BirdingInSpain

Northeast Spain, September 6-19, 2008 (Edited for brevity version; photos added by BirdingInSpain.com)

Here is the birding summary of our (Cheryl and Kurt Gaskill and Molly and Peter Ross) September trip to Spain, centered about 200 km on Barcelona.

In total, we birded for an estimated 51.5 hours in about 8 days.  Notes indicate 167 species and over 8800 individuals were observed and Kurt tallied about 45 lifers and Peter 68.

References we used were the excellent book by Steve West, “Where the Birds are in Northeast Spain”. We found Palmer and Fidel’s “A Birdwatching Guide to Eastern Spain,” Arlequin Press, Chelmsford, 2001 of some value.  Of great value was the website “Birding in Spain,” (http://www.birdinginspain.com/ mainly by Steve West) which was consulted extensively before the trip. Overnight accommodations at the key sites of Barcelona, Ebro Delta, Alcaniz, Montsonis, Arseguel (west of La Seu d’Urgell in the Pyrenees), and Siurana were secured before the trip began.

We drove down to the Ebro Delta late Thursday Sept 11 and the next day we began birding.  Despite the strong NW winds this day and the next, it was one of the best birding sites for the trip!  The majority (ca. 80%) of the Ebro Delta is cultivated for rice, but it still has many wetlands plus beach/shore areas; it is a well-known breeding area for Andouin’s Gull.

We began birding and quickly saw many shorebirds such as Black-tailed Godwits and Curlew Sandpipers; there were lots of dark-winged terns plus the occasional Zitting Cisticola.  All 3 of the dark-winged terns were spotted that first morning:  Black, White-winged and Whiskered Terns.  We birded throughout the day on the north side of the Ebro River, ending at a large hide near our hotel that overlooked a brackish pond filled with waterfowl and coots (including the Red-knobbed Coot).

Crested Coot (or Red-knobbed Coot if you prefer)

The next morning we concentrated on the south side of the Ebro River.  The best location was the Riet Vell wetland which consisted of about 4 man-made cells, each about 2 acres, with various levels of water.  We tallied 18 species of shorebird at Riet Vell and the total included the only Temminck’s Stint of the trip.

Overall, the Ebro Delta added 82 trip species to our list, sometimes in impressive numbers, and the species found only here were: Great Crested Grebe, European Shag, Black-crowned Night Heron, Squacco Heron, Great (White) Egret, Glossy Ibis (ca. 365), Greater Flamingo (ca. 260), Common Shelduck, Gadwall, Northern Pintail, Red-crested Pochard, Common Pochard, Merlin, Common Moorhen, Purple Swamphen, Eurasian Coot (ca. 500), Red-knobbed (or Crested) Coot, Black-winged Stilt, Pied Avocet, Common Ringed Plover, Kentish Plover, Sanderling, Little Stint, Temminck’s Stint, Curlew Sandpiper, Black-tailed Godwit, Spotted Redshank, Marsh Sandpiper, Green Sandpiper, Mediterranean Gull (a beautiful gull), Andouin’s Gull (another beautiful gull), Gull-billed, Caspian, Sandwich, Common, Whiskered, Black and White-winged Terns, Lesser Short-toed Lark, Northern Wheatear, Savi’s Warbler, Sedge Warbler, and Eurasian Tree Sparrow.  In addition, the Little Egret numbers (ca. 220) were wonderful.

Purple Gallinule and Red-crested Pochard

Part 2 soon…

Friday the 15th August is the starting date for this year’s British Bird Fair at Rutland Water. An event which every birder should attend at least once. I’ll be there again this year, representing BirdingInSpain.com on the Catalan Tourist Board stand. Take a look, not least of all to take part in the brain-teasing raptor silhouette challenge.

Preparations for such a world-shaking event must be made, but nevertheless, life goes on. Which meant that on Monday and Tuesday I was out in the field, guiding an American couple, firstly around Lleida and then down at the Ebro Delta. Not the best time of the year for a short birding trip, you may say. Indeed not. With daytime temperatures above 35ºC and the absence or scarcity of some earlier migrants, August is not the time of year that most birders choose for their visit to Spain.

However, Elliot Tramer and his patient companion, Chris, are an agreeable couple, and Elliot has a mission: to see 1,000 bird species in the space of a year. To keep in line with that target Elliot decided that he had to visit a European country, and that Spain was probably his best bet.

And how did he get on? Well, after a week in the Gredos mountains he came to me with 100 new species already on his year list. In the two days we were together I believe he added another 53.

