April 21, 2018

Tuesday 3rd April 2018 (a)

April 21, 2018/ Mark Lawlor

BUBO in ANDALUCIA - part 2

After our day of travelling yesterday we planned to stay pretty close to Tarifa today, hopefully seeing a few local specialities and perhaps catching a little bit of raptor migration. The weather forecast wasn't fabulous and predicted this day to be the poorest of our trip, with wet fronts due to pass through at various times of the day. We were not going to plan too much then and play it somewhat by ear. Our first stop was on the east side of Tarifa town in the same car park that we saw the Tawny Owl in last night. This was not exactly a glamour location but it was a specific site for a specific rare species.

It was quite dull, early morning light as we parked up the car. We scoured the tall trees on the south side of the car park for our quarry and I thought I saw a good candidate zip in from behind a building to the right but it went behind the trees. A short time later Ian picked out quite a distinctive song and the bird soon showed itself at the top of one of the bare trees - a COMMON BULBUL. Now this species is definitely not the best-looking bird you'll ever see - just grey and brown with a blackish head and tail - but it is very rare. A common bird in Africa, in recent years a few birds have hopped across the Straits of Gibraltar and taken up residence in Europe's southernmost town. There have been a handful present here for a short while and seem to have bred, but at the moment only a single bird seems to be being seen. So the photo below may show the only individual Bulbul in the whole of Europe - so that's a pretty rare bird!

I managed a very brief recording of the Bulbul song (above), but a Spanish birder came over to talk to us so I was unable to get more. I was actually very pleased to get any photo at all of the bird as it was high in the tree against the sky. It didn't stay very long and pretty soon it jumped its perch and flew strongly over our heads and over the apartment building to the north. Very pleased with this speedy tick for us both, not having to wait around at all like we thought we'd have to do, we went for a walk to the Castle to go and see the Lesser Kestrel colony.

At the southernmost point of mainland Europe with Morrocco, Africa behind.

We strolled round the edge of town and over the hill towards the sea where we looked across the Strait to Africa. There didn't seem a great deal over the water, just a Gannet flapping past and a few Sandwich Terns blogging about. On the rocky shore below, a single Turnstone rested. We commented that, wherever you go in the world, there always seems to be a Turnstone trotting along the shoreline!

We continued past the ferry port getting itself ready to take travellers to Tangiers, and along the road to the old castle. Tarifa castle is famous for holding a colony of Lesser Kestrels and straight away we started seeing birds swooping round the rooftops and turrets. Unlike Common Kestrels, the Lessers nest colonially and these birds were using the holes in the walls of the castle right above our heads! Despite the dull conditions, we were treated to superb views of approximately 15 birds either hovering above, or peering out of their holes or perched on the walls. It was odd seeing these birds in such an urban setting but they were truly magnificent. My only previous experience of Lesser Kestrel was of fly-past migrants in Israel, so these close views were a treat.

Lesser Kestrel, male - Castillo de Tarifa

Lesser Kestrel, female - Castillo de Tarifa

Lesser Kestrel nesting colony - Castillo de Tarifa

Lesser Kestrel, male - Castillo de Tarifa, peering out of its nesting hole

As we were more or less in the middle of the town, there wasn't really lots of other birds to see - apart from the ubiquitous Spotless Starlings and Yellow-legged Gulls - so we were surprised to see a warbler flit into the low shrubs below the castle walls. After a short while of searching it revealed itself to be a Subalpine Warbler clearly just arrived over the sea from Africa and looking for food by the port-side. During our short time in Tarifa this morning we had aleady seen maybe 30 or so Black Kites heading northwards over the town, and we hoped that this indicated some raptor passage would happen today. So we headed back to the car park so we could drive off and find a good viewpoint. Ian heard the Common Bulbul calling again from a dense clump of trees in the next street. Despite being under the tree it was in, we couldn't find it and only caught sight of a Blackcap.

