Today had a good feel as I stepped outside and a Bee-eater flew up the road and disappeared over nearby roofs. Arriving at Cabranosa, there was again much evidence of passerine movements with 15 White Wagtail and 2 Meadow Pipit on the ground. High numbers of Chaffinches were passing over and Siskins were seen in two's and three's also. A Woodlark called as it flew North and Stock Doves were flying in small flocks. The Portuguese recorders told us that a large number (hundreds) of Griffon Vultures had roosted up in the hills to the North-East the night before and, it was with a feeling of great anticipation that we settled down to a waiting game! Around late morning, we had our first impression of what was to come - minute speckles all over the distant sky. It soon became clear that this was a very large movement of Vultures and we were going to be looking at near a thousand birds! In sight of 'lands end', the Vultures split into several groups, each group spiralling and working out the next direction. A 'lead' bird would then start them drifting off, in one direction or another, constantly changing the pattern of birds in the sky. What was interesting among all the Griffons were the other birds which were tagging along with the main movement. 7 Black Storks stayed high above the rest, a single White Stork was seen in one flock. An Egyptian Vulture was there with Short-toed Eagle and Booted Eagle too. Later I found a female Hen Harrier and adult plus juvenile Bonelli's Eagle, in a separate flock. The entire movement reached Sagres before turning and despite them being watchable from a distance, they didn't come in our direction for the next couple of hours. After lunch, I decided to try and get under the flock by heading through Sagres and found the birds along the coast, between Sagres and Xavial. As they were drifting slowly east, I made for Xavial, turning right in the village of Raposeira. As I made the right turn, the Vultures had beaten me to it and were actually flying over the village and heading back to the hills in the north. I stopped the car outside a shop(!) and watched as the Griffons, now in an endlessly long line, slowly flew over Raposeira. I watched every single bird, looking for a marked difference in any of them. I counted at least 200 birds by this time. Surely a Bonelli's Eagle isn't going to challenge a Griffon!! Then I picked out what I had been searching for - Ruppell's Vulture. The white bands along either wing make this bird unmistakable - ending my long search for some years!
Thought of more as an African vulture, they do frequent Griffon colonies in Spain, but are still considered a rarity. This Ruppell's has a fair amount of wear and moult to its juvenile feathers but was an absolute stunner, as far as I was concerned. Comments are closed.
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