page_title: Pedro Muñoz
section_title: Fauna
hierarchical_section_title: Pedro Muñoz / Geography / Flora and fauna / Fauna
context_page_description: Pedro Muñoz is a municipality in the autonomous community of Castile-La Mancha, Spain. It is located in the northeast corner of the province of Ciudad Real, on the bank of the Záncara river. It is in the La Mancha region, in the "Mancha Alta" sub-region. It was founded in 1284 by the Archdeacon of Alcaraz, Pero Muñoz, as one of a series of defensible points in the La Mancha plains. The village was abandoned in 1410, due to a severe drought, and re-established in 1525. Since the late 19th century, Pedro Muñoz had been an important economic center in the region.
  The village has an important architectural heritage of manor houses, hermitages and the Renaissance and Baroque church of St Peter the Apostle. It also has a natural and ecological heritage composed of a protected complex of wetlands, visited by many species of migratory birds.
context_section_description: The wetlands complex is an important natural element to assist the migration of birds between Africa and the north of Europe, despite the high salinity of the water and the summer drought. The presence of crustaceans that can resist the summer drought are fundamental for feeding many waterbirds.
  In the fringes of rushes and sedges there are many ducks, like the mallard. Sedentary birds who nest and winter on the lake are sometimes seen, including the black-necked grebe, the coot and the common pochard.  Other more common birds which overwinter on the lakes are the shoveler duck, the northern pintail, the eurasian teal and the little grebe. In areas of thicker vegetation the purple heron nests during spring and migrates in August to over-winter in other places. In the salty areas are wading birds such as the black-winged stilt and the avocet.
  Among non-aquatic birds are plovers, great reed warblers, black-headed gulls and the hobby. There is in addition one of the more important predators of waterfowl, the marsh harrier, more common on the permanent lakes where there is denser vegetation.
  Beyond the wetlands are various other wild animals such as rodents, hares, pole cats, snakes, falcons, owls and partridges.
caption: Black-necked stilt (Hemantiopus hemantiopus)
exif: {}