At Birding The Strait we have made a compilation of 10 top gifts for bird lovers. We hope these ideas help you get your gifts right this Christmas! gift ideas list 1. Alba and the old crane Children’s tale Alba and the old crane, published by the Friends of Janda Association. In this children’s story, we will discover the history of the ancient La Janda Lagoon with the help of two cranes. All the money raised will be invested in the restoration of what was the largest lagoon in Europe. 2. tumbabuey wine Bottle of wine from the Tumbabuey Association. This young wine from a certified organic har ..read more

Last Saturday 12th of June we run a new excursion for pelagic birding in Tarifa. This time, our main target was to observe and photograph shearwaters off the Strait of Gibraltar. At 7:30 AM we set sail from the port of Tarifa with very calm sea. Just 10 minutes later we came across a large raft of Cory’s Shearwater. A few Balearic Shearwaters were present too. To the delight of the group, the presence of both species was constant for the next hour and a half. Mixed group of Cory’s and Balearic Shearwaters. Strait of Gibraltar. 12th of June 2021. Most of the shearwaters were gathering in compac ..read more

Ship ahoy! Summer is coming and our Boat Trips to observe and photograph seabirds too!  As you know, this spring we have organized several boat trips to enjoy the Puffin migration in the Strait of Gibraltar. Observing Puffins at close range in breeding plumage (and bill!) in the Iberian Peninsula has been an innovative and great experience. Next year we will be back with Puffin The Strait! Nuptial Puffins in active migration across the Strait of Gibraltar, off Tarifa. On the 12 of June 2021 we will sail off Tarifa. Our main target will be the critically endangered Bale ..read more

One more year, Birding The Strait has participated in the Global Big Day in Andalucia. This time, we planned a route in the province of Cadiz, from Doñana to the Strait of Gibraltar. We decided to skip the Grazalema mountains in order to reduce the mileage and increase the effective birding time. All in all, it proved to be a most enjoyable day of birding. Moreover, we established a new record of species for the Global Big Day in Andalucia. This is the chronicle of our Global Big Day 2021: Sunrise in Doñana Before dawn we headed for the Guadalquivir river mouth. We made a stop to observe the B ..read more

Nature conservation in Andalucia is one of our main concerns at Birding The Strait. On this link to our website, you will find more information about the conservation projects we enthusiastically collaborate with. Given the Covid pandemic, we have not been able to fullfill our scheduled programme of wildlife tours in 2020. This, in turn, has allowed us to increase our participation in different projects for nature conservation in Andalucia. Certainly, this has been a rewarding experience. We can say we are not letting the grass grow under our feet! 14KM Nest Box Project On this occasion, we wa ..read more

During our October Big Day 2020 we will make sure to cover the coastline in search of Shorebirds. In the picture a Ruddy Turnstone escapes from the waves in Tarifa, Strait of Gibraltar. Photography by Yeray Seminario, Birding The Strait. As some of you know, October Big Day 2020 is coming! It will be on 17 October 2020 and we have a plan to make the most out of it. This is an initiative of Cornell Lab of Ornithology which basically consists on uploading as many bird lists to eBird as possible in 24 hours. All the data that is collected is of great use for birders, conservationists and scientis ..read more

On Tuesday 15th of September, we ran another Birding Boat Trip in Cadiz. It made our third pelagic so far this summer off the Gulf of Cádiz, Andalusia. Our previous pelagics this year took place on the 23rd of July and the 1st of September. This time we departed at 9:00 am from the port of Chipiona. Here, as we were boarding the vessel, we got to see a few of the local Little Swifts. Sailing conditions and visibility were excellent: low wind, calm sea and very soft light during the first half of the morning. During this birding boat trip in Cadiz we saw three different Artic Skuas. We found al ..read more

Last Sunday 26th of July we ran our first Pelagic Birding Trip in Andalucia of 2020. This way, we continued the pelagic trips in the Gulf of Cadiz we started in 2019. The Cory’s Shearwater was the bird of this pelagic, both in terms of numbers and quality of the observations. Gulf of Cadiz, July 2020. At 7:45 AM the group met at the port of Rota (Cádiz): eight avid Spanish and British birders arrived from Cádiz, Málaga, Granada, Almería and Gibraltar. While the group finished its breakfast, Javi loaded 40kg of fine chum to the boat. A few minutes after 8:00 we set sail West towards t ..read more

The first group of participants birding during the lockdown lifting period As mentioned in our Coronavirus Statement last March: The health and safety of our clients and society at large is unquestionably our top priority. This way, during the first period of lockdown in Spain, we have restricted our activity to teleworking and birding at home. However, now it’s the time to start birding in lockdown lifting period. On the 11th of May, the province of Cádiz in Andalusia, as well as many other regions of Spain, have entered the Phase 1 of lockdown deescalation. The new regulations established by ..read more

House Sparrow, one of the most widespread birds on the planet, will probably be present on our Global Big Day 2020. Next Saturday, March 9th, we will participate in the Global Big Day 2020. This initiative, promoted by eBird, aims to gather the maximum number of people birding simultaneously all over the world. In 2019, over 35.000 persons from 127 countries participated. This joint effort generated over 90.000 checklists, totalling 6.967 species! The Global Big Day provides real time information on the status of the birds on the planet. Moreover, it strengthens bonds between observers from di ..read more