BirdingInSpain

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The Montsonís Bonelli’s Eagles

Montsonís is a tiny village that clings to a hillside on the edge of the rocky Montsec range in Lleida province, Catalonia. For many years now I have been guiding birders there to enjoy thrilling views of the resident Bonelli’s Eagles*, and with great success.

….after enjoying views of the eagles we can then all saunter along to Montsonís itself, and have refreshments, a cup of tea or coffee perhaps, while admiring the village’s cobbled streets and the distinguished castle.

I was particularly concerned that something might happen to the Montsonís eagles.  I’m a conservationist, and I don’t want the eagles to disappear, full-stop.

… the Montsonís Bonelli’s Eagles hadn’t reared a chick successfully since 2005.

… it was in our hands to do something. So we recruited Ramon. With his regular walks from Montsonís up to the “sacrificial stone” we set in motion a supplementary feeding program with feral pigeons, caught from castles…

Our efforts bore their fruits. Ramon lost a few pounds, there are no more feral pigeons at Montsonís or even nearby Montclar castle, and the local pair of Bonelli’s Eagles raised a healthy chick for the first time in 6 years!

You can read the full story in the accompanying Pdf – just click on the link above.

And the title of this post? Well, we have a great Raptor Card Game and we think it’s a good idea to have short personal stories that can accompany the cards in a separate booklet. Do you have any stories of your own that concern raptors that can be seen in Spain? Would you like to submit them and perhaps see them published here and/or in the Raptor Card Game booklet?

If so, let us have them!!!

Raptor Silhouettes

Click on the link to see the original raptors silhouettes poster on Facebook and the subsequent thread:

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1804478012259&set=a.1102006330906.13706.1849165005&type=1&theater

By popular request we have to give the answers – already! So if you want to have a go yourself first of all, don’t look at the following.

Raptor Silhouettes – the Answers:

1. Egyptian Vulture

2. Honey Buzzard

3. Booted Eagle

4. Black Vulture

5. Eleonora’s Falcon

6. Marsh Harrier

7. Hen Harrier

8. Short-toed Eagle

9. Black-winged Kite

10. Hobby

11. Montagu’s Harrier

12. Bonelli’s Eagle

13. Common Kestrel

14. Goshawk

15. Osprey

16. Black Kite

17. Peregrine

18. Red-footed Falcon

19. Griffon Vulture

20. Golden Eagle

21.  Merlin

22. Common Buzzard

Oops! I got one wrong accidentally on purpose! Can anyone tell me which one?

Last autumn I took a series of photos of animal tracks while out scouting around my favourite drylands to the south of Lleida. I found a really productive dusty track, and it got me wanting to be an expert tracker, which I doubt I will ever be! Nevertheless, I would like to identify the authors of these tracks with some degree of certainty.

Can anyone help?

Check out the album by following the link below, and if you do know the answers then please tell me in one way or another – comment on FB, this blog or an e-mail.

The link:

Photos of mammal and bird tracks

Thank you so much for your help!

In May we discovered a Hoopoe nest site, just at the right time for us to set up a hide for our bird photographer guests.

A photo of one of “our” Hoopoes by Eric McCabe

Lovely, striking birds, which performed wonderfully for the photographers, perching on a branch with fat grubs in their bills before entering a hole in a stone wall where their nest was located. The perch was also much in demand by a local Corn Bunting and a singing Thekla Lark.

Hoopoe from the Hoopoe hide. Photo by Jordi Bas. 

After a few weeks on a recce visit it seemed to me that the Hoopoes had left the nest. But surely the young ones would be somewhere in the vicinity for a while yet? I had to check that idea, so I decided to get hold of some worms to tempt them back to the hide.

A day or so later I tried on the offchance at our local Decathlon store. I was amazed! In the fishing section they had a fridge with several types of worms or maggots that looked ideal for the purpose! Happy with my purchase I duly transfered them to our own fridge and waited for the right moment to act…

Hoopoe, but from the wrong hide (the Montagu’s Harrier hide). 

A couple of days later I was back at the Hoopoe scene, eager to see how effective the “worm ploy” would be. I placed the two classes of worms in strategic, visible places and waited. And waited…nothing. The Hoopoes had definitely moved on. And I still had two half-full tubs of worms. Some of them were left out for the Rollers, the rest went back into the family fridge.

And what did I see just as I was leaving the drylands? A family group of no fewer than 6 Hoopoes flying together over a small patch of pine trees. OUR Hoopoes, for sure, ungrateful lot!

I have to remember to take the rest of the worms out of the fridge and offer them to a local bird or two – there’s a shriek every time Florinda opens one of the pots thinking it contains paté!

The first edition of the Anuari d’Ornitologia de Catalunya (Catalan Bird Report) was published in 1998, but covered observations for the year 1996. At the time it was edited by the Grup Català d’Anellament (Catalan Ringing Group), which later changed its name to the present-day Institut Català d’Ornitologia (ICO – Catalan Institute of Ornithology).

