Our first full day and what a day!!! The winds were very low and sunshine prevailed throughout the day. We set off for Tarifa at 7:30am (in the dark) and made our first stop at the beach near Manilva. The sea was like a mill pond, we could see a good distance where many birds were flying. Good number of Yellow-legged Gulls were heading towards Estapona and not far out we saw both Northern Gannet and Cory's Shearwater fishing in their respective methods. We heard a Cetti's Warbler found a Grey Wagtail near the beach before we set off.
Passing through Algeciras we quickly made our way over the hills towards tarifa, near the summit we stopped at Bujeo Park just above Pelayo. From the park we watched several early risers in the form of Short-toed and Booted Eagles, we also saw Honey Buzzard, Griffon Vulture and Sparrowhawk. But the best sighting was of a pair of Bonelli's Eagles that drifted right over us from west to east, wow what a start!As we arrived at Cazalla, the raptor watch-point situated in the hills above Tarifa we were greeted by a large flock of storks circling on the thermals. They turned out to be 32 Black Storks and another 46 were further in the distance. it was amazing there were birds everywhere in the sky, in pairs, small groups or larger 'Kettles'. We sw over 200 Short-toed Eagles, 100+ Booted Eagles, 15 Sparrowhawks, 20+ Egyptain Vultures, 30+ Griffon Vultures and a single Ruppell's Vulture that circled above us for 10 minutes or so. Kevin got some pictures of most of them. We also logged Black kite, Honey buzzard, Common Buzzard, Marsh and Montagu's Harriers.
We ended up with crooked-necks!!! So we set off for the Ojen Valley to eat our lunch. We found a lovely spot by a brook where lots more eagles passed over as we ate our picnic. A short venture along a track produced a Kingfisher, Pied Flycatcher, Willow Warbler, Red-rumped Swallow and at least 80 Alpine Swifts. The hedgerow was covered in milkweed and a small colony of Monarch Butterflies were feeding on it.
Los Lances beach was very calm, not like many occassions when the wind was so strong that we couldn't get out of the car! We found the usual array of waders and gulls, the best of which was:
Greater Flamingo (a juvenile bird), Sandwich Terns, Audouin's Gull, Mediterranean Gull, Sanderling (both summer and winter plumaged birds), Curlew Sandpiper, Kentish Plover and Ringed Plover.
A breeze had picked up but it did not deter us from spending our last two hours of the day at La Janda, which was very dry except for the main drain and the rice fields. We saw a thousand or so of White Storks, 500+ Glossy Ibis, 200+ Wood Pigeon, many Grey Herons, Little and Cattle Egrets. there were also some large flocks of Spanish Sparrows, Goldfinches and Linnets.
On the Benalup track we added Common Pheasant, Red-legged Partridge and more Black Kites to our day list. We then spent an hour or so scanning the sky for eagles and came up with large 'kettles' of storks, Short-toed and Booted Eagles. Then towards the end of our visit we found first, an adult Spanish Imperial Eagle, then a sub-adult bird, two great sightings for our tally.
On the way back we saw a distant Black-winged Kite, Purple Heron and over 50 Lesser Kestrels.
We nevere amassed a hugh count of species but we saw thousands of birds altogether and enjoyed a superb day out.
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