Today I drove to La Janda, wondering if I could spot any Cranes. Hundreds of them had been reported in previous days and I remembered seeing them right upon commencing my 'usual route' in this vast area two years ago. No sign of them at the beginning of this visit though. Instead, all along my 14 kilometres ride I was accompanied by dozens of friendly Stonechats, usually seen in pairs.
Some fellow birders I met at the beginning of the track told me I was surely going to see Black-winged Kites, a wonderful species I hadn't come across for a while. They advised me to look for them on the power lines. Initially the only birds of prey I saw were several Kestrels, which I am always happy with too.





The large rice field where I saw hundreds of Cranes together two years ago was now empty. Maybe I'd have more luck further up the road, a few kilometres ahead. For now, I had to enjoy the Stonechats, the White Wagtails and whatever was moving in the bushes along the track, often Zitting Cisticolas. On the canal itself there was little to no life, apart from a Grey Heron and a Cormorant.


After driving carefully over the track parallel to the canal for an hour or so, I noticed a Buzzard sitting on the irrigation system. As I was getting closer to the ever flooded wetlands, I saw a Falcon-sized bird sitting on one of the powerlines. Another Kestrel? Looking into the bright sunlight made identification difficult, but I soon found out that it was a Black-winged Kite! I didn't remember they were that small. But still as beautiful as ever!

I hope the bird knew what it was doing, sitting so close to that dangerous spiral. Unfortunately I have seen several birds being trapped during previous visits.
I was enjoying the sight of this beautiful Kite when I saw a giant creature appear soaring in circles in the sky, bigger than any other raptor I had ever seen before. Although it was flying quite high and lighting conditions were far from ideal, I managed to take a few photos which enabled me to identify this bird as a Spanish Imperial Eagle! It was really too far away to fully appreciate its powerful beauty, but the mere thought of observing a species classified as Vulnerable filled me with joy. And pride, I must say.


The light was preventing me from taking excellent photos on one side of the track, as the sun was shining from that direction. It made identifying some of the wader birds I spotted also rather difficult, but I managed to see Lapwings, Common Greenshanks, Spotted Redshanks and Spoonbills, to name only a few.
An elegantly and low-flying bird of prey in the far distance was just visible enough in the final image on my Canon 90D to be identified as a Hen Harrier. Another lifer!







Just as I stumbled upon another friendly pair of birders, armed with telescopes, a big group of White Storks arrived. No trace of the Cranes yet, but so far I had seen an interesting variety of species.



During previous visits I had never run into so many fellow birders. Just after leaving the main road that runs parallel with one of the canals, I met another three men who had come to observe birds in this area. All of us were expressing our regrets about not having seen any Cranes so far, when we heard that typical trumpeting call! There they were, right above our heads! Not a huge flock, only seven individuals, but what a satisfying feeling. Their population has been hit very hard this year by Avian Influenza, but these seven birds were alive and well!

While driving slowly over the track, I noticed some other side roads that I might check out during another visit to La Janda. We are having the shortest days of the year and the sun was almost setting, time to head home. The Golden Hour light is ideal for taking great photos, but I didn't want to get stuck in the dark on these abandoned roads. A few more shots of a Marsh Harrier, a Meadow Pipit and a Pheasant later, I called it a night.





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