14 September 2024: Day 8, Ronda and Sierra Grazalema Natural Park, WINGS Spain in Autumn. Click here to see (generally) where the tour is today.
Today we leave the sea at Tarifa and climb to the mountains of Sierra Grazalema Natural Park. Its 200 square miles contain rivers, lakes, karst valleys, whitewashed villages and several mountain ranges. The highest mountain, Pinar at 5,427 ft (1,654 m), is more than a mile high.
The Natural Park is not a wilderness for there are small villages of whitewashed buildings called pueblos blancos — literally “white villages” — sprinkled throughout. Grazalema (pictured below, population 2,053) shares its name with the mountains and the park. The town is north of the center of the map above.
Because our lodging is in Ronda, chances are good we will be birding on the eastern side of the park where eBird indicates we can see these target species.
Species in order of appearance:
- Eurasian griffon (Gyps fulvus)
- Bonelli’s eagle (Aquila fasciata)
- Iberian grey shrike (Lanius meridionalis)
- Crested tit (Lophophanes cristatus)
- Thekla’s lark (Galerida theklae)
- Sardinian warbler (Curruca melanocephala)
- Black redstart (Phoenicurus ochruros)
- Blue rock thrush (Monticola solitarius)
- Black wheatear (Oenanthe leucura)
- White-throated dipper (Cinclus cinclus)
- Rock bunting (Emberiza cia)
We might also see an Iberian ibex (Capra pyrenaica) looking down at us from high above. These are literally the mountain “goats” of Spain for they are in the same genus as the domestic goat.
There are a lot of birds to see in two days before we head north to Osuna.