Iberian Ibex Group

Iberian Ibexes are mountain-dwelling goats found in parts of Spain, with an few in Portugal.  They have relatively short legs and large, flexible hooves, which enable them to climb easily on nearly vertical rock faces.  We have seen them several times on two days of our trip, and fairly close--it's been great fun. They are extremely graceful when climbing quickly.  This group of seven moved at least 100 meters across a steep ridge along the road, staying more or less together; here they're standing, clearly aware of us.

The main activity of the day was searching for Dupont's lark, a rare species of lark found mainly in the El Planeron ornithological reserve, which encompasses much of the largest unspoiled steppe in Spain.  We saw the bird only very fleetingly when it flew ahead of us, which we were told is often the way it is.

This was the last day of our birding tour. Tomorrow we rise at the crack of dawn for the 4-hour drive from Daroca to Barcelona, to catch our early afternoon flight to London with the group.  The seven of us were led by John Muddeman, an Englishman who has lived in Spain since the 1990s and is certainly one of the country's best birders.  We went with him in 2001 to Extremadura and the Doñana--our first European birding tour, and it has been great to be with him again.