BirdingInSpain

The southern part of Mallorca offers beautiful beaches, sea views and some very good birding

At this stage you really should know that Mallorca is more than just a sun and beach holiday destination. Especially if you are a birder. But if you are still in some doubt just check out the birding itineraries in the Mallorca section of the main BirdingInSpain.com website.

The spectacular Formentor peninsula is home to Eleonora’s Falcons, Balearic Warblers and much more.

Places like s’Albufera, Ses Salines, the Tramuntana range, the Formentor peninsula, the Artà peninsula, are all places that the birder cannot afford to miss if he or she spends any time on this rich and varied island in the Western Mediterranean.

Black Vulture, one of the specialities of Mallorca, can be seen in the Tramuntana range

Birds you’d want to look out for include the endemic Balearic Warbler, Balearic Shearwater, Eleonora’s Falcon, Black Vulture, Audouin’s Gull….

Red-crested Pochards can be seen at the S’Albufera Natural Park

The good news is we are working with a number of top quality hotels on this splendid island. Take a look at the itinerary, click on the “Recommended accommodation” link and see for yourself what your travel agent hasn’t told you. You’ll find hotels of different kinds and styles but with something in common: they welcome birders and their families and have excellent birding opportunities nearby, often on the very doorstep.  

Scops Owl can be detected in the grounds of some of our recommended hotels

S’Albufera Natural Park – try Iberostar Playa de Muro

Tramuntana range – try Can Torna or Mallorca4seasons

Boquer Valley and Formentor peninsula – try Grupotel Molins

Ses Salines and Salines des Salobrar – try Finca Son Guardiola or Can Canals

Artà peninsula – try Grupotel Cala Ratjada or Grupotel Gran Vista and spa

 Alan and Marge on their way to a meeting with a Wallcreeper

Farther along the same path. The sun appears to be winning the battle with the fog. Do we start looking for the Wallcreeper now?

Here are some snapshots from a recent day out birding with Alan and Marge in my part of northeast Spain.

Late January. That on the ground is fresh snow, and that in the air is fog. The sun and blue sky is not far away. 

Farther up the same path the sun shone through the fog. We could see where we were: walking along the base of spectacular sandstone cliffs. The only shame was that we couldn’t admire the wonderful views “You’ll have to come again next time you’re here” I remarked.

Alan has wanted to see a Wallcreeper for more than 20 years now. When these photos were taken he was hopeful of seeing his prized Wallcreeper, but in the end would it be just another day to add to those 20-odd years of waiting? There are rarely any guarantees with birds.

I lagged a little behind, scanning the rock walls and taking some photos of the marvellous landscape. Alan, driven, forged ahead with Marge close behind.

An Alpine Accentor flew up and away half way up the rock face. Crag Martins wheeled one way and then another. A Red-billed Chough hurled itself into the void below its rocky perch, with a startled “Che-err!”. The sun shone resolutely through the mist, we bathed in its warmth and the snow started melting at a surprisingly rapid rate. A Blue Rock Thrush peered over a small pinnacle-shaped rock, its head gleaming satin dusky blue. A Wallcreeper flicked its intensely coloured wings, just for a second, but enough for our  human eyes to catch a glimpse of the movement and locate the avian treasure.  

We all watched as the Wallcreeper worked its way up and across the sheer rock face. Now hopping and prying with its bill, now fluttering around an overhanging with its wings outstretched. The similarity between the Wallcreeper and a large colourful butterfly was quite striking.

As you stand there pressing your binoculars into your eye sockets, contemplating one of the milliard of nature’s true wonders, that tiny figure flickering and flitting across the face of that immense wall, you somehow manage to hold your breath; perhaps fearing that as if by merely breathing you have the power to shatter that magical moment before it can be properly etched onto your memory.

Excerpt from “Flying over the Pyrenees, standing on the plains”

Painted Lady butterflies invaded Europe in their millions this spring, astounding many observers by the sheer volume of their migration. However, the usual time for a birder to be showing interest in butterflies is the summer: there’s more butterfly and less bird activity.

Ebro Delta, mid-July. With a young British birder, Max Levy and his parents. Over two days we saw at least a dozen of these handsome butterflies, which I initially identified as Monarchs Danaus plexippus.

