If You Go Down To The Woods Today Vultures Are Having A Party Spain April 2023

The vultures soon arrived for a real feeding frenzy right in front of us!

We have recently returned from two, back-to-back tours in Extremadura, Spain. One of many highlights on both tours was a very special morning spent at a “vulture restaurant” that wowed us and our lovely guests.

The day began with breakfast at a rural bar, close to the site where the spectacle would unfold. It was fun to mix with local folks, farmers, National Park guards and their families as we ate breakfast, everyone here is so friendly.

At 9am we met Jesus in the car park of the bar, quite something to mention to our guests “we are meeting Jesus after breakfast”! A short drive, then through a private entrance into an area of oak woodland. We then walked a short way, surrounded by both perched and flying vultures, to a small building. Jesus and his family have converted this former farm building to a “vulture hide” and very comfortable it is too, with seating, a fantastic view and even a loo.

The diners soon arrived at the "table" - Griffon Vultures were the first to come in.

Once in the hide we watched as Jesus spread out meat for the vultures just a few yards away from our position – vultures glided overhead casting their huge shadows around Jesus, so exciting. We speculated on how long it would be before the huge birds came down after Jesus had left us. The answer was about a minute! The first huge Griffon Vultures flew in, bounced onto the ground, and rushed towards the food. It was like a busy day at Heathrow Airport as bird after bird came in at high speed and almost crash landed on the open area right in front of us. What a spectacular sight to be this close to so many huge raptors.

Next to arrive at the "resturant" were fantastic Cinereous Vultures - formerly known as Black Vultures.

The Griffons were soon joined by even bigger Cinereous Vultures with their massive beaks and huge dark eyes, awesome birds. What they lack in table manners vultures make up with presence for sure. It was a real rugby scrum as some sixty vultures fought over the meat right in front of us. Feathers flew and talons raked other birds as some seemed more intent on a fight than feeding. The meat was disappearing fast, but still more birds arrived hoping for some leftovers. Black Kites swooped around the battle ground hoping to grab smaller scraps missed by the huge birds of prey. A White Stork arrived and waded into the mass of vultures to grab its share. Next a wonderful Egyptian Vulture landed on the edge of the mele dwarfed by its two huge cousins. What a thrill to see this yellow-faced white vulture so close. Cameras were busy recording this awesome spectacle and everyone was enthralled by the action.

A real thrill to see an Eygptian Vulture arrive for the meal.

But there was more, from the hide we also watched Spanish Imperial Eagles, Short-toed Eagles, Alpine Swift, Red-rumped Swallows, Iberian Magpies, and some wonderful Rock Sparrows which can be tricky to see in the area.

All too soon the feeding frenzy was over, and things calmed down with the vultures preening and loafing about before heading off into the blue sky, full of food. We were all left stunned and amazed by the wildlife spectacle that had been played out right in front of us. Jesus returned and we thanked him so very much and promised we would be back, same time next year.

Cinereous Vulture and Griffon Vultures fight over the meat - amazing sight!

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