BirdingInSpain

100 butterflies

The Birding In Spain butterfly list of 2014

 Common name

1. Swallowtail
2. Scarce Swallowtail
3. Spanish Festoon
4. Apollo*
5. Black-veined White
6. Large White
7. Small White
8. Green-veined White
9. Bath White
10. Orange-tip
11. Moroccan Orange Tip
12. Clouded Yellow
13. Berger’s Clouded Yellow
14. Brimstone
15. Cleopatra
16. Wood White
17. Provence Hairstreak
18. Green Hairstreak
19. Sloe Hairstreak
20. False Ilex Hairstreak
21. Ilex Hairstreak
22. Blue Spot Hairstreak
23. Small Copper
24. Scarce Copper*
25. Long-tailed Blue
26. Lang’s Short-tailed Blue
27. Holly Blue
28. Little Blue
29. Osiris Blue
30. Green-underside Blue
31. Black-eyed Blue
32. Panoptes Blue
33. Silver-studded Blue
34. Brown Argus
35. Mother-of-Pearl Blue
36. Chalk-hill Blue
37. Adonis Blue
38. Common Blue
39. Duke of Burgundy Fritillary
40. Nettle-tree Butterfly
41. Monarch
42. Plain Tiger*
43. Southern White Admiral
44. Camberwell Beauty
45. Peacock Butterfly
46. Small Tortoiseshell
47. Large Tortoiseshell
48. Red Admiral
49. Painted Lady
50. Queen of Spain Fritillary
51. Comma Butterfly
52. Cardinal Fritillary
53. Silver-washed Fritillary
54. High Brown Fritillary
55. Dark Green Fritillary
56. Twin-spot Fritillary
57. Marbled Fritillary
58. Glanville Fritillary
59. Knapweed Fritillary
60. Spotted Fritillary
61. Meadow Fritillary
62. Provençal Fritillary*
63. Heath Fritillary
64. Marsh Fritillary
65. Spanish Fritillary
66. Marbled White
67. Iberian Marbled White
68. Esper’s Marbled White
69. Western Marbled White
70. Spanish Marbled White
71. Grayling
72. Tree Grayling*
73. Striped Grayling*
74. Black Satyr
75. Great Banded Grayling
76. False Grayling*
77. Piedmont Ringlet
78. Autumn Ringlet*
79. Meadow Brown
80. Dusky Meadow Brown*
81. Gatekeeper
82. Southern Gatekeeper
83. Spanish Gatekeeper
84. Small Heath
85. Dusky Heath
86. Pearly Heath
87. Chestnut Heath
88. Speckled Wood
89. Wall Brown
90. Large Wall Brown
91. Grizzled Skipper
92. Oberthür’s Grizzled Skipper
93. Safflower Skipper
94. Red Underwing Skipper
95. Marbled Skipper
96. Mallow Skipper
97. Dingy Skipper
98. Large Skipper
99. Small Skipper
100. Silver-spotted Skipper*

* Denotes a butterfly seen in 2014 but not with clients present.

Bearing in mind that it’s not always a given thing to get birders to look at butterflies we consider that there are some interesting insects on this list.

The targets for 2015 are to fill in a few of the gaps, especially as far as the later species are concerned. It would also be great to gain some more confidence with some of those challenging “blues”.

Birding In Spain’s Traveller’s Code of Conduct

General guidelines

1. As a nature lover and traveller we believe you should stand up and be noticed. But just make sure it’s for the right reasons…

2.Be sensible with water use, spare it when possible.

3. Accept advice and guidelines on how to minimize your carbon footprint when travelling.

4. Accept that some things are done differently in other places, and try to enjoy the difference.

5. Remember that a smile can go a long way, with very little energy expenditure!

6. Think about how your acts could disturb wildlife, and if and how that disturbance can be avoided.

7. Although not an Encyclopaedia your local guide should be a good source of information about local nature, geography, traditions, etc.

8. Sharing information about sites and species on forums etc. is a free choice, but one which could have negative consequences – the guide’s livelihood, the wildlife and habitat and, in the end, the value of the experience for other people could all suffer.

9. Small rural or family run hotels will notice your passing and usually be grateful for it. City hotels and hotel chains will probably not. If you go where you make a difference and the local people know you go there for nature that in itself will help to create positive attitudes towards the protection of nature.

