Thursday 14 August 2014, Gaucin, mostly sunny, light-fresh SE wind, 29C

A change in wind direction from poniente to levante brought about a muggy, humid day. Down on the, now dry, Rio Genal from 0830-1030hrs I logged the following:
Griffon Vulture, Short-toed Eagle, Booted Eagle (at least 3 individuals), Eurasian Sparrowhawk, Grey Heron, a single Turtle Dove, several Wood Pigeon heading north, Eurasian Jay, 20+ European Bee-eater, at least 5 Golden Oriole (inc. one male), Common Kingfisher, Woodchat Shrike, Barn Swallow, Red-rumped Swallow, Common Swift, House Martin, Grey Wagtail, Sardinian Warbler, Spotted Flycatcher, Goldfinch, Greenfinch and Chaffinch.

The Eurasian Sparrowhawk was a female, esconced in a tree directly above a small pool of water, the only one in the area, it let me approach to within 3m no doubt waiting for its breakfast to arrive; at this point the battery on my camera ran out, and the spare was at home.

This Blue Rock Thrush was in the centre of the village on Tuesday  morning, a sure sign that autumn is around the corner.....

Rio Genal - dry for the first time in 3 summers

Woodchat Shrike

El Hacho from the Rio Genal

 A couple of distant Short-toed Eagle, not the same individual.....

Monday 11 August 2014, Gaucin, sunny, light-fresh W wind, 32C

A visit to the west slope of El Hacho from 1100-1200hrs produced the following:
Griffon Vulture, Booted Eagle, at least 3 Common Kestrel, hawking around the old cement works, Thekla Lark and Spotted Flycatcher. No sign of the Southern Grey Shrike. It was all very quiet, with just the occasional rattling call of a Sardinian Warbler punctuating the pervasive buzz of the cicadas. It's all looking very dry and 'mid-summery, too. A small water trough, a magnet for passerines in the summer, had been taken over by goats!

View west to the Alcornocales

El Hacho

No birds at the water trough today!

Checking the skies above the village on and off throughout the afternoon there wasn't much to see, with just local pale and dark morph Booted Eagle and a few Griffon Vulture drifting about. At 1830hrs there was a single Alpine Swift over the village, at 1835hrs 34 Black Kite, taking the E-NE-W-SW route to the north of the village, and at 1840hrs a very high-flying Common Raven and 4 Black Kite.

Sunday 10 August 2014, Gaucin, sunny, light W wind, 34C

A very warm weekend for the annual feria; the wind on Saturday switched from SE to SW during the afternoon with a temperature of 32C. Just a flock of 94 Black Kite at 1900hrs to report.

Today was even warmer, with less of a cooling breeze; watching from 1800-1900hrs two groups of Black Kite were seen, one of 224 at 1805hrs and one of 40 at 1830hrs. As with most of the recent Black Kite movement, it was very high and following a NE-SW route to the north of Gaucin.

In the absence of any bird photos, here are a couple from the feria....!

Thursday 07 August 2014, Gaucin, sunny, light-fresh S-SE wind, 30C

Coming back from Estepona at 1230hrs there was some Black Kite movement E-W along the coast just north of Manilva.

Back in Gaucin, watching from 1600-1730hrs, Black Kite numbers as follows:

1635hrs: 1
1640hrs: 4
1655hrs: 115
1700hrs: 5
1705hrs: 6

Nowhere near the numbers of yesterday despite virtually identical local weather conditions; also, most individuals were very high to the NW of the village.

At 1730hrs 130+ Swift sp. moved through.

Wednesday 06 August 2014, Gaucin, sunny, light-fresh SE wind, 30C

Over 1000 Black Kite moving through this afternoon, the majority heading NE-SW. Watching for less than 2hrs, the numbers were as follows;

1600hrs: 44
1610hrs: 49
1635hrs: 132
1655hrs: 411
1710hrs: 296
1725hrs: 102, + 2 Griffon Vulture and 2 Booted Eagle
1735hrs: 50
1740hrs: 1 adult Egyptian Vulture

There was also some significant movement of Swift sp., with several groups of 50+ seen.

Tuesday 05 August 2014, Gaucin, sunny, light W-SW wind, 32C

This afternoon I had a 'first' for the garden as a Eurasian Hoopoe flew low over the terrace (heading north!) at 1330hrs; fifteen minutes later 30+ European Bee-eater flew past. Between 1840-1850hrs 62 Black Kite moved through to the north of the village; I hadn't seen any all day during frequent short observations but these were only visible from the 'top terrace' so maybe more had been sneaking through out of sight!

Sunday 03 August 2014, Gaucin, sunny, fresh SE wind, 28C

After westerly winds yesterday once again the easterly levante is back; I can't remember a summer when the wind changed direction with such frequency. Today just a couple of Black Kite observations, with 14 moving through at 1500hrs and 12 at 1910hrs.

It was interesting to note that the Black Kites that were coming over a couple of days ago appeared to be using Gaucin as a geographical landmark as they were flying more or less E-W then kettling above the village before heading off due south.
 
There are a few House Martin chicks still being fed around the village and a family of Barn Swallow are busy flying up and down Calle Convento towards the taxi rank.

House Martin chick

And another....