A group of approximately 60 birders from a wide range of countries visited south-western Andalucia from 23rd to 27th September 2009 as guests of the Spanish Tourist Board, the Seville & Cadiz Tourist Boards and the local government of Andalucía.  The trip was intended to facilitate a visit to the Andalucía Birdwatching Tourism Fair and give a brief flavour of the potential of a wide range of Andalusian birding sites during the autumn migration.  

The Birdwatching Tourism Fair introduces potential tourism customers to hotel operators, accommodation owners, reserve managers and tour operators in a semi-formal setting.  It was well-organised and interesting, and we collected some useful contacts as well as some DVDs and other promotional material.

On the first afternoon, the 24th September, after the Birdwatching Tourism Fair we set off from Zahara de las Altunes to the raptor migration watchpoint at Cazalla, which is on the western edge of the Tarifa peninsula.  This is apparently the best watchpoint in an easterly wind, although calm weather is best (uncommon around Tarifa, the windsurfing capital of Europe).  The local raptor study group have erected a good shelter at the watchpoint which is very exposed and windy, and they explained the history of the dense network of wind farms that cloak the nearby hills and ridges.  Best viewing at this site is between 10am and 2pm, when European birds of prey on migration spiral up on thermals over these hills, before using the height gained to glide across the seas of the Straits of Gibraltar to Africa.  Our visit was rather brief, but long enough to see that this site has considerable potential.  Griffon Vultures, Osprey, Booted and Short-toed Eagles, and Black Storks were seen at long range.  It was clear that it was too windy and too late for optimal viewing of migrating raptors at Cazalla, so we moved on to another site.

We moved from Cazalla to the beach at Playa de los Lances, which was visible to the west of Cazalla.  This is a popular public beach, several kilometres long, and despite heavy use by walkers, kite-surfers and wind-surfers, its sheer scale means that there are plenty of undisturbed areas of beach and dunes for birds.   Before we left the car park, we saw a Crested Lark, which was foraging among some rubble, and Cattle Egrets were feeding beside cattle in the pasture behind the beach.  Golden Plover and Tawny Pipit were also nearby.  We walked for about a mile along a path behind the sand dunes.   There were good numbers of waders in a small lagoon behind the beachhere, and surprisingly good views of raptors moving south in the lee of the mountains.  Marsh Harrier, Booted Eagle, Montagu's Harrier and Common Kestrel were seen well, while on the beach Bar-tailed Godwit, Sanderling, Oystercatcher, Little Egret and Sandwich Terns were feeding in a tidal pool.  Audouin's Gulls were resting on the nearby beach.  The best birds of the day, and arguably of the trip, were the three Little Bustards seen by those who stayed around the car park searching the pastures and paths.  These birds were seen well by a small group of birders as they flew in, circled and left the area.  Yellow Wagtails were also feeding in these fields.

We returned to our hotel in Zahara de las Altunes for an evening meal where large House Sparrow and Spotless Starling roosts in palm trees attracted the attentions of Lesser Kestrel, Honey Buzzard and Sparrowhawk in the gathering dusk of another fine day.  Some members of the group saw Little Owl and Dartford Warbler in the grounds of the hotel.

On the morning of the 25th of September, we set off early for La Janda, a relic of the largest wetland in this part of Spain, which was drained under the Franco regime at a time when draining a wetland conferred some ownership rights over the reclaimed land.  It was reassuring to hear from our guide that sentiments towards wetlands and wild areas are changing in Spain, and the campaign to flood the area and restore the habitat has gained momentum.  In the meantime, the complex of rice paddyfields and drainage ditches provide a man-made haven for a range of waterbirds, wildfowl and raptors.  Brian Gormley from the South Dublin branch set the trip's record for long-distance ID when he spotted a Black-shouldered Kite at a range well over 1km.  Scanning the banks of the drainage ditches revealed a range of grounded migrants including a Honey Buzzard, a White Stork, and a Black Stork.  A small group of Collared Pratincoles rested on another ditch nearby, warily eyeing the Montagu's Harriers and Marsh Harriers that were quartering the paddyfields.  A flock of Calandra Larks flew in repetititive restless circles, also evidently unsetlled by the level of raptor activity.  In the distance, separate flocks of White Storks and Glossy Ibis showed briefly as they settled to feed in folds of the landscape. A sharp-eyed American birder found a Little Owl resting on the ground in an area of dense grass where it was difficult to see the bird even when it was precisely pinpointed.  Red-legged Partridges flew or ran as the bus passed by, while Wood Sandpiper and Green Sandpiper fed in the drainage ditches.  In the slightly drier parts of this area, fields of cereals held a small hunting flock of Lesser Kestrels.  

