Birds - and ornithologists - flock to huge rubbish dump in Spain

[Jilly_in_VA]

Birds – and ornithologists – flock to huge rubbish dump in Spain
Storks, black kites and vultures feed at Los Barrios before migrating to Africa – but many now decide to stay

Stephen Burgen in Barcelona
Mon 28 Aug 2023 09.39 EDT
A vast rubbish dump in southern Spain has become a magnet for ornithologists as thousands of storks, black kites and vultures make a stopover to feed on food waste before beginning their journey across the Strait of Gibraltar.

“It’s especially useful for carrying out a census, as with so many birds in one place it’s easy to count them and to read their rings,” said Jesús Pinilla of SEO/Birdlife in Andalucía.

It is easy for the birds to find food among the mountains of garbage in the dump at Los Barrios, near Cádiz, that receives the waste of 400,000 people living in Gibraltar and the surrounding area.

Since July ornithologists have counted 210,000 kites and 125,000 storks crossing the strait.

But many Spanish and central European storks have chosen to stay in Spain, feeding from the dump, rather than make the long journey south. As a result, there is now a stable population of about 37,000 birds wintering there, according to SEO/Birdlife.

“It’s not new for birds to take advantage of this food supply, but what we are seeing is a change in migratory behaviour, especially in the case of white storks,” Pinilla said.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/aug/28/birds-and-ornithologists-flock-to-huge-rubbish-dump-in-southern-spain

(apologies if this is in the wrong place, but I guess ornithologists qualify as birders too---and this must be fascinating, if somewhat stinky)

[elleng]

1. Sorry I missed this action when I/we traveled across the Strait, years ago.