Cantabrian mountains: chamois rut, bears and wallcreepers
Cantabrian chamois (Rupicapra pyrenaica parva), Cantabrian brown bear, wallcreeper, alpine chough, griffon vulture. Picos de Europa, Somiedo, Spain.
Best time: 20 Oct – 30 Nov and 15 Apr – 15 Jun and 15 Aug – 30 Sep (April to June, August to November). Where: Fuente Dé cable car / Áliva, Lagos de Covadonga, Parque Natural de Somiedo (Pola de Somiedo) (Spain). Time of day: Chamois and choughs are most vocal from first light to about 2 h after sunrise and again from 2 h before sunset.
- You can go on your own
- Low cost
- 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 1: 20 Oct – 30 Nov — Late October to November: chamois rut
- Peak 2: 15 Apr – 15 Jun — Mid April to mid June: bears just out of hibernation grazing open slopes with cubs — the optimal bear-watching season (Cangas del Narcea, Proaza)
- Peak 3: 15 Aug – 30 Sep — Mid August to September: bears on the fruit and berry slopes, Somiedo
Active from 15 Apr to 15 Dec (April to December) in a typical year.
Time of day
Chamois and choughs are most vocal from first light to about 2 h after sunrise and again from 2 h before sunset; bear-watching vigils at Somiedo run from about 2 h before sunset to dark. Fuente Dé cable car from 09:00.
- Dawn: 30 min before sunrise → 2 h after sunrise
- Dusk and bear watch: 2 h before sunset → last light
What will you hear?
Chamois whistling alarms and clattering hooves on limestone, alpine chough flocks, wallcreeper thin whistles from the gorge walls, bells and the Cares river; bears are silent and distant.
Binoculars?
Telescope recommended. Chamois are close at Áliva, but bears at Somiedo are scope work at 500 m to 1 km across the valley at dusk.
Where to go
- Fuente Dé cable car / Áliva — Chamois habituated around the upper station; the cable car runs from 9am, so dawn means walking up. Map
- Lagos de Covadonga — Chamois on the surrounding peaks; road closed to cars in high season (shuttle buses). Map
- Parque Natural de Somiedo (Pola de Somiedo) — Bear-watching viewpoints with local guides; a few dozen watchers at dusk in season. Map
How to go on your own, and what it costs
Fuente Dé: cable car from 09:00 (ticket) or the 3–4 h walk up to Áliva. Lagos de Covadonga: the road closes to cars in high season — shuttle buses from Cangas de Onís (ticket), or drive up early outside the restriction. Somiedo: the bear-watching viewpoints on the AS-227 and the Valle del Lago road are public — scope from the roadside at dusk; local guides optional.
Cost: Free from roads and trails; Fuente Dé cable car and Covadonga shuttle bus (check current prices).
Field-recording notes
Somiedo's bear-watching is scope work from the roads — no approaching, no drones, no bait, and hunting reserves surround the park. Picos is a national park (no drones, stay on trails). Fog is frequent and cattle bells are inescapable; the high karst above the treeline is the quiet zone.
Sources
Similar spectacles
Marmots, ibex and chamois in the Berchtesgaden AlpsMarmot whistles echoing off the Watzmann east face, chough flocks, chamois sneezes, ptarmigan on the Steinernes Meer plateau, golden eagle; cowbells on the alpine pastures; in autumn, roaring stags in the Klausbachtal.
Alpine ibex, chamois and marmotsIbex horn-clashes in the December rut, hoof-clatter on rock, chamois alarm hisses, marmot whistles echoing, chough flocks, water pipit; the wind.
Marmots, ibex and chamois in the Julian AlpsMarmot alarm whistles echoing off limestone walls, chough flocks, ptarmigan croaking above the treeline, chamois hissing alarm sneezes; in autumn the roar of red deer from the valleys below.
Red deer rut in Val Trupchun, Swiss National ParkDozens of stags roaring simultaneously on the open alpine meadows of the 'deer arena' with the Trupchun walls echoing them back; antler clashes across the stream; marmots still whistling in September; chough flocks.
Red deer rut in the Kalkalpen and GesäuseRoaring stags in mountain beech-spruce forest with limestone walls behind — long echoes; in the Gesäuse the Enns rapids run under everything; antler fights, hinds, tawny and Ural owls.
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