Let's Discover the eagles of Monte Calamorro,
Arroyo de la Miel, Benalmadena, in southern Spain

Monte Calamorro (GPS: 36.616 North, -4.560 West) is a 772 m high peak affording magnificent view over the Mediterranean Sea, Arroyo de la Miel and Benalmadena Costa as well as of the Buddhist Stupa (temple) and the Tivoli World theme park. A little further afield you can see the Guadalhorce Valley and the Sierra Nevada mountains which are topped with white snow during the winter. On a clear day you can even see Gibraltar, the Atlas Mountains and the North African coast. You can walk up but most people prefer to take the cable car (teleferico) which leaves from just outside the Tivoli World complex. Monte Calamorro is one of the highest peaks in the province of Málaga.

This is a wonderful area for hiking (even if you do cheat by using the cable car to get you there). So lace up your hiking boots and enjoy exploring the many miles of winding paths which ascend the towering ridges and summits of this magnificent mountain range. If you have about six hours to spare you could even walk into Mijas pueblo across open, rugged country.  At the opposite extreme just take the cable car up and walk back down.  It takes just a couple of hours. Some of the trails are also suitable for mountain bikes and lots of keen cyclists take their bikes in the cablecar to the top and cycle back down. If you are planning on making your own way back don't forget to ask for a one way ticket.

The cable car service opened in 2003 amidst more than a little controversy.  So thought it looked ugly and would spoil the view of the mountain range, others complained that it would take people right over their gardens and swimming pools destroying their privacy and yet other wondered what would happen if a car became loose and fell on to the busy A7 motorway.  Whatever the merits of these arguments the scheme went ahead and is now a major tourist attraction.  From the top there are clearly weymarked paths leading to specific viewpoints including Cima Calamorro (the Calamorro Mountain Peak), Sur (south) and Oeste (west).

If you can bear to drink from paper disposable cups you get find refreshment in the Cima de Calamorro recreation area.

Many typical Mediterranean scrub plants grow on the slopes of Monte Calamorro including Zahareña (Sideritis incana), Jara, Thyme (Thymus polytrichus), lily, and Lesser Catmint (Calamintha nepeta).

Jardín de las Águilas (eagle gardens), run by German born Jurgen Nikolaus, is an excellent falconry centre dedicated to breeding and recovery of various birds of prey.  You can see a flying demonstration of raptors, learn something of their ecology and maybe even get to wear the glove and have them land on your outstretched arm.   So successful is the bird of prey sanctuary on the Calamorro Mountaintop that four rare Royal Owl chicks were successfully bred there recently. There are more than 200 birds of prey of at least forty different species, including vultures, royal eagles, peregrine falcons and white-headed vultures as well as the Royal Owls, African Sea Eagles, several different types of vultures and owls and my personal favourers, red kites.

Jurgen Nikolaus has liven in Spain since 1992.  He lives with his family in the Costa del Sol. He originally came at the invitation of the then Major of Marbella, Jesus Gil, who had seen one of his shows in France.  However, after inspecting the proposed site on the Torrecilla peak, Nikolaus decided against running a falconry centre there. Then he discovered the Castillo de Colomares in Benalmádena Pueblo and started working there. Since then he has been successfully breeding many birds of prey in captivity.

In November 2007, Nikolaus achieved a unique hatching in the world. For the first time, a couple of Buzzard-eagles (Geranoaetus melanoleucus), known in Spanish as Águila escudada,  deviated away from their usual breeding season and hatched an egg in November.  This South American species is sometimes called the "Chilean Blue Eagle" or just "Chile Eagle".  "This breeding eagle shelter has been my greatest success," Jurgen Nikolaus tells visitors.

The Golden Eagle (Aquila chrysaetos chrysaetos) has a wingspan averaging over 2 meters  and a body up to 1 meter in length. The plumage colours range from black-brown to dark brown, with a striking golden-buff crown and nape. The upper wings also have an irregular lighter area. Immature birds resemble the adults, but have a duller more mottled appearance. Also they have a white-banded tail and a white patch at the carpal joint, that gradually disappear with every moult until full adult plumage is reached in the fifth year. Golden eagle prey includes marmots, hares and mice, and sometimes birds, martens, foxes, young deer, and livestock including lambs and young goats. During winter months when prey is scarce, Golden Eagles scavenge on carrion to supplement their diet. Sometimes when no carrion is available golden eagles will hunt down owls, hawks, falcons, and large ungulates. There are records of golden eagles killing Eurasian Eagle Owls and hawks. The Golden Eagle is probably one of the best known birds of prey in the Northern Hemisphere. Like all eagles, it belongs to the family Accipitridae. Its range includes much of Europe, Asia, North Africa and North America. Although once widespread it has now disappeared from many areas due to encroachment from a growing human population.

