Alicante Province, december-january, 2019-2020

Visit to our familiy home on Costa Blanca, with day trips to birding sites in the Alicante Province.

We have had our family home on Costa Blanca for about 35 years, but I have not done so much birding in this area as I have in Andalucia. It is a pity, as the Alicante Province has some excellent locations like El Hondo, Salinas de Santa Pola and also some of the mountain areas. 

I visited El Hondo a couple of times, including walking the Ruta Roja, which is open on saturday morning only. Further, I was at the Salinas de Santa Pola

both driving along the main road, however also visiting the Salinas de Pinet area on the southern part of the salinas. I also walked along the Rioa Algar in Altea a couple of times, walked in the Bernia mountains and a couple of visits at the Albir lighthouse. 

Some of the highlights of the trip:

• Red-knobbed Coots, Purple Gallinules/Western Swamphens and Greater Spotted Eagle at El Hondo
• Marbled Teals and loads of Red-crested Pochards and good numbers of wintering Bluethroats at El Hondo
• Alpine Accentor and Black Wheatears at Albir Lighthouse
• Little Bittern and Common Waxbills at Rio Algar
• Large numbers of Red-billed Choughs in the Berni mountains

Some of observations can be found on Ebird; 

Sierra Gelada/Faro del Albir:https://ebird.org/checklist/S63086494

Rio del Algar: https://ebird.org/checklist/S63048048

El Hondo: https://ebird.org/spain/checklist/S63001234

El Hondo,Ruta Roja: https://ebird.org/spain/checklist/S63000684

Sierra Bernia: https://ebird.org/checklist/S62960045

Salinas del Pinet: https://ebird.org/checklist/S62915543

El Hondo, Visitor center, first visit: https://ebird.org/checklist/S62369336

https://photos.app.goo.gl/RU8CNPMDPwPCsYw78

Strait of Gibraltar, september 2019

Raptor and stork migration at Tarifa, 14th.-18th. of September 2019

We had the annual september tour to watch the migration from Europe to Africa, at the most narrow stretch around Tarifa, Spain.

The weather was unusual hot, with temperatures up to 30 C. Mostly calm, easterly winds; the Levante.

As for numbers of raptors and storks, I would say they were pretty normal based on my experience from the past years.

Hundreds of Black - and White Storks, good numbers of Black Kites, Short-toed Eagles and Booted Eagles. Further, there were still small groups of Egyptian Vultues and singles of Montague's Harriers.

Of the more rare raptors, we had both a juvenile Spanish Imperial Eagle and also a Black-winged/shouldered Kite around Tarifa. The latter is resident at La Janda, but it is rare to see them heading towards the Strait.

What was a bit dissapointing, was the low numbers of migrating passerines. Very few hirundines, swifts and few migrants in the bushes.

The only smaller bird with some visible migration was flocks of 10-50 beeaters that appeared quite frequently.

I also took a short trip up to La Janda one morning, but it was very quiet, dry and just underlined the impression of low number of birds, except for the migration storks and raptors.

Evevery morning I took a walk along the Los Lances beach. There were some Short-toed- and Calandra Larks and the plentyful Corn Buntings in the fields. On the beach there were the normal wader mix of Dunlins, Sanderlings, some Whimbrels and sandpipers.

As usual, there were a lot of birders around Tarifa. People from the UK, the Netherlands, Germany, Swedes, Portuguese and of course many Spaniards.

 In addition to the birding, we had a good time, again renting the same apartment, top floor with marvellous view of the Atlantic and Africa. As the weather was hot, we did some swimming in the sea.

In Tarifa at this time of the year, the number of tourists is declining, so the most numerous group are the kiters. They seeem, however, to be mostly resident here. Whether december, february or september, they are always there.

 The East coast of Spain suffered from lots of rain and floodings recently, but the southern part of Andalucia got little. So, it was dry as usual. Rain is really needed to increase the wetlands and green up the fields. More photos here:

Video here

Videoclips from birdwatching in Andalucia

Tarifa 17th to 22nd of February 2019

Meeting spring in Southern Spain February 2019

We had five days in Tarifa, with day trips around in the Cadiz province. We rented the apartment of David Jensen for the second time. Being one of the southern most situated flats on the European mainland, it gives you perfect views of the Atlantic, Los Lances beach, Morocco and even the Mediterreanean. An obvious choice.

The weather was nice and warm, with however a prevailing, strong easterly wind; the Levante. First day, we had a day trip up to Medina Sidonia, then via Laguna Medina up to Jerez de la Frontera. We have never stopped in the sherry town before, so we decided to do that now. However, I would not say it gets on our top-10 list. It has rather few must-sees and looks a bit "worn". It is however the sherry-capital of Spain, so it could be visited just due to that.

The next day trip we had was about trekking in the Alcornocales; the large cork-oak area lying just inland from Tarifa. A natural park and in fact the biggest cork oak forest in Spain. We had studied the possible paths in advance and chose to drive through Alcala de los Gazules and up to the parking area which is the start if you would like to walk up to the El Picacho. We took the route up there, taking about 1,5 hours up and about 1 hour down again. Not very challenging but somewhat steep at the end. When up there, you have a fantastic view of the Alcornocales and the white villages- the pueblos blancos dotted around. 