I know that Elliot satisfied his numerical aims, although I don’t know if there was any birding moment that was a particular highlight for him. For me it was satisfaction enough that we were actually seeing the species that I knew should be there, in spite of the burden placed upon us by the “August factor”.  Personally, though, I was particularly pleased about the Pin-tailed Sandgrouse and the Red-necked Nightjar!

And to use his own words “Seeing a Red-necked Nightjar like that means that we end with a bang and not a fizzle”. Well spoken, Elliot, bon voyage and good luck in your bird quest!

Jan-Michael Breider, from Sweden, was one of the first bird photographers to come on our photographic trip, especially organized for photographing displaying Little Bustard and Lammergeier.

He has kindly informed me that some of the results can be seen among his galleries at the following link:

Jan-Michael Breider’s photo gallery of his spring trip to Catalonia

I’m sure most of you would agree that he didn’t do badly at all! Enjoy!

Anyone interested in this and other bird photography trips in Catalonia should get in touch with BirdingInSpain.com.

Let’s face up to the facts: birders are mostly male. And most males grow up, many of them get married and form a family. At that stage they have to make a difficult decision: either give up birding or find a way of combining it with parental duties.

I consider the former option too drastic for general contemplation, so let’s look at how the latter can be achieved.

In between birding trips to exotic locations with the mates and bird clubs the birding father should assist in the programming of at least one family holiday where birds are not, apparently, the primary focus. In such cases it is better for the birding father to take an active part at the planning stage, rather than grumpily washing his hands of the whole thing and just going along with the plans the wife makes. Why? Well because then the birding father can actually have some say in the holiday destination.

If the wife is set on a classic beach holiday on the Costa del Sol but the father birder would much rather go to the Pyrenees then he has to offer something more than the possibility of seeing Lammergeier, Black Woodpecker and Citril Finch in order to tip the balance.

If the children are fun-loving and hyperactive, like most kids are, try tempting them with some of the activities that Yeti Emotions offer: rafting, hydrospeed, canoeing, ravine descent, mountain biking, horse-riding, archery, orienteering, even a trip in a hot air balloon.

Look at the full details on the Yeti emotions website

Or click on the link on the Aiguestortes East itinerary on the BirdingInSpain.com website.

It just so happens that the village of Llavorsí, where Yeti Emotions have their home base, is a short drive from the mountain village of Espot, the natural gateway to the eastern side of the Aigüestortes National Park. Here I can give you a very valuable tip: stay at the Roca Blanca Hotel.

I’ve stayed in this wonderful, tastefully furnished and very friendly hotel 3 times now. Twice with Naturetrek groups and once with the family. Josep and Anna are the proprietors and the managers of Roca Blanca and form an important part of the conspiracy that aims to make your stay an unforgettable one. Then there’s the fresh local produce offered for breakfast, with delicious croissants, yoghourts, cold meats and more; the mountain scenery, the peace and quiet, the spacious, delightful rooms and the local Scop’s Owls and Dippers too. Do not accept imations – there aren’t any.

From Espot do a spot of gentle trekking. There are too many options to mention, but one of my family favourites is to follow the path that goes from the car park at the Park’s entrance, follows a boardwalk through the forest, along the river, past meadows, a hermitage, and up to the lake of Sant Maurici. Recently we did this itinerary ourselves, and between competitions at finding the best formed pine cone, pine cone throwing contests, tree-girdling, orientation exercises, cooling off by the river, drinking from the spring and even a short introduction to bird song, we were at the lake before we realised. Excellent! And at the lake everyone had the chance of trying out their photographic abilities.

And the birds that we couldn’t help noticing? Citril Finch, Crossbill, Crested Tit, Black Woodpecker (calling). Well, not bad for a gentle introduction.

The next day, after an interesting and informative visit to the National Park visitor centre in Espot, follow the Son and Jou itinerary . For the first stop take a relaxed stroll around the tiny village of Estaís, admiring its narrow streets, stone houses and picturesque pocket-sized graveyard; and the surrounding fields, full of flowers and insect life. Try and get the family to help you spot the scarce and marvellous Apollo Butterfly and explain what the local Red-backed Shrikes do with grasshoppers when they’re not hungry.

Then continue on past Jou, and a little bit of adventure as you follow the track which winds its way up for more than 7 kilometres towards the forest refuge of Pla de la Font. Here father birder is in his element: take a walk through the black pine forest, gently imposing respectful silence on the family members, and if someone locates the scarce and shy Capercaillie, or the elusive Black Woodpecker, give them their just reward.