10. Be aware that not everybody speaks English! Sometimes a few words or phrases in the local language can go a very long way, and the will to communicate even further.

11.Trust in your guide’s judgement about how close to get to wildlife, and what techniques should or shouldn’t be used to enhance your observation experience. One major difference between a guide and a one-time visitor is that the guide expects to return to a site.

12. If possible, look into the possibilities of public transport (bus, train, underground) before jumping into a taxi or going for a rental car.

13. Do not obstruct the daily activities or circulation of local people, or access to fields, homes, etc.

14. What’s the better souvenir, artisan foods or produce bought in a village or town shop where they are produced, or something whipped up at the airport Duty Free?

15.Try to make a difference to conservation. Contribute to a local cause, patronize information centre shops and cafés, stay close to the places you have come to visit.

Notes

What we mean in point 1 here is that we believe nature conservation will reap more benefits if the right people and reasons come under the spotlight of local people’s and regional stakeholders’ gazes. Responsible tourism can sow and reap part of its own harvest, by contributing to the continued existence of what travellers are there to see or to experience.

Responsible tourists and nature travellers can influence their public profile by their own behaviour and choices, which in turn influences the general public’s perception of them and their influence. In most developed countries it is almost impossible for responsible tourism and nature travel to compete on economic impact terms with mass tourism (beach holidays, skiing, etc) but it has many good possibilities to outdo mass tourism on the grounds of perceived costs and benefits to the local inhabitants and small-scale tourist infrastructures.

So for example a respectful foreigner carrying binoculars or a camera who enters a bar to drink a coffee, or a shop to buy some groceries, or who passes through reception at a small rural hotel is someone who stands out from the crowd. And that can be turned to the benefit of nature conservation. They are there to see the birds, to enjoy the natural landscapes, etc. and their presence makes a difference, no matter how small a difference. Perhaps their stay coincides with the tourist low season (as the period immediately after Easter usually is), perhaps local café owners can boast of the people of different nationalities who stop for a drink or a snack in their café; perhaps a farmer can be made to feel proud that his land holds populations of birds which are considered internationally important or attractive. That’s what we mean by being noticed for the right reasons. 

Introduction to Birdwatching

The optics company Optics-Pro.com based in Germany have released a pdf aimed at helping beginner birdwatchers to take their first steps into this engrossing hobby of ours.

Essentially the pdf is a FAQs answer sheet focusing on the choice and use of birding optics (binoculars and spotting scopes), and how and where you can start watching birds and get the most out of it right from the beginning.

Reading through the file we found some sound advice for beginner birders, and on some aspects which are often neglected:

You should also learn bird calls, which can sound totally different to the singing.

About the importance of learning bird song and calls, couldn’t agree more. On the other hand, we’re not sure how much “fun” there really is in this proposal:

Scanning extensive rock walls for golden eagles or wallcreepers is a lot more fun with a powerful spotting scope and is also far more successful than with some simple binoculars.

Scanning extensive rock walls for Golden Eagles with a scope is one thing, but for Wallcreepers…well. Then there are also some “googled translations”, such as:

Drawing ruff often rest on dry fields

Possibly because of the effort of wielding a pencil for hours on end?

Joking aside, the authors have made an honest and open attempt to address the birdwatching fraternity on its own terms. And if you are curious to find out how travelling salesmen are related to the price of a good spotting scope you really should have a look at the document for yourself!

Interested? Just follow this link below to the page and then press the download button

An introduction to Birdwatching

Here is the second part of Ian Montgomery’s report on his recent trip with us to photograph raptors from our hides.

Now, at last, here is the one that I wanted to photograph above all else when in the Pyrenees: the Lammergeier, or Bearded Vulture.

As with other species that have featured in the bird of the week such as the Black Woodpecker and Cream-coloured Courser, my interest or perhaps obsession was stimulated by my Petersen et al. Field Guide to the Birds of Britain and Europe in the early 1960s. Unlike the woodpecker and the coursers, the European vultures were represented not on the coloured plates but in monochrome drawings. If anything, that made them more mysterious and elusive though two of them came spectacularly to life in 1963 when I saw Griffon and Egyptian Vultures during a family holiday in the Pyrenees. The Lammergeier, the mythical bone-breaker seemed destined to remain just that, as I knew it was very rare in Europe, extinct in the Alps, and found only over the highest mountain ranges. Even the name seemed straight out of Wagner’s Ring Cycle along with the Valkyries.

