BirdingInSpain

Barcelona birdwatching tour

Are you a birder thinking of birding in Spain while visiting Barcelona? You might have considered organizing a Barcelona birdwatching tour, so you can go birdwatching around Barcelona for a day or two.

And then your desire for birdwatching might have taken you further. You will have surely heard about birding the steppes of Spain, and then could be tempted to add the steppes and plains of Lleida, Huesca or Zaragoza to your personalized birdwatching tour.

And then if the birdwatching tour has taken you to the steppes it would be a shame to miss out birdwatching in the Pyrenees, wouldn’t it? After all, the Pyrenees are not far from the steppes and offer some great birdwatching opportunities. So now on your birdwatching tour of Catalonia and northeast Spain you could include one of the beautiful national parks of the Pyrenees – Aigüestortes National Park in Catalonia, or Ordesa National Park in Aragón. These birding sites are ideal places for enjoying the most spectacular mountain scenery, but many there are many other places for birdwatching where you can bird for special alpine and forest birds.

OK. So now we have a birdwatching tour starting in Barcelona and visiting the steppes and the Pyrenees. And what about birdwatching in the Ebro Delta? No birdwatching tour in this part of Spain would be complete without birding in the Ebro Delta for a surprising array of wetland birds.

This sounds like a brilliant birdwatching tour, but there are some problems. Firstly, what would be the ideal route for such a tour? What particular itineraries should be planned into this birdwatching tour to encounter the greatest variety of birds, and to guarantee some of the rarer or more localized birds? Well, that’s where we at Birding In Spain can help. 

Secondly, how are we going to allocate ourselves enough time to do this birdwatching tour enough justice? Ah – now that’s something you have to work out for yourself.

Golly Gosh!

Currently we are suffering another heatwave here in Spain, with today’s temperatures reaching 41ºC around Lleida and in other parts of the Ebro Valley. Most sane people spend their time indoors, not coming out until the evening, when things cool down enough to walk around the neighbourhood and maybe enjoy a meal or a drink on a terrace somewhere. Others take refuge by the pool, or the beachside.

However, some of us have that obsession called birding. And when some of us go abroad we want to see some new birds, whether the month be a Saharan August or an Antarctic January. This month we’ve already had 5 visitors from northern Europe looking to get a bit of birding in during their summer hols in Spain. The idea is admirable, but how do you cope with hairdryer heat that races up into the 30’s before you have time to digest the first excting sightings of the day? And how do you expect to handle the afternoon haze, heat and drowsiness that you know is in store? Here’s some advice that we think is sound. Well, sound enough for anyone who is inclined to go out looking for birds in Spain during a heatwave!

Make sure you have plenty of cool water with you. A couple of litres per person is not excessive. So that means a single big bottle per person or lots of those piddly little bottles that seem so convenient to pop into your backpack, but which are little more than tongue-wetters. Dehydration is a serious issue, and one that many northern Europeans take too lightly.

How to keep the water cool, and for free? Well, not for free, if you want to know you’ll have to send us an e-mail to ask for our secret. We will tell you that it really works a treat.

Suncream, of course. A couple of times a day.

Plan your route. Are you looking for altitude birds? A difference in altitude of 1,000 metres can mean a gasp-saving difference of 10ºC. That’s a “tolerable” 30ºC compared to an opressive 40ºC. So if you can get up high plan to be there around the hottest part of your birding day.

Get up early and be on-site for just after dawn. That’s when it’s coolest, and best for you and for the birds. Eat breakfast late, standing up or before you leave home.

Plan for a late lunch, and not a picnic lunch! Rather go to a nice cool air-conditioned bar, sit and relax and enjoy your food and drink in the knowledge that you have already done all or most of your day’s birding. Most bars and cafés will serve you sandwiches and snacks throughout the day, so there’s no sense in stopping birding at noon to have lunch when you can still bird comfortably until around 2 pm. Birding at 4pm is only for those who know or can do no better.

If your program will allow it take a siesta between 4pm and 7 pm, and then explore the possibility of a spot of late evening birding as the temperature starts to drop.

Park your vehicle in the shade whenever possible. Open the windows before getting back in, drive with them open and the air-conditioning on for a while before closing them and letting the air-conditioning take control. What – you haven’t got air-conditioning?! Then see the advice on the use of horse and carts.