The grassy slope around the refuge is ideal for a picnic in the shade of a gnarled black pine, followed by a nice cup of tea or other refreshments in the forest refuge (if it’s open!). Take a sneaky look at the Ring Ouzel while eating your sandwich, and if you snooze a little try to keep one eye open for one of the Lammergeiers that often patrol this area. If so inclined, and able, climb and swing from a tree with the kids, and before heading back to the vehicle take in the breathtaking views from the nearby pass.

Lastly, put paid to the general idea that birders are insensitive to cultural heritage, monuments, or anything unrelated to birding, by stopping off at the village of Son to take in the wonderfully restored Romanic Church, and perhaps a party of Griffon Vultures sunning themselves on the rocks. Or a hovering Short-toed Eagle.

Remember the formula: Happy Children + Happy Wife = Happy Family Birding!

A Citril Finch has recently been found on Fair Isle, making it the latest “first” on the British list. Of course its finding has sparked a lot of interest, comments and hurried plane and ferry bookings!  Especially seeing  that it has been kind enough to stay  around and let the  twitchers catch up with it (is it still there?).

Naturally, conjectures fly about where it came from and how it got to the remote Fair Isle in the North Sea. It seems unlikely that we will ever know what strange mechanism was at work to make a Citril Finch, a short distance and vertical migrant with the nearest breeding areas located in Switzerland, to take flight, head northwards over Europe and then out over the North Sea to Fair Isle.

There is a possibility that the Citril Finch in question did not originate from Switzerland, but rather from even further afield, from the Spanish Pyrenees. I wouldn’t be surprised. When I was with the Naturetrek Catalonia tour on the edge of the Aigüestortes National Park on the 9th May we saw a good number of Citril Finches. And not at the normal altitudes of 1,800m or above, but rather around the nearby villages and at altitudes of 1,300m, and even less.

What’s more, at the beginning of June the Park’s guards had to postpone the traditional census of Ptarmigan and Capercaillie because of the inaccessibility of their mountain haunts. Apparently the north-facing slopes had 2 metres of snow!

Wouldn’t that be reason enough for a Citril Finch to get the wander lust?

We are back from a four day tour in eastern Spain and I’d like to thank you for your excellent web site – very useful. We had several days with strong winds which made listening complicated and kept the birds down. At 24th we were at El Planeron; the larks were singing frequently and the main objective – Dupont’s Lark was ticked.

The strong winds were of course disturbing in the Ebro delta – we had e.g. no Savi’s or Great Reed Wabler. But we did get close views of a Little Crake at Riet Vell and a Spotted Crake at Canal Vell the 25th. At the latter site a Little Bittern showed up briefly and a Black Tern flew past. At El Garxal there were lots of waders including some Marsh Sandpipers and among the Black-headed Gulls a single Mediterranean.

In Els Ports at the 27th we had good views of Griffon Vulure and Short-toed Eagle but didn’t see Bonelli’s. A Montagu’s Harrier was interesting to see at this height. We usually have it in Sweden at lowland. A single Rock Bunting was all we managed but three Blue Rock Thrushes were more comforting. One species we missed in the mountains was Black Wheatear.

We were 8 participants and the other 7 had never been in Spain for birdwatching. But they got really excited about birding in Spain and will for sure go back.

Kent Öhrn
Värnamo, Sweden

With a mixture of pride, apprehension and expectation BirdingInSpain.com can finally announce that the brand new section on Birding in Mallorca is now on-line.

Birders new to the charms of Mallorca should be pleasantly surprised to see that Mallorca is an important birding destination which has a good number of interesting birds such as Black Vulture, Eleonora’s Falcon, Balearic Warbler, Balearic Shearwater, Audouin’s Gull, Crested Coot and so many more. And that all the birding itineraries described in the eastern half of the island also take the birder through attractive and at times dramatic scenery.

Birders already versed in the birding delights of Mallorca, the largest of the Balearic Islands, can discover new itineraries, contemplate photographs of scenery and birds, look for the most suitable rural accommodation in the areas closest to the birds and download free maps.

BirdingInSpain.com could not have brought this new section to the international birding public without the help of our webmasters, Pol and Marc Rué. Two professionals who know their business and to whom we are extremely grateful. Thanks guys!

This is just a brief but punch-packed announcement that very very soon the BirdingInSpain.com website will have a brand new section covering the best birding sites in Mallorca (or Majorca if you prefer).

