Iberian lynx mating calls, Sierra de Andújar
Iberian lynx (Lynx pardinus). Sierra de Andújar, Jaén, Spain.
Best time: 20 Dec – 31 Jan (December to January). Where: Camino de la Lancha (final stretch and the Jándula dam road), Encinarejo reservoir road, Centro de Visitantes Viñas de Peñallana (Spain). Time of day: Lynx are on the tracks from first light to about 2 h after sunrise and again in the 2 h before sunset.
- You can go on your own
- Free
- Telescope recommended
- Sound 2/5
Open it in the interactive calendarSunrise and sunset listening times for the day you pick, and the map.
When is the best time?
Peak: 20 Dec – 31 Jan. Late December to January
Active from 1 Dec to 15 Feb (December to February) in a typical year.
Time of day
Lynx are on the tracks from first light to about 2 h after sunrise and again in the 2 h before sunset; mating calls carry mostly in the first hours of darkness and the pre-dawn hour — a rig left at a track junction overnight is the realistic way.
- Dawn watch: 30 min before sunrise → 2 h after sunrise
- Dusk watch and calls: 2 h before sunset → 2 h after last light
What will you hear?
Loud, hoarse caterwauling and 'meows' between males and females carrying across the scrub at dawn; red deer, wild boar and eagle owls in the same valleys. Mostly a sighting spectacle.
Binoculars?
Telescope recommended. Lynx are scanned from the track at 200 m to 1 km at first light; a scope is the norm on La Lancha, binoculars minimum.
Where to go
- Camino de la Lancha (final stretch and the Jándula dam road) — The classic lynx watch: public dirt track between private estates, birders parked on the verges at dawn. Map
- Encinarejo reservoir road — River-side track with lynx crossings; less traffic. Map
- Centro de Visitantes Viñas de Peñallana — Park information; guides can be hired here. Map
How to go on your own, and what it costs
From Andújar take the A-6177 towards the Santuario de la Virgen de la Cabeza, then the Camino de la Lancha (public dirt track) to the Jándula dam — park on the verges at dawn and scan from the track; the Encinarejo reservoir road is the quieter alternative. Never leave the public tracks; the estates are private. Guides can be hired at the Viñas de Peñallana visitor centre.
Cost: Free; local lynx guides optional (check current prices).
Field-recording notes
You cannot leave the public tracks — the sierra is private hunting estates and the lynx are a protected, still-endangered species; no baiting, no playback, no approaching. A static rig left at a track junction overnight in January is the realistic way to catch calls. Weekend birder traffic on La Lancha is heavy; weekdays only.
Sources
Similar spectacles
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Wolf howlingChorus howls from family packs, including pups' high wavering howls, answering from across a valley.
Pendjari: lions, elephants and hippos at the dry-season poolsLions roaring across the Pendjari plain in the small hours — one of the few places in West Africa where this is still likely — hippos bellowing at Mare Bali, elephants at the pools, hyena whoops and a savanna dawn of francolins, ground hornbills and doves.
Príncipe after dark: the scops owl described in 2022, and the island's endemics at dawnA fast, insect-like 'tuu-tuu-tuu' at about one note a second, often as a duet with the female higher-pitched, from the old-growth forest of the uninhabited south — a sound nobody had named until 2022. Before dark, the island's grey parrots screaming to roost; at dawn, the thrush, the thrush-babbler, the speirops and the Príncipe sunbird in a forest with no roads.
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More: all spectacles in Spain · wildlife at night · Spain in January · Spain in December