12 September 2024: Day 6, Tarifa and birding at the Strait of Gibraltar, WINGS Spain in Autumn. Click here to see (generally) where I am today.

At U.S. hawk watches we track vultures, hawks, eagles, falcons and kites but rarely record other species at the official HawkCount.org. That is not the case at Tarifa where fall migration includes a total of 150,000 white storks (Ciconia ciconia) + black storks (Ciconia nigra).

This short video is the slow motion passage of four raptors. I am not sure of the first one but the others are two booted eagles (Hieraaetus pennatus) and an Egyptian vulture (Neophron percnopterus).

Watch as huge numbers of soaring birds wait to cross the Strait. Notice the sound track! It is WINDY!

Birding at the Strait is more than watching hawks.

p.s. We had a great morning on 10 September at Algarrobo hawk watch with thousands of hawks and eagles plus alpine & common swifts, four black storks, and 22 European bee-eaters.