As for the many pueblos blancos we have visited, I would not say that Alcala is among the top three. Vejer de la Frontera is in my mind the most interesting, followed by Arcos de la Frontera and Grazalema. 

As for birding this time, it was a bit hampered by the heavy easterly winds. It was still, however, migration going on with small numbers of swallows, Black Kites and some seabirds going north. The most spectacular was the constant stream of Cory's Shearwaters coming in from the Atlantic and flying into the Strait. At least over a thousand on one of the days.

What was very nice to experience was the comeabck at Laguna Medina. Formerly one of the absolute most intersting lakes in Spain, but for a decade or more, it has suffered from the introduced carp fish. Now, it was teaming with coots, ducks, grebes and gulls. We had lots of Shovelers, Coots, Gadwalls, White-headed Ducks, Red-crested Pochards and Pochards.

Finally, on th birding side, I had a pair of the local resident Bonelli's

Eagle, just along the track going from Punta Camorro and along the strait. It is really worth to walk here, also due to the rather unspoilt nature due to the fact that it was formerly a military area. Mentioned should also be the fact that the Bald Ibises are back on their breeding cliff at Barce de Vejer. I counted 20 birds there one of the days.

So this was the fourth trip in a 12 month periode. We will be back, but perhaps not before september for the autumn migration!

More photos here:

Cadiz Province december 2018

Tarifa and other parts of Cadiz Province 14th- 18th. of December 2018

I had my "annual" december trip to the Tarifa area to do some birding and avoid the x-mas planning at home. The weather was nice with temperatures from about 10C in the morning up to 18C during day time. I arrived late evening of the 14th and stayed at the Arte Vida hotel just outside Tarifa. It is located close to the Los Lances beach at low cost. So this is a good choice if cost matters. The next three nights I stayed at the Dos Mares hotel close to Arte Vida. Dos Mares is my favorite, but I really recommend the

View from my room at Dos Mares

bungalows at the first row with sea view. I have stayed many times there.

On the 15th I started at Los Lances beach, then drove up to La Janda, continued via Benalup up to Laguna Medina. From there i drove via Jerez to the lagunas along the Camino Colorado, up to the saltspans of Bonanza and last stop at Laguna Tarelo, before driving all the way back to tarifa.

Los Lances had the normal species on this time of the year, with Sanderlings, Dunlins, Common Ringed Plovers, Sandwich Terns and some

Audouins Gulls

Audouin's Gulls. At La Janda, the water levels had gone down lately, so birds were not so close to the main channel and gravel road as they can be. But again, you get impressed by the huge numbers of wintering Cranes and White Storks. A Bluethroat landed just in front of my car. In stead of driving through La Janda I returned back and headed to Benalup and the rice fields below the town. Many White Storks, Cranes and Glossy Ibises here also, and a big surprise for me was a wintering Gull-billed Tern. And a flock of 8 Purple Gallinules.

Eared Grebe, laguna Medina

Laguna Medina was a nice surprise with good numbers of ducks, grebes and coots. The laguna has suffered from introduced carps over the years, but now it seems to be restored. I had more than 50 Eared Grebes, the same amount of Little Grebes and over 100 White-headed Ducks! I then headed up to the Bonanza Salt-Pans, but as previous years I found it rather bird empty. Next stop was Laguna Tarelo. Also here about 10 White-headed Ducks, and also an unusual species; Tufted Duck. There were also several herons and egrets at the far side, at least 5 Black-Crowned Night Herons and 2-3 Squacco Herons. Next and last stop was the small lagoons in the small Camino Colorado. This is supposed to be a safe place for Marbled Duck, but I did not find them, so also here the White-headed Ducks were the stars. 

Barbate Marshes and Saltpans

On the 16th I stayed in the Tarifa area with some short trips up to La Janda and Barbate. At La Janda I had a couple of Black-winged Kites and up to 40 Griffon Vultures. The Barbate marshes were not full of birds, but at least a flock of 20 Audouins Gulls and I also counted 35 Eurasian Thick-knees. I also got a new Spain tick, as I had a Red-breasted Merganser there.

Laguna Grande, Guadalhorce

On the 17th I did much of the same route as the day before, wich made me add species like Lesser Short-toed Lark at Los Lances, Scopolis Shearwaters in the Strait and 2 Caspian Terns at Barbate. on The 18th it was time to start the drive back to Malaga and departure for Norway. However, I also planned for a couple of hours at the Desembocadura del Guadalhorce, which is the estuary just south of the airport. In fact, according to Ebird, this is the place in Andalucia with most species seen; 291 in total. I had 75 Shovelers, Pochards, 20 Shelducks, 15 Eared Grebes, a Booted Eagle, and several Monk Parakeets. To name some of them.

Booted Eagle

To sum it up. I had 112 species during these 4 days. I can really recommend to visit the Cadiz province for birding during winter. There are so many good sites hosting both resident and wintering birds and these sites are close so you do not need to waste time on to much driving. It is also off season so except for the kiters at Tarifa, you can have places for yourself.

Full species list here.

