El Hondo- the southern hides

Two days after my trip, I decided to go out and try again. The eagle owl photos were amazing, but the greater spotted eagle photos were too dark to admire them, and on top of that weren't the photos I wanted so much. So, I went out again today, choosing a different location to try my luck. The southern section of el Hondo isn't normally considered a good place for them, but this winter was unusually popular with these birds. On the way there, I came across a spoonbill in the Santa Pola salinas

As I drew closer, I began cycling through fog of increasing thickness. Almost at the reserve, the fog got so bad I could barely see 50 meters ahead of me. Normally I like fog, and normally I would have been very interested in a fog of such strength, but I realised seeing the eagles would be a problem with this. Fortunately, it dissipated eventually. 

Most of the day was spent in a hide, although I did climb out to look in other places briefly. For a long time, I couldn't see anything due to the fog. Then, when it lifted a little and the sun peaked out, I saw a massive bird in the distance. It was very far away, and almost white at a distance. It was a greater spotted eagle, the fulvescens morph, perhaps even the same bird I saw two days ago, as both were very pale. 

I tried my best with images, but couldn't do well- the bird was simply too far away even for my 126x magnification. All I got was a distant, enormous bird of prey in a tree. Then this bird flew off, and I quickly got bored. I tried to look elsewhere, but then returned to my previous spot and began staring everywhere with my telescope again. Two hours were spent this way before I noticed another greater spotted eagle perched in a eucalyptus. this was the normal dark variant, an adult by the uniform brown plumage, and it was rather close. I was not expecting to see an eagle this close today, and began taking photos. One of the photos was the most amazing I have ever taken of this species

Satisfied, I then pointed the bird out to someone else, who became very interested in it. I left soon after, extremely happy that I managed to see and take pictures like that of a greater spotted eagle in the end