The old cattle road through La Janda climbed from the marsh to an elevated plateau with panoramic views of arid hills topped with white villages that looked like a covering of snow.  We stopped at a flat area of dry pasture, small farmsteads, with scattered areas of  low trees and scrub, where we found Pied Flycatcher, Spotted Flycatcher.  Meanwhile, as the day warmed and the thermal updrafts developed, migrating  Booted Eagles and Griffon Vultures passed overhead, possibly attracted by the large number of rabbits feeding on the pasture.  Some disturbance in the distance flushed flocks of Mallard and Gadwall from the wetland we had just left.

We moved on to the Laguna de Medina, a medium-sized shallow lake, where the warden assured us there were 4,000 Common Coots, and among them were 4 Crested Coots.  Despite the fact that one of these was neck-banded only two or three of the 60+ people on the trip managed to see the rare Crested Coot.  There was an enormous wealth of waterbirds on the lake, the scale of which defied us on our brief visit, despite it's network of paths, viewing points and hides.  We saw Red-crested Pochard, a female Ferruginous Duck, a small flock of Greater Flamingos, while further out good numbers of Great-crested, Little and Black-necked Grebes swam with young.  One of the American visitors confined his activities to the scrubby and reeded margins where he found and photographed 11 passerine species including a great range of warblers: Reed Warbler, Common Whitethroat, Cetti's Warbler, Willow Warbler, Chiffchaff, Sedge Warbler, Lesser Whitethroat, and Blackcap.  Niall Hatch of South Dublin branch had excellent views of an Osprey which flew low over the lake and Whiskered, Little and Black Terns passed the hide regularly.  There were also good numbers of Mallard, and a Northern Pintail was seen with some of these.  A small group including Dermot McCabe of the Tolka branch had a rare sighting of an Egyptian Mongoose, an introduced species (introduced by the Romans actually!).

A picnic lunch of local produce set us up for the afternoon visit to Peña de Zaframagón in Olvera, a 584m high crag whose rough and creviced surfaces holds the largest breeding colony of Eurasian Griffon Vultures in western Europe (200 pairs).  A fantastic walking trail along the bed of a disused railway (La Viaverde de la Sierra) takes the walker past this spectacle along a continuous 32km walk/cycle path.  The old railway stations have been converted into tourist accommodation, and one of them is the interpretive centre, where a powerful remote controlled camera allows close study of the vultures on the cliffs.    In September this site holds large numbers of roosting Griffon vultures which were coming in to land for the duration of our vist.  An Ibex stood guard high up on a ridge for a few brief moments, while a dark phase juvenile Booted Eagle and two Bonelli's Eagles (an adult and a juvenile) circled above one of the highest pinnacles.  A ruined farmhouse shaded a roosting Little Owl in the remains of its chimney.  In the scrub at the base of the cliffs the harsh calls of a Sardinian Warbler preceded a brief appearance of the bird from the depths of a wild Olive tree.  Further along, while the alarm calls of a Chaffinch were a brief reminder of home, a Blue Rock Thrush's calls from an upper ledge were a rather exotic counterpoint.  Nobody counted the Griffons but there was a consensus that there were hundreds, with up to twenty in the air at any time.  An aqueduct on the old railway below the cliff provided a ringside view of the spectacle.  All too soon we were back on our buses and heading for our hotel near Seville.

