Bonelli’s Eagle at Cantalejo

Cantalejo, tucked into Segovia's landscape of rolling farmland and 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 and 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.