Max spotted the first one on 18th July and then we saw about a dozen the next day. I got rather excited and subsequently reported our “Monarch” sightings on a couple of forums. Luckily there are some diligent and knowledgeable forum-goers out there, and I was promptly redirected to the right identification: Plain Tiger Danaus chrysippus.

Both of these butterflies breed in the Canary Islands. On the Spanish mainland the Plain Tiger (Spanish: “Mariposa Tigre” or “Monarca Africana”) has been recorded from all around the coastline, parts of which it has colonized in the last decade or so. Currently it breeds at several localities, including the Ebro Delta. The Monarch is more restricted in range, but has bred alongside this species in the province of Málaga.

Here’s another spectacular butterfly, the Cardinal Argynnis pandora.

I feel pretty confident about its identification (please!), and that the photograph is my own, taken on the edge of the Montsant range in mid-June.  In Catalunya the Cardinal is is a rare and localised species which shows significant variations from year to year.

If interested in these attractive insects you could do much worse than download a pdf of Cynthia, the bulletin of the CBM scheme (Catalan Butterfly Monitoring).

Now you know what to do with those long, hot summers: when the birds go quiet, take a glance at the butterflies.

Birding together near Lleida

Martin’s main targets for our second day of birding together were to get a good look at Orphean and Subalpine Warblers in the morning and then Pin-tailed Sandgrouse on the plains in the afternoon. It wasn’t an easy task, given the weather conditions and the time of the year. However, we managed to do it all, even the Pin-tailed Sandgrouse in the scorching afternoon heat of 36ºC (Fahrenheit anybody?).  

 We took a couple of short walks in the lovely Sierra de Guara. Fruit of our efforts was a generous dose of fine scenery – impressive rock faces, ancient olive groves, near abandoned solitary villages, breathtaking gorges. The birds were in no short supply either, and we encountered numerous Egyptian Vultures, Griffon Vultures, a pair of Peregrines, both light and dark morph Booted Eagles, a Short-toed Eagle, Rock Sparrows, Alpine Swifts, Cirl Buntings, Wrynecks, etc. Then the Warblers, with no fewer than 5 Sylvia warbler species (Orphean, Subalpine, Sardinian, Dartford Warbler and Blackcap) as well as Bonelli’s Warbler.

Alquezar in the Sierra de Guara

We had a relaxed lunch on a verandah overlooking the walled town of Alquezar before rather ambitiously setting off to the plains to coincide with the warmest – no, hottest -part of the day. But birders do things like that when there is a bird at stake. And Martin was keen enough to want to have a shot at the grouse, and his wife Carol was resigned to the discomfort that accompanying her husband often involved.

C’est la vie, especially the birding vie, I said as we crossed the last few metres back to the car parked on the edge of a dry dusty and stony field. The next stop was to be a petrol station and then the dropoff at their Lleida hotel. We had followed the dustiest route across the plains and had stopped in all the right places to scan, but the Pin-tailed Sandgrouse had eluded us.

Well, I thought we were rather optimistic looking for this inconspicuous species at the time of day when it is most inactive, Martin pronounced.

Just then a female Pin-tailed Sandgrouse launched itself into the air from under our feet, and emitted an accusing “gahGAH!”.

Pin-tailed Sandgrouse nest with 3 eggs

Did you know that Lleida is just an hour by train from the centre of Barcelona?

That you can arrive early in the morning, bird all day, and go back to the metropolis in the evening, if you so desire?

That the nearest steppes and their birds are on the edge of Lleida?

Not sure I’m telling you the truth? Let’s look at a case example:

June 12th, 2009

Kevin from the USA got the train from Barcelona, arriving at Lleida station at 07:20 hours. I was waiting for him at the station, so the first bird were just a short drive away, literally on the edge of town.

We spent the whole day birding within a 50km radius of Lleida, after which Kevin took the train back to Barcelona at about 8 o’clock in the evening.