American Bald Eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus).  In 2006 this young bird was the first American Bald Eagle to be born in Spain. The Bald Eagle has two recognised sub-species. Its range includes most of Canada and Alaska, as well as all of the U.S.A. and northern Mexico. It is found near large bodies of open water, wherever there is sufficient food and old trees for nesting.  It is a large bird, with a body length of 70–105 centimetres and a wingspan of 168–245 centimetres.  They can weigh up to 7 kilograms.  The females are about 25 percent larger than males. The adult Bald Eagle has a brown body with a white head and tail, and bright yellow irises, taloned feet and a hooked beak.  Immature birds are completely brown except for the yellow feet. It's diet consists mainly of fish, but it is an opportunistic feeder. It hunts fish by swooping down and snatching the fish out of the water with its talons. It is sexually mature at four years or five years of age. In the wild, Bald Eagles can live up to thirty years but can often survive longer in captivity. The Bald Eagle builds the largest nest of any North American bird, up to 4 meters deep, 2.5 meters  wide, and one tonne in weight.

Red Kite (Milvus milvus)  is a bird of prey in the same family as the eagles, buzzards and harriers, Accipitridae.  They grow to 60–66 cm in length and have a wingspan of 175–195 cm.  Males weigh up between 800–1200 grams while the larger females weigh 1000–1300 grams.  Red Kits are elegant birds, soaring with long wings held at a dihedral, and long forked tails twisting as they change direction. The body, upper tail and wing coverts are rufous and the white primary flight feathers contrast with the black wing tips and dark secondaries. Apart from the weight difference, the sexes are similar, but juveniles have a buff breast and belly. The call is a thin piping, similar to the Common Buzzard. Red Kites nest in trees, often close to other kites. In the spring the nests are obvious at the tops of trees. From a distance they look a bit like rookeries. In the winter many kites will roost together. Each nesting territory can contain up to five alternative nest sites. Both sexes build the nest on a main fork or a limb high in a tree up to 20 meters above the ground.

Red Kites are endemic to the Western Palaearctic region (Europe & North Africa). They are resident in the milder parts of their range although birds from north-eastern and central Europe winter further south and west.  This is a rare species throughout much of its range and there has been conservation efforts to reintroduce captive bread birds in some places.  For example, birds bread hear by Jurgen Nikolaus have been released in sites in England and Wales.  Being scavengers, red kites are particularly sensitive to illegal poisoning. Illegal poison baits set for foxes or crows are indiscriminate and kill protected birds and other animals. It is estimated that at least half the kites in Wales are killed by this thoughtless or deliberate abuse of pesticides.

The Griffon Vulture or Eurasian Griffon Vulture, (Gyps fulvus) is an Old World vulture in the family Accipitridae.  They grow to between 95-110 cm long with a wingspan of 230-265 cm.  Adult birds weigh between 6 and 13 kg. The Griffon Vulture has a typical Old World appearance with a white bald head, very broad wings and a short tail. It has a white neck ruff and yellow bill. Like other vultures it is a scavenger, feeding mostly on the carcasses of dead animals.  It finds its food by soaring over open areas. Griffon Vultures breed on the mountain crags of southern Europe, north Africa and Asia.

The American Black Vulture (Coragyps atratus) of the family family Cathartidae has a wingspan of 1.5 meters which is relatively small for a vulture. They inhabit open areas with scattered forest or shrublands. They have black plumage, featherless, and gray-black heads and necks, and short, hooked beaks.  The American Black Vulture is a scavenger and feeds on carrion, but will also eat eggs or kill newborn animals. In areas populated by humans, it also feeds at rubbish dumps and landfill sites. Its vocalizations are limited to just a few grunts and hisses because it has no syrinx (the vocal organ of birds)  American Black Vultures lay their eggs in caves or hollow trees or on the bare ground, and generally raise two chicks each year, which they feeds by regurgitation.  Their range extends from the south-eastern U.S.A. down into South America. Despite the similar name and appearance.

