The Extremaduran dehesa is the main refuge for one of the most colourful and least known European birds of prey: the black-winged kite (Elanus caeruleus). This small predator is a relatively recent inhabitant here, only settling in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula in the second half of the 20th century.
Monitoring for more than 20 years of one of the main European populations of the species has allowed Domingo Rivera Dios to learn relevant aspects of its ecology, the factors that have led to its colonization of agricultural land in the south of the peninsula and what dangers threaten its status.
He works in the Natural Environment Area of GPEX as a technician in the Nature Conservation Service of the General Directorate of Sustainability (Junta de Extremadura). The great passion of this ornithologist from Extremadura is birds of prey and, especially, the black-winged kite, a species that he has both studied for several decades and published research papers on in scientific journals.
He has also collaborated in the chapter of the black-winged kite of the RTVE nature programme ‘El Bosque Protector’ and is the author of the file on this species in the Virtual Encyclopedia of Spanish Vertebrates-Natural Museum of Natural Sciences CSIC.