608 Booted Eagles & 339 Short-toed Eagles soared just overhead and at eye level and out over The #Straits onto #Africa beyond. Alongside European Honey Buzzards, Black #Kites, Egyptian #Vultures, groups of both Black & White #Storks A vagrant Atlas Long-legged (North African) Buzzard too!

Mega #StraitsBirding day among #Shorebirds here y´day - The first #Bird we got our optics on was a vagrant Lesser Yellowlegs alongside Ruff, Wood Sandpipers, Little Stints & Curlew Sandpipers. Migrant passerines - European Pied and Spotted Flycatchers, Whinchat and Northern Wheatear

With the strong levante wind making the crossing of The #Straits even more challenging for soaring migratory #Birds many have been cruising the coast looking for a way to cross or lingering in the campo waiting for their moment. This stunning rare dark morph Montagu´s Harrier was among them!

Get up! This will be a good listen... @batability.bsky.social @ingloriousbustards.bsky.social

With a moderate to strong levante we positioned ourselves at the sweet spot where those attempting the crossing would come low over us. European Honey Buzzards, Booted & Short-toed #Eagles, Egyptian #Vultures, Montagu´s #Harriers + more, a spectacular #FlywayBirding experience for our guests!

The levante kicked in and so we took ourselves to the Western side of The Straits among an ever increasing passage of #Shorebirds In the campo Pied and Spotted Flycatchers, Common Redstarts and Northern Wheatears arrive on their own journey! #FlywayBirding

Yesterday Short-toed and Booted #Eagles lingered before taking the leap into The #Straits right out from our watchpoint joined by Egyptian #Vultures and Black #Storks and then the #HoneyTrain began to flow! European Honey Buzzards storming out over The divide and our gathered optics!

The campo was also hopping with small migratory passerines like this European Pied Flycatcher

The nearby #wetlands were teaming with migratory #Shorebirds - Curlew Sandpipers, Ruff, Red Knot, Whimbrel among the masses.

Yesterday a steady flow of European Honey Buzzards right over our heads as Booted Eagles crossed the valley right below us as gathering groups of White Storks interspersed with Black Storks arrived and Short-toed #Eagles soared among them!

Yesterday our guests were out in The #Straits as migratory raptors crossed over Long-finned Pilot Whales and Bottlenose Dolphins, our lunch spot was swarmed with migrating European Bee-eaters and a late afternoon encounter with the ultra rare - 2 Rüppell´s Vultures!😎 #FlywayBirding

As European Honey Buzzards streamed out high we got ourselves high alongside them as they left their roosts and continued their journey towards Africa right over us! + Egyptian Vultures, Osprey, Booted and Short-toed Eagles, Marsh and Montagu´s Harriers, European Bee-eaters and Alpine Swifts

947 European Honey #Buzzards poured out on Sunday + 322 Short-toed & 251 Booted #Eagles, 153 Black #Kites, 48 Egyptian #Vultures, Marsh & Montagu´s #Harriers, Eurasian Sparrowhawks, 27 Black #Storks + 652 White Storks. 565+ European Bee-eater crossed - with them a vagrant 𝗕𝗹𝘂𝗲-𝗰𝗵𝗲𝗲𝗸𝗲𝗱 𝗕𝗲𝗲-𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗿!!

Another day of mind-blowing encounters on this #FlywayHighway! Reams of European Honey #Buzzards stretched out overhead to cross to Africa with Booted and Short-toed #Eagles riding the increasing wind as Egyptian #Vultures passed close to us + a dark morph Montagu´s Harrier - the 3rd this week!

Among the marismas of the W. end of The Straits y´day - the vagrant Elegant Tern + Sandwich, Caspian & Little Terns and masses of migratory #Shorebirds with Curlew Sandpipers, Little Stints, Ruff & Whimbrels. The shaded woodlands dripping with Spotted & Pied Flycatchers & Common Redstarts and more!

What a day of superb #FlywayBirding our guests had y´day! A flow of migratory mayhem with European Honey #Buzzards flowing overhead + Booted and Short-toed Eagles, Black Kites, Egyptian #Vultures, Montagu´s & Marsh #Harriers, an Eurasian Goshawk! Finally encountering the adult Rüppell´s Vulture 😎

Last week’s S Spain #FlywayBirding hol with the wonderful @ingloriousbustards.bsky.social was truly memorable. An uplifting antidote to world madness & evil, & UK’s pitiful state of nature. Leaders Simon&Nikki top people! Highly recommended! Huge thanks! #UKBirding #birds

Just back from a fabulous week, #FlywayBirding with @ingloriousbustards.bsky.social. With wave after wave of migrating Eagles, Vultures, and White Storks over our heads,punctuated with the sights and sounds of bee-eaters.We were looked after really well by Tonk & Niki.Highly recommended trip. #Birds

Once more among the flow of migratory #Birds y´day - mixed swirls of Black #Kites, European Honey #Buzzards, Short-toed & Booted #Eagles, Egyptian #Vultures! White #Storks & Alpine #Swifts swirled over the valley, +a rare dark morph Montagu´s Harrier, a juv Bonelli´s Eagle & North African Buzzard.

