This was not an official birding trip but we couldn't help noticing hundreds of birds of prey in the sky all the way down to the coast and along to Tarifa.
Dawn and I set out at 9am for a day at the beach, it was a clear day over Gaucin with very little wind, we could see down at the coast a large cloud base and it was quite misty out at sea.
It wasn't long before we saw our first groups of Black Kites, many were rising out of cork woods and eucalyptus copse, they formed small kettles of 20-30 birds. Soon we also logged several Honey Buzzards, one party of 22 birds was seen near to Jimena de la Frontera. We also saw several perched on pylons and at coast near San Roque an Osprey was perched on a pylon.
As we approached Tarifa we saw more and more Booted Eagles with a few Short-toed Eagles and lots more Black Kites forming flocks of 50+. We parked in Stone Pine woods along the Northern section of the Los Lances beach and spent a few hours relaxing. In the pines there were several Chiffchaff species and a couple of Bonelli's Warblers. A few Sandwich Terns flew along the shoreline from time to time.
The return journey was similar to this morning with lots of birds in the sky, we added Egyptian Vulture to the day list and an impressive flock of some 50-60 Bee-eaters.
Back at the village a flock of 25 Black Kites circled over the house as we got out of the car, it was now 6pm!!
Red-throated Bee-eater
join us for a fantastic tour of The Gambia this November
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