TRANSFER FROM MALAGA AIRPORT TO TARIFA WITH STOPS AT ESTEPONA GOLF COMPLEX AND CAZALLA RAPTOR VIEWPOINT TARIFA
WEATHER: all day sunshine, a nice breeze. Top temp 34C
As usual things did not go as smoothly as I expected. I collected two of my clients, Sue and Nigel, on time and dropped them off at the nature reserve near Malaga Airport called Desembocadura de Guadalhorce where they saw plenty of species.
Collecting the other three was delayed because of the huge queue at the car rental company, I was a little late for them, but not that much.
It was 1:30pm by the time we all got together and set off for Tarifa, we drove for an hour and turned off the main A7 road onto a golf complex near Estepona. It was very warm by then, but we managed to see a few species. The number of Spotted Flycatchers was encouraging, they seemed to be in every bush or tree.
Spotted Flycatcher
We also saw a lot of Red-rumped Swallows, some House Martins, Common Stonechats, Goldfinches and we heard a Cetti’s Warbler. Further into the golfing complex we stopped at a man-made pool and found a Black Swan and some very dodgy Mallards.
At the pool we logged Lesser Emperor, Common Darter and Violet Dropwing dragonflies and some European Pond Terrapins. More birds appeared, we saw Common Buzzard, White Wagtail, Greenfinch, Short-toed Treecreeper, Sardinian Warbler, Blackbird, Blue & Great Tits.
Our last stop was near Tarifa at the raptor watch-point called Cazalla. From there we saw the last remnants of today’s raptors migration. Solitary birds birds appear every few minutes and some small groups, we logged: Short-toed Eagle (3), Booted Eagle (1), Griffon Vulture (3), Egyptian Vulture (3), White Stork (1), Black Stork (1), Sparrowhawk (3), Black Kite (6) and we heard Bee-eaters but did not see any.
Other birds logged include: Common Swift, Pallid Swift and Alpine Swift, Stonechat, Cattle Egret and Spotless Starling.
As we left Cazalla and drove down the hill towards Tarifa we noticed two birding groups watching some vultures on a rocky outcrop. We turned around and drove back to join them, they pointed out a RUPPELL’S VULTURE sitting with some Griffon Vultures on the rocks. Wowza! A mega in the bag on day one!
The smaller and darker bird on the right hand side is the juvenile Ruppell's Vulture
a closer view
now you can seen the wing pattern with pale edges to the scapulars etc.
At the hotel a little later we added our last bird of the day, a Zitting Cisticola, it was in the field adjacent to the hotel grounds. It had been a great start to the tour with plenty more birdies to come. We enjoyed a nice cold drink and a three course dinner on the terrace.