20 September 2024
On the morning of 11 September our WINGS Birding Tour arrived early at the southernmost point of Spain, Isla de las Palomas at Tarifa. Our local guide, Yeray Seminario of Birding the Strait, had arranged in advance for us to pass through the gates of the fort (shown below) to watch birds from the water’s edge at the Strait of Gibraltar.
Inside the fortress we walked this path and climbed the steps ahead. Yeray briefly looks for birds from this vantage point.
At the wall’s crest we saw our destination, a bird hide near the water.
At El Estrecho PNat–Isla de Las Palomas, Cádiz, we saw 15 species. Checklist is online at https://ebird.org/checklist/S194711541.
Greater Flamingo (Phoenicopterus roseus) 75
Rock Pigeon (Feral Pigeon) (Columba livia (Feral Pigeon)) 1
Ruddy Turnstone (Arenaria interpres) 1
Sanderling (Calidris alba) 3
Pomarine Jaeger (Stercorarius pomarinus) 1
Great Skua (Stercorarius skua) 2
Yellow-legged Gull (Larus michahellis) 350
Lesser Black-backed Gull (Larus fuscus) 12
Sandwich Tern (Thalasseus sandvicensis) 1
Cory’s Shearwater (Calonectris diomedea) X At least 1000 past towards Atlantic.
Balearic Shearwater (Puffinus mauretanicus) 25
Northern Gannet (Morus bassanus) 2
Western Marsh Harrier (Circus aeruginosus) 1
Montagu’s Harrier (Circus pygargus) 2
Barn Swallow (Hirundo rustica) 10
As we arrived a feeding frenzy — probably a school of fish — drew in shearwaters, gulls, a jaegar and two great skuas.
Three harriers flew low across the water on their way to Africa.
But the biggest surprise was a flock of 75 greater flamingos flying past us along the coast with Africa in the distance. Fellow traveler Jean Bickal captured the start of the flock and posted this photo on Facebook. (Photo at top is cropped.)
We all agreed that this was the best moment of the trip. Thrilling!
p.s. Here’s what they would have looked like if we’d seen them taking off — a Wikimedia photo taken in Tunisia.