Following advice from Simon and Niki the previous evening, since the wind was from the west, any raptor passage would be pushed eastwards towards Gibraltar and we would have to head in that direction to catch it. It did not look too promising weather-wise though, as it was still very cloudy and we drove through patches of light rain clinging to the hills - although this wasn't stopping a small group of Griffon Vultures circling over the hills above the town. However, as we made our way through the suburb of Getares on the western shore of the Bay of Gibraltar, the sun came out and we had blue skies above us, just perfect for birds of prey.

We wound our way round the coast road, past the lighthouse on the headland called Punta Carnero, and pulled in at the side of the road after the highest point. We walked back up the road, through a gap in the wire fence and onto a cleared area where there were a couple of Spanish photographers with giant lenses in situ - we were pleased to have found the right spot. And we knew we were definitely in the right spot when a corking Booted Eagle flew right past us at eye level! Game on.

Booted Eagle - Punta Carnero - one of the first birds we saw on arrival at the headland.

The watchpoint at Punta Carnero, with the Rock of Gibraltar across the bay.

Punta Carnero - looking south over the straits to Africa

The raptor watch started off quite slowly which indicated that we hadn't missed a lot, but soon picked up pace and we regularly got birds either in singles or in small flocks passing us every few minutes. The main excitement of this place though wasn't the huge numbers but the amazingly close views we were getting of some of these quality raptors. Fair enough, not every bird was close, but many of them were right in front of us, or just below us, or circling above our heads. This was the perfect spot, since the geography of the area seemed to mean most of the birds passed this one headland. There were birds coming low, straight in-off towards us which hit the cliffs then circled for height in front of us. Many of the ones which had been blown further east, turned towards us to make land rather than extend their sea crossing by moving through the Bay of Gibraltar. And the birds which arrived further west of us, appeared to drift on the wind along the coast towards us as they tried to gain height, often popping up in the valley just to our west. So we were getting birds from three different directions - it was very exciting!

Black Kite crossing the strait with the Moroccan hills behind - Punta Carnero

Booted Eagle passing low past the lighthouse after flying in from the Bay of Gibraltar - Punta Carnero

A thermal of 3 Booted Eagles and 4 Black Kites above the headland - Punta Carnero

It would be difficult to give a chronological run-down of the birds we saw, so I'll go through species by species. We decided not to try to go for accurate counts as we thought it may distract us from the birds themselves, so the numbers mentioned below are rough estimates. We had about a two and a half hour watch before we decided to leave as the passage had noticeably slowed down.

The most common raptor, and probably my favourite of the morning, was Booted Eagle. We reckon we saw somewhere between 150 and 200 birds pass through. The majority of these were definitely pale-phase birds with dark ones being clearly outnumbered, but there was much variation amongst the pale ones - some being almost pure white, others being pale creamy-brown. The 'headlights' at the base of the wings were very visible on such close birds. Any photographers who want good Booted Eagle shots, I recommend Punta Carnero!

Another numerous species was Short-toed Eagle. Bigger than the Booted Eagles, these generally came in singles and so it was difficult to keep tabs on how many we had - perhaps as many as 100, but probably a bit less than that. They behaved in a similar way to the Booteds, suddenly appearing above us then drifting on up the valley. Most were well-spotted below but quite a few were very white. Not really like any other species and easy to identify.

The second most numerous species was Black Kite. We had about 150 of these altogether but didn't pay them as much attention. Much more active migrants as one would expect, we often had these flapping low over the waves. One bird we had was very striking as we initially thought it was a Red Kite being very pale, especially round the head, and it was a little more rufous than the other birds. Structurally though it was pretty fine for Black Kite. Unfortunately we weren't quick enough with the camera but it was interesting.

Other birds of prey that we had coming in included a single Osprey, maybe 10 or so Griffon Vultures, and a single and then a group of 3 superb Egyptian Vultures. All terrific birds. We had all three harrier species, with single Marsh and a female Montagu's Harrier zipping past us, and a female Hen Harrier flying low over the shoreline below. At least 10 Sparrowhawks arrived from Africa - something you tend to forget that they'd do - and a distant Hobby circled over the hillside. We had totted up 13 species of raptor before lunchtime!

