Superb Steppe Species!

Yesterday I drove out into the vast Murcian countryside, in search of new area's for steppe species. The huge area of foothills in Murcia were once all areas of steppe habitat, however the landscape is now dominated by agriculture of one form or another. Whilst farming practises mean that agricultural activities are much less intense than in the UK, the land used has obviously resulted in all the Steppe habitat becoming more and more fragmented and smaller and smaller in size.

Despite my last trip out into this area being largely un-productive, this trip was the complete opposite. An area of perfect habitat was found, consisting of many unbroken rubble fields and some dry un-intensive vineyards. What a place! The first species of interested I recorded was Great Bustard (see below), during the day I recorded many individuals with a conservative estimate of 60 probably being too low. The largest single group recorded was 39 birds in flight.

Great Bustard

Great Bustard

During the day all of the typical steppe species were eventually pinned down and good views were made even better by the superb light conditions. The following are my totals for the day - Little Bustard (9), Pin-tailed Sandgrouse (18), Black bellied Sandgrouse (40+, see below), Calandra Lark (500+, see below), Thekla Lark (numerous, see below), Lesser Short-toed Lark (numerous) and Golden Eagle (1). Click on the pictures to enlarge them, hope you enjoy these great species at some point, they really are something special!

Black-bellied Sandgrouse

Black-bellied Sandgrouse

Thekla Lark

Calandra Lark