On the following morning, the 26th, we had our first rain of the trip which was light and inconsequential.  We began another busy morning, our first in the Cota Doñana proper.  Another early start saw us on the road to the Nature Reserve of the Brazo del Este, a Special Protection area and RAMSAR site along a branch of the Guadalquivir river.  Here, along a path with endless paddyfields of ripe rice on our right and the protected area of  natural vegetation on our left we saw  good numbers of Snipe, Spoonbills, and small flocks of Mallard, Teal, Wigeon and Gadwall.  A crashed light aircraft provided an odd backdrop (and a good landmark for future visits).  A single Great White Egret hunted in the rice paddies and a huge flock of House Sparrows in the roadside bushes contained several Spanish Sparrows.  The drainage ditches contained enormous numbers of American Crayfish, an invasive species which has overrun the waterways of the area.  It has resulted in a dramatic crash in the local crayfish population but the huge population of crustaceans (literally one in every square foot of the riverbed) is a food bonanza for herons, egrets, and gulls.  A single Purple Gallinule gave a fleeting glimpse as it flew low in a channel behind high vegetation.  As we looked across to the far side of this zone of  natural vegetation, the cereal fields began again, with a Southern Grey Shrike perched on the arm of an irrigator.

From here we went to Veta la Palma, a farm with a large natural wetland in it's heart.  The first birds we saw were introductions/escapes - two species of Waxbill and a Yellow-crowned Bishop.  However the remainder of the visit produced a wealth of genuine residents and migrants in the reedbeds and in a lagoon.  People at the front of the group saw several Bluethroats along the access road, while Willow Warbler and Chiffchaff were in the roadside bushes.  The most striking part of the walk were the flocks of Common Snipe which flushed periodically from behind the reeds and an enormous flock of several hundred Glossy Ibis that flew over.  In the lagoon a group of about 14 Ruff were feeding as well as good numbers of Curlew Sandpiper, Little Stint and Redshank.  A flock of Black-winged Stilts were hyperactive, while a few Pied Avocets got on with the business of feeding.  A group of four  Greenshank skulked at the very back of the pond and two Scandinavian birders picked out the call, but could not see, a Temminck's Stint.  Several birders heard Penduline Tit and at least one got good views and a photo.  As we left the area, the higghlight of the day and the trip for many was a Black-shouldered Kite, which gave great views as it perched atop as roadside thorn tree.

The final site we visited provided a low-key end to the trip, as we visited the pine-shrouded dry hills of Aznalcázar, a key site for the Iberian Lynx.  Our tour leaders found scats of this indigenous species, which is being reintroduced to the area. We had been aware that we had no realistic hope of seeing these elusive wild cats, but had hoped to see Azure-winged Magpie which is regular at this site.  We had to settle for two of the characteristic blue primary feathers found on the ground by a British colleague as proof that they do occur here, and we did get to see Pied Flycatcher and Woodlark in the Umbrella Pine plantation which is being restored by extensive planting of these naturalised pines.  These trees, so characteristic of the Atlantic coast of France and Spain have been attacked by the caterpillars of the Pine Beauty moth, whose large communal nests were visible in several trees.  The  authorities have opted for biological control, by furnishing the young (and therefore cavity-free) trees with nest boxes to encourage nesting Blue Tit and Great Tit.  These species feed their young on the caterpillars, and the measure has been declared a good success so far.

For our final night in Andalucia we had a fantastic dinner and a display of "sean-nós flamenco", and a tongue-in-cheek award ceremony recognising outstanding performances including Longest Range ID (Brian Gormley - Black-shouldered Kite - 2 km), and Most Improved List (Chris from Buffalo - 101 "lifers").

This visit to Andalucía was facilitated by the Kathryn McDonnell of the Spanish Tourist Board who was an expert translator and entertaining companion, and derived great amusement from the zaniness of pressurised birdwatching, and the visit was supported by the Seville and Cadiz Tourist boards and the government of Andalucía, who were generous hosts.  Our expert local guides Michael, Bertlán and Sergio slogged long and hard to find birds while keeping a group of 60 people from 12 countries informed, in line, and on time, bilingually, which was no mean feat.  I am extremely grateful to all of the above and to my fellow Birdwatch Ireland volunteers from the Tolka, South Dublin and  Mayo branches for a very enjoyable trip.



Mícheál Casey