Hi-
Ronda is great with plenty of easy to visit sites nearby and of course the GORGE!
Grenada is at a higher altitude and has more of a sierras feel:
( we did Air BnB at both sites )
Easy local birds near the gorge were Pallid Swift , Blue Rock Thrush , Serin, Spotted Starling, Sardinian Warbler - Alpine Swift, Chough, Rock Sparrow, Booted Eagle etc.
Sierra de la Nueves reserve just out of Ronda was great for Roadside birding- as you drove up into the upper areas-
It was hard to tell with only 2 visits if we were seeing local breeding birds or migrants- it was full of Subalpines, Sardinians, Cirl Buntings, Rock Buntings, Cole Tits Nuthatches, Short Toed Creepers Firecrest Chough, Western Orphean warblers,
Also Woodchat, Redstart, Short Toed Eagle, Woodlark, Bee eater,
Casares area then down to a lcoastal lagoon reserve near Malaga airport was good- Griffon Vultures , Lesser Kestrels etc- on the way and great waders on the pools-
KP, Audouins, Gull Billed, Marbled, White Headed, - fill in the blanks :)
The best M.O. as usual was to work an area slowly for an hour or 2 and then move to another- have lunch and do the same after:
Laguna Fuente da Pedra Reserve is like a Spanish Titchwell- great birds on a pool right by the car park- Temmincks, Whiskered, Red Rumped, Red Crested : Calandra , Short Toed and Crested in the area
Sierra de Camarolos was a bit muddy and rainy but we saw Cirl, Rock Bunting -Bonellis and Subalpine Warbler,
Teba Gorge and en route to Grenada:-
Bonellis Eagle, Black Wheatear, Honey Buzzard, Iberian Shrike- Thekla Lark,
Gorafe- a small village on a road through a valley was a good area- we parked and walked a mile or so- roadside Birding
Great Spotted Cuckoo , Rock Sparrow , Golden Orioles, Black Eared Wheatear, Whinchat, Pied Fly, Peregrine, Griffon, Nightingale-
Later we climbed up a mountain pass and investigated a Ski Lodge on the main road- Crested Tit, Nuthatch , Firecrest- local Long Tailed Tits,
Up at the treeline the next day we had 4 spp of Eagles
135 Species- Not bad for 10 days
We used the Where to watch birds in Southern and Western Spain- Garcia : and my 40 year old Jonssons Birds of the Med and Alps:
S
For advice about Birding, Identification,field guides, binoculars, scopes, tripods, etc - put 'Birding Tips' into the search box
Hi H
I'd quite like to try the North East corner of Oz :) Possibly less hot