Destinations: Worldwide Travel eNewsletter ~ February 2006

It is not down in any map; true places never are. ~Herman Melville

September 16, 2006-September 23, 2006
Fee: $2,100, all-inclusive, except for international air
When we think of great wildlife reserves of the world, we don't often think about Europe. But there is a wealth of wildlife to enjoy in this quiet corner of Spain. The coast of Andalucia is a perfect place to take in the spectacular sights of fall migration. This birding-packed tour will take in two of the finest birdwatching areas in Europe; the vast wetlands of Doñana and Tarifa - the busiest migration route between Europe and the African continent.

The first half of the tour will be in Doñana National Park. More than half of Europe's bird species spend some time in Doñana National Park, renowned as one of the most important wetland systems and conservation areas in Europe. This is the home of essential migratory stopover for an estimated six million birds. About 80% of western Europe's wild ducks over-winter here—flocks of up to 70,000 Graylag Geese, 126,000 Common Teals, 100,000 Wigeon, 20,000 Bar-Tailed Godwits, and so on. The mixed habitat of marsh, fresh and salt water lagoons, woodlands and scrub covers over 200 square miles and is the breeding site of some of Europe's scarcest and most endangered species, such as the Spanish Imperial Eagle, the Red-knobbed Coot and the Marbled Duck. It was here, two years ago, that I witnessed one of the most astounding birding sites I've seen: Thousands of storks circled in to roost one evening. A veritable tornado of the huge swirling birds touched down in the marsh; while overhead there were miles of birds, lines stretching as far as the eye could see, coming in to join the rest. A glorious sight.

The second half of the tour will be along the Strait of Gibraltar—long recognized as a critical spot for migrating birds of prey. Tarifa offers the shortest sea crossing between Spain and Africa, a distance of just 9 miles, and as such it is the busiest migration route during the spring and autumn. It is estimated that over 1,000,000 birds will cross between the two continents during the month of September. Our viewpoints will allow you to have startlingly close-up views of the migrating raptors.

A great diversity of habitats will be visited during this tour and it is estimated that a bird list of 150 - 170 bird species will be recorded, including several rare/endangered species and numerous endemics.

I hope you can join us! If the itinerary below excites you, please contact Mass Audubon Tours at 800-289-9504 or e-mail travel@massaudubon.org. Download the tour reservation form*.

Day-to-Day Itenerary
Day 0 -Friday, September 15, 2006
Depart from the US on an evening flight to Seville, Spain. Suggested flights and arrival arrangements will be sent with reservation acknowledgment.

Day 1 - Saturday, September 16, 2006
Group will be met at the airport and transferred to El Rocío, about 1 hour drive. El Rocío is a unique town, with its sandy roads, no pavements and with hitching rails for your horse outside every building. The Hotel Toruño is comfortable, good value, with good food and in an excellent location overlooking a bird-filled laguna.

John Butler, our local guide, will give us some background on Doñana and the park and we will do some birding in and around the hotel. Our dinner and overnight will be at Hotel Toruño, which is a small hotel with only 30 rooms. It is situated only 15 meters from the National park boundary and overlooks the main marsh at El Rocío. Overnight at Hotel Toruño. (D)

Day 2 - Sunday, September 17, 2006
We will have breakfast at the hotel and then enjoy a full day exploration of Doñana National Park. This park covers over 500 square miles of flat marshlands interspersed with large trees and scrub. It was originally a hunting ground used by the kings of Spain and is the largest protected wetland in Europe! We will visit the northern marsh area of Doñana and explore birding some of the finest birding sites in the region, such as the Corredor Verde, the Dehesa de Abajo, the Entremuros, the Isla Mayor rice fields and the Casa de Bombas. The birds we hope to see will include Greater Flamingos, Spoonbills, Glossy Ibis, Pin-tailed Sandgrouse, Iberian Magpies, Hoopoes, Marsh and Montagu's Harriers, Booted and Short-toed Eagles, Black-shouldered Kites, Little and Black Terns, Ringed, Little-ringed, Kentish and Grey Plovers; Northern Lapwings, Collared Pratincoles, Ruff, Black and Bar-tailed Godwits and Wood and Green Sandpipers. Overhead, with luck, we have the chance of seeing the endemic Spanish Imperial Eagle plus European Honey Buzzards and Eurasian Hobbys. A picnic lunch will be had at the Dehesa de Abajo, overlooking a vast lagoon, and our dinner and overnight again at Hotel Toruño. (B,L,D)

