Bonelli’s Eagle at Cantalejo

Cantalejo, tucked into Segovia's landscape of rolling farmland & limestone outcrops on the northern edge of the Iberian plateau, offers a fitting backdrop for tracking Bonelli's Eagle against the wooded hillsides of Castilla y León. April visits, timed with the Birdlife of Northern Spain holiday, give photographers the best chance of working this terrain while conditions are favourable. The mix of open ground & rocky escarpment here makes for varied compositions, from wide habitat shots to tighter frames as the eagle moves along the hillside edges. Patience pays off in this part of north-central Spain, where the terrain itself becomes as much a part of the image as the bird.