Sighting of the one and only bone breaker and drive back to Madrid(Day 11)

This was the last full day of our trip which would totally turn out to be the epic finale we had planned for. We woke up pre sunrise and R, the photographer, stepped outside expecting to get a better view of the mountain ranges than from inside the room. But soon he came back to the room realizing that it was a better view from the 4th floor. He mentioned that specifically because there were windows on two sides of our room and we could choose to photograph based on the angle of the sun and how the peaks light up accordingly. Thankfully the clouds had cleared out enough to make the sun do his thing giving us amazing views of the mountain basked in golden color.

We realized that it was getting late because we had to reach Ainsa to meet someone who would pick us up at 9am at a predefined parking lot and take us to a photographic hide where we had a chance to see three types of vultures including the famous Bearded Vulture / Quebranta Huesos (spanish) / Lammergeier (french).

That was where we had reserved the hide for the day from the Pyrenean Bird Center (PBC) from 9 am to 5pm. Situated in the heart of the medieval town of Aínsa, on the access route to the Ordesa and Monte Perdido National Park, the center provides specialized information on the observation and photography of carrion-eating birds of prey in the Sobrarbe district.

It is located in the Pyrenean Fauna Eco Museum, managed by the Lammergeier Conservation Foundation and hosts an inspiring exhibition on Pyrenean biodiversity. 

We got to the parking lot at about 9.30 and called the PBC because there seemed to be nobody waiting for us. The person who answered told us that we were very late; she had left the parking lot after waiting for us because she needed to feed the vultures but would come back in a moment and pick us up. When she picked us, she told us that she had just put out the  food (bones, meat etc) for the vultures. We had to be very quiet once we got to the hide, because the griffin and egyptian vultures were already eating and they might get scared and fly away if we made too much noise.

When we got to the hide, in spite of being very cautious and stealthy, some of the hundred vultures still got alarmed and flew away from the clearing in front of the hide where they were eating. We were disappointed but she said that she would come back for a second feed at about 11 which made us happy to hear that.

It's all about patience when it comes to bird watching or bird photography - that is a virtue that one needs to cultivate if they want to view any type of animal in its habitat. The most happiness always comes from seeing them in the wild where they carry on with their daily lives without any kind of human intervention.

One by one, almost all the griffon vultures flew away from their feeding area and went to the perch on canyon ledges and some tall trees beyond the valley overlooking the area. We sat there waiting for them to come back while entertaining ourselves with the couple of griffons which decided to still be there, along with a couple of small warblers and thrushes which flew in search of food.

Suddenly, it started raining heavily which eventually turned to a crazy, strong hail when S contemplated whether or not hail hurts the birds since she felt a little worried for the birds. R commented that birds and animals were more prepared than humans to deal with the forces of nature but that did not stop the girl from still feeling dispirited. Thankfully, the hail did not last too long and soon the rain stopped. We then watched via our binoculars, all the soaking wet vultures spread out their wings to dry. It was a marvelous sight - with so many griffon and egyptian vultures with their wings spread out, all perched over the canyon ledges.

At about 11.40 am, the girl from the center came back and as soon as the griffin and vultures heard the sound of her pickup truck, hundreds of them flew in from the other side over the valley. They waited patiently for her as she started emptying multiple buckets of meat and bones which included a small whole pig and even a cow head. We were watching this whole thing happening right in front of our eyes : the vultures literally jumped over one another in a feeding frenzy and sometimes would fight with one another for a better chance of getting more food. It was astonishing to see that within 15-20 minutes almost 90% of the food was gone. By 12:30pm, there was literally no meat left and all the vultures had flown away from that area.

We wanted to try our luck and since we were already committed for the day, we decided that we will wait there till 5pm when we would have to actually leave the hide. It was a hot day and we were dozing off in the heat, but at the same time looking out in hope for the bearded vulture to arrive.

Suddenly…. At about 2pm one came and within minutes a second bird (tagged) arrived. We finally got to see the quebranta huesos! We were ECSTATIC!!! 

They came and perched on a nearby rock and started scouting the area for bones. S had her eyes peeled to her binoculars observing every single movement while R clicked away to glory. After 15 - 20 minutes the vultures flew away without picking up a single bone leaving the two of us kind of sad, since we wanted to watch them for longer and break bones for their food as well. 

Another half an hour passed and we just waited there hoping that they would come back. And they did! The tagged bird came by first, scouted the area and left within 5 minutes. But the other one came, circled around for quite some time and then perched on the same rock as earlier, giving us a chance to enjoy his company for some time and thus leaving one very happy couple. 

Eventually he too left at about 3.30, so we decided to pack up and get going for the day. We were hungry, so we walked down from the hide to the nearby town of Ainsa to grab a bite and also to check out the Pyrenean Bird Center. They had a couple of rescue bearded vultures along with a couple of owls and an eagle

After hanging out with the birds and the wonderful volunteers there, we went in search of food. Many places were either closed or were not serving tapas at that time. But we found an interesting pizza place where we not only had a fantastic pizza but also our last morcilla and vermouth for the trip. 

At about 6pm we left Ainsa and started driving towards Madrid, where we were staying at the airport Holiday Inn that night. Reaching there at midnight, we repacked and rearranged our luggage for our flights back home next morning at 7 am and finally got to sleep for a couple of hours.  

Our connection back home was via London, which is always a hectic place to have a transfer and it took the full 3 hours in between flights just to make it in time for the next one!