Wild About Spain Blog

Travels to Tarifa and La Janda, 17th - 19th October

20/10/2012

Three days and two nights birding with our friend Bob, the Axarquia Birder and his bappy band of birdwatchers went well. We stayed in Hotel El Paso by Vejer de la Frontera which is within striking distance of La Janda and the coastline from Barbate down to Tarifa. We stopped on the way there at migration observation points near Tarifa and were rewarded with the sight of hundreds of Griffon Vultures, a magnificent Spanish Imperial Eagle, Sparrowhawk, Honey Buzzards, Short-toed Eagles, Black Kite and Common Buzzard. From the photographic point of view however the light was not always great and most sightings were quite distant, The Griffon Vultures provided the best opportunity.

Griffon Vulture

Black Kite

Common Buzzard

Short-toed Eagle

Audouis Gull

After the migration viewpoints we moved on to the coast at Los Lances beach and the area around Barbate. The beach showed considerable numbers of Audouins Gulls and Sandwich Terns. One particular tern stood out from the others as it had a bright yellow beak instead of black, it was soon identified as a Lesser Crested Tern, another lifer for me. They are apparently often seen in company with sandwich terns which they closely resemble except for the very conspicuous yellow bill, which also appears to be larger than the black bills of their sandwich cousins.

The evening was well spent in the company of Stephen Daly, a well known and respected bird guide who gave us some good tips for the following days.

Audouins Gull, Sandwich Terns and Lesser Crested Tern

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Tarifa and La Janda, day 2

19/10/2012

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Bolonia, Tarifa & Straights of Gibralata to Morocco

We started at some water meadows behind the sewage works on the road to Barbate. On arrival we met Stephen Daly who warned us that "Hunters" were out shooting indescriminently. They were licensed to shoot duck but there weren´t any so they were apparently shooting anything else in sight. It was not a pleasant start. The light was bad and it soon started to drizzle, and because of the weather and the shooting there was not much to photograph.

Strange Horse

We were all quite intrigued by this strange horse however which varied in colour between shades of grey and pink with black and brown spots. If anyone has any information about this breed or type I would be very interested to hear.

We spotted three warblers together which helped to illustrate differences that I might not pick-up on when seeing them in isolation. The willow warbler is much cleaner and neater than the chiffchaff and the reed warbler has a longer bill and flatter head than the other two.

Chiffchaff

Willow Warbler

Reed Warbler

Black- Shouldered Kite

From here we moved on to La Janda which is a low lying area, formerly wetland but no drained and irrigated for rice and cotton growing. It is a productive area for birding and one of our first sightings was of a Black-shouldered Kite. We saw several of these wonderful raptors throughout the afternoon but the light was very poor and getting close enough for good photographs was impossible, I would dearly love to have something better but this is the best of a bad bunch. I look forward to more opportunities in the future.

As we moved along in convoy we came across a buzzard perched on an electricity pylon. I photographed it from a distance as it took flight from the approaching cars but the light was still bad, it was actually raining at the time. I am very pleased that I did though because later analysis shows the very white underwing and tail, pale legs and typical black carpal patches of a Long Legged Buzzard, another first for me, and in fact for most if not all of our group.

Long Legged Buzzard - buteo rufinus

This particular bird is described in Collins as a "Rufous" example. I remember thinking at the time that is was very large and long winged for a common buzzard, it was actually quite majestic and golden eagle-like. Bird of the day for sure.

Long Legged Buzzard - buteo rufinus

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Tarifa and la Janda Day 3

19/10/2012

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We set off from the hotel in the pouring rain heading for the village of Benalup and then into La Janda from the North. The rain did ease off and we were able to start spotting birds including some Red-legged Partridges moving slong the skyline..

Partridge skyline

There were more black shouldered kites out hunting but not within reasonable camera range, in fact the only birds that were easy to photograph were the large numbers of White Storks feeding in the cut rice fields.

White Storks

Freshwater Crayfish

The wet weather conditions seemed to suit these Freshwater Crayfish which were out of the water in numbers crossing the road and moving over land presumably in search of food. Elena discovered that they could deliver quite a nip, drawing pinpricks of blood from her thumb as she attempted to help one across the road out of the way of traffic.

Birds were not so prolific as crayfish, Marsh harriers, kestrels and a few buzzards joined the black winged kites in the hunt for prey but there was very little else out in the open, so at midday we went our separate ways, in our case headed for home.

