Andalucia birdwatching fair september 2009

Andalucia is surely one of the most active regions as to attract birdwatchers. The event we took part in was the 2nd birdwatching fair were the aim is to connect the Andalucian tourist industry with birdwatching trip operators. I think it were about 60-70 people attending from many birdwatching communities in many countries. The fair was held in the small village of Zahara de los Atunes. It was very well organised and in addition to give an overview of local providers of accomodation, transport and guiding it gave the participants accss to several of the most important sites in southern Andalucia. , We visited;

- Tarifa (Cazalla), Los Lances beach, La Janda, Laguna Medina, (close to Jerez), Zaframagon (near Olvera). Further, we moved into the Seville province, visiting Brazo del Este and then over to the Coto Donana area. We ended the trip at Aznalcázar, a key site for the Iberian Lynx.

I think the most important thing for us was to see and learn how Andalucia promotes itself within this niche of tourism. The region is probably already the most visited region in the whole of Europe, but they still see potential to increase their market share. 

It is obvious that birdwatching tourism is both good for business and conservation. The more birdwatchers that go (behaving as birdwatchers should), the more business is created and the more emphasis on conservation there will be.

Thank's to the Spanish tourism board for a very well organised fair!

The event took place in a rather pleasant hotel in Zahara...

Birding Southern Andalucia march 2009

Tarifa and Coto Donana 4th- 7th of March 2009

I arrived at Tarifa in very bad and stormy conditions, and stayed overnight there. At the 5th, I drove up to Laguna Medina and then up to El Rocio. On the 6th I was together with Jose Antonio Sanchez at Discovering Donana, and we covered most of Coto Donana during the day. In the evening I drove back towards Tarifa. On the 7th I did some birding along the strait before returning home via Malaga. A short and compact trip.

Some of the observations made:

Laguna Medina

Due to all the rain, it was completely full of water. Nevertheless, I had some very good observations of about 30 White-headed Ducks, several Red-crested Pochards and Shovelers. And, 5 Black-necked Grebes.

Coto Donana

The Laguna Madre at El Rocio was full of birds and I walked along the Paseo Marismeno. Flamingoes, Glossy Ibises, Spoonbills, Little- and Great White Egrets and hundreds of Shovelers, Pintails, Teals and Wigeons. Of waders, I especially noticed the number of Black-tailed Godwits.

On the 6th. we drove directly out of El Rocio towards The Valverde Visitor Center. On the way we had 3 Great Spotted Cuckoos, Little Owl, many waders like Green Sandpipers, Greenshanks, Lapwings, Little Stints, Dunlins, Kentish and Little Ringed Plovers. Just outside the Visitor Center, we had a Red-knobbed Coot; a lifer for me!

At the center there were many Little Gulls, egrets and herons, Red-Crested Pochards and also a male Hen Harrier. From here we went east along the road towards the rice fields. Not so much here, really, but we visited the nesting area of the Spanish Imperial Eagle, and could see one bird on the nest, very distant. From here, we went up to Dehesa de Abajo. That was a very pleasant experience. Hundreds of White Storks and Black Kites breed here, and most of them seemed to be there already. Further, we had 4 Red-knobbed Coots here, huge numbers of Purple Swamphens and several White-headed Ducks. We returned to El Rocio, and I drove down to Tarifa again in the evening.

Tarifa and the Strait

At the 7th of March, I spent the day driving slowly from Tarifa towards Algeciras to see if there were raptors coming in. It turned out to be a rather good day, all though the weather was rather unstable with quite hard westerly wind, so I focused on the eastern side of the strait. It was still a constant stream of Black Kites coming in from the sea with several flocks of 100+ birds. Further, I ended with about 40 Short-toed Eagles, one Booted Eagle, a Marsh Harrier, one Peregrine, 20 Griffons and in fact a Black Vulture.