The name Doñana is known by every bird-watcher, but those that never have visited the area cannot imagine how large, varied and rich it is. It is not unusual that a first-time visitor adds 60-70 species to his private list. Most visitors come in April/May but the area is worth visiting also during other times of the year. Once, when guiding some visitors a few days in the middle of December, we found no less than 200 bird species. There are also several areas in the surroundings that are worth a visit, all of them suitable for one- day trips.

Extremadura ’s steppic and mountainous areas as well as the large acreage of dehesa are very attractive to visitors from further north, both birds and humans. Large numbers of Cranes spend their winters in the dehesa , feeding mainly on acorns. Also several other northern bird species spend their winter in the dehesa and steppic areas. Some visitors come to look at the Cranes but the wast majority comes for the breeding bird fauna, the exotic landscape views and the historical sites – it was from here the conquistadores came (Cortes from Medellin and Pizarro from Trujillo).

Extremadura is a bird-watching paradise out of the ordinary, where one finds several interesting species that don’t occur in western or northern Europe. One can come most of these species surprisingly close. The steppic areas, with its low-intensity farming, hold good populations of Great Bustard, Little Bustard, Stone Curlew, Pin-tailed Sandgrouse, Black-bellied Sandgrouse, Montagu’s Harrier, Calandra Lark and Lesser Kestrel. The main attraction in Monfrague National Park is the breeding birds, with species such as Griffon Vulture, Black Vulture, Egyptian Vulture, Spanish Imperial Eagle, Golden Eagle, Bonelli’s Eagle, Eagle Owl, Black Stork, Peregrine Falcon (of the subspecies brookei ), Blue Rock Thrush, Rock Bunting, Rock Sparrow, Red-billed Chough, Crag Martin and Black Wheatear. Black-shouldered Kite, Azure-winged Magpie, Great Spotted Cuckoo and Red-legged Partrigde are the obvious target species in the dehesa . Other species regularly found in this part of Spain are Short-toed Eagle, Booted Eagle, Black Kite, Quail, Scops Owl, Little Owl, Rock Dove, Turtle Dove, Red-necked Nightjar, Black- eared Wheatear, Short-toed Lark, Wood Lark, Crested Lark, Thekla Lark, Grey Wagtail, Zitting Cisticola, Dartford Warbler, Subalpine Warbler, Cetti’s Warbler, Spectacled Warbler, Sardinian Warbler, Orphean Warbler, Melodious Warbler, Nightingale, Long-tailed Tit (of the subspecies irbii ), Serin, Alpine Swift, Red-rumped Swallow, Cirl Bunting, Golden Oriole, Hoopoe, Roller, European Bee-eater, Woodchat Shrike, Iberian Grey Shrike, Spotless Starling, Spanish Sparrow, Roller and Bee-eater.

A total of 399 bird taxa have been recorded during earlier tours.