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 theView from my room at Dos Mares |
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 |
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 |
Laguna Grande, Guadalhorce |
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.
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