The Abyssinian Ground-Hornbill is without doubt one of the most emblematic & distinctive and one of Africa’s largest #Hornbills. It can be hard to find, keeping to foraging often among the savannah long grass - we were particularly fortunate to encounter them foraging very close to our group!

There are myriad of colourful #Birds in The #Gambia and some of the most dazzling are the Bee-eaters! We were surrounded by a large group of feeding Northern Carmine Bee-eaters a truly magical experience!

One of the standout #shorebirds of any tour here in The #Gambia is the stop-the-clock gorgeous Egyptian #Plover - we ended up venerating 14 different amazing individuals! #FlywayBirding #EgyptianPlover

Among the marshes and mangrove creeks of The #Gambia there are ornithological gems to be encountered and marvelled - here are some of them we encountered yesterday ☺️ #FlywayBirding White-throated Bee-eater, Blue-breasted Kingfisher, Goliath Heron and juvenile White-backed Night Heron😊

Of all the amazing #Bird groups here in The #Gambia, the #Coraciiformes are among some of the most striking, and here are some of them we have already had joyous encounters with! #FlywayBirding #Birding #AfricanBirds #africanature

We arrived in The #Gambia the next month we will be not only guiding but continuing our conservation work with The Gambian Birdwatchers Association - absolute delight to see resident and migratory #Birds using the mangrove restoration we funded and planned together!

Storm #Claudia brought record Leach's Petrels to The #Straits this week! We ventured north with Spanish Imperial Eagle on the edge of the storm on the #Llanos and an awesome encounter with the largest Dendrocopos Woodpecker - White-backed Woodpecker in northern forests #FlywayBirding

On our recent #BirdingTwoContinents tour this #Osprey flew over us on the fabled Merja Zerga lagoon in #Morocco We now know that she was ringed by Roy Dennis at a nest near Loch Insh in #Scotland on 10/7/18 - this is the first time she has been recorded in over 7 years since her first migration!

One of the delights of mountain #Birding here this time of the year is watching huge noisy #ChoughNados - Red-billed Choughs! They can form huge groups leaving or coming to roost - a memorable and mesmerising encounter last week with a group of 143 of these fabulous corvids leaving a roost!

Griffon Vultures crossing The #Straits yesterday- pure migratory magic! ….or youth dispersal magic 😉 1,687 Griffon Vultures crossed over our heads!

We have taken to the mountains once again and among Rock Buntings, Black Wheatears and Blue Rock Thrushes whilst European Black Vulture among Griffon Vultures as a Chough-nado of 143 Red-billed Chough noisily circled over and 2 Ring Ouzel among the juniper scrub

The local #Vulture colonies are jumping at the moment with young Griffon Vultures making their way to The #Straits to cross to Africa! Among the masses we found two critically endangered vagrant immature Rüppell´s #Vultures ! #FlywayBirding

#VultureMayhem as nearly 5 metric tonnes of Griffon Vultures stage to cross the divide between Europe and Africa here at The #Straits of Gibraltar!

Our guests were under c.5 metric tonnes of Griffon Vultures gathering overhead to cross The #Straits yesterday! 556 Griffon Vultures crossed with Egyptian Vulture, Short-toed Eagles, Booted Eagle, Osprey and a juvenile European Honey Buzzard. #FlywayBirding

This ringed Caspian #Tern we encountered recently on our #BirdingTwoContinents #Tour on the fabled Merga Zerja lagoon in #Morocco was ringed as a chick on the Kvädö peninsula in Sweden! 3,101km away, 7 years and 118 days before our observation! #FlywayBirding

Arrival day for our guests yesterday and our first area to explore on our #Ronda and The #Straits tour is the #mountains! Here we were greeted by masses of Black #Redstarts and White #Wagtails seeking lower altitudes. #FlywayBirding

Early winter vibes here in The #Straits with squadrons of young Griffon #Vultures making their way across the continental divide and into #Africa as a massive flow of passerine migration is also clearly underway! Common Eider is back for a 2nd yr, Pipits, Wagtails and Finches are pouring over!

First new #Bird of our final day in #Morocco 🇲🇦and what a stunning view of this Black-crowned (Hooded)#Tchagra

1st leg of our #Moroccan section of our #BirdingonTwoContinents tour has been magic! Greeting us and arriving Short-toed Eagles into Africa were African Blue Tits, African Chaffinch and Common Bulbuls. The fabled Merga Zerja lagoon gave us magical encounters with #Gulls, #Terns and #Shorebirds!

We encountered with glee on our #BirdingTwoContinents tour this week the stunning 𝐌𝐚𝐠𝐡𝐫𝐞𝐛 𝐎𝐰𝐥! On mtDNA it has been shown to be sister to the fairly genetically homogeneous Tawny Owl of Europe. This species is darker and markedly larger than Tawny Owl with a 20% bigger wingspan. #FlywayBirding

El parque de Reina Sofía #LaLinea is jumping right now! Fab urban #flyway #Birding before farewells at #Gibraltar Airport Encounters with Common #Redstarts and both European Pied and Spotted #Flycatchers - the park an ornithological gold mine and absolutely buzzing with migrant #Birds!

We moved from the campo with thousands of mesmerising Spanish Sparrows to #UrbanBirding in #Tarifa. Here a Little Owl peered at us and the loneliest Common Bulbul in the world hung out with us! As the rain stopped it was time for hundreds of Booted and Short-toed #Eagles to pour out over #Tarifa

Great day among the #Marismas of the western end of The Straits yesterday among a mass of migratory #Shorebirds Spotted Redshanks, Wood Sandpipers, Ruff and masses of Little Stint among many highlights as Greater Flamingoes, Slender-billed Gulls and Caspian Terns also delighted our guests.

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/