An Amazing Avian Andalucian Adventure (2 Viewers)

A few years ago I learned that the southern tip of Spain was fantastic for raptor migration and I began, in my head, to plan a trip to see this for myself. A long ago thread on BF described hundreds of Honey Buzzards passing over in just a few hours; this whetted my appetite and this year I managed to get there. :t:

On 26 Sept we flew to Gibraltar, convenient for me as Easyjet goes there from Gatwick, my local airport; hired a car and drove to our obscure pre booked accommodation, 3 km east of Tarifa, right in the flight line, the narrowest crossing point for these narrow front migrants, only 14 miles from Morocco. After traversing a difficult, rough track we found our lodgings in a narrow valley just a few hundred metres as the crow flies, or should I say as the eagle flies, to the coast. The tiny casita wasn't ready so we hiked up the hillside on this long abandoned by the military, land. We were told by the locals we could walk anywhere and indeed the local farmer indicated the best way up. I think he was a little perplexed by our bins and scope. (More of this later.)

Walking up there were Booted Eagles cruising overhead and a Blue Rock Thrush appeared briefly, then disappeared in a bush and several Sardinian Warbles appeared. At the top of the hill, Africa clearly in view, a swirl of about 50 Booted Eagles in many plumages but nearly all light morph, drifted over, some very very close. Fantastic and with a few of the very beautiful and larger Short -toed Eagles mixed in. A single Black Kite flew over and later kestrels appeared, are they lessers? They are very light.

Back at the cottage which is a delightful tiny two room house with no mains electricity, I see an Orphean Warbler and we are treated to his delightful song again and again. An Osprey is perched on a distant fencepost, unlikely I know but this is only a few miles from Africa! I watch a Spotted Flycatcher catch flies as we have dinner! As dusk approaches the kestrels chatter......they are Lesser Kestrels !! More about them later.

I usually take pictures on my trips but due to some physical difficulties and a major knee operation earlier this year I have taken to not carrying a camera. It's too much with a scope and all the walking. I want to concentrate on the birds and not be overburdened with equipment so have taken the decision on this trip not to take pictures.

A good nights sleep, being awakened by the gently intermittent jingling of cowbells the next morning, I am up early. It's easy to get up for dawn birding here as it doesn't get light until about 08:00. A quick breakfast and I'm out with my scope trained on the next door field, field is a bit of an exaggeration as it more a brown bare hillside with a little thirsty scrub. I scan the fenceposts and bushes: Stonechats, Winchats and Sardinian Warblers on the bushes and Red-legged Partriges up the hill. And then.......a Wryneck! perched on a fencepost. This is is what I just love about birding; looking and then finding a really good bird and it's just outside the cottage where I'm staying! Just brilliant, such a thrill and I love it. All this while listening to the song of a singing Orphean. The early morning light is perfect and in this location I soon learn to bird the field to the west in the early morning and later the field to the east in the evening. I watch the Wryneck for awhile, he moves to a bush and the views are great. Cattle Egrets fly in to join the cows and shortly, as the sun and temperature rise, the first of the migrant raptors appear.

Sounds good to me! I look forward to the next installments,

John

Tarifa Migration Watchpoints

Throughout the week we spent many many hours at the Tarifa Watchpoints, Cazilla and Trafico and a few others we found too, going to one or other every day. Typically, looking north but sometimes off to the east or west, a swirl would appear distantly and in a thermal would drift closer and closer. There could be between 10 and 100 birds in the swirl, usually dominated by one specie. We saw hundreds and hundreds each of Booted Eagle, Griffin Vulture and Short-toed Eagle. They would drift sometimes directly over our heads, sometimes to the side, all on their way to Africa. It was just amazing and a true wonder of the natural world. Smaller numbers of Egyptian Vultures were seen too mixed in with the Griffins and in one memorable swirl at Cazilla, there was one large vulture swirl containing three Ruppells Vultures!. Cazilla is the official watchpoint and there was a group of paid migration monitors there and it was they who IDd the Ruppells; I'd have missed them myself and put them down as darker Griffins. They were there every day from early morning to dusk, in their garden chairs. One of these guys was great, a top birder and very generous with his knowledge.