We ended our trip with our guests as it began! Flow of European Honey Buzzards, Black Kites, Short-toed & Booted Eagles, Egyptian Vultures & Montagu´s Harriers low overhead as a mesmerising mass of 1,419 White Storks spiralled up as the giggling of a group of 239 Alpine Swift whizzed through!

We moved to the E. side of #Doñana - first light in the #EmpireoftheSun among the organic vineyards the emblematic, threatened Rufous-tailed Scrub Robin! Onto the busy Little Swift colony, intertidal and Salinas with Shorebirds, Terns and Gulls, pools hosting Red-knobbed Coot & White-headed Ducks

Migrating European Bee-eaters everywhere today + 2375 White Stork, 1028 European Honey Buzzards, +groups of Short-toed & Booted Eagles, Black Kites, Egyptian Vultures, Marsh & Montagu´s Harriers making the journey + Pallid, Common & Alpine Swifts! + an imm Rüppell´s Vulture drifting into the party

Our last addition of yesterday´s list was this ELEGANT TERN as it dropped into chill with the Sandwich Terns and peculiarly fed a juvenile Sandwich Tern!

Woodlands, wetlands and campo of The #Straits y´day for our guests! Woodlands dripping with Pied & Spotted Flycatchers, Western Bonelli´s Warblers & more, encounters in the campo with Northern Bald Ibis, Marismas with migratory #Shorebirds with Little Stints, Curlew Sandpipers, Ruff & more!

3,759 soaring migratory #Birds of 15 species today with 581 White Storks, 2,746 Black Kite, 126 European Honey Buzzard, 240 Booted Eagle plus Short-toed Eagles, Egyptian Vultures, Montagu´s & Marsh Harriers and more! With Bonelli´s Eagles attempting to take down some of these voyagers!

The flow of Black Kites is continuous, they will exceed 240,000 making the journey, crossing the #14km and often forming the #Milanada where tens of thousands wait to cross and form spectacular aerial gatherings and displays only possible to witness here in The #Straits of #Gibraltar near #Tarifa

Swift priority! This year's Swift Weekender was insane! A relaxed opportunity to not only observe Swift migration as well as some of the rarest Swift species in Europe and the Western Palearctic, but also get up close to some of the… https://ingloriousbustards.com/2025/08/21/swift-priority/

A moment surrounded by groups of thousands of migrating White Storks hearing their wingbeats overhead as European Bee-eaters noisily cross, Common and Pallid Swifts paper the cracks with Black Kites, European Honey Buzzards, Booted and Short-toed Eagles forming swirling migratory mixed masses!

Started the day with the Rüppell´s Vulture leaving the roost then the jumping migration party! - 13 spp of raptor converged on The Straits today as 5,000 Black Kites crossed in the first hour setting the scene! White Storks piled into the party with groups of thousands crossing over our heads!

Welcome to the #migration party pal! Today The #Straits was jumping! Tens of thousands of Black Kites desperate to reach Africa took the leap alongside European Honey Buzzards, Short-toed & Booted Eagles and Egyptian Vultures with 2.255 White Storks cruising out over our heads! #FlywayBirding

That Black Kite train just keeps rolling! #FlywayBirding

This past week 𝟗𝟓,𝟑𝟖𝟎 soaring migratory #Birds made the crossing of The #Straits - 𝐁𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐊𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐬 have dominated with 𝟔𝟕,𝟔𝟔𝟔 taking the leap! Amongst the mix 𝟐𝟕,𝟓𝟑𝟗 White #Storks building numbers of Booted & Short-toed #Eagles, Montagu´s Harriers, Egyptian #Vultures, #Osprey + 1 Eleanora´s Falcon

With the levante wind kicking in again only the bravest Black Kites are attempting the crossing of The #Straits - hard to judge gusting winds soon have many doubling back to wait for more favourable conditions. The result - a #Milanada or Kite-Fest that can 𝐎𝐍𝐋𝐘 be witnessed here in The Straits!

