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Great Bustards Marchin´ already! ©️ Inglorious Bustards

The VIP guest list is out! 🐦✨

Our day at Llanos de Osuna was a full-blown Bustard Party. We had front-row seats for 21 Great and 5 Little Bustards displaying, leaping, and marching! Black-bellied Sandgrouse even swung by to crash the bash. 🇪🇸

#Birding #Spain #Wildlife #Nature

Spring has broken in The Straits! 🌸🦅

The first Black Kites are crossing from Africa, joined by Barn Swallows, House Martins, and majestic White Storks.

Witness the greatest show on earth with our migration tours: www.ingloriousbustards.com

#IngloriousBustards #TheStraits #Migration #Birding

Rock Bunting ©️ Inglorious Bustards

Common Chiffchaff ©️ Inglorious Bustards

Black-winged Stilts ©️ Inglorious Bustards

Short-toed Treecreeper ©️ Inglorious Bustards

Despite storms and resulting issues, inventive guiding ensured our guests had a great time! From White-headed Ducks and Black-necked Grebes to bugling Common Cranes, Great and Little Bustards, Black Wheatears and 100+ Rock Petronia. + Excellent vegan food at Hotel Bandolero!

#IngloriousBustards

Bonelli´s Eagle ©️ Inglorious Bustards

Black-winged Stilts ©️ Inglorious Bustards

Eurasian Crag Martin ©️ Inglorious Bustards

Black-necked Grebe ©️ Inglorious Bustards

Despite #BorrascaLeonardo, birding was electric! ⛈️ Lowland wetlands held White-headed Ducks, Greater Flamingos & Black-necked Grebes.

First returning Barn Swallows & House Martins joined passage Eurasian Crag Martins, as a Bonelli’s Eagle smashed into Black-winged Stilts! 🦅

Spectacular day on the llanos de Osuna! Dodged the weather to see 9 Little & 26 Great Bustards. Hen Harriers quartered the plains flushing Calandra Larks while Red Kites & Black-winged Kites patrolled above - all before the storms returned!

ingloriousbustards.com/serrania-de-ronda…

Mountain birding in the Andalucía rain! ⛈️⛰️

Bushes full of Rock, Corn & Cirl Buntings, while Black Wheatears & Blue Rock Thrushes braved the storms with us.

The woods were buzzing with Crested Tits & Common Firecrests.

Niki's right: “If you don’t go out, you don’t see owt!” 🔭

#BirdSky #Andalucía

Thanks Simon and Nikki, that was a great listen. I learned a lot about your ecotourism and conservation work and the perils of birds migration. I had no idea that ST eagles from Italy migrated through Spain-Morocco. Keep up the great work 👏

Spring is here at The Straits!

Despite Atlantic storms, migration is on. White Storks are returning from sub-Sahara (Nov–Feb).

🗓️ Black Kites: Accelerate mid-Feb; peak early March. 🗓️ Short-toed Eagles: Late Feb; adults early March.

Don’t get Flyway FOMO!

ingloriousbustards.com/honey-buzzar...

The Unknown Vulture Spectacle: A Journey Through Ronda and The Straits 2025!

A journey defined by mountain gems, coastal rarities, and a staggering avian phenomenon: the mass dispersal of thousands of Griffon Vultures.

From Bat-Chats to Bird-Flights: Our Deep Dive with BatAbility

As birders, we spend much of our time looking up—usually at the incredible soaring birds crossing The Straits of Gibraltar. But recently, we had the pleasure of sitting down (virtually!) with the fantastic team at BatAbility for…

Experience the European Honey Buzzard Migration in Andalucía Join a 7-day birdwatching expedition in Andalucía, witnessing the majestic migration of European Honey Buzzards and diverse wildlife.

The River of Raptors is flowing! 🦅✨

Join our European Honey Buzzard tour in The #Straits. Witness thousands of soaring birds + Rüppell’s Vulture, Little Swift, Rufous-tailed Scrub Robin, Red-knobbed Coot, Marbled Duck & White-headed Duck.

ingloriousbustards.com/honey-buzzar...

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

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