Bonelli's eagles: A return to Crevillente

Somewhere in the mountains north of the city Crevillente, which in my eyes is notorious for having a road layout so confusing that I have trouble navigating through it even on foot, there resides a rare eagle. 

Classed as Endangered in its European range, the Bonelli's eagle is a large and exceptionally beautiful bird of prey. Often seen distantly soaring, I nevertheless once saw one in flight over Castalla at reasonable range, and yet know of an area where close sightings of the bird can be obtained. I know the mountains well, and try to visit nearly every year. 

In 2021, I saw a juvenile Bonelli's eagle, and then heard them calling from their nest. In 2022, I encountered the pair soaring very distantly over the mountains, and then one at close range and low altitude along with a black kite, on the same day I also saw a migrating young short-toed eagle in the canyon. Somehow, I expected this day would be a lot different. 

First, as usual, I started with an exhausting bus ride, which took 1 hour and 30 minutes. Without the time spent at Elche. Amazingly, the bus to Crevillente was only 3 minutes late this time. 

Upon arrival to Crevillente, I quickly navigated the maze of streets and went into the mountains. The mountains do have a problem with aggressive dogs (as in fact does all of Spain), but nothing bothered me as much now as the previous time. I approached the area as early as before, and began to wait. I knew the Bonelli's eagle was incredibly lazy- I have never seen it flying earlier than 11am. Perhaps they were off hunting though, because I at 9:30am spotted a massive bird of prey distantly soaring over the canyon. I watched it, and quickly identified it as a golden eagle. What this bird was doing here, I had no idea. But I was really happy to see it. It was an adult, nearly completely black, and it had just invaded Bonelli's eagle airspace! I imagined this outrageous act would provoke some sort of retribution from the Bonelli's eagles, but the golden eagle drifted off unpunished. Either they were off hunting or they simply slept through its appearance. Unfortunately, it kept its distance. 

Shortly after, the air warmed up, and became full of chough. These crow-like birds with red bills soon were all over the place, flying quite close and low overhead as I walked around the area. Some of them circled with a large falcon. Peregrine, I thought. No short-toed eagle materialised, so that bird from last year must have really been migrating. I waited, and as I did so, I noticed a strange noise from nearby. Given that there were exceptionally poorly trained dogs in the distance who were barking absolutely nonstop, which also caused a sizeable echo in the mountains, I kept mishearing the sound, and was unable to identify what was making it. 

As I went further on, I spotted a woodchat shrike sitting by the edge of the road. Incredibly close to me. And it didn't fly off immediately as well. 

Soon enough, I saw a large bird of prey descend and land on a ledge on the cliffs in front of me. It was the Bonelli's eagle. And it was close. Much closer than before. 

I stood in the exact same spot as the eagle sat there, preening and eating something. Then, it took flight. And flew directly towards me. The eagle slightly banked to the side, but remained extremely close and at low altitude, flying practically overhead! 

All in all, that section right past me was flown at exceptionally slow speeds. The eagle then picked up speed and gained altitude, circling over the canyon, and then flew over the top of the ridge, and was lost from sight. I was absolutely dumbfounded by what had just happened. Immediately, I began to return. As I did so, I heard that animal noise again. And this time, the dogs it seemed barked out more than they could handle, and were silent. So I could identify what the noise was. Something was croaking incredibly loudly. I thought, Iberian green frog. Sure enough, one was floating in a half-empty eutrophied reservoir.