Spring migratory birds of Andalucia

Long haul

Flying time: 5 days. Area covered: 3000 miles. It certainly is a long haul journey from Africa to Spain, for the Swift and other birds. Their summer holidays are spent in Spain, and they return year after year to the sunshine and stunning light of Andalucia. Who can blame them?!

Griffon Vulture

Twitcher's paradise

Obsessive about ornithology? Twitchers and birders - you've come to the right place! Andalucia is the perfect hideout to spot all those inbound flights of the spring migration. What are the best places to go? What will you be most likely to spot? Let's take a flight of our own, come on over to Spain before it gets too hot and see who also has landed.

Big bird

Swallows and summer

One Swallow may not make a summer, but I love to see them return, year after year. Our own covered terrace is the landing strip for those clever little birds, a flash of midnight blue and a loud chattering announces the arrival of the new crew, hatched in the exact same place last year. Sometimes they arrive looking a little ragged and flustered - well, they have had a pretty rough flight!

short toed eagle

Where are the best areas?

The best places to holiday and do a little birdwatching for the spring migration period are:

 

 

Black winged stilt

What's to see?

Tarifa and the Straits: Raptors - big birds! Look out for the Kite, Eagle, Vulture, Honey Buzzard.

Cadiz and Huelva: You'll find Waders on the wetlands. Sandpiper, Redshank, Greenshank, and Stint and Stilt.

Cabo de Gata: Look out for the Purple Heron, Avocet, Osprey and Pratincoles.

Coastal from Cadiz to Malaga: You'll be all at sea. Spot the many varieties of Wader around the estuaries and salinas. Skua, Tern, and the Mediterranean and Audouins Gulls.

Fuente de Piedra: Where you'll have a chance to be in the pink with all of the Flamingo population. (That's it in the photograph below)

 

Flamingo

So pack up

There's a lot to see, but the best time to go is now. So, forget the bikini and pack up your binoculars and camera instead. There are plenty of inland birds too, the air hereabouts is filled with song at the moment. We breakfast with Swallows and Swifts here in the Alpujarras, and pass bright blue Rollers and colourful Bee Eaters on the school run. Enjoy a Spanish holiday with a twist, and see the spring migratory birds of Andalucia.

Purple Swamphen

Thanks to Kiersten Rowland for permission to use her stunning bird pictures.