Día Mundial de las Aves celebrated in the Alpujarra

Yesterday on the International Bird Day, the first bird census in the Alpujarra took place. An English couple, Miranda Ravetto Wood and Trevor, had taken up this initiative. They have been bird watching in the area for over twenty years and had prepared a list of birds to hand out to the participants. The starting point was Alquería de Morayma in Cádiar. Just after leaving the centre to walk the GR-7 towards Lobras, one wildlife specialist spotted a merlin - esmerejón in Spanish and smelleken in Dutch - and was able to point it out to the others. This was quite a special observation as this falco columbarius is a migratory bird that you are not able to see here often. This was the first species that could be added to the list. In total the group has come up with a list of 33 different birds within a radius of six kilometres from the Alquería. All the participants enjoyed the morning very much. It was special to start off at the first light and experience the daybreak. Most birds were spotted during these magic early hours when it was still quite fresh. The originators of this event, are planning to organize a spring and autumn bird count every year. Anyone who wants to receive information on the next bird census or censo de aves in the Alpujarra, can contact the Alquería de Morayma. We will announce the next spring bird count on this blog as soon as we know the date.
More photographs and an enthusiastic account of this unforgettable morning can be found on ´La Otra Mirada´ a weblog of Colin Bertholet, one of the participants.


Related links:
- Our bird watching check list for the Alpujarras - Sierra Nevada.
- Organized tours with BirdwatchAlpujarras.

related keywords: eventos, evenementen, evénements, veranstaltungen, birds, aves, vogels, oiseaux, Vögel