Source: All information that you can read in this page, is from Ministerio para la Transición Ecológica y Reto Demográfico del Gobierno de España. www.miteco.gob.es
Sand Martin
Riparia riparia
It is the smallest representative of the swallow family, with earth-coloured upperparts and white underparts. They gather in societies and generally hunt near water. Their flights are synchronous, rising as a swarm in unison and then dispersing. They sleep in huddles in reeds, and their colonies are located on clay or sandy cliffs, where they build galleries up to 70 centimetres long. They tend to nest in the same place year after year and feed on large numbers of dipterans, which they usually get by flying low to the water.
Sanderling
Calidris alba
Bird of about 20 cm. In winter it is very light grey, almost white, and in summer it turns browner. Its beak and legs are black. A curious thing about this sandpiper is that it has only three toes on each leg. It can be found on sandy beaches, very active and constantly scurrying along the beach in search of food. It is a gregarious bird, although it tends to form small groups. It feeds on shrimps, marine worms, molluscs and pieces of fish. It lays its eggs from June to August in small depressions found on the ground. It lays 4 eggs that are cared for almost exclusively by the mother.
Sandwich Tern
Sterna sandvicensis
Bird of about 41 cm with no difference between sexes. The back and wings are pearl grey, while the tail and underparts are white, faintly tinged with pink. It has a black hood and a long, slender black bill ending in a yellow tip. It feeds on small fish, crustaceans, worms and molluscs. Only visible in coastal areas, it is very active and can be confused in flight with gulls. Breeds in colonies from May to July in small holes made by the parents, not always lined, where it lays two eggs.
Sardinian Warbler
Sylvia melanocephala
It owes its name to the black hood of the male, on which there is a coloured ring around the eye, within a general dark grey colouring, fainter below. It frequents the garrigues and Mediterranean scrubland and characterises the avifauna of areas where olive trees grow. It is a typically insectivorous bird that hunts both among the trees in our gardens and crops and among the bushes in the fields.
Scopoli’s Shearwater
Calonectris diomedea
Marine bird, sometimes close to the coast. It breeds in rocky areas of the islands, where hollows provide a good nesting site.
Short-eared Owl
Asio flammeus
Hunts at dusk and during the day in open terrain. It feeds mainly on rodents, although it can also hunt small mammals, some land birds and other small vertebrates, as well as insects. It is found in open marshland, dunes and moorland. They are migratory birds that move south in September and return north around February. They make their nests on the ground, among heather and sedges. Egg-laying takes place from the end of March to June. Only the female incubates. It winters throughout the Iberian Peninsula.
Short-toed snake eagle
Circaetus gallicus
It is a forest bird found in mountain ranges and plains with scattered trees, nesting mainly in areas of Mediterranean pine forest, although it can also nest in holm oak, cork oak and, to a lesser extent, oak and beech forests, from sea level to above 1,400m. In general, it eats all types of reptiles, but it is mainly able to capture snakes thanks, among other things, to its adaptation to avoid the danger of a bite. It nests in trees at a height of between 4 and 9 m above the ground and has a very wide range.
Short-toed Treecreeper
Certhia brachydactyla
A little-known, light-coloured bird that continually climbs up tree trunks. Tiny in size, it measures about 12.5 centimetres and weighs 9 grams. If it remains motionless, it is very difficult to see, as its colour makes it blend in perfectly with the trunks. Due to the curvature of its beak, it is a specialist in searching for insects and larvae that take refuge in the crevices of tree bark. It can live in jungle areas, climbing the mountains to the edge of the forest, as well as in urban parks, olive groves and pastures.
Spanish Imperial Eagle
Aquila adalberti
They are found in mountain ranges and wooded plains in quiet and isolated environments. They are sedentary. They are specialists in hunting rabbits, although they hunt all types of prey weighing less than 2.5 kg: pigeons, magpies, etc. It builds its nest mainly in pine and cork oak trees in crowns more than 6 m above the ground. Its distribution is limited to the southwest quadrant of the peninsula and it is in danger of extinction.
Spanish Sparrow
Passer hispaniolensis
With a wingspan of 25 cm, it lives in copses with a variety of trees. It has a louder voice than the house sparrow and eats all kinds of seeds and grains, including some insects during breeding, which takes place from April to June. It builds its nest, in the shape of a ball with a hole in the side, in trees and also in walls. It lays two or three clutches a year, each containing 4 to 7 eggs, which it incubates for 11 to 12 days. It lives far from human populations, forming breeding colonies around large nests of storks or birds of prey. It is very gregarious and forms large flocks that have a fixed roost in wooded areas.
Spectacled Warbler
Sylvia conspicillata
Small bird of about 13 cm. The female is less conspicuous than the male. It lives in dense thickets of thyme, rosemary, kermes oak and marsh scrub. It feeds on insects, spiders, molluscs and seeds. It lays its eggs from April to June. It builds its nest in the bushes, low to the ground. It lays 4 or 5 eggs and is cared for by both parents. When the chicks are threatened by an intruder, the father pretends to be injured, crawls along the ground and makes pitiful peeping sounds. This behaviour misleads the intruder, as it makes him believe that he will easily catch the bird, which staggers and goes off in search of him. It is a protected species. There is the variety Sylvia conspicillata orbitalis on the island of La Palma.
Spotless Starling
Sturnus unicolor
It lives in small colonies on cliffs, trees and settlements. It is distributed as far as the foot of the Pyrenees and nests in holes in trees and cliffs, ruins and roofs. It is 22 centimetres in size, the same as the common starling, and indistinguishable from it from a distance. It feeds on insects, molluscs, snails and worms.
Spotted Flycatcher
Muscicapa striata
Its habit of perching on poles and branches, from where it swoops down on flying insects that pass within its reach and then returns to its place of origin, makes the grey flycatcher an easy bird to identify. It nests in tree holes and holes in buildings. It needs open spaces rich in flying insects to be able to hunt them from its perch. It is a specialist in hunting on the wing and therefore a great consumer of butterflies, flies, mosquitoes, bumblebees and other flying insects, such as small beetles. The plant diet is practically non-existent.
Squacco Heron
Ardeola ralloides
Bird with a stocky body and thick neck, measuring about 45 centimetres. Light plumage, white wings, greenish legs that turn pink during the breeding season. In this respect, the bill, which is black during the breeding season, changes to green with a dark tip in winter. It is more solitary than other herons, and nests alone or in small groups in reed beds or on trees. It feeds on crabs and small fish.
Stone marten
Martes foina
Butcher mammal that can reach 44 centimetres in length and 23 centimetres in tail, with the soles of the legs very cushioned, making it unnoticeable. The hair is brown on the back and white on the chest. They are quite fierce animals, preferably hunting at night, attacking the young of domestic animals. It lives in northern and central Spain and can reach as far as Sierra Morena, preferring mountainous areas with dense vegetation.
Subalpine Warbler
Sylvia cantillans
It coincides with the blackcap in part of its area of distribution, although it looks for insects in different places: the blackcap looks for them in the creeping stratum and the kermes oak in the aerial part of the scrub. It lives in grouse, cork oak and kermes oak forests, preferring sunny areas and browsing in masses of rockrose in regressive stages. Like the blackcap, the blackcap arrives in Spain in April when the entomological world begins to move. It completes its diet with blackberries, figs and seeds.
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