Day 3 - Monday, September 18, 2006
After breakfast we will continue to explore Doñana, leaving El Rocío town along the road to Matalascañas and stopping at the information center at La Rocina, which has an audio- visual room, bird blinds and nature trails which lead to a wetland habitat rich in aquatic birds. We will continue to Palacio (palace) del Acebrón and a wonderful museum and a trail around El Charco del Acebrón. A picnic lunch will be taken at the El Acebuche Visitors Centre, where Azure-winged Magpies will be present and will come to the tables for scraps of food. We will also have the opportunity to explore the nature trails and visit the blinds overlooking a large lagoon where herons, storks, egrets and waterfowl may be seen. Other birds may include Booted Eagles, Marsh Harriers, Crested Larks, Sardinian and Dartford Warblers, Serins, Crested Tits, Common Redstarts, Green and Great Spotted Woodpeckers, Short-toed Treecreepers and other woodland birds.

At 3pm we will embark on a four-hour safari bus tour inside the Doñana National Park, visiting the beach, sand dunes, forests and marshes. This tour offers the chance to see Red and Fallow Deer, Wild Boar, Spanish Imperial Eagles and the Iberian Lynx, along with numerous bird species.(B,L,D) Overnight at the Hotel Toruño.

Day 4 - Tuesday, September 19, 2006
After breakfast this morning we will visit the reed-fringed Laguna de Primera de Palos, where Red-knobbed Coots and Purple Swamp-hens breed and Squacco and purple Herons are common.

We will then move on to the estuary of the Río Tinto at La Ràbida. This is the site from which Christopher Columbus set sail in 1492 on his voyage of discovery of the Americas. Several monuments mark the site and there are full size replicas of his three ships, the Santa Maria, the Pinto and El Niña. On the riverbank and mudflats we have the chance of seeing Curlews, Whimbrels, Dunlins, Ruddy Turnstones and Curlew Sandpipers. Gulls and terns should be in evidence and Ospreys often hunt along the river.

Our next stop will be at the Laguna El Portil, a large lagoon with an elevated observation platform that gives excellent views of most of the lagoon. The lagoon is noted as a regular wintering site for White-headed and Ferruginous Ducks, Red-crested Pochards and Black-necked Grebes, along with other duck species and waders.

Our final visit of the day will be to the vast nature reserve at the tidal salt marshes of the Marismas del Odiel. The marshes are on three connectable islands and the habitats include commercial salt-pans (salinas), salt marsh, tidal inlets, small pools, stone pine forests, open scrubland, sand dunes and rocky areas. Here we will be looking for Caspian, Little, Whiskered and Sandwich Terns, Audouin's and Slender-billed Gulls, Northern Gannets, Spoonbills and Ospreys. (B,L,D) Hotel Toruño.

Day 5 - Wednesday, September 20, 2006
This morning we will check out of the hotel and leave El Rocío. We will cross the Río Guadalquivir and visit the large protected natural reserve of the Brazo del Este. The Brazo del Este is located 20 km south of Seville, beside the Guadalquivir River. This is an area with one of the highest levels of biodiversity in the Iberian Peninsula. The former branch (brazo) of the Guadalquivir is east (este) of the river incorporates over 9 kilometers of wetlands, including marshes, rivers, lagoons and irrigation canals, that serve the surrounding rice fields and other agricultural land. It is an outstanding ornithological site, where over 230 species of birds have been recorded.

The vegetation comprises mainly reed beds, rushes and reed mace, which fringe the river, marshes and lagoons where Collared Pratincoles, Little Bitterns, Purple Swamp-hens, Glossy Ibis, Greater Flamingos, White Storks and Purple, Squacco and Black-crowned Night Herons, Black-winged Stilts, Avocets, Reed, Great Reed, Cetti's and Savi's Warblers, Marsh Harriers and Short-toed and Booted Eagles are commonly found. Rice fields and other crops, such as tomatoes, sweet corn, watermelons and sugar beet, all of which are a source of food for birds, surround the area.