It was a long, hot and brilliant birding day. Here’s some of what we saw:

Little Bustard – 4 males

Little Bustard: photo by Jan-Michael Breider

3 Pin-tailed Sandgrouse

Shrikes: Lesser Grey, Southern Grey and Woodchat Shrikes

Great Spotted Cuckoo – 1 adult, probably the last one we’ll see this year

Great Spotted Cuckoo: photo by Jan-Michael Breider

Lesser Kestrel – at least 6

Montagu’s Harrier – 4 males

Vultures: 2 Egyptian Vultures and about 10 Griffon Vultures

Eagles:  2 Bonelli’s Eagles, 3 Short-toed Eagles and 1 Golden Eagle

2 Red-necked Nightjars

1 Penduline Tit buiding a nest

Wheatears: 1 Black Wheatear and 1 Black-eared Wheatear

Larks: Short-toed, Lesser Short-toed, Calandra, Thekla and Crested Larks

Rollers: I lost count of the Rollers we saw 

Miscellany: 1 Little Owl, 1 Blue Rock Thrush, 1 Orphean Warbler, 1 Golden Oriole, Sardinian Warblers, Cirl Buntings, Bee-eaters, Iberian Green Woodpeckers, Red Kite, Western Bonelli’s Warblers, Stone Curlews ….

Stone Curlew: photo by Beat Rüegger

Check out the train timetables between Barcelona and Lleida with Renfe

It was a windy day on the Ebro valley plains for me and the Liberty Bird group from Switzerland. Looking for Dupont’s Larks was going to be hard work, luckily we had taken out our own insurance policy and were staying two nights at our hotel in nearby Lécera.

All told we had some pretty good birding. The highlights of one day and one morning’s birding in the plains were: Dupont’s Lark (seen on the second morning), Pin-tailed Sandgrouse, Black-bellied Sandgrouse, Black Wheatear, Golden Eagle, Egyptian Vulture, Montagu’s Harrier, Melodious Warbler, Wryneck, Tawny Pipit, Black-eared Wheatear and Lesser Kestrel.

Lesser Kestrel. Photo by Beat Rüegger

Next stop: the steppes between Candasnos and Ontiñena. Here our main birds were Black-necked Grebe, Red-crested Pochard, Booted Eagle, Little Bustard, Spectacled Warbler and Thekla Lark.

Booted Eagle. Photo by Beat Rüegger.

Then wonderful sunny weather in the Pyrenees just had to be shared with some special birds too. Lammergeier, Citril Finch, Alpine Chough, Honey Buzzard, Alpine Swift, Wryneck, Water Pipit and Bonelli’s Warbler are the birds that didn’t let us down in the mountains.

Western Bonelli’s Warbler. Photo by Beat Rüegger.

The next couple of days were spent in the plains and Pre-Pyrenees not far from my home town, Lleida. Everybody will remember the Ortolan Bunting, and I’m sure most will recall Rock Sparrow, Orphean Warbler, Blue Rock Thrush and the Sardinian Warbler. Sadly, I was the only one to see the female Rock Thrush at Mont-roig.

Ortolan Bunting. Photo by Beat Rüegger.

Oh yes! I should have mentioned the Bonelli’s Eagles, Little Bustards, Little Owls, Rollers, Stone Curlews and Bearded Tits. How forgetful I am at times. 

The Ebro Delta held up well to our scrutiny too. One of the rarer birds we saw was a handsome summer-plumaged Marsh Sandpiper, but there were a lot more waders to choose from. An assortment of little avian delights also included Temminck’s Stint, Little Bittern, Collared Pratincole and Mediterranean Gull. I am not going to write a long and rather tedious list of Ebro Delta bird names, so it should be enough to say we saw just about everything you could expect to see in the Ebro Delta in early May. 

See more of Beat Rüeggers photos from his Spanish and other bird tours on his website:

http://www.ornitour.ch/Photo_Galerie/PGSpanienreise09.html

Collared Pratincole. Photo by Beat Rüegger.

The whole trip ended with a list of 210 bird species in all – very good, but try saying them all in Swiss German!

