Birding Tarifa and the Cadiz Province, December 2017

Winter break in Southern Spain, 9th to 13th of December, 2018

I had a short break before Christmas, and what better to do than go to the Tarifa area, as so many times before. I stayed at the Hotel Dos Mares, also as many times before. The view from the front line bungalows there are simply stunning.

On Sunday the 10th, I had agreed with Yeray Seminario at Birding the strait to have a half day at La Janda to look for Spanish Imperial Eagle. And it was a success. We had at least three individuals, 2 adults and 1 immature. At the site for one of the adults, we also constantly had an immature Bonneli's Eagle in view. We also had three Black Storks, four Spoonbills, three Black-winged Kites, two Hen Harriers and some Red Kites. In La Janda, also about 500 Cranes, 300 Golden Plovers and quite a lot of other waders were wintering. In the evening, I walked along Los Lances, and had a nice flock of 17 Audouins Gulls.

On Monday, it was quite stormy with rain, so I did some property search in stead. I managed a short visit to Palmones estuary, though. 1 Mediterranean Gull was the most interesting. On Tuesday, it had cleared up and I went up along the Costa de la Luz. First, I visited Barbate. There I had about 20 Stone Curlews and about 10 Bald Ibises. It is not far from the breeding 
site at Barca de la Vejer, so this is natural.I then drove up to Chipiona to look for Little Swifts, which in fact winter there. I had none, but a Caspian Tern and a Booted Eagle was ok. Next stop was the Bonanza Saltpans. Due to the rain the day before, I did not drive far into the area, but I drove enough to have Slender-billed Gulls and Flamingoes. Next stop was Laguna Tarelo. This is a very accessible and rewarding small lake, good in spring, autumn and winter. This time I saw Black-necked Grebe, 10 Shovelers, 15 White-headed Ducks, 40 Black-crowned Night Herons and one Little Swift.

By the way, when driving up to Chipona, I chose to go through El Puerto de Santa Maria. And there, in the middle of the round-about, with Burger King as the nearest neighbour- a replica of La Nina... what a place for this historic and world-famous Columbus ship!

On the way back, I encountered a circling flock of about 150 White Storks between Tarifa and La Janda. It might in fact have been the first arriving flock on "spring migration" as many leave Spain already in July and will start to return already in January- so why not December...?

Last day was a real mess, as I found out that I had a return ticket for 13th of February and not December..., so the best thing to do was to go to Malaga to sort things out.

More photos here: https://photos.app.goo.gl/QX4NkaXn0jJHaOTi2

Raptor watch Strait of Gibraltar September 2017

Raptor and stork migration

Short-toed Eagle.

We had a 5 days holiday from september 21st to sept 26th. Weather was unusually hot, with temperatures close to 30 C, a bit inland. We stayed some nights in La Alcaidesa, some 40 mins drive from Tarifa. The last nights we, as usual, stayed at Dos Mares Hotel, just outside Tarifa.

Due to easterly winds, most of the migration seemed to go at the western end of the strait, thus the watch point at Cazalla was an optimal place. However, in periods, the wind was very strong which meant that many raptors and storks did not migrate, or they returned from the sea. This given, you could have very close encounters as they returned very low over the sea. The new observation center built close to the sea, CIMA,just north of Tarifa was then a strategic place. 

Black Storks

As expected late september, there were four species dominating the air; Short-toed Eagle, Booted Eagle, Black- and White Stork. We had thousands of all these species during these days. Additionally, we had Bonelli's Eagle, Sparrow Hawks and some late Black Kites, Montague's Harriers and Honey Buzzards. I was also lucky enough to get my first sigthing of Rüppels Vulture. 

You can get weekly numbers on the  Programa Migres site here: https://www.facebook.com/FundacionMigres/

There were at times also large numbers of swallows and swifts migrating. We had a couple of really dense flocks of Alpine Swifts and Red-rumped- and Barn Swallows were constantly moving south from early morning.

