BirdingInSpain

Hide Photography in Catalonia

This is the cover of the attractive new brochure on bird photography in Catalonia just edited by Birding In Spain and La Sabina.

It’s packed with some great bird photos – all of them taken from our hides – and tons of relevant information about bird photo trips and hide use, location, species etc.

A big thanks to all who contributed to make it possible, above all photographers who contributed a lot of the photos, such as Yves Adams, and especially to Eva Solanes. Eva was responsible for the graphic design and we think she did an excellent job. Congratulations Eva!

Anyone interested in seeing more of this brochure can request a copy by sending us an e-mail.

Happy birding, and great photography!

Extreme weather II

April 2013 ended with 6 consecutive days of rain, at times very heavy, at what was the height of our plains in spring photography season. This was very annoying to some of our guest photographers, having to face up to the challenge of getting photos of plains birds from our hides without getting soaked or coated in mud. Sometimes the challenge was just getting to the hides!

Little Owls had to make do with what they could find

This was irksome, but worst still for us was the bird side of things: Small colonies of Bee-eaters were excavating nests one day and just “gone” the next, perhaps to reappear when the rain stopped, or perhaps not; Little Owls and Lesser Kestrels seemed to be relying on millipedes to tide them through hard times in the complete absence of grasshoppers; male Little Bustards occasionally threw their heads back in a half-hearted display but downright refused to do anything that could be construed as a “jump”.

Little Bustards were not convinced about the advantages of jumping. Photo by Jordi Bas.

Then came the summer, and things returned to normal, or a close resemblance of it. Rollers started inspecting the nestboxes we had put up for them; Hobbies were using regular perches in the vicinity of their nest; and one day I located a Green Woodpecker’s nest with several tiny chicks in the hollow trunk of an old almond tree.

Rollers were ousted from nestboxes by the violent storms. Photo by Jordi Bas.

In June a hailstorm hit the plains area. Only 3 villages were mentioned in the local news, but those 3 places mark the area of the drylands where these birds were nesting. That week I went back to the Green Woodpecker’s nest and checked: there’d be no chicks raised from that particular brood, as the nest was flooded. Maybe the adults could try again, but what about Little Bustards and Montagu’s Harriers nesting unprotected in the open fields? How would they have fared?

One of the nesting Hobbies was killed by the hail.

But worst was yet to come. About two weeks later another hailstorm hit almost exactly the same area. And this time round it was really virulent. The day after scenario couldn’t be more disheartening: one of the nesting Hobby pair was lying dead at the foot of the nesting tree; the lid of one of the Roller nestboxes had been blown off and the contents completely cleaned out; Montagu’s Harriers were nowhere to be seen.

A Green Woodpecker’s nest was “flooded out”. Photo by Wim de Groot.

Somebody should be quoted here. Perhaps Mark Twain  “Climate is what we expect, weather is what we get”, or perhaps Frank Lane “If you want to see the sunshine, you have to weather the storm”.

Je vais donc selon la tradition, me présenter!

Je m’appelle Roger Isoard et je suis adhérent au “Pic Vert” depuis un peu plus d’un an. J’habite un peu loin du voironnais dans un petit village perdu des Alpes de Haute-Provence. Quand mon emploi du temps me le permet j’essaie aussi de faire quelques photos animalières, surtout les oiseaux. J’y suis venu parce que j’aime la nature, d’ailleurs j’y ai même par tradition villageoise pratiqué la chasse jusqu’à vingt ans (je suis à la retraite!!) puis la passion de la nature et du vivant s’est vraiment affirmée. J’ai d’abord été naturaliste, (je le suis toujours!) j’ai été tenté par la digiscopie avant de devenir amateur photographe et un oiseau ou un quelconque bestiau dans l’œilleton de mon appareil me provoque toujours autant d’émotion!

J’ai donc eu la chance de passer quelques jours en Catalogne dans des affuts et je suis encore époustouflé des observations que nous avons faites, notamment le Bonnelli et l’autour! J’ai donc choisi quelques photos sur les centaines prises (3 par espèces de rapace!)

Steve, encore merci pour les magnifiques moments de nature que tu nous as permis de passer à Montsonis et félicitations pour ton savoir-faire, ta connaissance des espèces et ton professionnalisme.

Je souhaite que ces actions contribuent fortement à la connaissance et à la protection de ces espèces et de leurs habitats et aussi à la création du activité économique sur la dialectique développement-protection.