The Eurasian Eagle Owl (Bubo bubo) grows to about 58-71cm in length.  The larger females weigh 22-42 kg while the smaller males weigh just 16 to 30 kg. Their average wingspan is about 100cm for the females and 90cm for the males.  Their upperparts are brown-black and tawny-buff, showing as dense freckling on the forehead and crown, stripes on the nape, sides and back of the neck, and dark splotches on the pale ground colour of the back, mantle and scapulars. A narrow buff band, freckled with brown buff, runs up from the base of the bill, above the inner part of the eye and along the inner edge of the black-brown, "ear-tufts".  The rump and upper tail-coverts are delicately patterned with dark vermiculations and fine wavy barring. The facial disc is tawny-buff, speckled with black-brown, so densely on the outer edge of the disc as to form a frame around the face. Chin and throat are white continuing down the centre of the upper breast.  The whole of the underside except for the chin, throat and centre of upper breast is covered with fine dark wavy barring, on a tawny-buff ground colour. Legs and feet are similarly marked but more faintly. The tail is tawny-buff, mottled dark grey-brown with about six black-brown bars. Bill and claws are black, the iris is orange (or yellow in some subspecies). 

Eagle Owls are mainly active  from dusk to dawn. Like all owls their flight is almost silent with very soft wingbeats interrupted by gliding when flying over long distance. Sometimes They will soar. Eagle Owls have various hunting techniques, and will take prey on the ground or in full flight. They may hunt in forests, but prefer open spaces. Eagle Owls will eat almost anything that moves from beetles to roe deer fawns. The major part of their diet consists of mammals (voles, rats, mice, foxes, hares etc.), but birds of all kinds are also taken, including crows, ducks, grouse, seabirds, and even other birds of prey (including other owls). They will also eat snakes, lizards, frogs, fish, and crabs. In some coastal areas they have been known to feed mainly on ducks and seabirds. Pellets are somewhat compressed, irregularly cylindrical or conical shaped, averaging about 75 x 32 mm.  They range from the Iberian Peninsular, Scandinavia and North Africa, right across Asia as far as Japan.  Eagle Owls are now endangered in many parts of Europe due to human encroachment and habitat loss.

The Common Barn Owl (Tyto alba) is the most widely distributed species of owl on our planet.  They are found almost everywhere in the world except Canada and Asia north of the Alpide belt.  Barn Owls are absent from the polar and desert regions, as well as from New Zealand, and most of Indonesia and the Pacific islands.  The Barn Owl is a pale, long-winged, long-legged owl with a short square tail. Depending on subspecies, it measures from 25 to 45 cm in overall length, with a wingspan of about 75 to 100 cm. Tail shape is a way of distinguishing the Barn Owl from other owls when seen in flight, as are the wavering motions and the dangling feathered legs. The light face with its peculiar shape and the black eyes give the flying bird a distinct appearance.  Its head and upperparts are a mixture of buff and grey feathers in most subspecies. Some are purer richer brown instead, and all have fine black-and-white speckles except on the remiges and rectrices, which are light brown with darker bands. The heart shaped face is usually bright white, but in some subspecies it is browner. The underparts vary from white to reddish buff among the subspecies, and are either mostly unpatterned or bear a varying amount of tiny blackish-brown speckles. The bill varies from pale horn to dark buff, corresponding to the general plumage hue. The iris is blackish brown. The toes and bill vary in colour from pinkish to dark pinkish-grey. The talons are black.

Barn Owls do hoot as Tawny Owls do. Rather they produce an ear-shattering  scream. They can also hiss like a snake, and when captured or cornered, they defend themselves by throwing themselves on their backs and flail with sharp-taloned feet. Barn Owls are birds open country, particularly farmland or grassland, with some interspersed woodland where they hunt by flying low and slowly over an area of open ground, hovering over spots that may potentially conceal prey. The Barn Owl feeds primarily on small vertebrates, particularly rodents. Locally abundant rodent species usually make up the single largest proportion of prey. The diet is supplemented with local small vertebrate and large invertebrate life. A Barn Owl will eat anything it can subdue. They are usually found at altitudes below 2,000 meters but occasionally higher in the Tropics. They tend to hunt along the edges of woods. They enjoy an effortless wavering flight. Like most owls, Barn Owls fly silently.  They have tiny serrations on the leading edges of their flight feathers which help to break up the flow of air over its wings, thereby reducing turbulence and the noise that accompanies it.

In July and August the Bird of Prey Exhibition is at 1pm and 8pm and the Spanish Horse Dressage exhibition at noon, 6pm and 10pm. The exhibitions are exclusively for clients of the cable car so expect to be asked to show your Cable Car ticket to get in.

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