{"id":32176,"date":"2026-03-28T12:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-03-28T11:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wildlife-travel.com\/voegel-in-barbate-und-umgebung-spanien\/"},"modified":"2026-03-29T14:21:49","modified_gmt":"2026-03-29T12:21:49","slug":"birdwatching-in-barbate-and-surroundings-spain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wildlife-travel.com\/en\/birdwatching-in-barbate-and-surroundings-spain\/","title":{"rendered":"Birdwatching in Barbate and surroundings, Spain"},"content":{"rendered":"
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In October, the region around Barbate in Andalusia offers fantastic opportunities for birdwatching. In this blog post about birdwatching in Barbate, I share the various bird species I encountered in this part of Spain. Anyone interested in discovering bird species in Spain will find many fascinating encounters here.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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European stonechats in the El Estrecho Natural Park, flamingos on Playa de los Lances, and countless spotless starlings in the centre of Tarifa \u2013 this small town, the southernmost point of the European mainland, is a unique place for birdwatching. Here, not only do the Atlantic and the Mediterranean meet, providing a rich food source for many marine mammals, but from Tarifa, it\u2019s only 14 km across the water to the African continent.<\/p>\n

However, one day I felt drawn away from Tarifa to do birdwatching in Barbate, hoping to spot a very special species: the northern bald ibis. To get it out of the way immediately: unfortunately, I had no luck. While northern bald ibises do stay around Barbate in Andalusia during autumn and winter, none of them appeared that day.<\/p>\n

Instead, I encountered numerous other bird species. First, under a bridge on a busy road in Barbate, I spotted many yellow-legged gulls.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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The area around Barbate is characterized by long sandy beaches, rocky coves, as well as marshlands and pine forests \u2013 ideal spots for enjoyable hikes and birdwatching. Particularly interesting is the area where the Barbate River flows into the sea: here, different habitats converge, and many bird species use the coastal areas as feeding grounds or resting spots.<\/p>\n

That morning, I spotted a black-winged stilt gracefully moving through the shallow water. Its delicate gait and quick movements as it picked food from the water made it a real eye-catcher.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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A little further away, a common ringed plover darted past. These birds are truly fascinating \u2013 although I have to admit that I often can only identify plovers from this family afterward, as I rarely see them and don\u2019t want to confuse them with other plovers.<\/p>\n

Interestingly, I\u2019ve already encountered common ringed plovers in Iceland and on Borkum. These plover species can therefore be observed in quite different locations. Later, I also spotted a few around Lisbon, which shows how widespread yet oddly scattered these birds are.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Information:<\/strong><\/span>\u00a0In Iceland, I was able to observe the common ringed plover on the small island of Gr\u00edmsey<\/a> \u2013 you can read more about this in one of my earlier blog posts. The bird species I encountered on Borkum<\/a>, in addition to the common ringed plovers, are also documented in another blog post.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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At several locations, I came across spotless starlings. In Spain and Portugal, their numbers clearly exceed those of common starlings. While the ranges of the two species overlap on the Iberian Peninsula, in northern Europe only common starlings are found. Since in Barbate I only observed uniformly black starlings, I could count exclusively spotless starlings in my observations there.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Of course, many European stonechats could also be seen in Barbate. While there weren\u2019t as many as in Tarifa, one would appear in front of me from time to time. Since I had already seen many of them by that point, I didn\u2019t linger too long \u2013 beautiful as they were.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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I decided to cross the bridge \u2013 perhaps there was a spot on the other side from which I could also get a good view of birds in Barbate.<\/p>\n

The area around Barbate is characterized by marshlands stretching along the coast. Between the waterways and salt meadows, many bird species can be observed using the wetlands as feeding grounds or resting places.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Then I saw a cattle egret flying overhead. Eventually, it landed on the bridge railing, from where it seemed to survey the surroundings. With its watchful gaze, it looked as if it were carefully assessing where to search for food next.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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I continued walking. From the bridge in Barbate, I spotted a gull \u2013 could it possibly be a lesser black-backed gull?<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Question:<\/strong> <\/span>Are you familiar with gulls? If so, I\u2019d greatly appreciate any help with identification. Feel free to leave a comment!<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Not far away, I spotted another bird: a European golden plover. Like the common ringed plover, I was already familiar with European golden plovers from the island of Gr\u00edmsey in Iceland. And now I spotted one in Barbate.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Another bird that felt familiar to me from Gr\u00edmsey was the whimbrel \u2013 though \u2018familiar\u2019 isn\u2019t quite accurate, as I usually rarely see these birds and was only able to identify it afterward. It would also be more correct to say that I observed the whimbrel in Dalv\u00edk, not on Gr\u00edmsey \u2013 from Dalv\u00edk, I later took a boat to Gr\u00edmsey.<\/p>\n

