What’s your favourite fowl species?
This a query I’m ceaselessly requested as a fowl information, and though I all the time discover it troublesome to reply, the reality is that the response often finally ends up being the Cinereous Vulture, particularly these from the small inhabitants within the Balkans, with whom I labored for 4 fabulous years in Greece.
Moussier’s Redstart
What’s your title, and the place do you reside?
My title is Javier Elorriaga. I used to be born in Bilbao (Spain) and I dwell in Tarifa, the Strait of Gibraltar, since 2008.
Black Kites in a Cork Oak
What are the principle areas or areas you cowl as a fowl information?
A big a part of my guiding actions takes place within the Strait of Gibraltar, centered across the migration of raptors between Europe and Africa. Nevertheless, yearly I lead quite a few excursions all through Spain from north to south, together with the Canary Islands, and in Morocco, together with Western Sahara.
Bearded Vulture within the Pyrenees
How lengthy have you ever been a fowl information?
I’ve been a full-time fowl information since 2012.
How did you get into fowl guiding?
I’ve had a real curiosity and fervour for birds since my childhood. The 4 years that I spent learning the raptor migration within the Strait of Gibraltar helped me turn into recognized amongst quite a few specialised worldwide tour operators. This fashion, I started combining my work as a area ornithologist with that of a tour chief. The skilled partnership with Yeray Seminario in Tarifa to determine the corporate Birding The Strait was the turning level that led me to wholeheartedly dedicate myself to fowl guiding as a lifestyle.
Melanistic Montagu’s Harrier
What are the features of being a fowl information that you just like finest? Which features do you dislike most?
Considered one of my biggest motivations when guiding is seeing how the event of birdwatching tourism positively impacts the event of a sustainable tourism mannequin in Tarifa, with constructive implications for the conservation of birds and pure areas. It is usually rewarding to watch the excessive stage of satisfaction and well-being this exercise generates, particularly amongst older people.
No doubt, one of many features I like least is witnessing firsthand the dramatic decline of some species. In my case, one other adverse side of this career is the lengthy intervals I’ve to spend with out seeing my son, Leo.
Northern Bald Ibis
What are the highest 5-10 birds in your area that you just suppose are probably the most attention-grabbing for visiting birders?
Birdwise, the principle attraction of the Strait of Gibraltar is the raptor migration and the chance to see lots of of people from quite a few species directly and at shut vary, in a setting that gives a novel geographical sensation as you actually watch the birds flying between two continents. Nevertheless, probably the most sought-after species are Rüppell’s Vulture (a daily vagrant from Africa), Northern Bald Ibis, Spanish Imperial Eagle, Pink-necked Nightjar, Little Swift, Balearic Shearwater, European Bee-eater, Eurasian Hoopoe, and the Iberian lynx (!), to call however a couple of.
Rüppell’s Vulture
Are you able to define no less than one typical birdwatching journey in your space? Please briefly describe the areas, the important thing birds, and the approximate length of such a visit.
My flagship tour is targeted on having fun with the raptor migration within the Strait of Gibraltar. This tour is predicated in Tarifa (5 to 7 days), from the place we go to one of the best birdwatching websites within the Strait of Gibraltar to make sure one of the best viewing circumstances, each when it comes to fowl numbers and proximity. We mix this with a pelagic birding and whale-watching journey, crusing midway between Europe and Africa, the Mediterranean and the Atlantic. We additionally spend two days within the iconic metropolis of Ronda, the place we immerse ourselves in a powerful limestone mountain panorama, the realm of the Griffon Vulture. The Flamingo (each within the type of the fowl and the music), Mediterranean delicacies, and charming accommodations are a particular and figuring out a part of this tour.
Thermalling Griffon Vultures within the Strait of Gibraltar
What different strategies are you able to give to birders all for your space?
To the numerous loyal worldwide birders hooked on the autumn migration within the Strait, I’d undoubtedly advocate visiting within the spring. Though having fun with it totally requires a extra intimate information of the realm and fowl dynamics, they’ll undoubtedly be enormously shocked by the luxurious greenery of the panorama and the dramatic sight of raptors reaching the continent exhausted after the life-or-death ordeal of flying over the ocean below difficult circumstances. I’d additionally advocate not letting the spectacle of the raptors overshadow the possibility to watch seabird migration from the Tarifa lighthouse on the southernmost level of the continent, with explicit consideration to the Balearic shearwater, Scopoli’s Shearwater, Cory’s Shearwater, and the puffins of the inhabitants wintering within the Mediterranean.
Scopoli’s Shearwater
One other piece of recommendation: don’t suppose that the dreaded and unsightly Levante (easterly) wind within the Strait is an issue. We locals know that sturdy easterly winds invariably carry one of the best moments of raptor migration in Tarifa. However do maintain your telescopes so that they don’t fly away too!
If any reader of 10,000 Birds is all for birding with you, how can they finest contact you?
I’m all the time obtainable through the web site of my firm, Birding The Strait.
Quick-toed Eagles on migration throughout the Strait of Gibraltar
Is there’s the rest you want to share with the readers of 10,000 Birds?
Make use of citizen science with specialised platforms like eBird or related, each in your ornithological expeditions and in your on a regular basis life. This, along with contributing to science, conservation, and increase a linked international birding group, will will let you repeatedly enhance and observe the world in a extra conscious manner.
Immature Spanish Imperial Eagles in Central Spain
