Today i collected Alison, Alan, John and Fiona from their holiday cottage in Montejaque at 8:30am and drove straight to the Llanos de Libar some 53 minutes away! The weather was gorgeous as usual, clear blue sky a nice cool breeze, top temp. for the was 28C but it felt much cooler with the breeze.
My four clients were not accomplished birders, very much beginners so every bird required a description and an identification.
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| Fiona, Alan, Alison & John in the Llanos de Libar |
The beautiful valley of the Llanos de Libar was full of activity, we started with a large group of Griffon Vultures, 25 were in the sky at one time, they were joined by a Short-toed Eagle and later a Sparrowhawk circled near them.
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| view across the valley Llanos de Libar |
On the rocky cliffs and stoney crags we found Blue Rock Thrush, Black Wheatear (5), Rock Sparrow, Rock Bunting, Spotless Starlings and a few Common Stonechats. In the scrub we tracked down a few Sardinian Warblers and a nice Spectacled Warbler, the track side was frequented by large flocks of Goldfinches and Linnets which were joined by Cirl Bunting and Chaffinch.
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| watching vultures at the Mirador Puerto de Palomas |
A few Crag Martins dashed over the valley and we spent some time watching the antics of a number of Black Redstarts as they flitted amongst the rocks, we then found a Common Redstart in the Bushes, Great Tit, Blue Tit and Chiffchaff sp. completed our sightings there.
We ate our lunch in a cork oak wood just passed the Puerto de Tabizna (where the dam that doesn't work is found) - no birds were seen during lunch. A short coffee stop at the next venta produced a Booted Eagle which was seen circling with the vultures as we sat in the shade sipping our coffee.
Next we visited the mirador Puerto de Palomas which is situated a couple of km above Grazalema. The view of the surrounding area was magnificent from our perch some 1300 meters above sea level. We looked down over a number of Griffon Vultures and high over the top of us we saw a couple of Honey Buzzards, Booted Eagle and another Short-toed Eagle. A single Black Redstart was the total of our passerine sightings.
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| The Rio Guadiaro at Benaojan |
For our last birding walk we drove back to Benaojan and walked along the river Guadiaro which didn't produce much, but it was very warm. A family of Grey Wagtails, a Blackcap and a Cetti's Warbler burst into song and a Grey Heron flew over. Not much else showed up and it was now 4:30pm so we called it day and drove back to Montejaque.
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