In the afternoon we will visit the Bonanza Salinas, the Laguna Tarelo and the east bank of the Río Guadalquivir near Sanlúcar de Barrameda. Then we will travel to Tarifa, with several stops along the way. We will check into our hotel on the edge of the Las Alcornocales Natural Park. The rooms have balconies that offer stunning views of the Moroccan coastline, just 9 miles away across the Strait of Gibraltar. (B,L,D) Hotel de Méson de Sancho

Day 6 - Thursday, September 21, 2006
In the morning we will visit the tidal marshes of the nature reserve of the Río Palmones in Gibraltar Bay. The estuary of the Rio Palmones lies just to the east of Algeciras, on the shoreline of the Bay of Gibraltar. The river flows beside the town of Palmones, where an attractive riverside promenade, with convenient bench seating, offers good viewing opportunities of the river, sandbanks, mudflats and salt marshes, where spoonbills, flamingos, gulls, terns, ducks, grebes and waders will be seen. The whole area is directly below one of the main bird migration routes to Africa and should produce good views of passing storks, herons, raptors, hirundines and passerines.

In the afternoon we will visit some of the best sites in Europe for watching the mass migration of Bee-eaters, Rollers, White and Black Storks, Booted, Short-toed and Bonelli's Eagles, Sparrowhawks, Griffon Vultures, Honey Buzzards, Lesser Kestrels, Montague's Harriers, Common, Pallid and Alpine Swifts, Barn and Red-rumped Swallows and House and Sand Martins. The raptor watching point at El Algarrobo is set in the hills, midway between Algeciras and Tarifa and usually produces a great number of passing birds during September. The other site that we will visit is La Cazalla, which is in the low hills just above the town of Tarifa. This is the closest point to the African coast and it is from here that the vast majority of migrating birds chose to leave the Spanish mainland. (B,L,D) Hotel de Méson de Sancho

Day 7 - Friday, September 22, 2006
In the morning we will visit the coastal town of Bolonia, looking for Red-rumped Swallows and the very scarce White-rumped and Little Swifts. We will, hopefully, also find Northern Wheatears, Blue Rock Thrushes, Zitting Cisticolas and Dartford and Spectacled Warblers.

Bolonia has one of the best-preserved and finest ancient Roman sites in the region (Baelo Claudia), and an optional visit to the site can be arranged. The ancient city of Baelo Claudia was founded around the end of 1st century BC. and was undoubtedly one of the most important cities in the framework of Andalusian Rome, under the jurisdiction of Claudius Caesar.

After lunch, we will visit Los Lances beach at Tarifa. Apart from migrating birds, we may also see Northern Gannets, Mediterranean Shearwaters, Great Skuas and good numbers of gulls, terns, waders, wagtails and larks. In the evening we will return to the La Cazalla raptor migration watching point for a while, before returning to the hotel. (B,L,D) Overnight Hotel de Méson de Sancho.

Day 8 - Saturday, September 23, 2006
Sadly, we must leave southern Spain this morning. After breakfast, we will transfer to the Seville airport. Depending on flight times, more birding and lunch will be incorporated in the journey. (B)

Taber Allison is Vice President for Conservation Science and Ecological Management at Mass Audubon where he supervises science staff responsible for ecological management of our sanctuaries, bird conservation programs, and providing support of our education and advocacy programs.

John Butler, our local guide, lives in the region and is considered to be the most experienced and popular guide operating in the Doñana area. John is also the author of the very successful bird guidebook "Birdwatching on Spain's Southern Coast" and is currently writing another book based solely on the Doñana region. It is hoped that the new book will be published in mid 2006.

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Upcoming tours

Northeastern Australia
September 17-October 2, 2006 with Wayne Petersen
Price: $4,600 m / $4,600 nm
The northeastern Australia outback offers numerous birding opportunities. Cairns, Darwin and the Atherton Tablelands are on our list of destinations, along with a visit to the Great Barrier Reef. Over half of Australia's bird species are found in this region, 12 of which are locally endemic to the rainforests of Cairns and Atherton Tablelands.

Please call or e-mail for full itinerary.

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About Mass Audubon Tours
Mass Audubon Tours began 50 years ago as a way to educate our members and friends about conservation around the globe. Today, we continue the tradition. By traveling with Mass Audubon, you will help support our work, and we hope, deepen your interest in birds, natural history, and conservation.

If you are not already a member of Mass Audubon, we encourage you to join online at www.massaudubon.org/membership. If you received this newsletter from a friend and would like to subscribe, please go to www.massaudubon.org/travelnews.

Mass Audubon Tours
208 South Great Road
Lincoln, MA 01773
PHONE: 800-289-9504 or 781-259-2165
FAX: 781-259-2365
Email: travel@massaudubon.org

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