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White-throated Bee-eater ©️Inglorious Bustards

Blue-breasted Kingfisher ©️Inglorious Bustards

Goliath Heron ©️Inglorious Bustards

White-backed Night Heron ©️Inglorious Bustards

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😊

Giant Kingfisher © Inglorious Bustards

Blue-bellied Roller © Inglorious Bustards

Malachite Kingfisher © Inglorious Bustards

Little Bee-eater © Inglorious Bustards

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

Hooded Vulture © Inglorious Bustards

Little Bee-eater © Inglorious Bustards

Yellow-fronted Tinkerbird © Inglorious Bustards

Beautiful Sunbird © Inglorious Bustards

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!

Disease transmission from non native gamebirds in particular Pheasants is a huge issue - swab analysis and testing of farm puddles etc confirms it- why isn’t that being addressed ?

White-backed Woodpecker ©️ inglorious Bustards

Spanish Imperial Eagle ©️ Inglorious Bustards

Crested Tit ©️ Inglorious Bustards

Goldcrest ©️ Inglorious Bustards

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!

These are true old world Gyps Vultures and they have much better discerning tastes!

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

this is typical

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

Northern Bald Ibis © Inglorious Bustards

White Wagtail © Inglorious Bustards

Slender-billed Gulls © Inglorious Bustards

Common Eider © Inglorious Bustards

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

African Blue Tit © Inglorious Bustards

Lesser Crested Term © Inglorious Bustards

Slender-billed Gull © Inglorious Bustards

Audouin´s Gull © Inglorious Bustards

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!

Maghreb Owl © Inglorious Bustards

Maghreb Owl © Inglorious Bustards

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!

Spanish Sparrow © Inglorious Bustards

Booted Eagle © Inglorious Bustards

Short-toed Eagle © Inglorious Bustards

Common Bulbul © Inglorious Bustards

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

Black-winged Stilt © Inglorious Bustards

Greater Flamingoes © Inglorious Bustards

Ruff © Inglorious Bustards

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.

Booted Eagle © Inglorious Bustards

Short-toed Eagle © Inglorious Bustards

Short-toed Eagle © Inglorious Bustards

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!

Black-winged Stilt © Inglorious Bustards

Whinchat © Inglorious Bustards

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

Dark morph Montagu´s Harrier © Inglorious Bustards

Short-toed Eagle © Inglorious Bustards

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

Booted Eagle © Inglorious Bustards

European Honey Buzzard © Inglorious Bustards

European Honey Buzzard © Inglorious Bustards

European Honey Buzzard © Inglorious Bustards

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!

Curlew Sandpiper © Inglorious Bustards

Common Ringed Plover © Inglorious Bustards

Little Stint © Inglorious Bustards

Northern Wheatear © Inglorious Bustards

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

Booted Eagle © Inglorious Bustards

Short-toed Eagle © Inglorious Bustards

Egyptian Vulture © Inglorious Bustards

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!