After a few weeks of westerlies and some lovely cooler weather the Levante or easterlies returned this afternoon with it’s usual stopping power.
Already many raptors are backing up prevented from crossing during the day.
Perhaps there’s a lull and during the evening or early morning birds can take a chance to cross to Africa but this is always fraught with danger if the wind kicks in again.
Short-toed Eagles are always one of the largest eagles we have that never fail to give close views when on migration on The Strait of Gibraltar.
There have been a few Lanner Falcon sightings around Gibraltar and along the Strait in the last few weeks. All, as far as I understand have been juvenile birds like this one I photographed in La Janda a few years back
This last week has been particularly busy with raptor migration and thousands of Honey Buzzards have now crossed and are making their way south through Morocco.
Black-winged Kites are migrants as well as being nomads and whatever direction they take is usually dominated by explosions in small rodent populations. Many winter in La Janda but they do not have any particular and regular roost. I counted eight birds at La Janda on the 31st August.
Black Kite. The iconic early migrant raptor that has been going through at a recorded rate of a few thousand a day for the past week at just two observation points.
Here are some of the records from observers at both Cazalla and Algorrobo for the 24th – 28th of August 2012 (Click to here to go to the Fundación Migres statistics)
Stephen Daly
Stephen Daly, has been birding since he was eight years old in his native Scotland. After living in Germany and France he established Andalucian Guides the successful birding and wildlife tour company on The Strait of Gibraltar in Spain and has been living here since 2001. Photographing birds in flight is one passion and his photos can be found in many books, magazines and journals. Studying bird behaviour and bird migration are two other positive aspects of being based on one of the busiest migration routes on Earth.
- Web |
- More Posts(81)
Leave a Reply