Tracked Hoyo de Lloroza rebecos. Herd of 20 or so females and juveniles including some very young (not weaned). Some graze in the meadows, but many seem to prefer plucking growth from hard to reach cracks and hollows in the limestone cliffs. No rock face seems to overcome the agile rebecos as the herd casually and methodically drifts further up the mountainside. By midday the main group is out of sight and I have finished my painting of a juvenile poised on a ledge of rippled limestone, smooth and polished like ice. We sit back and watch a male that had been lingering in the background give chase to a female that has become separated from the main herd. The chase is frantic at first as the two tare down rocky ledges sending clods of turf tumbling down before them. Then the female, at a safe distance begins to act nonchalant, casually plucking at tufts until the male shakes himself, cocks his tail, bellows and begins to prance towards her. She runs to a safe distance again, lowers her head to graze in another façade of coolness. This chase continues until eventually the male folds his shins under himself to lie down and the female does the same several teasing meters away. I think from the look in his eye he’s prepared to wait all day.We on the other hand have to start the long walk home through Puertos de Aliva. On the way we take a detour to Covarrobes (1964m) and inspect a nursery of rebecos (9 juveniles and a couple of females with calves). There is another large herd near Chalet Real, again mainly females and infants with the odd male lingering on the fringes. The alarm is raised (snorting cough like sheep) when we approach, sending many of the stragglers running for the safety of the herd. The rebecos then move very gradually away from us, all the time grazing so as to give the impression that they are not threatened by us.
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Torre de Altaiz by Shenaz Khimji
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