On one day a swirl of 80 Black Kites drifted over. Other species seen at the migrations watchpoint were Hobbies, Lesser Kestrels, Sparrowhawks, Red Kites, Marsh Harriers, Black Storks and White Storks. Common Buzzard and Peregrine were also seen but I suspect they were resident. Little Swifts we saw to the west at Trafico one day and Red-rumped Swallows from Cazilla. Honey Buzzards, we saw a few but were really too late for the masses and only picked up the stragglers. When it got a little quiet raptor wise, which wasn't often, we were entertained by Sardinian Warblers, hirundines and Crested Larks.

There was hardly a dull moment and by the end of one particularly long day there my head was swirling..........seeing all the different plumages of Short-toed and Booted eagles, I just had to stop; I was getting confused...................but I didn't stay away for long. I was back the next morning!

John: your notes were invaluable. We found the watchpoints easily and our cottage was midway between the two watchpoints so was perfectly situated.

joannec said:

Tarifa Migration Watchpoints

Cazilla is the official watchpoint and there was a group of paid migration monitors there and it was they who IDd the Ruppells; I'd have missed them myself and put them down as darker Griffins. They were there every day from early morning to dusk, in their garden chairs. One of these guys was great, a top birder and very generous with his knowledge.

John: your notes were invaluable. We found the watchpoints easily and our cottage was midway between the two watchpoints so was perfectly situated.

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Sounds great! I suspect I too met the birder to whom you refer - very pleasant and helpful. Unfortunately in my experience this is not always the case at these sites. I did try to persuade him that a couple of whiteboards at each watchpoint giving current info would be useful - an idea he didn't dismiss. Currently this is done, but only at the Youth Hostel volunteers stay at and thus virtually unknown to passing birders. The cottage sounds like a great find - you could have simply stayed there all day!

John Cantelo said:

Currently this is done, but only at the Youth Hostel volunteers stay at and thus virtually unknown to passing birders.

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Useful bit of gen there John, hope I get to visit this area again and make use of it.

Great to read your report Joanne, of an area that we enjoyed staying in for a fair few days before taking our van over to Morocco (though we did get moved on a few times by the police). Great birding, and you just don't know what you're going to bump into next. Your report conveys that excitement.

John Cantelo said:

The cottage sounds like a great find - you could have simply stayed there all day!

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It was! Each morning and evening I would be out alone with my scope. My husband is doing an OU course and he would study while I did my patch birding. The local farmer, who appeared every time I was out, I think thought I was some EU official checking up on his cows eartags or something with my bins. :-O It was only after a few days, when I made it clear I was looking at the birds did he seem to relax.

Birds seen from or very close to the house included the raptors mentioned above plus a Merlin, Raven, Spotted and Pied Flycatchers, Redstart, Wryneck, Blackcap, Sardinian and Orpehean Warblers, Stonechat, Winchat, Crested Lark and Scops Owl and Cettis Warbler were heard.

Larry Wheatland said:

Great to read your report Joanne, of an area that we enjoyed staying in for a fair few days before taking our van over to Morocco (though we did get moved on a few times by the police). Great birding, and you just don't know what you're going to bump into next. Your report conveys that excitement.

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Thanks Larry.

Other Birding Near Tarifa

The harbour area beyond the harbour wall on a windy day was good. Whiskered Terns were busy dipping for food in the choppy water, also Common and Sandwich terns. We returned on a calmer day but they weren't there. The gulls were mostly Yellow-legged and also saw my first Audouins, a really distinctive gull that we would see loads more of later. It has a heavy red bill with an unusual profile, like the weight of the bill is pulling its head down.

The extensive beach area west of Tarifa is sadly a kite-surfers mecca and this activity hugely reduces the species there despite some areas with signs in many languages saying "No Kite Surfing"! We did see Kentish Plover and Little Ringed Plover. It was sad to see the dunes so damaged by too much human activity and there didn't seem to be many birds in the wooded parts either.

Capo de Trafalgar is a pretty place up the coast with a nice walk to the Lighthouse, passing by some interesting pools with some waders: Kentish Plover, Grey Plover, Sanderling and Common Sandpiper. Also had very good views of what I think was a Thekla Lark . I know it's difficult to separate from Crested but it looked good. It was late afternoon when we were there and not much on the sea but it would probably be a good seawatching point in the right conditions.

joannec said:

Thanks Larry.