A fine walk with a group of keen birding newbies from the castle of Montsonís was one of the last local activities I had the joy of organizing before starting serious tour work. We all enjoyed a beautiful spring day and a variety of good birds too: a pair of Egyptian Vultures making baby Egyptian Vultures, and also a pair of Bonelli’s Eagles. We had good looks at Bonelli’s Warbler, Chaffinch, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Swallow, House Martin, Crag Martin, Blackcap and Robin. I enjoyed it and, most importantly, so did the public.

Then came Tom and his lovely lady from Germany. Tom is a photographer, and to make bird photographers at least moderately happy is by no means an easy job. Well, thanks to the weather I had an even more complicated task. Day 1 came down to a drive in the increasingly heavy rain. On Day 2 I convinced them to visit Loarre castle, where it had just been snowing! It was really cold and Tom was about to pack his bags and leave. Luckily we had a clear spell around midday when the discovery of a dead sheep on a farm allowed him to get some very good shots of Egyptian Vulture, Griffon Vulture and Red Kite. Another castle nearby also provided the goods in the form of Chough, Spectacled Warbler and Blue Rock Thrush.

Unfortunately we were not together when I watched a Lammergeier breaking a bone later in the afternoon.  

On day 3 we were assailed by a buffeting wind – photos of Sardinian Warbler and Scarce Swallowtail were the hard-earned fruits of our labours that day.

Tom was then going to head on down to Extremadura. I hope he had better luck with this crazy spring weather!

Elisabeth and Mathias Danuser are a couple from Switzerland who came birding in northeast Spain with Beat Ruegger in April 2008. In fact they have been with me on 3 trips now: twice to Spain and once to Scotland.

They sent me the following photos of their last trip, which started in the Ebro Delta, passed through the steppes and ended in the high Pyrenees. The photos are theirs, the comments mine.

Slender-billed Gull in one of the bays in the Ebro Delta. One of the special gulls of the region. Was this after or before we spotted the Baillon’s Crake?

Black-winged Stilts at the Estany d’Ivars near Lleida. We were lucky that day, as we managed to catch up with the Red-necked Phalarope at the same site the last day it was there.

This Lammergeier came in for a closer look! We were up near Ordesa National Park and we didn’t know whether it was going to rain or snow. The sight of a dozen or so Lammergeiers against the spectacular backdrop of the Ordesa mountains was one of the last in a line of memorable experiences on this trip. 

This is part of the description of Neal Warnock’s last few days birding in northeast Spain. I hope he took back some fond memories, because the trip started disastrously for him: all his possessions and money (except his optics) were stolen from his hire car in the Ebro Delta. Then he had to contend with fog, snow and strong winds.

Heavy snow overnight meant that only up to km14 of the road to Coll de Pal was passable.  This meant no lammergeier, citril finch or snowfinch.  But I did manage to see nuthatch and short-toed treecreeper in the lower pine forests.  From the lookout at km11 I saw 1 griffon vulture, and 3 alpine accentor and a few alpine chough.  I managed to walk up to the crossbill sign area (in the snow!) and got great views of crested tit.

The next day at Cap de Creus a strong NE wind brought large numbers of balearic shearwaters close to shore.  I managed to pick out 2 Yelkouan amongst them and then managed excellent scope views of a bird sitting in the water in the cove to the south of the headland.

Male Bluethroat. Photo by Neal Warnock.

On my last day at Llobregat, the surprise bird of the trip I had mentioned turned up in the form of a juv goshawk over the main lagoon.  And finally, on my way towards another hide a stunning male bluethroat appeared (see photo) from nowhere.

Thanks for sharing the photo with us all Neal. And for not giving up on Spain after your unpleasant surprise!

Viaje ornitológico a Bulgaria para disfrutar, y también ayudar en la conservación del águila imperial oriental Aquila heliaca

Entre el 20 y 30 de mayo del 2009 podrías estar observando aves en Bulgaria, un país qua ha emergido en la última década como destino ornitológico de primero orden. En la compañía de uno de los mejores guías de Bulgaria y Steve West pasaremos 10 días disfrutando de montañas, cabos, humedales, bosques y una insospechada cantidad de aves muy interesantes. También estaremos contribuyendo directamente a la conservación del águila imperial oriental en Bulgaria.

Baja el pdf para ver todos los detalles y después contacta con Steve West :

steve@BirdingInSpain.com