eco tourism 02

Birdwatching routes
Above, the Cerro del Hierro in the Sierra Norte of Seville. Photo: © tuscasasrurales. On the left,
rushing streams in Sierra Morena. Photo: © Rafael Romero
Birdwatching: Seven reasons for picking Sierra Morena
Why choose Sierra Morena for Birdwatching?
Seven reasons why
birdwatchers want to come to this
new and – still – not very often visited destination:
1. First of all, out of its 241 bird species there
are many of the jewels of the
Iberian birdlife and Mediterranean species
like the Spanish imperial eagle and the
black vulture (its main colonies in Andalucía
are here), Bonelli’s eagle, booted eagle,
short-toed eagle, black kite, lesser kestrel,
griffon vulture, bee-eater, orphean warbler,
Sub-alpine warbler, Sardinian warbler, Iberian
chiffchaff, white-rumped swift, Alpine
swift, pallid swift, little swift, red-necked
nightjar, red-billed chuff, black-eared
wheatear and black wheatear, blue rock
thrush, rock sparrow, Spanish sparrow,
red-rumped sparrow, black stork, white
stork, European Green woodpecker, azurewinged
magpie, great spotted cuckoo,
little bustard, Montagu’s harrier, Dartford
warbler, thelka lark, hoopoe, common starling,
rufous-tailed scrub robin, Western olivaceous
warbler, stone curlew, cirl bunting,
European turtle dove, red-legged partridge,
woodchat shrike, Southern grey shrike, purple
swamp hen and the golden oriole.
2. These nature areas are also the habitat
of endangered carnivorous species like
the Iberian lynx and the Iberian wolf as
well as large numbers of deer, fallow deer,
mouflons and other mammals. There is an
exceptional list of reptiles and amphibians
with several exclusive taxa from the Iberian
Peninsula and the South-east of Europe.
3. The expert naturalist will also have the
opportunity to enjoy the well conserved
bat fauna, autochthonous fish and insects
(including the dragonfly which is worth a
special mention). The flora includes many
species associated with a Mediterranean
#ecotourism 19