The Levante winds of Spring – Spain 2017

The Levante winds of Spring – Spain 2017



I lead a tour group from the the US Audubon Naturalist Society in April to southern Spain. We had a great time apart from the awful windy weather. The famous Levante wind just would not stop for almost the whole eight days.

We did however have a great time, saw lots of birds and other wildlife as well as many of the famous towns and cities dotted through the famous Andalucian landscape.

Our Hotel above Barbate in Cadiz Province was El Palomar de La Breña, a quiet place by Spanish standards where there’s a wonderful thriving colony of Lesser Kestrels at the rear of the buildings in the old dovecot.

White Storks 3167

Hotel El Palomar de la Bren%25CC%2583a 3001

El Palomar dovecot ruin 0023
The old dovecot
Little Owl 6182
Little Owls call at night, as indeed do Barn Owls
Lesser Kestrel female w 1 5
Female Lesser Kestrel. Females look very similar to Common Kestrels and are difficult to separate although if you manage to get a look at the colour of their talons you’ll see they are ivory coloured and not black as with the Common Kestrel
Lesser Kestrel male 9187
Male Common Kestrel
Red rumped Swallow preening 3292
Red-rumped Swallow preening
European Bee eater w 01294
European
Short toed Eagle 9504
A Short-toed Eagle
Sarcophagus visit 2982
Our group checking out local ancient sarcophagi at Betis, near the town of Tarifa
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Black Kite
Moorish Gecko 2964
Moorish Gecko
Tarifa Church
Church in Tarifa’s old town
Pied Flycatcher F 0345
(f) on migration
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Firecrest
Booted Eagle with Spot Starling 1 4 w
A flying with a freshly caught Common Starling
Sandstorm Tarifa Spain 2540
Sandstorm down at Tarifa
Collared Pratincole w 8023
The majestic Collared Pratincole
Stone Curlew flight spring colours w 5126
in flight
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Our group walking along the sandy track between fields of poppies at Mesas de Asta, near Trebujena
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Spring poppies in the cornfields
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Military road between Algeciras and Gibraltar (in the distance) and Tarifa. A great place to explore the coastal stretches of The Strait of Gibraltar that separates Europe and Africa.
IMG 3040
This was a scene on The Strait at the Sierra de La Plata, with a huge amount of dust in the air caused by the constant Levante wind blowing out of the Mediterranean sea into the Atlantic Ocean, in front of us. Normally you can see Morocco a mere 14 kms across The Strait, but…
Griffon Vulture w 2591
at the Sierra de La Plata
Bonelli%2527s Warbler 4314
Western Bonelli’s Warbler
Black Kite ad 1343
Black Kite
Messas de Asta w 00014
Greater Flamingoes, , and a
White headed Duck w 8257
A European rarity, the
Pied Avocets grey sky 8533
Pied Avocets in flight
Greater Flamingo tango w 00431
Greater Flamningoes
Gull billed Tern 5199
Gull-billed Tern
Whiskered Tern Spring 8872
Whiskered Tern
Little Tern w 8168
Little Tern
Waders Horses 9382
Waders flying around the salt-pans and river Guadalqivir, part of the Coto Doñana
Spanish Sparrow male w 9137
A male sits in the morning sunlight
Vejer Dawn 2923
Dawn over the famous ‘Pueblo Blanco’ of Vejer de la Frontera
Kentish Plover w 0724
Male Kentish Plover
Collared Pratincole underwing 4981
Collared Pratincole showing off the rich rust colour of its underwing
Trebujena w 6593
Vineyards at Trebujena
Short toed Lark scanning sky w 00627
Short-toed Lark
Yellow Wagtail male Iberiae w 00033
Iberian Yellow Wagtail
White Storks nest church w 8804
White Storks on their church top nest
Audubon Group Spain 3023
Myself and our happy group on a relief model of The Strait of Gibraltar at the visitor center, Huerta Grande, Pelayo.

 

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Stephen Daly

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.

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