I had been warned by the reserve rangers that the Lammergeiers would appear, if at all, in the afternoon after the Griffons had had their fill and I also knew that they were shy, would initially cruise over the area without landing and could easily be put off by the movement of a large telephoto lens. So the suspense was great, and it was a thrill when the first immature bird landed some distance away just before midday. They kept on the fringes and it wasn’t until about 2:30pm they came close enough for decent photos. The bird in the second and third photo is an older immature bird – they take six or seven years to mature – and the feathers of the breast and legs are getting paler. It also has the red eye-ring of the adult.

In flight, fourth photo, they look quite different to other vultures with their back-swept rather pointed wings and long paddle-shaped tail. The thick plumage on the crown and neck sets them apart from typical vultures too, and when perched they hold their bodies in a horizontal eagle-like stance, presumably to keep their tails off the ground.

Their shape plus the whitish head of the adult is quite distinctive so it was an exciting moment when I saw the first one soaring in the distance over the mountain range that overlooked the feeding station. Much later, they started checking out the feeding area without landing. I was too wary of alerting them by movement so I took the fourth photo of an adult in flight much later.

Eventually, just before 3pm, the first adult landed, though like the juveniles, the adults stayed on the fringes as well and it wasn’t until 4:30pm that they came closer pick over the remains of the food carcasses and the real photography began.

The black bird on the left of the fifth photo is a Common Raven and it seems to be imitating the stance of the larger bird and saying ‘I’m a champion too’. It’s much closer to the camera which makes it look larger than it actually is. Thirteen seconds later the Lammergeier took flight right over the Raven’s head – it had to duck – as if to say ‘we’ll see who’s boss’, and the relative proportions are more obvious. The wing-span – to 280cm/110in – is similar to that of Griffon and Cinereous Vultures, but the tail makes it much longer – to 125cm/49in. Females are heavier than males, to 7kg/15lb, but both sexes are lighter than the other vultures.

The Lammergeiers wait until the others have finished because their food of choice is bones and bone marrow. In fact these make up 85% of the diet making them unique among birds and probably also vertebrates. The one in the sixth photo has found the favourite morsel, the digits of a cloven-hoof herbivore such as sheep and goats. Smaller bones ones are swallowed whole, larger ones – up to 4kg in weight – are dropped onto regularly used rocky areas called ossuaries to smash the bones. The usual pattern of the birds here was to scout around for suitable food, carry it off and then return perhaps 20 minutes later. They’re called ‘quebrando huesos’ (breaking bones) in Spanish. They’ll also take live prey such as tortoises, which get the same treatment. Legend has it that the Greek playwright Aeschylus was killed around 456 BC by an eagle – clearly a Lammergeier – dropping a tortoise on his bald head, mistaking it for a rock.

Conservation efforts have seen the Pyrenean population grow from 75 pairs in 1993 to 125 pairs in 2008 and the species has been successfully re-introduced to the Alps. It also occurs in eastern Africa, South Africa and Central Asia. Estimates of the global population range from 2000 to 10,000 individuals. Until recently, it was not considered globally threatened until recent declines outside Europe and it is now classified as near threatened. The greatest concern is the veterinary use of the anti-inflammatory and pain-killing drug Diclosfenac. Highly toxic to vultures, causing kidney failure, it has been solely responsible for the 99% decline in vulture populations in India, where it is now banned.

Horrifyingly, this drug has recently been approved for veterinary use in Spain and Italy. This insanity jeopardises the wonderful conservation efforts being carried out. BirdLife International has rallied to the cause, see http://www.birdlife.org/worldwide/news/vultures-africa-and-europe-could-face-extinction-within-our-lifetime-warn, and funds are being raised here https://www.justgiving.com/stop-vulture-poisoning-now/.