Black-bellied Sandgrouse can cope with a heatwave, but can you?

Lammergeier photo tour review

Lammergeier in flight. By Franck Renard.

Since 2008 we at Birding In Spain have organized Lammergeier – Gypaetus barbatus – Bearded Vulture – photo trips to Spain for almost 100 photographers from almost all western European countries, as well as Poland, Russia, India and Sri Lanka.Our first Lammergeier hide was in the Pyrenees of Lleida, Catalonia. Since then we have developed another site nearby, but with different hides. Take a look at these Lammergeier photos taken from these hides by different photographers participating in our Lammergeier photo tour over the years:

Lammergeiers in flight. Photo by Jonny Verheyden.

Lammergeier close up. Photo by Chris Schenk.

And then look at these photos of Lammergeiers and other vultures taken on a recent photo tour from the hides we have recently helped to develop at a brand new site in the Pyrenees of Aragón:

Lammergeier in the Pyrenees of Aragón. Photo by Jan Pedersen.

 Griffon Vultures in the Pyrenees of Aragón. Photo by Beat Rüegger.

The best thing about the hides at the sites in the Pyrenees of Catalonia is the number of photos of vultures, especially Lammergeiers, that the photographer can get in a single day: on occasions more than 20 Lammergeiers have appeared at these sites in the Catalan Pyrenees, along with plenty of Griffon Vultures and small numbers of Black Vultures and Egyptian Vultures. So there is no shortage of photographic opportunities from the hides on this photo trip!

With the hides at the site in the Pyrenees of Aragón things are different. Lammergeiers appear in front of the hides often enough, but are not guaranteed. Furthermore only small numbers of Lammergeiers appear, you can’t expect more than 2 or 3 of these so-called Bearded Vultures in a single day. However, participants in this photo trip are rarely disappointed, as there is usually plenty of activity from other raptor species such as Griffon Vulture, Red Kite….

The advantage of the hides in the Pyrenees of Aragón is the mountain setting, the marvellous background. And the fact that, despite the vagaries of the weather these days there is more chance of that cold white stuff that bird photographers seem to love: snow.

You can get more information about our Lammergeier photo trips and other photo tours by contacting Steve West at BirdingInSpain.

Birding and walking

The Wallcreeper, Tichodroma muraria, is a special bird. It clings to vertical walls, it inhabits some of the most breathtaking spots, its wings flash black, white and crimson, like the wings of a butterfly. So we’re very lucky to have Wallcreepers as a breeding and wintering bird in northeast Spain. In Lleida and Catalonia.

Some years ago now the Montsec consortium asked us to design some birding routes. We got down to the task with enthusiasm and came up with a birding map divided into two main routes: the Eagle route (Bonelli’s Eagle) and the Lammergeier route.

Each route could be followed by car, and then the occupants were invited to walk one of 6 itineraries in search of birds, intimate contact with the surroundings, and a healthy occupation. OF course, one of the routes just had to be dedicated to the Wallcreeper!

The Wallcreeper text reads as follows:

Wallcreeper

Length: 7 km, 3 hours.

Characteristics: Relatively flat and easy, although the narrow path may provoke vertigo in some.

Access: Pont de Montanyana. A secondary approach also exists from Alsamora.

Starting point: 3098204663537. Congost de Montrebei reserve car park (wardened).

Indications: Follow the lower path alongside the reservoir, cross over the suspension bridge and continue on into the gorge. It is recommended to  follow on at least to the Cave of Colomera before turning back along the same path. This is a popular area for visitors in the summer.

Main species:

(i) Griffon Vulture, Golden Eagle, Orphean Warbler (S), Subalpine Warbler (S), Nuthatch, Red-billed Chough, Rock Bunting.

(ii) Lammergeier,Wallcreeper (W).

So if you happen to be in the neighbourhood of Montsec between November and March it could be something to bear in mind.

Happy Birding!

Els dies 20 i 21 de maig …

…oferim una bona oportunitat per veure de prop molts dels ocells marins que passen davant de la costa de Catalunya sense ser vistos des de terra. Sortirem amb vaixell des de Tarragona rumbo mar endins i passarem entre 3 i 4 hores observant ocells, peixos lluna i potser fins i tot algún mamífer marí també.

