What’s your favourite chook species?
This a query I’m incessantly requested as a chook information, and though I at all times 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 places you cowl as a chook 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 chook information?
I’ve been a full-time chook information since 2012.
How did you get into chook guiding?
I’ve had a real curiosity and keenness for birds since my childhood. The 4 years that I spent learning the raptor migration within the Strait of Gibraltar helped me turn into identified amongst quite a few specialised worldwide tour operators. This manner, 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 chook guiding as a lifestyle.
Melanistic Montagu’s Harrier
What are the points of being a chook information that you simply like greatest? Which points 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. Additionally it is rewarding to watch the excessive degree of satisfaction and well-being this exercise generates, particularly amongst older people.
Definitely, one of many points I like least is witnessing firsthand the dramatic decline of some species. In my case, one other adverse 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 assume 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 a whole lot of people from quite a few species without delay and at shut vary, in a setting that gives a singular geographical sensation as you actually watch the birds flying between two continents. Nonetheless, probably the most sought-after species are Rüppell’s Vulture (an everyday 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 at the least one typical birdwatching journey in your space? Please briefly describe the places, the important thing birds, and the approximate period of such a visit.
My flagship tour is targeted 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 perfect birdwatching websites within the Strait of Gibraltar to make sure the perfect viewing situations, each by way of chook 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 chook 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 solutions are you able to give to birders curious about your space?
To the various loyal worldwide birders hooked on the autumn migration within the Strait, I’d undoubtedly suggest visiting within the spring. Though having fun with it totally requires a extra intimate data of the world and chook dynamics, they may undoubtedly be drastically shocked 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’d additionally suggest not letting the spectacle of the raptors overshadow the prospect to watch seabird migration from the Tarifa lighthouse on the southernmost level of the continent, with specific 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 assume that the dreaded and unsightly Levante (easterly) wind within the Strait is an issue. We locals know that sturdy easterly winds invariably convey the perfect moments of raptor migration in Tarifa. However do care for your telescopes so that they don’t fly away too!
If any reader of 10,000 Birds is curious about birding with you, how can they greatest contact you?
I’m at all times out there through the web site of my firm, Birding The Strait.
Brief-toed Eagles on migration throughout the Strait of Gibraltar
Is there’s anything you wish 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 build up a related international birding group, will will let you constantly enhance and observe the world in a extra conscious method.
Immature Spanish Imperial Eagles in Central Spain