I’m going to donate. If we think that because there are no vultures in Australia, it’s someone else’s problem, it’s not unfortunately quite so simple. There is recent evidence that Diclofenac is toxic to Aquila eagles too. That includes the Wedge-tailed Eagle and this drug is approved for veterinary use here (e.g. ‘Voltaren’ for horses) and widely prescribed for human use. Studies have shown that it increases the risk of strokes in humans http://www.abc.net.au/news/2010-09-14/study-links-voltaren-to-strokes/2260424. Photographing Lammergeiers is a personal missió complerta (Catalan for misión completa). A much more important mission accomplished will be the global banning of this completely unnecessary and dangerous drug – there are safe alternatives.

Can Jan – the House!

http://canjan.co.uk/

We at Birding In Spain are delighted to announce that Can Jan now features as the main focus of attention for our recommended accommodation links. Birding-oriented visitors and nature lovers seeking quality accommodation for groups and for special celebrations in an idyllic setting need look no further!

Can Jan is a unique experience of luxury accommodation for up to 24 people.Here you can relax in complete serenity, or party as hard as you like within 500 acres of private woodland.

Whether it’s mountain biking, bird-watching, hiking, canoeing, horse riding or golf, Can Jan is the perfect base. See the sights of the charming, medieval town of Besalú only 10 minutes away, or simply relax by the pool.

Can Jan is situated in over 500 acres of private woodland including a great many hiking trails to explore on foot or two wheels, and these adjoin the extensive La Garroxta Natural Park. You will discover an extraordinary habitat full of birds (including nightingales and birds of prey), butterflies, amphibians, reptiles, deer, wild boar, polecats, weasels and wild mink. 

The Aiguamolls de l’Empordà nature reserve is a short drive away, and a visit here can be complimented with birding around the Cap de Creus or the Montgrí massif.

Can Jan – who wouldn’t?

Vulture visitors from Down Under

The following text and photos are kindly reproduced with the permission of their author, Ian Montgomery, who paid our raptor hides a visit this October.  

The first photo shows part of Boumort National Reserve in the foothills of the Pyrenees in Catalonia about 40km southwest of Andorra. A reserve since 1991, It has an area of 13,000 hectares and is of special importance as one of the only places in Europe where all four European species of vultures breed. Three occur naturally, while the fourth, the Eurasian Black or Cinereous Vulture has been reintroduced, after becoming extinct in the Pyrenees in recent decades. I made arrangements to visit it through Steve West of Birding in Spain, including getting the necessary permit to photograph these birds, accommodation and transport.

As part of the conservation effort, the vultures are fed three times a week and I was taken to the feeding site by two rangers who had collected carcasses and meat off-cuts from farmers in the vicinity. The site is equipped with a spacious and comfortable hide, complete with toilet, and I was left there alone for the day after they had spread out the meat and carcasses in front of the hide. When we arrived there were already between one and two hundred vultures, almost all Griffons, soaring high above. I had been briefed beforehand that the first arrivals would be Griffons, with Eurasian Blacks arriving later in the morning when the crowds thinned, while the iconic Lammergeier could be expected, probably, in small numbers in the middle of the afternoon. The fourth species, the Egyptian Vulture is a summer visitor and had already departed for Africa.

Sure enough, as soon as the rangers left, large numbers of Griffons glided in and squabbled noisily over the food. Griffons feed mainly on muscles and viscera and attacked the carcasses and pieces of meat with great gusto. The bird in the second photo showing its skill at balancing on a rock on one foot and waving the other is an adult, recognisable by its white ruff, horn-coloured bill and pale wing coverts. The one in the third photo is a juvenile, with grey bill, coffee-coloured ruff and darker wings. Juveniles generally had a covering of short plumage on the head and neck, while the adults often had relatively bare necks.

The breeding range of the Griffon Vulture extends from Portugal in the west to northeastern India and southwestern Kazakhstan in the east. Spain is its main stronghold in the west with about 8,000 pairs and the species is not considered under threat.

These birds are huge and it was wonderful to observe them up close. The black bird in the fourth photo sneaking a mouthful from under the watchful eye of a Griffon is a Common Raven. This is the largest passerine in the world, with a length of up to 67cm/26in and wingspan of up to 130cm/51in, larger than a Common Buzzard, but completely dwarfed by the vulture. Griffons are up to 110cm/43in in length, with a wingspan of up to 280cm/110in and weighting up to 11kg/24lbs.

