Our final day on this migration tour was full of spectacular sightings, some rarities and a host of migrating raptors.
How about this for a list of goodies:
COMMON BULBUL - SPANISH IMPERIAL EAGLE - BONELLI'S EAGLE - RUPELL'S VULTURE - BLACK WINGED KITE - EGYPTIAN VULTURE
The day started with high cloud, light winds but poor light, we set off from the hotel at 7:45am and headed straight to the centre of Tarifa. We parked near the beach and walked to the causeway that leads to Tarifa Island, there was a bit of a nip in the air and a cool breeze.
Several waders were on the beach, a small flock of Sanderling dashed about, small numbers of Ringed Plovers fed methodically and three Redshanks sat around not doing much. A couple Ruddy Turnstones flew in and all around us the sky was full of Sandwich Terns, Little Terns, Yellow-legged Gulls, Black-headed Gulls and a single Audouin's sat on a rock.
Looking further afield we scanned the horizons for passing sea birds, a few Cory's Shearwaters glided passed and a skua (probably a Pomerine) was seen by me only.
As we were in Tarifa we decided to try to see the Bulbuls again, this African species has established itself here in Tarifa and breeds nowhere else in Europe, so it was worth a try to see it. This time we were lucky, after about five minutes of looking we located them by following their loud call, smashing!
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| Common Bubul finally found |
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| calling loudly |
Next we drove to the Migration watch point just outside of town on the coast, the cloud had lifted and the light was very good now. Our stay was very pleasant we found Tawny Pipit, Whimbrel and Stonechats on the grassy slopes and we saw several Northern Gannets out to sea. Another new bird for the trip list was Baleaeric Shearwater but they were distant and not all of the group were able to see them in the scope.
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| a second bird appeared and it looked like it started to kiss the first bird? |
Migrating raptors were few and far between, we did see Honey Buzzards passing over very high up and much lower we watched Common Buzzard, Black Kite, Booted Eagle, Short-toed Eagle and a Sparrowhawk. A couple of distant Bee-eaters fed in a valley nearer to town.
From Trafico we drove to the Mirador de Estrecho for a quick (expensive) coffee and then turned back to go to Cazalla watch Point. We spent an enjoyable hour or so watch small groups of raptors circling, they gained terrific height before zooming across the Strait of Gibraltar to Morocco. The most numerous by far were Booted and Short-toed Eagles but we saw Eurasian Sparrowhawk, Lesser Kestrel, Red Kite (just one), Black Kite, Egyptian Vulture, Griffon Vulture and a RUPELL'S VULTURES made two appearances, nice one. A thick band of cloud had gathered above us and the breeze had increased so we decided to leave.
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| comical Chris, praying for a Black-winged Kite perhaps? |
From Cazalla we drove towards La Janda and stopped at a roadside restaurant for lunch, it rained most of the time during lunch but eased off as we left for La Janda. Once there we parked on the central track and scanned the fields for larks as Calandra Larks was missing from our list. It remained so but we saw Corn Bunting, Crested Lark, Linnets, Goldfinches, Spanish Sparrows, all in huge numbers. White Storks we everywhere, Little and Cattle Egrets likewise and the numbers of Harriers was quite remarkable, they were seen on all directions, both Montagu's and Marsh, we even saw a melanistic Montagu's Harrier.
Further along the central track the farmers were ploughing, this attracted hundreds of egret, Jackdaws and Glossy Ibis and to our great delight about 40-50 Lesser Kestrels were feeding over the same fields, this was an incredible sight.
The next hour was great birding we parked on the track to Benalup and scanned for raptors, soon we were rewarded with views of a juvenile Spanish Imperial Eagle, what a great bird. We then found two Black-winged Kites perched up and over then half an hour we had sighting of two Bonelli's Eagles, an adult and a juvenile and two juvenile Spanish Imperial Eagles, both species were often seen together with the Bonelli's diving at the bigger birds.
The sky was often full of Wood Pigeons, hundreds of them, also Jackdaws, Cattle Egret and flock of Spanish Sparrows, an Osprey also flew over us.
It was now late afternoon so we headed off La Janda but before we reach the main road we stopped to watch a Purple Heron, our last new bird of the trip! On the way back to the hotel we made a last attempt at finding Calandra Lark without success.
Well the birding was over we called the log after dinner and recalled our week of Migration watch. The trip total finished at 163 species plus two others heard, the Cetti's Warbler and a Tawny Owl (which is calling as I write this at 6am). Most people had a favourite bird, Red-necked Nightjar got two votes, Black-winged Kite got one, Woodchat Shrike another, the Lesser Kestrel spectacle got a couple others were undecided.
Overall the raptor migration was a bit disappointing, we never saw the expected numbers, no mass migration, this was because the winds were light westerly, ideal conditions for crossing so we never saw a build-up of birds they simply crossed at will.
For me it was another great week, superb birding, a lovely group of people, smashing weather and a superb tally of species which included several rarities and unusual sightings.
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