After the interesting visit to the Cazalla watchpoint in March of this year, I was curious to see the migration birds go back to Africa and decided to go back to Tarifa, but closer to the sea this time. I was not sure if I could easily reach this place because I had read about military road signs prohibiting access, but there was not problem at all. The road signs are there, but you can just ignore them like I did, and with me many other visitors that I saw at the watchpoint.
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| A Short-toed Snake Eagle, heading south to Africa |
I arrived at around 10.30 AM and stayed for about 4 hours. The wind was coming in from the west, skies were clear apart from a few clouds.
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| View of the Strait and Africa in the background |
I had expected to see more birds, to be honest, but overall it was worth coming all the way to the most southern part of Europe. I saw no huge groups of birds, the biggest group consisted of 12 birds. |
| Panoramic view to the west from the watchpoint |
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| Sparrowhawk |
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| Red Kite |
I had chosen this spot near the sea hoping it would allow me to spot some low flying birds and photograph them with the sea or some bushes in the background, to have something different than the common flying bird against a blue sky. The only bird that allowed me to accomplish this, was a hesitant Black Kite that started to cross the Strait but immediately returned and flew low over the dry coastline to head back landward to wait for a better moment.
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| Black Kite flying low |
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| The same bird gaining altitude before returning landward |
When the bird flew over me, I was able to see that it carried a ring on both legs. |
| Black Kite |
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| Booted Eagle |
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| Another Short-toed Snake Eagle |
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| Male Lesser Kestrel |
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| Marsh Harrier |
Apart from migrating Birds of Prey, I also spotted other species.
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| Cattle Egret |
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| Male European Stonechat |
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| Another male European Stonechat |
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| Western Black-eared Wheatear |
