The weather has by now well and truly cooled off and may well be downright cold and wet. But on the better days, it can be a pleasure to get out there and see what’s about. During the winter months, birds move around to find food and avoid the worst of the weather. One of the biggest (in size and distances travelled) is the griffon vulture (bultre leonado/gyps fulvus). This massive bird can turn up anywhere in Southern Spain and can be in quite large numbers. They are resident in many areas including the Sierras around Ronda, Olvera and further south down towards Estapona and Tarifa. Further to the north, they breed in the Sierras around Baza in Granada Province and can be seen passing between any of these places. They are truly huge birds, with a wing span of more than two and a half metres and a body of more than a metre in length. The upper side of the wings are two-tone brown, lighter on the front and darker to the rear on the main flight feathers (the primaries, eight or so longer feathers which form the fingers at the tip of the wing and the secondaries, which are the shorter feathers on the trailing edge).
The underside is similar but shows pale areas in the wing coverts (small feathers on the forewing). The body is plain brown, whilst the neck collar and head feathers are off-white in an adult; the neck collar on the juvenile birds is brown. The bill is an ivory colour in an adult bird and grey in the juvenile. They fly with their wings forming a slight V-shape, and can travel great distances with good weather conditions and a thermal without a single wing beat. During the winter, the majority of birds seen will be adults, as most of the juveniles move off south to spend a few years down in Africa until they are mature enough to breed.
There are several feeding stations around the Andalucian countryside but most are on private property and viewing is difficult. The stations can attract several hundred birds during the winter and the griffons are sometimes joined by a juvenile black vulture (aegypius monachus) or two and down in the Tarifa area, the rare African vagrant, Ruppell’s vulture (gyps ruppellii) has in recent years become a regular feature. One was also seen in the area to the north of Ronda a couple of winters ago.
Spanish nature Granada
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contact: Mick Richardson – wildlife
guide on tel: 670861731
Spanishnaturegranada@hotmail.
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