Some of the birds we can spot here in February are Red-legged Partridge, Griffon Vulture, Golden Eagle, Bonelli’s Eagle, Kestrel, Peregrine Falcon, Moorhen, Thekla Lark, Meadow Pipit, Grey Wagtail, Robin, Black Redstart, Stonechat, Song Thrush, Redwing, Mistle Thrush, Blackbird, Blackcap, Sardinian Warbler, Chiffchaff, Firecrest, Great Tit, Blue Tit, Short-toed Treecreeper, Chough, Starling, Spotless Starling, House Sparrow, Chaffinch, Goldfinch, Greenfinch, Siskin, Serin, Hawfinch, Cirl Bunting and Corn Bunting.
Perhaps the best way to travel around the rocks is walking stage 10 of the Gran Senda de Malaga but it is not accessible for cars from Doña Ana hamlet onwards, so we will cover the 2 km. stretch starting at Fuente del Conejo in Alfarnatejo.
Itinerary
The village of Alfarnatejo is located to the north of the Axarquia District at a height of 858 m. above sea level so, wear warm clothes for this February trip! The Tajos (rocks) del Fraile, Doña Ana y Gómer are three huge limestone rocks that stand south of the village. They host some of the most typical cliff-nesting raptors like Golden and Bonelli’s Eagles, Peregrine Falcon and Kestrel and, depending on the weather, we can find them covered in snow during February. They are some of our target birds in the area but we will find some more species in the Sabar River forest, the farmlands and the Andalusian Oak forest to the southwest of Alfarnatejo.
If you are interested in doing this route, click on this link where we will provide you information about how to do it and which are the best points of interest.
Birds that can be seen
- African stonechat
- Black redstart
- Bonelli's eagle
- Cirl bunting
- Common blackbird
- Common chaffinch
- Common chiffchaff
- Common firecrest
- Common kestrel
- Common moorhen
- Common starling
- Corn bunting
- Eurasian blackcap
- Eurasian blue tit
- Eurasian siskin
- European goldfinch
- European greenfinch
- European robin
- European serin
- Golden eagle
- Great tit
- Grey wagtail
- Hawfinch
- House sparrow
- Meadow pipit
- Mistle thrush
- Peregrine falcon
- Red-billed chough
- Redwing
- Sardinian warbler
- Short-toed treecreeper
- Song thrush
- Thekla lark