As we didn't really move from the spot we didn't see a great deal of land birds on the headland. (I did move down the road at one point to try and get better photos but soon regretted it, as the excitement of really close views of Booted Eagle were somewhat mitigated by the sight of a Spanish man dumping his load in the bushes below my viewpoint! Pedro El Plop!). A few Ravens flew past us and a Nightingale sang vociferously from the valley. A Grey Heron flapped past and, very distantly, towards Gibraltar, two then three more Black Storks arrived in Europe. Out to sea we saw a few Gannets and Sandwich Terns, as well as a pod of dolphins which Ian thought were probably Striped Dolphins. The sun hadn't stopped shining and the raptors hadn't stopped passing - what a memorable morning!

If you are interested in the birds of the area and would like to join a guided tour, why not check out local experts Niki and Simon at their website here: https://ingloriousbustards.com/

April 10, 2018

Monday 2nd April 2018

April 10, 2018/ Mark Lawlor

BUBO in ANDALUCIA - part 1

The annual BUBO birding trip took place during the Easter holidays, as has become traditional, but in 2018 only myself and Ian were available. We decided to head to Spain, staying in Tarifa, the southernmost town in the country and indeed the southernmost town on mainland Europe. The Tarifa area seems a popular destination at the moment for some quality, easy-to-get-to birding and we thought it would be ideal for a quick 4 or 5 day trip. We were especially keen on catching some raptor migration, as well as seeing some new species, or at least species we hadn't seen for a long time.

I flew to Gatwick the night before, successfully willing that the poor weather that was forecast would hold off for a few hours so I wouldn't get stuck in Guernsey. I dragged myself out of the hotel at 4 am and made my way to the terminal through the cold, wet darkness. I caught a very early BA flight and met up with Ian in Malaga Airport, both our journeys luckily going pretty smoothly. We checked in at the hire car desk and, after a few failed attempts, we eventually found the car park and were soon on our way around lunchtime, which meant we could do some afternoon birding.

The first few miles were spent trying to navigate the Malaga road system using Ian's new SatNav, but we soon found our route, which was actually the exact opposite direction than Tarifa - we started heading North. Since the airport was just 50 minutes away from Laguna de Fuente de Piedra, the famous Greater Flamingo breeding site, we thought it was worth the brief backtracking, especially since we knew that there was a few rare Lesser Flamingos present.

After the motorway started ascending the hills north of the city we saw our first decent birds, a couple of massive Griffon Vultures circling above us. There wasn't a great deal else along the roadside until we descended back into the plains where more raptors were evident including a couple of Booted Eagles and a Hoopoe flew across in front of us. Pretty soon we were passing through Fuente de Piedra village towards the reserve. Turning into the approach road in beautiful weather, we saw a group of Gull-billed Terns flying over the fields to our right and a group of Greater Flamingos on the lagoon to our left. It already looked a superb site!

Ian 'scoping the lake from the Fuente de Piedra visitor centre

We climbed the hill up to the visitor centre to get a viewpoint overlooking the lake where were could scan the flamingo flocks looking for the rare Lessers. These birds can be very easy or they can be very difficult. The main flock on the lake below our viewpoint did not contain anything other than Greater Flamingos but it was tricky to be sure since they were almost all asleep. Every now and again a very small bird was seen but always turned into a Greater - they seem a very variable species with respect to size. Also on the main lake were some Avocets and Black-winged Stilts. We knew there were other flamingos on the small lagoons nearby to check through but it was quite disheartening to 'scope the far far reaches of the lake and see thousands of tiny pink dots in the distance. Seeing these Lessers was becoming quite unlikely.

We went for a walk along the tracks below the centre. There were some warblers around including resident Sardinian, Fan-tailed and Cetti's, plus migrating Chiffchaff and Blackcap. A Nightingale sang with gusto and a male Spanish Sparrow was seen briefly on the grass feeding with House Sparrows and lots of Spotless Starlings. On the drier tracks, Crested Larks fluted their songs.

