I was curious about the colony of Northern Bald Ibis I had heard about in the town of La Barca de Vejer, in the province of Cadiz in the south of Spain. They are a critically endangered species with only few colonies left in the wild, in Morocco and Syria. They suffered a lot with the introduction of pesticides like DDT in the 1950's.
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| One of around 20 Northern Bald Ibis present at this site |
A hide was built especially for the observation of the birds, right opposite the cliff where they have built their nests. During my visit I could see several young birds, a heart-warming sight.
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| One of the young in the nest |
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| A Northern Bald Ibis returning to the nest |
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| A Northern Bald Ibis preening on the cliff |
Northern Bald Ibis are certainly not the most beautiful species around, but with their long beak, comical crest and quiet appearance they I find them very intriguing. Now finding them in the wild after seeing them in a conservation program in a zoo is without a doubt a wonderful experience.
You can easily spend a long time at this hide observing them, and if you turn around, there is another very interesting view with a lot of green, rocks, trees, bushes and a river, a little paradise where I saw a lot of different species. The only downside to this place is the noise. It is next to a busy road and there is quite a lot of traffic.
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| Reading the information panel about the Northern Bald Ibis inside the hide |
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| The other side of the road |
On the same cliff where the Ibis nest, I saw a lot of Rock Pigeons and Jackdaws.
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| A Jackdaw spreading its wings and enjoying the sunshine |
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| A Jackdaw in a treetop |
Despite the noise road, expect to hear a lot of songbirds, among which Nightingale and Melodious Warbler.
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| A singing Melodious Warbler on top of a tree |
A short list of the species I was able to identify:
- Rock Pigeon
- Northern Bald Ibis
- Eurasian Griffon
- Eurasian Jackdaw
- Zitting Cisticola
- Melodious Warbler
- Barn Swallow
- Common Nightingale
- House Sparrow
- European Goldfinch
This is an interesting site, mostly for the Northern Bald Ibis, which I will definitely visit again in the future!
Henry.