Birding The Strait has been present at 2017 FIO International Birdfair in Extremadura. We attended the stand of Andalusia on behalf of the Tarifa Council, participated in a professional workshop with international touroperators and gave a lecture titled “The migration of the Iberian Griffon Vultures to Africa, an overlooked wonder”.
Indeed, the Griffon Vulture Migration is one of the most genuine experiences we offer and vulture study has constituted an important part of our carriers as field ornithologists in the Strait of Gibraltar and beyond.
During the lecture we reviewed what is known and what remains unknown on this still poorly studied phenomenon and highlighted the spectacularity of immense flocks of griffons crossing the Strait of Gibraltar.
It was a real honour to share the stage with our good friend Fernando Barrios, pioneer ornithologist and wildlife photographer in the Strait of Gibraltar and author of the reference work “Nomads of the Strait of Gibraltar“. He gave an authoritative lecture on the White-rumped Swift based on the research he conducted in the Strait of Gibraltar during the last decades of the previous century, when this African species colonized the European continent.
During the rest of this fabulous weekend we took the opportunity to do some birding in the always amazing Monfragüe National Park and the Plains of Caceres around Trujillo, where we easily found the local specialities, including Cinereous Vulture, Great Bustard, Little Bustard, Pin-tailed Sandgrouse and Black-bellied Sandgrouse.
Back in Tarifa, the first groups of Griffon Vultures crossing the Strait back from Africa have already been recorded along with thousands of Black Kites, growing numbers of Short-toed Eagle, Egyptian Vulture and Black Stork.