Je t’autorise à utiliser ce texte et photos pour ton blog en te souhaitant beaucoup de succès.

Bien amicalement et bonnes photos!

Roger

Thank you for your enthusiasm and kind words Roger, and of course for sharing these photos with us all!

Lammergeier photography with Birding In Spain

Photo by Franck Renard

Lammergeier photography in Spain is becoming more and more popular, especially among European photographers. And the demand for getting a great photo or many photos of Lammergeiers is nowadays justification enough for making a photo trip to Spain.

Photo by Franck Renard

In 2007 Steve West of Birding In Spain initiated a partnership with travel agent’s Montiline and local wildlife photographer Jordi Bas to satisfy part of the growing demand for bird photo trips using photographic hides. At that time we decided that the priority bird species for hide photography were the Little Bustard on the plains and the Lammergeier in the Pyrenees. Of course the Lammergeier also came with its inseparable colleagues the Griffon Vulture, and quite often the reintroduced Black Vulture too.

Photo by Jan Pedersen

When we started ours was the third hide for Lammergeier photography in the Pyrenees of Spain, and the first private site. Now new sites for Lammergeier photography are popping up like mushrooms, as too are local companies who offer something akin to the photo trip format that our work and our clients taking great photos of Lammergeier, vultures, bustards etc have made a reality.

Photo by Frank Dröge

Without knocking the competition who are delving into bird photo trips, setting up hides for Lammergeier photography, hides where you can photograph Little Bustards, etc., we sincerely believe that they are largely missing the point. Why? Well, if we explained that in too much detail we might help them to find the edge they are missing! What we really recommend is that you book your own bird photo trip with us – Lammergeiers, vultures, Bonelli’s Eagle, Little Bustard, etc –  and find out for yourselves what makes us different, and better.

Photo by Chris Schenk

We are very proud that many of our Birding In Spain photography clients have returned to us for their third or fourth trip. We are also proud of them, and would like to extend our thanks to all those discerning bird photographers who have enjoyed our bird photo trips over the last 5 years. A big seasonal greeting goes out to you from Steve West, Ramon and Jordi, and we hope to see many of you back with us in Spain in 2013.

Photo by Chris Schenk 

Remember! Participants of photo tours with Birding in Spain www.birdinginspain.com are also encouraged to display their work, or at least some of their good bird photos, on www.Birdpictures.pro.

If you’re new to this concept, but would like to know more contact Steve West at www.birdinginspain.com for more information about photographing Lammergeier and other photo tours.

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.

Birdpictures.pro is a community-based website aimed at…bla…bla…bla…STOP! Cut it! Just answer these questions in your head, or out loud if that is your preference:

• Do you like looking at quality bird photos taken by some of Europe’s best bird photographers?

• Do you think that giving these photos your rating using a 5-star system is worthwhile and engaging?

• Do you ever feel tempted to comment on the photos you are looking at?

• Do you consider yourself to be a good bird photographer, with photos of European birds of your own that you would like to upload to Birdpictures.pro?

• Have you got your own photography website to which you would like to attract more visitors?

• Are you happy for people to know who you are, and to see what bird photos you are capable of taking?

Do you answer yes to any of these questions, but you refuse to look at Birdpictures.pro out of pure bloody-mindedness?

Birdpictures.pro, a growing bird photography community. Even for the bloody-minded.

In the course of our plain birds photo trip season we set up a couple of hides for Bee-eaters. At one of these one of our guests told us that there was a Stone Curlew’s nest just a few metres behind the hide! He had watched and photographed the adult birds on and around the nest.

We made careful note of the nest’s location, it was no easy task to locate without references, and made an additional hole in the back of the hide to allow our guests to photograph Stone Curlews and Bee-eaters in the same session. Entrance and exit from the hides was carried out with great care and efficiency to ensure minimum disturbance to the birds.

There were two speckled eggs deposited in a tiny scoop in the soft earth. One day from the hide the occupant watched the eggs hatch, the next day there was no sign of adults or the nidifugous chicks.

A week or so later I was setting up a hide in a new location where there were largish gatherings of Stone Curlews. I had chosen a likely-looking spot and had already planted the hide when I noticed something at barely a metre from where I was standing. I looked closer, and saw a fluffy little Stone Curlew chick! It couldn’t have been more than a few days old, and was lying completely motionless, putting complete faith in its “invisibility”. After taking a couple of quick shots I made a hasty retreat to allow the adult birds to return and move their chick on to a safer spot.

Stone Curlews: the benefits and dangers of not being seen!