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.

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