Nevertheless, I encountered a whimbrel again in Barbate, which delighted me. There, I was even able to observe it more closely than before in Dalv\u00edk.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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A bird that is truly familiar to me \u2013 after all, it even lives in a big city like Berlin \u2013 is the grey heron. I can recognize it immediately.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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The day was actually pleasantly warm, but on the bridge in Barbate, amid the road traffic, it felt more like a hot day. From time to time, someone rode past me on a bicycle, but most people were travelling by car. On the other side of the bridge, I watched people walking toward the beach.<\/p>\n

That afternoon, my main focus was on the birds, yet the area around Barbate shows that it\u2019s also a wonderful place to enjoy the coast and the marshlands \u2013 a spot where nature observation and the tranquility of the landscape blend beautifully.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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From a distance, I spotted another familiar bird species: the ruddy turnstone. In Germany, I had already seen it on Heligoland<\/a> and Borkum, and later also in northern Lisbon. Like the whimbrels, ruddy turnstones belong to the family Scolopacidae<\/em>. What made this observation in Barbate particularly special was that I was able to see so many of them at once.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Alongside the ruddy turnstone and the whimbrel, the common redshank also belongs to that bird family. With its striking red legs and slender, slightly curved bill, it is easy to distinguish from other waders. Redshanks are often found in wet coastal areas, marshlands, or river mouths, where they search for small invertebrates in the mud.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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At the spot where I observed the redshank, I also came across a common ringed plover again.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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And suddenly, a European golden plover appeared again. But that wasn\u2019t all \u2013 standing next to it was a dunlin. I had also seen this bird, from the family Scolopacidae<\/em> (unlike the European golden plover, which belongs to the family Charadriidae<\/em>), in Iceland. It was fascinating to observe how many of the birds I had encountered in Iceland could now also be seen in Spain \u2013 an interesting insight into their wide distribution.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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As mentioned earlier, I often can only identify certain birds, like the common ringed plover, afterward. The next bird is a perfect example: the Kentish plover. To reliably distinguish between common ringed plovers and Kentish plovers, one needs to best observe them regularly. In Barbate, this was the very first Kentish plover I had ever seen \u2013 a special moment that further fueled my enthusiasm for these waders.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Information:<\/strong><\/span>\u00a0I identified the Kentish plover with the help of iNaturalist<\/a>. iNaturalist is a citizen science platform where people help each other identify species and share their observations.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Finally, I spotted a little egret. I\u2019ve encountered these elegant birds several times in Spain and Portugal \u2013 including in M\u00e1laga<\/a>, Tarifa<\/a>, and northern Lisbon. Their striking snow-white plumage and long, slender neck, which they use skillfully to search for food in the water, make them particularly remarkable. It was a lovely way to end the day, observing this graceful bird before sunset.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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I didn\u2019t explore the town of Barbate itself, as I still planned to search for northern bald ibises. Since I didn\u2019t spot any in the area around Barbate, I left the town and headed to a nearby finca to look for them. Unfortunately, it was in vain. Therefore, I can only share a few impressions of Barbate itself.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Before I wrap up, it\u2019s worth mentioning that I also drove through Vejer de la Frontera. Allegedly, northern bald ibises have been seen there as well, but I didn\u2019t spot any. What I did enjoy, however, were the beautiful views of the surrounding area. I think both Barbate \u2013 especially for birdwatching \u2013 and Vejer de la Frontera are wonderful destinations in Andalusia, perfect for nature observation and relaxing walks.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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More blog articles:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Spotless starlings<\/a> in Tarifa, Spain<\/p>\n

Birdwatching in the surroundings of Tarifa<\/a><\/p>\n

Whales and dolphins<\/a> in the Strait of Gibraltar<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Have you ever gone birdwatching in Barbate? If so, which birds did you see there? Let us know in the comments! <\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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