Tarifa Postscript

The 11th of March was my last full day in the Tarifa area, and it was as the forecast had suggested, grey, wet and with continued strong easterlies. It rained until 1pm, after which it got slightly better, particularly in the west. Still, very few migrants, only two reasonable flocks of Black Kites.
But then the weather changed for one day! On my last morning (Mar 12th) the wind was moderate and from the SW sector, which is ideal for crossing of larger birds. The sky was blue with some big thunder clouds, and the whole thing looked very promising. I had to leave the hotel at 8 am, to get to the airport on time, but there was still a few spare minutes for stops. The first stop was in the hills just above Tarifa, an observation post known as Cazalla. As soon as I put up my bins I could see approaching groups of Black Kites above the sea, but I had no time to wait for them. I pushed on, but had to make another stop after 10 kms, just below Pelayo, where I could see Short-toed Eagles thermal low above the road! During a stop of perhaps no more than 5 minutes I saw some 100 Short-toeds, and 30 of them were circling low over my head! And looking south I could see more coming. This was clearly going to be one of the Big Days of this spring, but there was no chance to stay. It was with mixed feelings I left the scene, a truly memorable 5 minutes, but clearly only the first steps of a real spectacle.
At the airport I met my friend Antonio-Roman Muñoz, who is working on the raptor migration at Tarifa. He kindly promised to send me the migration figures of Saturday, once they were ready. Got them yesterday, and yes, it had been a Big Day! Because of the SW wind the birds, especially the larger ones, drifted east, and the best place was Punta Carnero, just opposite and west of Gibraltar, where between 11am and 5pm nearly 2500 Short-toeds and more than 1000 Black Kites, plus smaller numbers of other raptor species and storks were counted.
Such is life.