We usually do some travelling around when we have our annual trips to the Strait in spring and autumn. This time we did not, but mainly stayed close to Tarifa. Of course including mandatory trips to La Janda. Tarifa is reaally and optimal place to combine holiday and birdwatching. Where else can you relax at the seaside and see thousands of raptors and storks overhead? We will be back.

More photos here: 

Video here

Castilla y Leon birding

Castilla y Leon: Spains biggest region with historic cities, "tierra del pan", spectacular landscapes and good birding.

Having visited most of Spains region, it was time to see more of the biggest region of Spain, Castilla y Leon, in the Easter of 2017. This is a highly agricultural intensive area, called "Tierra del Pan", meaning the bread land of Spain.

We started in Madrid, drove to Avila and spent the night there. Next day we went via Salamanca up to the border areas to Portugal, following the river Duero. We stayed overnight in Villalpando, which was a very good starting point for visiting the Villafafila area the next day. Villafafila is known for having the biggest population of Great Bustards in the world. Then, we went up to the scenic village of Sepulveda, which was a good point of departure for going to the Hoces del Duraton the next day. Last, but not least, we went down to Segovia and enjoyed the lovely parador there and did sightseeing in the historic city.

As for birding, I (who is the birdwatcher of us...) focused especially on two sites; Villafafila and Hoces del Duraton. Villafafila has the biggest population of the emblemic Great Bustard anywhere. I started in Vilalpando an hour before sunrise and drove out in the area. Even before sunrise, I could see the first great white "dots" out in the fields, and just a 1 km outside the village. As the light came, I could see single males and groups of females in most of the fields, just looking out of the car window. I guess I had at least 50 in just a couple of hours. As for the lagoons, the most important in this area of Spain, some of them were already dry. So the best was to go on the southern side of Laguna Grande. This was well worth a visit. The abandoned farm has a big Lesser Kestrel colony, Rock Sparrow was abundant, several Little owls were occuping the bird tower and in the fields several Short-eared Owls were hunting. In the lagoon, there were good numbers of Shovelers, Gadwalls, Teals, Wigeons, Black-winged stilts, Avocets, a flock of Spoonbills amongst others. To summarize my visit here: Well worth it!

The other area I wanted to see was the Parque Natural Hoces del Rio Duraton, the Grand Canyon of Castilla y Leon. This canyon has up to 100 meter cliffs and is a breeding site for numerous raptors. First and foremost up to 500 pairs of Griffon Vultures! We stayed in Sepulveda and drove to the small village of Villaseca, and walked the about 6km from there in to the Ermita de San Fruto, the monastery at the cliffs. All the spaniards going there were driving, but as we went early we had the dirt track for ourselves. And what a nice steppe area before approaching the canyon: I had Duponts Lark, Calandra Larks, Wood Larks, Thekla Larks, Tawny pipits, Black-eared Wheatears, Spectacled warbler etc etc. I can really recommend to walk this track in stead of driving which most birders would do. At the cliffs where the Ermita is situated, there were of course a lot of Griffons, a pair of Egyptian Vultures and a Peregrine. I would recommend to stay half-a-day in this area, focusin on the dry steppe at sunrise and stay at the cliffs to look fo raptors and Black Storks when the thermal is rising.

As mentioned earlier, the region of Castilla y Leon has several historic cities. We visited Avila with its famous city wall, Salamanca with is huge cathedral and famous Plaza Mayor and Segovia with it's huge aquaduct. These cities are also at a size which means you quickly can see the most interesting sites. These cities alo have their distinct bird community with Lesser Kestrels, White Storks, Blue Rock Trush and Alpine Choughs.

To summarize the visit to the huge region of Castilla y Leon: Very well worth a visit and also with a very good infrastructure for tourists: Good hotels (like the Paradores), very good food, good roads, abundance of both well known and hidden gems and do not forget the wine district of the Duero valley.

See more pictures here: