Spain Barbate Day 2

Bald Ibis at Vejer de la Frontera

 This morning, after watching a few Short-toed Eagles from the rooftop of the hostel, I made the 30 minute drive north to Vejer de la Frontera, just north of Barbate, to see the colony of Bald Ibis. I didn't see them last time I was here as I couldn't pull my way from the raptors arriving from africa. This timer I made the effort and was totally surprised to find them breeding on cliffs just above a busy road into Barbate. On the same road I headed along the coastal road and stopped off just south of Barbate where there are some lagoons. It proved to be pretty productive with Caspian Tern, Audouin's Gull, Osprey, Greater Flamingo, Spoonbill, Glossy Ibis, White Stork and a female Red-breasted Merganser. I thought the latter species was a god record in this area and discovered later that it had been around for the last two months.

  

Bald Ibis breeding on the cliffs of Vejer de la Frontera

Ocellated Lizard

Osprey with Barbate in the distance

  Ten minutes drive from the lagoons and I was at La Janda where the first bird I saw was a single Red-rumped Swallow. Four years ago when I was here, it was alive with birds but after an hour all I had seen of note were more Spoonbill, flamingos and Glossy Ibis with a single Green Sandpiper. There had been 3 Sociable Plover in the area but had not been seen since some two weeks ago. However, as I drove slowly down slope with olive trees on either side, I couldn't help but a notice a large raptor low over the plantation. An immature Golden Eagle and when I had got out of the car I noticed there were two as they started rising on terminals being mobbed by 2 Buzzard. 

Note the difference in size between Golden Eagle and the Buzzard above

While eating my dinner on the rooftop of the hostel later on, Spotless Starlings kept me entertained 

I like walking through the old part of Tarifa.

But I couldn't work out why they had a strange face of a man on a pair of socks in a cloths shop!!

Being in Spain I better play some Spanish from Argentina.  Federico Aubele, who I've playee twice on my blog before, is an Argentine singer-songwriter whose music blends a variety of genres and styles: singer-songwriter, electronic. He moved to Barcelona where he began working on his new album, Panamericana (a title to indicate the many musical influences and in part named after the Pan-American Highway), which was released on September 18, 2007, also produced by Thievery Corporation.^[2] In 2009 he released Amatoria, a much more mellow album which featured a duet with Sabina Sciubba from Brazilian Girls and a collaboration with Miho Hatori. In late 2010 Federico finished the self-produced Album Berlin 13, which was released in March 2011, and had a much stronger electronic music influence. His latest album is 5, from 2013, which featured the song "Somewhere else", a duet with Jazz chanteuse Melody Gardot. In 2014, Nacional Records produced a 10-year anniversary edition of Federico's debut album Gran Hotel Buenos Aires, with a full North America Tour. He now lives in Brooklyn, NY.