En sortides anteriors els últims 2 anys hem vist les següentes espècies: Ocell de Tempesta, Baldriga Balear, Baldriga Mediterrània, Baldriga Cendrosa, Baldriga Grisa, Paràsit Gros, Paràsit Cuallarg, Paràsit Cuaample, Mascarell, xatracs, gavines, corb marí emplomallat, ànecs i llimícoles. L’any 2010 també vam veure un Rorqual Comú!

Ja tenim 15 persones apuntades, així que segur que es farà una sortida, però encara tenim espai per més persones. Interessat? Posa’t en contacte amb nosaltres i t’informarem de tot.

Tarifa, September 2011

From the 4th to 10th September I was leading the Ornitholidays tour “Tarifa at Leisure” . That meant staying in just one hotel, the lovely Palomar de la Breña, for the whole week and making sorties to watch the migrants crossing the straits and to look for other local avian goodies.In some 5 sessions of raptor watching we spotted Rüppell’s Vulture (1 juvenile, with a possible second that had to remain just “possible”), 2 Goshawks, 1 Bonelli’s Eagle, dozens of Egyptian Vultures and Griffon Vultures, More than 20 Black Storks, dozens of Short-toed Eagles, more than 200 Booted Eagles, hundreds of Honey Buzzards, a dozen Montagu’s Harriers, Sparrowhawks, Lesser Kestrels and flocks of hirundines and Bee-eaters.

A Western Olivaceous Warbler, 3 Black-winged Kites, almost 20 Collared Pratincoles, Iberian Chiffchaff, White-headed Ducks and a Monarch Butterfly were some of the other highlights of an interesting week spent at the other end of this country called Spain.

It wasn’t always easy to keep our eyes on the raptors…. 

FROM

the 8th to 15th May we received the first group of photographers from Wild Images. Wild Images, a daughter company of Birdquest, came with leader Mike Watson and 6 avid bird photographers from different parts of the UK. 

They followed the basic outline of our Great Photo Trip (see details here) with 3 days on the plains of Lleida and 2 in the Lammergeier hide in the Pre-Pyrenees.

Apart from Lammergeiers and the other 3 species of vulture they also managed to get excellent shots of a wide variety of birds on the steppes, in magnificent spring scenery. Jumping Little Bustards, Bee-eaters, Stone Curlews, Montagu’s Harriers, Iberian Grey Shrike, Corn Bunting and even a last minute Hoopoe! Still, in my opinion it was the Little Owls that really stole the show. 

Did they leave with smiles on their faces and giving us the thumbs up? Well, yes. And if you want to see some of the great photos they took then you need do no more than click on these links to their own websites:

Mike Watson (Wild Images leader)

Eric McCabe (with wife Lesley hailing from Scotland)

David Mercer

Congratulations to all! We’re looking forward to next spring already.

Quail

A Quail sat in the track in my car headlights just before dawn

Bee-eater

The Bee-eaters in front of the hide were bright and good afternoon entertainment

Little Owl

The Little Owl antics usually steal the show.

Thekla Lark

Singing Thekla Lark was an added bonus from the Hoopoe hide. 

Monty’s Harrier

Poppy landscape

Now that’s not bad for a (very early) morning or two out on the plains of Lleida.

This is one of the pair of Stone Curlews that nested by the side of one of our Bee-eater hides on the plains of Lleida.

The nest was basically a small hollow lined with a bit of dry grass and gravel-sized stones. The eggs, two, were speckled and brown-beige. The adults were very discreet in their comings and goings, as you would expect from a ground-nesting bird. One of the adults would incubate while the other would stay around preening, dozing or stretching itself, although at times the incubating bird also got up and took a small rest from pre-parental responsibilities.

On Wednesday the female started making some strange noises, which Jordi Bas explained as the female making contact with young which were almost ready to hatch. Sure enough, the next day there were two tiny chicks, to the delight of all. Today all the birds have gone from the nest site.

Are any of you birders planning a visit to Belchite? You know, Dupont’s Lark, Black-bellied Sandgrouse and associated company?

Here’s something for you to start familiarising yourself with the birds of this unique area:

And some of their local names too!

What a lovely detail this is for guests staying at the nearby Hotel Rincón del Cierzo. BirdingInSpain.com’s recommended accommodation for the Belchite steppes itinerary. We don’t recommend any old place you know, but rather the best-placed, well-regented and reasonably-priced establishments we know about. Do you get the picture?

If not, here it is again!