Pools by the visitor centre - Fuente de Piedra

Crossing the ditch closer to the lake a decent group of Yellow Wagtails was feeding on the short grass. Most of these were the local Spanish Wagtail (iberiae) with their darker caps, but there was also a few Blue-headed Wagtails (flava) plus a single British Yellow Wagtail (flavissima). Lovely to see a mixed flock.

Blue-headed Wagtail - Fuente de Piedra — Blue-headed Wagtail - Fuente de Piedra

Despite driving past the Gull-billed Terns on the way in, they appeared to have disappeared, so it was great to see them return to hawk over the same field. Watching these terns feeding over a grassy field much as most other terns feed over water was terrific. They often appeared right over our heads and gave spectacular views as they acrobatically chased insects.

Gull-billed Tern - Fuente de Piedra — Gull-billed Tern - Fuente de Piedra

Gull-billed Tern - Fuente de Piedra - looking odd as it was craning its neck round looking for prey — Gull-billed Tern - Fuente de Piedra - looking odd as it was craning its neck round looking for prey

Gull-billed Tern - Fuente de Piedra - has just spied an insect ahead of it (top left) and is going in for the kill... — Gull-billed Tern - Fuente de Piedra - has just spied an insect ahead of it (top left) and is going in for the kill...

Gull-billed Tern - Fuente de Piedra - ...and snap! there it goes - yum! — Gull-billed Tern - Fuente de Piedra - ...and snap! there it goes - yum!

We then wandered round to the approach road pool where we got terrific views of about 20 Greater Flamingos - no doubt the closest I've ever seen wild flamingos. They gave a great display for us - the iconic bird of Fuente de Piedra. Apparently as many as 20,000 pairs can breed here depending on the water levels. There were also a few Avocets and Stilts present as well as a single Little Ringed Plover.

Greater Flamingos - Fuente de Piedra - with Black-winged Stilt, Avocets and a Spanish Wagtail — Greater Flamingos - Fuente de Piedra - with Black-winged Stilt, Avocets and a Spanish Wagtail

Black-winged Stilt - Fuente de Piedra — Black-winged Stilt - Fuente de Piedra

From the slope near the car park we could just see onto a small pool at the back of the centre and spotted straight away a few White-headed Ducks swimming about. This was great as we'd forgotten about the presence of this other iconic Andalucian bird here. We could also see more flamingos on this pool which needed checking so we made our way round to the hides. These didn't really give much closer views but we were able to confirm that there were no Lessers in the flamingo flock. There were plenty of other waterbirds present on this back pool however. We counted at least 10 White-headed Ducks, some of them displaying. There were also about 15 Red-crested Pochards in amongst a few other duck species. Both Little and Black-necked Grebes were present, but a single Little Egret was the only heron we saw. An adult Med Gull was circling overhead.

Scarce Swallowtail - Fuente de Piedra - as well as this species, we saw a couple of Green-striped Whites by the hides.

As terrific as the birding was here, we had limited time and moved on. We had to decide whether it was worth trying to get closer to the distant flamingos further south. Since Lesser Flamingo was one of the only potential ticks Ian had to go for on the trip we concluded that it was worth a shot, so we headed round the lake hoping to find some viewpoints. The first viewpoint - or mirador - was at the very top of the lake but we couldn't really see any extra flamingos from there and we didn't fancy moving from the car much as there seemed to be a small pack of feral dogs wandering around! We did find more Gull-billed Terns though and they gave another fine show.

At the south-western corner of the lake we saw signs to another viewpoint - Mirador de Cantarranas - and drove up the dirt track. This viewpoint was not exactly close to the lake (over a km away probably) but at least we could see distant flamingos everywhere. It was a tough ask picking out anything from this distance. We kept seeing smaller birds that might have been Lessers but straining our eyes to the limit we kept deciding that they weren't. After another false alarm we were thinking of giving up when Ian suddenly shouted out that he'd got two birds walking right to left! Following his directions I quickly found them as they strolled along the near bank of the lagoon and, as is often the case, these two birds needed no debate as they stuck out like a sore thumb. Not the white colour with subtle pink tones of the Greaters, these birds were bubble-gum pink all over! Really bright and glowing. We also managed to make out fully dark bills on the birds - two definite LESSER FLAMINGOS - my first new bird of the trip.

