Recently returned from two weeks in Europe, starting with three and a half days in southern Spain. Went there with my brother to search for the critically endangered iberian lynx (Lynx pardinus), which is not on display in any zoo. It is being bred for reintroduction in private breeding centers, but access to these is strictly denied.
There are two small populations of wild iberian lynx left, the most endangered species of cat in the world. About 50 in Donana National Park and about 150 in the Sierra Morena range. We went to the latter, staying in the small foothills village of Las Vinas de Pinarellos (at Hotel Los Pinos). The road up from here goes to Sierra de Andujar national park and the surrounding farms, which are also lynx habitat. As you all know, cats are solitary and secretive, and seeing an elusive predator like this in the wild is a real longshot.
To make the long story short, we left before dawn on our second day (Saturday morning) and after driving the gravel road to its end at a lake, decided to turn around and park at the base of the dam below the lake. There is a narrow bridge that crosses the river here, and just as we were parking next to the bridge an adult lynx was walking across it towards us! My brother shined a very bright flashlight (in spotlight mode) as it walked past and it did not seem bothered and did not run away, but just kept walking at a steady pace. I fired a series of four shots, which all had very long shutter speeds due to the low light (even with the ISO preset to 3200). Here is the first of the four.
Although I was hoping for a clearer daylight shot, to be able to see this rare cat at all was quite a thrill. The fact that it walked so close to our car, maybe 15 feet away, is even better. We also saw in the area lots of red deer, several fallow deer, an otter and a couple very distant mouflon. Here is an attachment of the lynx photo.
There are two small populations of wild iberian lynx left, the most endangered species of cat in the world. About 50 in Donana National Park and about 150 in the Sierra Morena range. We went to the latter, staying in the small foothills village of Las Vinas de Pinarellos (at Hotel Los Pinos). The road up from here goes to Sierra de Andujar national park and the surrounding farms, which are also lynx habitat. As you all know, cats are solitary and secretive, and seeing an elusive predator like this in the wild is a real longshot.
To make the long story short, we left before dawn on our second day (Saturday morning) and after driving the gravel road to its end at a lake, decided to turn around and park at the base of the dam below the lake. There is a narrow bridge that crosses the river here, and just as we were parking next to the bridge an adult lynx was walking across it towards us! My brother shined a very bright flashlight (in spotlight mode) as it walked past and it did not seem bothered and did not run away, but just kept walking at a steady pace. I fired a series of four shots, which all had very long shutter speeds due to the low light (even with the ISO preset to 3200). Here is the first of the four.
Although I was hoping for a clearer daylight shot, to be able to see this rare cat at all was quite a thrill. The fact that it walked so close to our car, maybe 15 feet away, is even better. We also saw in the area lots of red deer, several fallow deer, an otter and a couple very distant mouflon. Here is an attachment of the lynx photo.
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