Other Birding Near Tarifa

Capo de Trafalgar is a pretty place up the coast with a nice walk to the Lighthouse, passing by some interesting pools with some waders: Kentish Plover, Grey Plover, Sanderling and Common Sandpiper. Also had very good views of what I think was a Thekla Lark . I know it's difficult to separate from Crested but it looked good. It was late afternoon when we were there and not much on the sea but it would probably be a good seawatching point in the right conditions.

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I've not been there often enough in the right conditions, but I think that, in a good blow it could be superb (although, as it faces west, the morning is better). Even on the indifferent days I've tried seawatching there I've seen Cory's & Balearic Shearwaters with ease plus a medley of raptors, Black Stork etc. It can also be fantastic for visible migration though the experience is marred by the local bird trappers. I get the impression that seawatching isn't too popular in the area so you could well be breaking new ground.

Superb, the Ruppells Vultures and the Little Swifts, Joanne, I'm green with envy!!! o

Very good variety of species, sounds really like you had a very enjoyable experience!!! :bounce: How many of these great birds were lifers for you?

madamcoolpix said:

Superb, the Ruppells Vultures and the Little Swifts, Joanne, I'm green with envy!!! o

Very good variety of species, sounds really like you had a very enjoyable experience!!! :bounce: How many of these great birds were lifers for you?

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Thanks Marian. 24 lifers altogether for the trip.........more to come.


Lesser Kestrels are Cool Birds

A little more about the Lesser Kestrels: this is such an interesting specie and so different from their common cousins in social habits if not in looks. They are on migration here where we are staying in a valley near Tarifa. This valley holds, I don't know how many but at dusk it gets exciting. Just as it's getting dark, they start chattering from different points around the valley. I don't see them much at this point, they just seem to want to reassure each other of where they are. It goes on for 20 minutes or so every evening and then to a lesser extent at dawn. I get so I look forward to it every evening.

When I first saw these birds, I could only positively ID the adult males, the females and juvs being so close to Common Kestrels, but as my eye got tuned in I began to notice the subtle differences. They are slimmer than common kestrels, most noticeable when perched but the ID feature that clinched it for me is he speed of their wingbeats, it IS faster, more rapid in flight in the Lesser Kestrel. They do hover but not as much as commons, just as happy to search for food from a perch like a wire or structure as hover. I think they must be eating a lot of lizards as well as insects in this dry landscape, don't think there are many small mammals here. And their sociability, sometimes we would see up to 15 at a time; never known that with common kestrels.

Your title says it all Joanne. It sounds like you really had a wonderful time.

D

How nice to really get familiar with a difficult species pair like the Kestrels.

It would be great to one day be able to put it into practice by finding a Lesser back home!

One of the highlights of my own trip Andalucia in 2007 was seeing them at eye level as they soared along the ridge at Arcos de la Frontera.


Cheers
Mike

It really is an amazing place isn't it Joanne? So pleased you enjoyed here and it was great to read the account of your adventures.

Peter

Joanne,
Great report, thanks for posting it.

Thanks Delia, Mike, Peter and Dave.

Mike: We went to Arcos too, more of that later.

Peter: And we got to your area near Rhonda as well, some VERY nice surprises there, more to come.

Birding Some Farmland

It was with some sadness that we left Tarifa and the raptor migration but there is loads more to see in Andalucia. Our next plan was to head inland to Arcos but we plan to go via Facinas and Benalup. This is farming area, a lot of it flat and marshy with rice paddies. From Facinas we found ourselves on a road calling itself an agricultural road, it started off a good gravel track where we found an Aquatic Warbler and what I think was a Mustached Warbler but I'm not entirely sure so I'm unsure whether to count it or not. I'm not altogether sure how likely one would be. Also the first of the Lesser Short-toed Larks was an exciting find for me. We would see many more later; they seem quite common. Sadly the road deteriorated and and we had to turn back, worried about the hire car and next found ourselves at the shrine of Senora de la Luz where we encountered the first Spanish Sparrows.

