The municipality of The Realejos is promoted this weekend in Estremadura as an outstanding ornithological tourism destination. The tourist strategy Los Realejos Birding will be the protagonist of the northern presence in the XVII International Ornithological Tourism Fair (FIO)which takes place in Monfragüe National Park.
The Councilor for Tourism of Los Realejos, Elizabeth Socorro (PP)announces that a technical team from the municipal area of sightseeing will be present at this international event to «promote the ornithological tourism strategy of the town» in which it is considered «the oldest ornithological tourism fair in Spain and the second most important in Europe».
«FIO is one of the benchmark meeting points in the field of tourism in contact with nature and bird watching, differential potential offered by the municipality of The Realejos», evaluates Isabel Socorro. The mayor recalls that this commitment to bird watching in nature “started in 2019 with the positioning of this promotional brand at an international level with a presence in the Delta Birding Festival of Catalonia».
“We attended what is considered the oldest ornithological tourism fair in Spain and the second most important in Europe”
“It is now three years since the Department of Tourism of Los Realejos edit a specific ornithological tourism guide that collects and catalogs a hundred references of birds visible from the municipality and the different most suitable and signposted sighting points in the town, a document that will star in the Promotional material that we will present at the fair and that we will complement with other of our guides on different royal attractions such as its gastronomy, its heritage, its natural resources, its festivals, among others”, adds Socorro.
As indicated by the FIO 2022 organization itselfnational and international destinations that are committed to sustainable tourism and in contact with nature, especially that linked to bird watching, specialized companies in the sector, manufacturers and distributors of photography and optics and organizations of nature conservation.
In addition to being an open and free meeting point for specialists, tourism professionals and the general public, “colloquiums and conferences related to the binomial nature and tourismin addition to art and photography proposals, guided tours, observatories and workshops”.
The mayor of Los Realejos, Manuel Dominguez (PP)points out that “it is an opportunity for our municipality to be part of this international event organized by the Junta de Extremadura and already consolidated in the specialized calendar of this promotional sector in which we want to continue opening a gap for ourselves and be able to show off those peculiarities of our privileged natural environment, orography and climate with endemic and other migratory species that fly over the island as they pass through the island Los Realejos enriching our biodiversity and assuming another attraction”.
“We have a privileged natural environment, with endemic and other migratory species that fly over Los Realejos as they pass through the island and enrich our biodiversity”
As to the promotional guide, this publication incorporates brief technical sheets of each species that indicate data such as length and wingspan, its scientific name and its denomination in Spanish, English, French and German, thus facilitating its identification for tourists from different origins. Most of the images are the work of photographer Isidro Felipe Acosta, also taking snapshots of José Manuel Siverio, José Juan Hernández, Francisco Cruz Alvarado, Josep M. Torras Payerol and Pedro Felipe Acosta.
An identification map of the municipality is included in the guide and they are also cited with a description up to eight sighting points with their corresponding coordinates so that they can be identified and accessible by nature lovers, scientists, professionals and amateurs in the audiovisual field. The species most likely to be seen from each of these places are collected in each section.
The area of El Riego It is a privileged space for the observation of species such as the turqué and rabiche pigeons, the sparrowhawk, the common buzzard and the tagarote falcon, among others. The great variety of all protected realejero spaces and the wealth of fauna that they house have made it possible for ornithological tourism to begin to flourish, a type of nature tourism that has more and more followers in the world.
That is why the presence of amateurs or professionals in areas such as the raft of the Holy Cross, a space that in migratory periods can bring pleasant surprises in the form of “oddities”. Located between the urban centers of La Zamora and La Cruz Santa, it is one of the largest irrigation ponds on the island of Tenerife. The presence of crops around it has made it possible for this enclave to become in the last two decades one of the favorite spots on the Island for a large number of migratory birds. In it, the presence of thirty migratory species has been confirmed, among which the the delaware gullconsidered a rarity in the national territory until a decade ago, in addition to the Collared Pochard, Eurasian Coot, Pintail, Black-necked Grebe, Cattle Egret, White Storkamong other.
Two other points of attention to practice bird watching are the viewpoints of El Lance and La Grimonatwo of the most accessible corners of our island for the observation of one of the most outstanding endemic species, the rabiche pigeon. Also, visiting the Ladera de Tigaiga and our pine forests you can see two other jewels of Canarian nature, the turquoise pigeon and the blue finch.
