Spring generally comes early to Andalucia, southern Spain, and this year is no exception. The mildest, driest winter I can remember since moving here in 2003, has allowed me to spend plenty of time searching for locations to film nesting birds of prey. Last spring ( 2011 ) saw me capture a large amount of rarely seen HD video footage at several Eurasian Griffon ( gyps fulvus ) nesting sites as well as two Bonelli's Eagle nests ( hieraaetus fasciatus ). This year I intend to continue the filming at all of last years sites, as they are all in use again, but I was very fortunate through birding contacts to know the location of a well established nesting site of a Golden Eagle pair.
Only last week I watched the Eagle have a mid air battle with a Raven that I believe shares the same rock face. What was a fantastic and unexpected sight was the Raven dive bombing the Eagle as it sat on top of the rock face trying to preen itself while a very angry and determined Raven attacked it a on numerous occasions until finally giving up. Sadly I had no camera to record this, but I imagine that if the Eagle and Raven are neighbours I will see plenty more of this behaviour as the breeding season gets under way.
The Bonelli's Eagles nests are both in use and I confirmed only today that the female on one of the nesting locations is incubating. The Griffon Vultures, of which I will be filming into 5 nests, are all with eggs, and I will commence filming of the adults swapping nesting duties this coming week. If all goes according to plan I should have the equipment in the coming weeks to film the Huge Griffon as they take off and land at the nests as well as close up footage of them soaring along the rock face where they nest and I am located under camouflage. As the weeks pass I shall be posting clips on www.wildaslife.com
If anyone has any specific questions about the filming, please send me an email
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