As with the original section dealing with birding in northeast Spain there will be free downloadable birding itineraries, habitat and bird photos, maps, recommended accommodation and more. Get informed about birds and birding in Mallorca, one of the most popular birding-while-you-holiday destinations in Europe.

CATALUNYA, NORTH EASTERN SPAIN – End of March, 2008.

It’s moonscape scenery – as dry and arid as one can imagine with stunted bare branched shrubs hugging the ground either side of the dust track road.    There’s a flicker of movement and a triumphant, muted call from Steve who’s pointing vigorously.   We’ve found the Spectacled Warbler, although it’s determined not to make too easy viewing.

We are in the driest part of Spain, north of Candasnos and we’ve gone into western Aragon, (Eagle Owl territory according to Steve) but the real surprise lies only a short distance away.  Suddenly we drive into an irrigated field on the edge of the plateau, and the colour tableau changes from grey and brown to lush green and colours of spring flowers;  on either side of the road a flock of Yellow Wagtails flicked their tails and showed off their brilliant colour, between 20 & 30 of them. What a contrast!

Earlier in the day in the drylands, we’d spent minutes watching both Black-bellied and Pin-tailed Sandgrouse after disturbing a young Bonelli’s Eagle from the ground.

If your birding is a part of  exploring varied scenery (& therefore habitats), then NE Catalunya with its plains, drylands, & the lower ranges of the Pyrenees is a place to visit.    The contrast is complete with a half day spent in the Montrebei Gorge which is a well trodden pass through the Montsec mountain range – fast running river, steep wooded cliffs with flowers, butterflies and our objective, the Wallcreeper.   En route we encounter Cirl Buntings, Rock Buntings and numerous Black Redstarts on their migration. Exactly on cue and deep in the gorge, a Wallcreeper displays for us on rocks opposite a convenient bench while we enjoy our sandwiches.

Three days of great birding guided by Steve achieving over one hundred species, that was real holiday.  (It did start to rain just as we arrived back at Lleida railway station to catch the Ave back to Barcelona – good timing!). I must mention the Great Spotted Cuckoos if only because the guru taught us that they parasitize on Magpies – what a useful bird – and the flock of Little Bustards who clearly quite enjoy posing for Steve’s clients.  I suspect that some of the quieter winter period may have been devoted to a little training!

Go to northern Catalunya in the spring migration season;  if you don’t know the region already you’ll get some surprises.   Thanks Steve.

Rupert Ormerod
Exmouth,
Devon.

Some appreciative words from Jim Mori, an American birder living in Japan:

On March 1, 2008, I had a great day in the drylands of Lleida with the pleasant company of Steve West. He is very adept in finding the birds and most species are easy to see in the open terrain of the region. The early morning was slightly overcast but pleasant, and the many flowering almond trees provided a fragrant and colorful backdrop. Among the various birds, we had good scope views of larks to sort out the Crested and Thekla Larks. Later, the Calandra Larks were much easier. There were also Red-legged Partridge, Bullfinch, Spotless Starling, Red-rumped Swallow, Chough, Southern Grey Shrike, and a flock of Pin-tailed Sandgrouse.

We returned to the atmospheric La Garbinada hotel for a full breakfast,
which included a glass of the local wine. Feeling pretty mellow for the
rest of the morning, I was not greatly disappointed in missing the Little
Owl we were looking for. There were many birds for the rest of morning,
including good views of Great Spotted Cuckoo, Red Kite, and a flock of
Little Bustards. We saw numerous raptors with Buzzards, Merlin, Marsh
Harrier, Hen Harrier, and a Golden Eagle.

In the afternoon we headed for the Montsec area. Along the cliffs there
were Rock Bunting, Alpine Accentors, Black Wheatear, and a pair of
Peregrines. Close by along the Noguera River there was a beautiful
Penduline Tit in bright plumage.

As the light was fading, I was impressed that Steve could find a Stone
Curlew while driving and scanning the fields. The bird is not so easy to
see even when you know where it is. It was especially gratifying to end the
trip with this bird since we had been searching for it all day.

With recent splits and lumps it is sometimes hard to figure out what is a
seperate species. Using various field guides and webpages, I decided the
Red-rumped Swallow was not a new species for me, since we have the same
bird in Japan. However, the Buzzard turned out to be a new bird since it is
split from the similar Eastern Buzzard in Japan. Overall, the exciting day
had over 50 species with 21 new ones for me.

Jim Mori