North of Málaga in southern Spain lies a mountain famous by their impressive rock formations. Different Jurassic limestones were pushed high up out of the water for thousands of millions of years, and the erosion throughout that time created one of the most astonishing karst landscapes in Andalusia. El Torcal in Antequera is today classified as a Global Geosite and a UNESCO World Heritage site, but its biodiversity motivated its declaration as a bird Special Conservation Area (ZEPA: Zona de Especial Protección para las Aves). As Darío Gijón and I visited Málaga for a long weekend in August, we drove to this nearby spot for some wildlife encounters.

Arriving to Antequera on August 5th from the north road, we spot a European roller (Coracias garrulus) flying over the road, a regional rarity in Málaga. Once in the town, we have a pleasant time wandering through streets and promenades full of tile-roofed white houses and beautiful sights, and enjoy some tapas. We then drove south to El Torcal visitors center (eBird spot here), a half an hour drive that we made while it was still night. At our arrival, a sky full of stars welcomes us, the Milky Way clearly visible.
We wait until dawn in the visitors center area, but recognize the first inhabitants of the park just around the parking lot, from inside the car as it was chilly. Chubby bird silhouettes looking for food like sparrows result in confiding rock buntings (Emberiza cia). Also looking for food, a red fox (Vulpes vulpes) patrols the area without success. Right after that, a massive male Iberian ibex (Capra pyrenaica) walks calmly over the concrete. There are tens of them all around us, in small family groups, with little to no fear to visitor — indeed, some stay in the open even in full day.

Different circular routes start from the visitors center. The most popularines are the yellow itinerary, which leads to the highest area of the massif, and the green one, a shortcut of the yellow through a beautiful valley full of Montpelier maples (Acer monspessulanum), Mediterranean buckthorns (Rhamnus alaternus) and holm oaks (Quercus rotundifolia). We end up hiking through both of them.
Groups of Iberian ibex seem more numerous in the diversion point between both routes, closest to the visitor’s center. Some cross the path really close to tourists, providing great photography opportunities even if light was still poor at dawn. We find a male Iberian stag beetle (Lucanus barbarossa), as well as several Sardinian warblers (Curruca melanocephala) and black redstarts (Phoenicurus ochruros).

The diversion point valley is one of the most open areas along both routes, and we spend a great deal of time admiring nature around it. Good numbers of western Iberian warblers (Curruca iberiae) and Eurasian goldfinches (Carduelis carduelis) can be found almost in every shrub.
Additionally, we sight some western Bonelli’s warblers (Phylloscopus bonelli), a western Orphean warbler (Curruca hortensis) and a territorial Eurasian wren (Troglodytes troglodytes). Also here we detect the only raptors of our visit: several griffon vultures (Gyps fulvus) and migrating booted eagles (Hieraeetus pennatus).

Later, the path gets narrow as it continues across ravines ans scratches of rocks carved by thousands of years of erosion. Here, the Mediterranean schlerophylous-mixed forest of holm oaks and maples becomes more humid and dense, and holds interesting endemic plants as the Brotero’s peony (Paeonia broteri).
The top of the massif is practically all covered in interesting geological formations, some covered in ivy (Hedera helix) but mostly under lower vegetation coverage. These are one of the very few breeding grounds of the rufous-tailed rock-thrush (Monticola saxatilis) south of the Pyrenees. However, we only manage to find some of the closely related resident blue rock-thrush (Monticola solitarius solitarius). Several plant species are endemic to this massif and few neighboring areas, and this is the place to find them: a toadflax (Linaria anticaria), a figwort (Scrophularia viciosoi), a saxifrage (Saxifraga biternata)…

On our way back, now under bright daylight and warm temperatures, we enjoy the activity of plenty of pollinators in the diversity of flowered shrubs, mats and herbs, some of which endemic to Baetic mountains in southern Spain. Lycaenid butterflies, hoverflies and bees fly in the order of hundreds, most specially in the green route valley.
As we drive down the slopes of the Torcal, we spot a smart male western black-eared wheatear (Oenanthe hispanica) sitting next to the road on short shrubs — a second individual was only briefly seen later. On the pillars flanking the road sides, a pair of black wheatears (Oenanthe leucura) are flushed away as we drive by.

El Torcal resulted in an intriguing place not only for its capricious landscape and awesome geological formations, but also for a vibrant biodiversity easy to spot by the naturalist.