 

[SYates]

Most likely vultures. Buen Camino, SY

*Waiting for all the humorous souls posting about how the vultures wait for a pilgrim to drop ...*

 

[Rick of Rick and Peg]

Maybe someone can tell me what kind of bird this resident of Hornillos is. This guy needed about 15 to 20 minutes to recover from flying into a window before realizing he could end up being my dinner and flying away.


[Edited much later to say that the bird has been identified as a Black Redstart. Thank you people.]

 

[MTtoCamino]

Has anyone gotten a pic of a Cookoo bird?

 

[Smallest_Sparrow]

? Spanish sparrow
https://www.flickr.com/photos/foxypar4/3096851325
edit: meant this to ? re: bird on table

 

[Mark Lee]

Maybe someone can tell me what kind of bird this resident of Hornillos is. This guy needed about 15 to 20 minutes to recover from flying into a window before realizing he could end up being my dinner and flying away.
View attachment 29332

Based on the bit of rust/orange around the tail feathers, I would say that's a Black Redstart.

 

[MTtoCamino]

I am impressed that you both either had pictures or you started scanning resources. I saw 3 deer, a Cookoo bird, A small viper & a lot of Storks. I just didn't take any pictures. I am hoping some of you out there did.

 

[Mark Lee]

I am impressed that you both either had pictures or you started scanning resources. I saw 3 deer, a Cookoo bird, A small viper & a lot of Storks. I just didn't take any pictures. I am hoping some of you out there did.

I've always been a bit of a birder geek, so when walking the Camino I always noticed the many species along the path, especially the raptors, which are my favorite. Like everyone else I was impressed with the large griffon vultures, especially the first day over the Pyrenees. I also saw red and black kites, also raptors. Of course I saw the storks, which are cool, especially when they clatter their beaks.
Only saw deer twice, running across the path in Galicia on foggy mornings. Pretty cool. Reminded me of roaming the woods in the morning here in the US. Only snakes I saw were dead. Saw a lot of small rodents along the agriculture fields, running about the edge between the ditch and the stalks.
I imagine if one humped a really nice camera setup with telephoto lens, there would be an abundance of birder photo ops.

 

[Smallest_Sparrow]

@Mark Lee--you win...now can you id the hummingbird that was in my house?

 

[Mark Lee]

@Mark Lee--you win...now can you id the hummingbird that was in my house?

I can give it a shot. Go ahead...

 

[anna klara klintegaard]

Thank you, Mark Lee and SYates, yes they must have been vultures. I didn´t think, I would meet them so far from the Pyreneers Thank you for your help!

 

[anna klara klintegaard]

I am impressed that you both either had pictures or you started scanning resources. I saw 3 deer, a Cookoo bird, A small viper & a lot of Storks. I just didn't take any pictures. I am hoping some of you out there did.

The stork beeing really seldom in Denmark, I spend most of my time on my Camino trying to take a picture of one. But everytime I pressed the button, the storks would hide in their nests. Came back with 70 photoes of stork nests, that looked absolutely empty. I am sure the storks laughed at me

 

[wayfarer]

Here is the best I could get in 2012 with a phone camera, Anna.
P.S. We saw no babies being delivered..

 

[anna klara klintegaard]

Thank you, Wayfarer! That is a brilliant photo! Now I can finally convince my friends and family, that there ARE storks in Spain Thanks a lot

 

[Pelegrin]

Thank you, Wayfarer! That is a brilliant photo! Now I can finally convince my friends and family, that there ARE storks in Spain Thanks a lot

Maybe your friends and family visited only East and North Spain . I don´t know why they only put their nests in Center and South (and Portugal).

 

[Jodean]

I got sent to Palencia to have a medical issue checked out and after I left the hospital, walked to the cathedral. The church was covered with storks. 100's of them. Flying in and out, clappering with their beaks. Exciting moment and the Spaniards were taking as many photos as I was. Walking back to the hotel, I noticed that every chimney and antenna had a stork sitting on it for the night. The next morning, before catching my train to Leon to continue my Camino, went back to the church. Still plenty of storks flying and sitting there.
Best moment of my Camino.

Best guess is that this was a migration stop on their way to Africa as this was the beginning of Oct.

 

[anna klara klintegaard]

I got sent to Palencia to have a medical issue checked out and after I left the hospital, walked to the cathedral. The church was covered with storks. 100's of them. Flying in and out, clappering with their beaks. Exciting moment and the Spaniards were taking as many photos as I was. Walking back to the hotel, I noticed that every chimney and antenna had a stork sitting on it for the night. The next morning, before catching my train to Leon to continue my Camino, went back to the church. Still plenty of storks flying and sitting there.
Best moment of my Camino.

Best guess is that this was a migration stop on their way to Africa as this was the beginning of Oct.

Wow, that must have been a wonderful sight! Thanks for sharing, Jodean

 

[Rebekah Scott]

Most of those storks in Palencia live there year-round, as there's plenty of food and shelter for them there. Their return to their nests on the church roof is a nightly event, especially on pretty summer evenings when the plaza terraces are full of people.

 

[Rick of Rick and Peg]

Based on the bit of rust/orange around the tail feathers, I would say that's a Black Redstart.

Thank you @Mark Lee.

I am impressed that you both either had pictures or you started scanning resources. I saw 3 deer, a Cookoo bird, A small viper & a lot of Storks. I just didn't take any pictures. I am hoping some of you out there did.

Here's the only other wildlife pictures I have. I did take a lot of stork pictures but they didn't survive my SD card accident and weren't that great anyway. Leaving Villafranca del Montes de Oca in the morning I did see a deer.


I was looking through this site's pictures looking for one that nearly matched mine and I saved links to bird pictures that I saw including one of a Spanish vulture.

https://www.caminodesantiago.me/com...panish-vulture-in-mansilla-de-las-mulas.5136/
https://www.caminodesantiago.me/community/camino-photos/looking-for-lunch.4888/
https://www.caminodesantiago.me/community/camino-photos/day-13-of-vdlp-2016.4848/
https://www.caminodesantiago.me/community/camino-photos/stork-on-the-beltower.4712/
https://www.caminodesantiago.me/community/camino-photos/beauty.5437/
https://www.caminodesantiago.me/community/camino-photos/stork-searching-for-frogs.5252/

 

[HeidiL]

Salamanca is also full of storks. In some areas, the clacking of their beaks is quite deafening.

 

[Larazet]

Juvenil

Maybe someone can tell me what kind of bird this resident of Hornillos is. This guy needed about 15 to 20 minutes to recover from flying into a window before realizing he could end up being my dinner and flying away.
View attachment 29332

Juvenile hedge sparrow?

 

[bernhugo]

I'd go with Mark Lee that is a blck redstart, definitely not a sparrow.

 

[bernhugo]

Sorry that should read black redstart.

 

[Mark Lee]

I'd go with Mark Lee that is a blck redstart, definitely not a sparrow.

yeah, sparrows and finches have more robust beaks, I suppose for crushing and eating seeds and such
redstarts are in the flycatcher family of birds, and I suppose that thinner beaks aids in catching insects while in flight