What’s your favourite hen species?
This a query I’m steadily requested as a hen information, and though I all the time discover it tough to reply, the reality is that the response normally 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 identify, and the place do you reside?
My identify 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 primary areas or areas you cowl as a hen 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. Nonetheless, 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 hen information?
I’ve been a full-time hen information since 2012.
How did you get into hen guiding?
I’ve had a real curiosity and fervour for birds since my childhood. The 4 years that I spent finding out 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 discipline ornithologist with that of a tour chief. The skilled partnership with Yeray Seminario in Tarifa to ascertain the corporate Birding The Strait was the turning level that led me to wholeheartedly dedicate myself to hen guiding as a lifestyle.
Melanistic Montagu’s Harrier
What are the features of being a hen information that you simply like finest? Which features do you dislike most?
One among 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. Additionally it is rewarding to look at 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 detrimental facet of this occupation is the lengthy durations 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 simply suppose are probably the most attention-grabbing for visiting birders?
Birdwise, the primary attraction of the Strait of Gibraltar is the raptor migration and the chance to see tons of of people from quite a few species without delay and at shut vary, in a setting that gives a novel geographical sensation as you actually watch the birds flying between two continents. Nonetheless, probably the most sought-after species are Rüppell’s Vulture (a daily vagrant from Africa), Northern Bald Ibis, Spanish Imperial Eagle, Crimson-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 not less than one typical birdwatching journey in your space? Please briefly describe the areas, the important thing birds, and the approximate period of such a visit.
My flagship tour is concentrated on having fun with the raptor migration within the Strait of Gibraltar. This tour relies in Tarifa (5 to 7 days), from the place we go to the very best birdwatching websites within the Strait of Gibraltar to make sure the very best viewing situations, each by way of hen 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 formidable limestone mountain panorama, the realm of the Griffon Vulture. The Flamingo (each within the type of the hen and the music), Mediterranean delicacies, and charming motels 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 fascinated by your space?
To the various loyal worldwide birders hooked on the autumn migration within the Strait, I might undoubtedly advocate visiting within the spring. Though having fun with it absolutely requires a extra intimate information of the realm and hen dynamics, they may undoubtedly be enormously stunned by the plush 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 underneath difficult situations. I might additionally advocate not letting the spectacle of the raptors overshadow the possibility to look at 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 ugly Levante (easterly) wind within the Strait is an issue. We locals know that robust easterly winds invariably carry the very best moments of raptor migration in Tarifa. However do handle your telescopes in order that they don’t fly away too!
If any reader of 10,000 Birds is fascinated by birding with you, how can they finest contact you?
I’m all the time out there by way of the web site of my firm, Birding The Strait.
Brief-toed Eagles on migration throughout the Strait of Gibraltar
Is there may be anything you want to share with the readers of 10,000 Birds?
Make use of citizen science with specialised platforms like eBird or comparable, each in your ornithological expeditions and in your on a regular basis life. This, along with contributing to science, conservation, and build up a related world birding neighborhood, will help you constantly enhance and observe the world in a extra aware method.
Immature Spanish Imperial Eagles in Central Spain