Tarifa and the Strait of Gibraltar September 2018

Short trip to Tarifa 19th-22nd of September 2018

Short-toed Eagle

We had the annual autumn trip to Tarifa for raptor and stork migration. The weather was unusual hot, with prevailing Levante, meaning warm easterly winds. At times the wind was very strong, which prevented migration for many raptors. In addition the typical haze that comes with the Levante made it impossible to see the Moroccan shore at times. 

The result is that you get a lot of raptors, especially Short-toed Eagles, congregating in the Tarifa area. At one time, I had almost a hundred Short-toeds soaring together without migrating. At times they get very low when coming in from the sea after having failed to cross the strait.

Short-toed Eagles can go very low over the terrain when coming in from
 the sea after an attempt to cross

The other raptor dominating the third week of September is the Booted Eagle. They can be seen everywhere. I counted hundreds every day, however many failed the crossing and came in again so double-counts is a real problem here.

In addition to the two dominating species, there were still numbers of Black Kites and Honey Buzzards, where the juveniles were most numerous among the latter. As for harriers, there were some Marsh Harriers and very few Montague's. Of them, I had one black morph. As for storks, there were only Black Storks migrating, where one flock of about 200 was impressive.

Juvenile Honey Buzzard

So where to locate yourself under the Levante? Well, the Cazalla watch point is where you get best overview, but birds tend to go high. So my advise is to drive down to the CIMA center (Fundacion Migres Center) close to the sea. Here you can have close encounters with the raptors both in autumn and in the spring. If you have westerlies, however, the Algarrobo watch point close to Algeciras is to prefer (horrible "road").

Birdwatching in Tarifa can be really hard...

We usually stay at a hotel when in Tarifa. This time we in stead rented an apartment close to the beach and the city center. This proved to be excellent. I could watch raptors in the air from the terrace and out on the sea shearwaters, gulls and terns could be watched at the same time. Given this, you can also enjoy the convenience in having refreshments nearby!

More pictures 

Huelva and Cadiz Provinces Easter 2018

Faro-Coto Donana-Tarifa round trip

As Faro is close to Coto Donana, we chose that airport rather than Malaga, which we always use when going to Andalucia. You will use about one hour to the Spanish border, and then you can start birding in the Huelva province straight away.

Our first stop was in El Rocio, the heart of Coto Donana. As I have been there several times before, it was quite easy to compare to previous trips. And the first impression was a rather full lagoon, with little birds. Of course, the usual stuff with flamingoes, White Storks, Glossy Ibises and Spoonbills. Of ducks, I noted Shovelers, Gadwalls and Teals.  But, it was few african migrants, meaning no warblers, pratincoles, marsh terns or Bee-eaters and few swallows and swifts. During the trip I spoke with a lot of people and all said the same thing. It is an extraordinary late spring. Some talk about a month late.

Anyway, after a night in El Rocio, we went up to Dehesa de Abajo. This is a really nice area. Perhaps a bit zoo-like, for some people, as the large populations of White Storks and Black kites breed so close and everywhere. But, that is the charm of this site. Further, the lagoon was full with water, and thus promising a good season for water birds. As it was rather windy, most of the water birds gathered on the opposite side, so identification was a bit difficult. We noted Red-crested Pochards rather close.

We then went down to Tarifa and spent three days there. As the whether had been rather poor for several weeks, I was expecting a massive migration over the Strait, since the whether now was improving. But that was not the case. Most probably, the constant north-western winds over a long periode would have halted the migration also well into Africa. Anyway, the raptor migration was going on all days. Staring a bit late, and continuing well into the evening. As the winds were mostly westerly, Punta Carnero was by far the best. Hundreds of Black Kites and Booted Eagles came in there. However also around Tarifa there was visible migration with White Storks, the occasional Black Stork, Booted Eagles, still some Short-toed and some 2-3 Montague's Harriers per days. One day up to 5 Egyptian Vultures also appeared. However, where were the hirundines, swifts and Bee-eaters?

Along Los Lances, I noted the first Northern Wheatear, Yellow Wagtails and Short-toed Larks. Also the usual masses of gulls including Audouins and Caspian Tern.

For the first time we also took a short trip to the rubbish dump at Los Barrios to look at the Black Kites and White Storks. Some say up to 2000 Black Kites have been spotted there at the same time. We had lots, but not that number...

On the detour we went back to Donana and stayed at a four star in Matalascanas. In Laguna Madre, I finally had about 15 Pratincoles, so at least some migrants were on the move. And as always, the Azure-winged Magpies in El Acebuche is worth a visit there.

At the last day, we visited an area I havent seen before, Isla Christina between Huelva and the border. The salt-pans there held the same birds as such areas everywhere; Avocets, Black-winged Stilts, Flamingoes and Slender-billed Gulls. In addition, there were some good flocks of waders, dominated by Dunlins and Common Ringed Plovers.

Some final words: Due to the whether conditions over Europe in March, a lot of rain has fallen in Southern Spain. This is very welcomed. Lagoons and marshes are quite full, and the same goes with the Embalsas. So even though the spring is late, the state of the wetlands of Andalucia gives hope for a good breeding season.