A full report and details of the 93 species counted on our trip can be seen on Bob Wright´s Birding Axarquia blog;-
http://birdingaxarquia.blogspot.com.es/2012/10/axarquia-bird-group-visit-to-tarifa-and_21.html

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Hobby´s and Dragons. Sunday 14th October

14/10/2012

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A walk along the Rio at Torre-del-Mar revealed many more dragonflies than birds, perhaps due to the very hot and dry weather for the time of year. I therefore fitted extension tubes to my 400mm lens for some close-up work when a sudden whoosh announced the arrival of a hungry Hobby which swooped past me, whirled and plucked a dragonfly from the air just a few metres away. Anyone who uses extension tubes may know the frustration of a sudden photo opportunity which is now out of range. I removed the tubes as quickly as possible and as luck would have it managed a few distant shots of the bird with its prey, here is the best of the bunch.

Hobby - falco subbuteo

Red-veined Darters - crocothemis erythraea

I am not sure which dragonfly species provided the hobby´s snack but there were plenty to choose from. Common, red-veined, scarlet and desert darters, epaulet skimmers, orange-winged and violet dropwings, blue and lesser emperors, and some dainty little Iberian bluetail damselflies.

Epaulet Skimmer female - orthetrum chrysostigma

Scarlet Darter male - crocothemis erythraea

Epaulet Skimmer male - orthetrum chrysostigma

Lesser Emperors - anax parthenope

While I had extension tubes fitted I photographed this tiny African Grass Blue butterfly, and later a Speckled Wood perched with open-wings in the sunshine.

African Grass Blue - zizeeria knysna

Speckled Wood - pararge aegeria

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October 2012

4/10/2012

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Marvellous Motril 2, Turtle Dove Alley

Red Avadavat female - amandava amandava

This month started with a bang. The back road to the Charca de Suarez, named "Turtle Dove Alley" by my good friend Bob Wright "The Axarquia Birder" was alive with birds, most notably the delightful Red Avadavat, an introduced species from India. The bright ruby-red male looks stunning in the tall grass and the female, although less brightly coloured is a very attractive little bird. They are quite difficult to photograph as they avoid exposed positions and remain mostly out of sight in the long grasses whose seeds they feed on. I was lucky to get a few shots from distance

Red Avadavat male - amandava amandava

Garden Warbler - sylvia borin

I was also delighted to get my first Spanish sighting of a Garden Warbler in the orchard of an old cortijo on the roadside,

Red Avadavat male - amandav amandava

Garden Warbler - sylvia borin

This warbler is another difficult bird to photograph. I was able to get a few good clear shots in the rather open branches of a fruit tree.

Plain Tiger - danaus chrysippus

Possibly the best find of the day was a small colony of Plain Tiger butterflies. This exotic African species occurs only sporadically in coastal regions of the European Mediterranean so I felt quite priveliged to have the opportunity to see it in the wild.

Plain Tiger - dannaus chrysippus

The Plain Tiger is highly migratory and they could have been moving through so I will be interested to see if they occur here again next year. The life cycle of the adult insect is about one month so if they are present next year it would perhaps be evidence of successful breeding in this location.

Monarch (Milkweed) - dannaus plexippus

On a return visit next day instead of plain tigers I found several Monarch or Milkweed butterflies. This is a larger but no less exotic species from North America. First recorded in Spain in the 1980s it is now resident in small colonies, mainly in the Province of Malaga.

Monarch - dannaus plexippus

These two species are brightly coloured, also in the caterpillar stage which would render them highly vulnerable to predators were it not for their toxicity. The toxic chemicals are assimilated from milkweed plants that the caterpillars feed on making them unpalatable. The poison is concentrated in the adult´s wings and abdomen and some North American bird species eat just the thoracic sections. There is at least one species of bird and a mouse that have developed an immunity to the poison and which therefore feed almost exclusively on these butterflies. An interesting piece of trivia is that a tagged monarch butterfly was recovered 265 miles (424 kms) away from the release site just a day later. That´s a long way for a small insect.

Booted Eagle - aquila pennata

The day continued well. As we watched the red avadavats and butterflies a pair of Booted Eagles circled overhead and a Marsh Harrier quartered the adjacent marshes. Reed Warblers flitted around in the pampas grasses along with Zitting Cisticolas, stonechats, Chiffchaffs, a pair of Bluethroats and to my delight a Whinchat or two, not a bird I see very often in Spain.

Marsh Harrier - circus aeruginosus

Zitting Cisticola - cisticola juncidis

Bluethroat - luscinia svecica

Reed Warbler juvenile - acrocephalus scirpaceous

Whinchat - saxicola rubetra

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