We spent most of the day meandering our way to Benelup through the most wonderful habitat, getting quite lost on the roads but it didn't matter, there were so many birds. There were White Storks galore and very very large flocks of Goldfinch and Marsh Harriers almost wherever you looked and many larks, both Crested and Lesser Short-toed! We would drive a bit and wherever looked promising we would stop, get out and scan with the scopes and in the distance I find two Black-winged Kites perched on some irrigation pipes, looking cool in their black face masks . I am absolutely thrilled with this as they are rare, even in Spain. We watch them for awhile, one flies up, hovers a bit and then returns to its perch. Also lesser kestrels here; the further along these back roads we travelled, the more there were.

We find an enormous flock of hundreds of Spanish Sparrows before stopping for lunch at the entrance to a farm track, attracted by the numerous Lesser Kestrels and Marsh Harriers . There are long lines of irrigation pipes with most sections containing a perched bird. One looks different.........a raptor with long legs. After consulting Collins we decide it is a Long-legged Buzzard. We would later see another.

Meandering along, the landscape changes, gets hilly and a little wooded. We see a few Booted Eagles and a distant swirl of Griffin Vultures. Back in rice paddy land as we near Benalup there is a recently harvested field of rice which is still very wet and there are many hundreds of White Stork and a flock of 17 Glossy Ibis. This has been a brilliant days birding and and an area I would like to return to one day.

Edit: ID correction. Lesser short-toed lark is Greater and I now accept that I didn't see Aquatic and Mustached warblers. Sorry.

joannec said:

Birding Some Farmland
From Facinas we found ourselves on a road calling itself an agricultural road, it started off a good gravel track where we found an Aquatic Warbler and what I think was a Mustached Warbler but I'm not entirely sure so I'm unsure whether to count it or not. I'm not altogether sure how likely one would be. Also the first of the Lesser Short-toed Larks was an exciting find for me. We would see many more later; they seem quite common.
We spent most of the day meandering our way to Benelup through the most wonderful habitat, getting quite lost on the roads but it didn't matter, there were so many birds. There were White Storks galore and very very large flocks of Goldfinch and Marsh Harriers almost wherever you looked and many larks, both Crested and Lesser Short-toed!

We find an enormous flock of hundreds of Spanish Sparrows before stopping for lunch at the entrance to a farm track, attracted by the numerous Lesser Kestrels and Marsh Harriers . There are long lines of irrigation pipes with most sections containing a perched bird. One looks different.........a raptor with long legs. After consulting Collins we decide it is a Long-legged Buzzard. We would later see another.

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Whilst I don't want to 'rain on your parade', I think several records you quote are so exceptional that you might want to revisit them. Firstly, Lesser Short-toed Lark (rather than 'Greater' Short-toed Lark) would be extremely unlikely in the habitats you mention (i.e. farmland and I suspect I've visted the areas concerned). This is non-migratory lark is pretty much restricted to the salty 'marismas' (hence its Spanish name "Terrera Marismena"). 'Greater' Short-toed would be far more likely in the area and habitat you mention.

Aquatic Warbler would (according to the 'Birds of the Straits of Gibraltar') be the second record for southern Cadiz province (and not really a species of farmland - was it in a wet ditch?). Young Sedge Warbler can look strikingly like an Aquatic if you've not seen one before. Similarly, Moustached Warbler would be extremely unlikely in the area and habitat you mention, being a restricted to large reedbeds (and, at best an occasional visitor, to the wetlands and mainly found in winter).

On the other hand Long-legged Buzzard is an increasing visitor and now found regularly in the area (though often tough to distinguish from the odd Common Buzzard). Incidentally, the name is something of a misnomer and the species doesn't look particularly long legged. Glad you saw Black-winged Kite - it's a fabulous bird and, unlike some raptors, has increased markedly in Spain in recent decades.

Hoping you don't take my comments amiss,

John Cantelo said:

Hoping you don't take my comments amiss,

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I don't John and I apologise for my mistakes. Will amend my records accordingly.

joannec said:

I don't John and I apologise for my mistakes. Will amend my records accordingly.

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Absolutely no apologies needed - rather I should apologise since, on reflection, it would have been much more sensible to make my comments via a PM. Idiot that I am I simply didn't think of it!

I'm really enjoying the account of your adventures to this magical part of Europe so please don't let my lack of sensitivity put you off. Looking forward to the next installment,