By Clive Finlayson
Rising up in Gibraltar, it’s unattainable to not discover massive birds of prey, within the hundreds, overhead. That, and his father’s affect, bought Clive hooked on birds from a really younger age. His ardour for birds took him finally to the Edward Gray Institute of Area Ornithology at Oxford College the place he learn for a DPhil, working with swifts and pallid swifts. Publishing papers, articles, and books on birds apart, Clive can also be a eager chicken photographer. He began as a poor pupil with an outdated Zenit digicam and a 400 mm lens; these days he works with a Nikon mirrorless system. Though his again backyard is Gibraltar and the Strait of Gibraltar, Clive has an intimate data of Iberian birds however his work additionally takes him a lot additional afield, from Canada to Japan to Australia. He’s the Director of the Gibraltar Nationwide Museum.
As I write these strains, it’s the screaming of agitated Yellow-legged Gulls Larus michehellis simply exterior my window that alerts me to a different raptor overhead. This time it’s a gaggle of Griffon Vultures Gyps fulvus which have simply arrived from the south. The south, simply 21 kilometers away, is the coast of Morocco and the Griffons have simply accomplished a brief however arduous sea-crossing throughout the Strait of Gibraltar. Griffon Vultures have a protracted breeding season. The chicks want six months to develop so the adults lay their eggs in January. So why are these Griffons arriving now? Isn’t it a bit late to breed?
A Griffon Vulture rests on a rooftop within the metropolis of Gibraltar, having simply crossed the ocean from Africa
In the event you test these Griffons, and I’ve checked out and photographed hundreds, not one is an grownup. These are all immature birds, the younger of final yr or the yr earlier than, coming again. Why hassle with such a dangerous journey if you happen to aren’t going to breed? We are able to speculate that it’s a part of the training curve to maturity or it might merely be that the non-breeding areas in Africa change into inhospitable for them right now of the yr. They need to get out. It’s most likely a mix of things that makes hundreds of Griffons cross the ocean at Gibraltar from late April to June. The crossing is hazardous for birds not geared up for flying over water. Some simply make it and land exhausted. Others are much less lucky and ditch within the sea. With luck, they is perhaps rescued however others drown.
An exhausted, panting, Griffon Vulture sits on a sea wall at Gibraltar, with a backdrop of spring-colorful wildflowers at Gibraltar
These birds have crossed the Sahara Desert to winter within the Sahel Area, some proper right down to Senegal in West Africa, and are actually on their means again. Their numbers have gone up dramatically in recent times on account of conservation. In Franco’s day, a worth was paid to farmers and hunters who introduced proof of getting shot “vermin”. These included the talons of raptors, Griffons included. All this modified with safety. In my early days, some fifty years in the past, the variety of Griffons that I’d see in a season can at this time be counted in a single flock!
A Griffon Vulture ditches within the sea off Gibraltar and struggles to maintain its head above the water
Since 2003, Ruppell’s Vultures Gyps ruepelli, have been displaying up with the Griffons. These are African, sub-Saharan, vultures that had been unknown in Europe till latest instances.
A Ruppell’s Vulture arriving at Gibraltar
Seasonal migration counts common round 40 birds however have exceeded 60. As compared, over 15 thousand Griffons make the identical crossing every season.
A drained however curious Griffon Vulture rests on a sea cliff at Gibraltar, surrounded by Mediterranean wildflowers, together with the endemic purple Gibraltar sea lavender
International warming is commonly cited because the perpetrator for this new arrival however I believe not. I believe that these birds have related to the Griffons in Africa however whereas the Griffon numbers had been low, that was it. Now the probabilities of Ruppell’s getting caught up in Griffon flocks and straying north into Europe are a lot greater, just because there are such a lot of extra Griffons making the journey.
Arrival. A Griffon Vulture reaches the shores of Gibraltar
So, what of the Yellow-legged Gulls that alerted me to the arrival of the Griffon? That would be the subsequent a part of this story.
Sadly, not all make it. A Griffon Vulture is washed ashore within the Bay of Gibraltar
Cowl Photograph: A Griffon Vulture arrives at Gibraltar with undercarriage down because it heads for land