In the air, they glide effortlessly and powerfully and the enormous wings make the body appear quite small by comparison. They come into land looking like parachutists under square canopies but with the ponderous, unwavering stability of a large aircraft like a B747 or an A380. Look how elegantly and precisely the toes are arranged with all the poise of an Olympic diver, fifth photo.

It really was an extraordinary experience watching the spectacle of these amazing birds, even if their table manners left much to be desired. The large amount of food disappeared at a great rate and the crowds started to disperse, leaving the scene, one hoped, for the later, rarer and more picky species. To be continued…

Greetings

Ian

Ian Montgomery, Birdway Pty Ltd,

454 Forestry Road, Bluewater, Qld 4818

Tel 0411 602 737 ian@birdway.com.au

Bird Photos http://www.birdway.com.au/

Where to Find Birds in Northern Queensland: iTunes; Google Play

Recorder Society http://www.nqrs.org.au

Birding northeast Spain

Here are some images to accompany the trip report we posted in the last blog entry:

Trip Report: Images from Late Winter Birding in Northeast Spain

A birding trip report kindly reproduced by permission of its author Steve Lane. We invite you to read this amiable report about how his group encountered Wallcreepers, Lammergeiers, Pin-tailed Sandgrouse, Black Wheatears and more in February last year.

Enjoy!  

Birding northeast Spain

Northeast Spain birding trip report February 2013

A birding trip report kindly reproduced by permission of its author Steve Lane. We invite you to read this amiable report about how his group encountered Wallcreepers, Lammergeiers, Pin-tailed Sandgrouse, Black Wheatears and more in February last year.

Enjoy!  

Raptorfest Special Offer

We are offering November Raptorfest photo trips with a 10% discount.

See full details here…

November Raptorfest photo trip special offer 

For example, the birds photographed in one day last year, on the 30th October:

2 Bonelli’s Eagles from the Bonelli’s Eagle hide

1 Golden Eagle, 2 Goshawks, several Buzzards and numerous Red Kites from the Raptor Hide

Little Owls from 2 different Little Owl hides

Then combine these possibilities with the well-known Lammergeier, Griffon Vulture and Black Vulture hides

Then on another day maybe add Marsh Harrier from the Raptor hide

You can have 10 species of Raptor  on a raptor photo trip in November. You also have good light that you can use for almost all of the day.

And of course all of our professional expertise that goes with our photo trips.  

Birding in Spain: the Wallcreeper

It’s December. Imagine you’re walking along the base of a steep rock face somewhere in the Pre-Pyrenees. You detect a movement and look up. There’s a bird, and it’s close enough for you to see its long, slender down-curved bill and its slate-grey and black plumage. A moment later the bird flutters, and on its open, butterfly-like wings you see a dazzling flash of deep crimson.

Wallcreeper photo by Cezary Pióro 

Rejoice! You are now among the lucky few that have set eyes on one of nature’s jewels: the Wallcreeper. An amazing bird that is at home clinging to vertical rock faces in order to probe into nooks and crannies and pry out spiders and insects with that slender bill. Little wonder then that when foreign birders visit this country this is usually the bird they most want to see, or that even the pragmatic Chinese have baptised it with the graceful name of “rock flower”.

In the breeding season the Wallcreeper inhabits sheer cliff faces in the Pyrenees at altitudes of between 2,000 and 3,000m. That means that between May and September the Wallcreeper is rarely an easy bird to see – first of all one has to reach its secluded, mountain haunts and then one has to strain the neck muscles, and often the patience too, in order to spot it among towering mountains of naked rock. That’s one reason why winter is not all bad: by then Wallcreepers have left their high mountains to occupy more accessible terrain in the pre-Pyrenees, Montsant, el Ports…even cliffs by the sea at Cap de Creus.

One day last winter I made a personal pilgrimage to the sunny rock faces of Montsec and I received my reward. I took home the Wallcreeper’s colours and a little of its wing-flashing warmth, clutching onto the vision as I descended once more into the blanket of fog enshrouding Lleida and the surrounding plains. And I hadn’t even strained my neck muscles.

Happy Wallcreeper watchers

There’s more about the Wallcreeper and many more birds in “Flying over the Pyrenees, standing on the plains”