The #Milanada is on! After several days of powerful #levante winds a slight drop in the wind opened the departure gate across The #Straits and into Africa the sky a kaleidoscope of mesmeric migrating Black Kites as thousands upon thousands depart! #FlywayBirding

A brief rest of the levante wind as it dropped to a Force 6 with the wind having halted progress for these wind warriors tens of thousands of Black Kites amassed at the #FlywayGateway Masses of them took their moment to cross before yet more strong levante halts their progress in the coming days!

July 27 - the wind dropped allowing the flow of migratory #Birds to flow once more! The gateway overflowing with 15,000+ Black Kites and 10,000+ White Storks making the crossing and giving us our first big day of autumn migration 2025! Levante once more and The Straits is a full departure gate!

The wind dropped yesterday and fields of Black #Kites that had to suspend their crossing took to the air! 3,058 Black Kites making the crossing with many of these stunning juveniles making their first migratory journey. 4,114 White #Storks formed swirling masses as they battled the crossing.

Our #SwiftWeekender tour has been going great! We encountered the speediest 2 White-rumped #Swift just overhead, organic vineyards full to the brim of glorious singing Rufous-tailed Scrub Robins and the absolute bedlam of the early morning Little Swift colony! #FlywayBirding

We have been watching the first Black #Kites now crossing The #Straits in fabulous jaw-dropping waves! Some passing right over our guests heads where we have been able to fully appreciate the amazingly gorgeous juveniles making the perilous crossing for the first time. #FlywayBirding

Y´day among the vibrant Griffon #Vulture colony & the ultra rare 𝐑𝐮̈𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐥𝐥´𝐬 𝐕𝐮𝐥𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞 leaving the roost + 2 Egyptian Vultures and squadrons of Griffon #Vultures In the cool breeze of the #poniente at the coast where a surprise visitor dropped in - this 𝐋𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐫 𝐂𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐓𝐞𝐫𝐧! #FlywayBirding

Having already encountered 2 White-rumped #Swifts y’day we moved west with our guests 😋 Battling Rufous-tailed Scrub Robins, magical Little Swift colony, #Shorebird #Birding at the #Salinas and then pools of dreams White-headed Ducks and Red-knobbed Coot & more

#Doñana – Revisited, Revived and Alive! In recent years, Coto Doñana Natural Park has attracted considerable press attention for the parlous state of its aquifer due to intensive soft fruit farming in the nearby area.  But following a wet winter and large amounts of rain in recent days, the…

So it begins! Autumn #Migration is a go here in The #Straits today with some of the first groups of White #Storks and Black #Kites making the crossing alongside a few Short-toed and Booted #Eagles If you’d like to see scenes like this mesmerising-migrating-mass of White Storks we should talk!

Sustainability – at the heart of what we do! The ethos behind Inglorious Bustards´ Nature tourism has always been to use travel to bring positive outcomes for biodiversity in the places we visit and beyond. We came to the ecotourism industry from a background in sustainable agriculture, travel and…

Discovering the migration magic in Ronda and The Straits Our Ronda and The Straits trip sits right on the cusp of two seasons, giving an uplifting opportunity to enjoy Andalucía as it journeys from late autumn into early winter.  A less explored time of year, it is still right in amongst the avian…

Bird Migration Adventure at The Straits of Gibraltar Tour report for Bird Migration and Cetaceans 9 - 14 April 2025 Introduction We met up with our migration enthusiasts who had travelled here from Northern Europe, plus three transatlantic vagrants from North America!  All with the one common…

The first to arrive White #Storks and Black #Kites are already beginning to cross The #Straits! Among the noisy and animated Collared #Pratincole colony yesterday these striking #Birds are a bonus for any visiting #Birder at this time of the year but soon they will also depart! #FlywayBirding

Have you seen #Rook in Spain? An extremely local breeder across #Iberia with the sole population in a tiny area in #León province! This stunning #corvid was a surprise to me as Niki pulled up to a random industrial estate and opening the door I was shocked to hear that glorious familiar sound!

The last week we have been guiding in the #Pyrenees #Mountain #hikes with absolutely mind-blowing #nature encounters😎 #Wallcreeper! Rufous-tailed (Common) Rock #Thrushes and Red-backed #Shrikes, Alpine Accentors, Singing Citril Finches, #Lammergeiers, Golden #Eagles & confiding Alpine #Marmots!

The avian delights here in the Gredos are numerous Rufous-tailed (Common) Rock Thrushes, Water Pipits, Northern Wheatears, both Rock and Ortolan Buntings in constant song all around this Middle Earth type stunning landscape! Plus the poorly known, endemic breeding sub-species Iberian #Bluethroat!