Today I took out 3 friends of friends who were staying in the village for a few days. They were not birders but had an interest in seeing them.
We met at 7:30am and drove the short distance to the track near San Pablo where we hoped to see some migrating raptors. The weather was glorious as ever, a little breeze and wall to wall sunshine.
We spent a couple of hours walking just 500 meters because there were so many birds to look at!. Even Collared Doves fascinated my guests when they saw them in the scope for the first time, but it was the number of raptors that held our attention the most.
As early as 8:30am we saw small groups of Honey Buzzards lifting from the wooded hillsides, they circled on newly formed thermals and quickly gained incredible heights before drifting off towards the coast.
We also saw Common Buzzard, Booted Eagle, Common Kestrel and 3 Montagu's Harriers. Other birds of note were Hoopoe, Serin, Corn Bunting, Crested Lark, Stonechat and lots of Goldfinches, Linnets and House Sparrows. As we climbed to the top of the hill Mariella, one of guest became ill with dehydration so I quickly went back to the car and drove back up the hill with water to hand. Soon our patient was back up and running and we continued our journey in the car.
 |
| Eurasian Hoopoe |
Further along the track we stopped to look at a Little Owl, a couple of Northern Wheatears, a single Whinchat, a Tawny Pipit and a low flying Short-toed Eagle. We also saw some distant Griffon Vultures and Black Kites, but it was a group of Bee-eaters sitting on the power lines that thrilled us all. Even though they are a little drab at this time of the year they still looked magnificent in the sunshine.
 |
| European Bee-eater |
After a short stop at Jimena de la Frontera to look at more Bee-eaters we decided to drive back up to Gaucin as it was getting very hot and I didn't want any more casualties.
No comments:
Post a Comment