Fuente de Piedra (south-west end) - just after ticking Lesser Flamingo

Unfortunately these birds disappeared behind vegetation almost as soon as we found them but we carried on round the lake and found another mirador at the very south end. We could see the flamingos from here also at a similar distance and were able to find the two Lesser Flamingos again as they fed in the channels between the sand banks. The sun was shining bright and we picked up a few other migrants overhead - a fabulous pale-phase Booted Eagle passing us and a group of 7 calling Bee-eaters - superb stuff.

With the Lesser Flamingos now under the belt we headed off south-west towards the hills to our second planned stop off - the Teba Gorge. After following the annoying SatNav directions through the ridiculously narrow streets of the town of Teba, it was pretty late in the afternoon before we arrived at the gorge but it was a pretty spectacular sight. The gorge is a narrow crack through just a small hill really, and only in the foothills rather than the mountains, but was really excellent for 'craggy' birds and I had two main targets here.

From the road bridge we saw a couple of Grey Wagtails bobbing round the stream at the bottom and a few Crag Martins swooping up to nest sites. We scrambled down to the gorge floor and started making our way up the mini-canyon. Almost straight away we picked up a large raptor circling in the gap between the cliffs - a majestic adult Bonelli's Eagle! It was quite far away but we could still see the white belly with dark underwings, the long tail and bulging wings, and even the fag-ash sprinkling of white on the back. A top bird.

Then, quick as a flash, my second new bird of the day swooped in from the top of the crag, down to the cliffs on the left - a cracking male BLACK WHEATEAR. It landed on the bright orange section of the left hand wall of the gorge (see pic above) and perched up for a few seconds before darting down and entering a hole in the large horizontal crack - no doubt nesting in there. It flew out again flashing its white rump and black-T'd tail before disappearing behind a bluff. We saw it a couple more times but mostly high up, at the very top of the gorge, where I was able to take very poor photos. A terrific looking bird - you can't beat a new wheatear for class!

Other 'rocky' birds present in the gorge were a pair of Blue Rock Thrushes and a small flock of Choughs. Unfortunately we were unable to locate my other target bird, Rock Sparrow. We would have stood a good chance of finding them if we had more time to explore the area but we had to make a sharpish move. We had to get to Tarifa before 9 o'clock to meet the apartment owner to get the keys and we were cutting it a bit fine.

Chough - Teba Gorge — Chough - Teba Gorge

It was a long two hour drive to Tarifa and we didn't see many birds on the way, just the first Black Kite of the trip was notable. We got there in the nick of time without any delays and found the apartment on the west side of the town. We met the owners and I tried to remember my GCSE Spanish as they showed us around. We settled in, popped to the supermarket for some basics, took a shower and then met up with Niki and Simon, of the "Inglorious Bustards", for a beer in a town bar. They live in Tarifa and are local tour guides, so they were able to give us lots of tips about which places were good and what birds were around. We are both very grateful for their helpfulness and generosity - and for introducing me to sherry-flavoured beer! Walking back to the car in the dark they pointed out a few spots that we could visit in the morning for some quality birds and, as we reached the car park, a Tawny Owl called loudly from the surrounding trees. After a while it flew across and perched on a branch out in the open, lit up by the street lights of Tarifa. A fine ending to a tiring day.

If you are thinking about visiting the Tarifa area (or Donana, or Morocco) and are thinking about perhaps using a quality guide then why not check out Niki and Simon - The Inglorious Bustards - on their website here: https://ingloriousbustards.com/

Just A Bird

Just A Bird

Mark Lawlor's Nature Blog

Just A Bird

Tuesday 3rd April 2018 (a)

BUBO in ANDALUCIA - part 2

Monday 2nd April 2018

BUBO in ANDALUCIA - part 1

Just A Bird