December marks the end of the Eurasian Griffon migration to Africa in the Strait of Gibraltar. The last flocks of juveniles will sea-cross in days of favourable weather, namely moderate wind with northern component and pristine visibility of the African coastline. In turn, those which after repeated attempts for weeks haven’t succeeded will give up and overwinter in Spain, mostly in the south. Now that approximately 5000 juvenile griffons from 2016 are in Africa, it is the time for adults to begin a new breeding season. In January Griffons are fully engaged in their courtship displays performing spectacular aerobatics, tandem flights, showing of talons, etc. Cadiz province in Andalusia holds over 100 breeding colonies totalling around 2000 breeding pairs, which constitutes one of the main strongholds for the species in Spain and Europe.
Throughout the region, there are a number of sites, including public observatories, where patient observers can stay to admire and photograph these masters of the soaring flight, with no disturbance to vulture’s daily lives. This is something we particularly enjoy doing and these pictures give an idea about our first vulture session of the year in Tarifa.
This juvenile Rüppell´s Griffon was a bonus to the sesión. Thanks to the pictures we could determine it is the same individual we photographed in a nearby region during a day trip last December.