The report compiled the observations of no fewer than 465 contributors, quite a remarkable landmark and a proud moment for ringing and birding in Catalonia. This was already a far call from the 129 observers involved in the making of the Breeding Bird Atlas of Catalonia and Andorra 1975-1983.

The Anuari compiled a total of more than 5,000 observations of rare and scarce birds, censuses, population estimates, migration dates, changes in distribution and the opportunity to publish observations from many areas around the country that would otherwise have gone unnoticed.

And 1996 was quite a good year as far as rarities are concerned: the Ebro Delta alone took account of Spain’s second Rough-Legged Buzzard, the country’s first ever overwintering Terek Sandpiper, Catalonia’s first Black-headed Bunting, Least Sandpiper and Greater Sandplover (together!), Citrine Wagtail, Lesser Yellowlegs….

Although Lleida is not in the same league, it certainly had its say: 2 White-headed Ducks that arrived in 1994 stayed until late winter, up to 1,000,000 starlings were observed at their roost at Utxesa (the site has never seen such numbers since), a winter Grey Phalarope, 21 of the 30 pairs of Montagu’s Harrier breeding in Catalonia were on the Lleida steppes, and a Ruddy Duck turned up at Utxesa at the end of the year.

With this first edition the figure of coordinador comarcal was also established, a position rather like a County Recorder, and a first compiler and filter of interesting records for his/her sphere of influence.

The report also included a summary of the ornithological year in English and in Catalan, as well as an annotated systematic list, with the most interesting or relevant observations of each species ordered by “comarca”. A complete bibliography could not be left out of course, and interest was maintained right to the end by the inclusion of detailed articles on identification problems (for example Yellow-legged Gulls and tristis Chiffchaff).

An excellent first edition, creating interest and cohesion and marking the way for additions and improvements in the following years. Long life!

Els dies 7, 8 i 9 de juny vam estar amb L’UGT – Agents Rurals com a ponents d’un curset d’identificació d’aus marines de Catalunya.

De fet el primer curs d’aus marines es va fer l’any passat des de Salou, durant el mes de maig. Es veu que hi havia molta demada i així vam tindre la sort de poder repetir enguany.  

En total els 20 participants vam passar unes 20 hores aprenent sobre la biologia i l’identifació de les aus marines de Catalunya. Segurament, però, la part que ens va agradar més eren les 2 sortides que vam realitzar des del port de Tarragona. Vam tindre la sort de gaudir de bon temps, a pesar de les previsions més pessimistes, i vam acabar amb una llista d’espècies molt semblant a la de l’any passat: Ocell de Tempesta, Baldriga Mediterrània, Baldriga Balear, Baldriga Cendrosa, Paràsit Cuaample (és una cita força tardana o només ho sembla a mi?), Paràsit Gros, Paràsit Cuapunxegut, Mascarell, Xatrac Bec-llarg, Xatrac Comú, Corb Marí Gros, Corb Marí Emplomallat, Gavina Corsa, Gavina Riallera, Gavià Argentat de Potes Grogues, Gavià Fosc. I dues espècies noves: Fumarell Negre i Bec d’Alena!

Veure l’article original aquí

Roy Mangersnes and his Wildphoto photographers came to the drylands of Lleida to photograph displaying Little Bustards, Stone Curlew, Little Owl, Bee-eater, Montagu’s Harrier and more last week. By all accounts they had a great time and got some excellent shots.

You can read Roy’s blog entry at this link. 

And see a small selection of his photos.

By the way, some of the birds that could be seen at or near the photo sites in the previous blog article:

Pallid Swift, Melodious Warbler, Yelkouan Shearwater, Bonelli’s Eagle

Sardinian Warbler, Bonelli’s Eagle, Black Wheatear, Griffon Vulture

Peregrine Falcon, Red-billed Chough, Crag Martin, Crossbill

Golden Eagle, Water Pipit, Rock Thrush, Black Redstart

Bittern, Bearded Tit, Montagu’s Harrier, Calandra Lark

I don’t know how far people in the know go these days to define art, but here’s a minor contribution to the debate.

And another one:

And another:

This one’s not art, it’s about Choughs…

You could hang this one upside-down and it would be the right way up. Now isn’t that cool?

This one invites comment… I said “This one invites comment”….No?

The cold spells we have been through here in Catalonia have ensured that the Almond Trees didn’t start flowering until close to the end of February. In more settled, warmer winters flowering may advance a couple of weeks or even more, which puts the entire almond harvest at great risk from a late frost.

It’s a time worth waiting for. The days are drawing out, and one can easily be fooled into thinking that spring is already here. Especially when the strident tones of the marvellous Great Spotted Cuckoo ring out from a nearby tree on the plains, and I realize that it is not someone calling me on my mobile phone (the dial tone is a Great Spotted Cuckoo as chance would have it!) but rather the real thing.

Almond tree blossom with Great Spotted Cuckoos, bliss!