BirdingInSpain

The following is a series of photos taken by Dutch bird photographer Frank Dröge on Thursday 18th March at our Lammergeier feeding station and photography site in the Pre-Pyrenees of Catalonia, Spain.

Probable juvenile Spanish Imperial Eagle Aquila adalberti. All photographs copyright of Frank Dröge.

They show what is obviously a juvenile Aquila eagle, but one which is not a Golden Eagle Aquila chrysaetos, the only Aquila eagle that could be expected in the region. The combination of the pale, milky-brown coloration, the general lack of streaking, the all dark tail, the degree of contrast on the outer and inner halves of the outer primaries and the deep, heavy bill have led us to conclude that it is a juvenile Spanish Imperial Eagle Aquila adalberti.

However, to get here we had to consider several candidates, including Eastern Imperial Eagle Aquila heliaca, the fulvescens form of the Greater Spotted Eagle Aquila clanga, and even the Tawny Eagle Aquila rapax.

The main obstacle to 100% confidence in Spanish Imperial Eagle is the pale coloration, much paler than the few juveniles that Frank and I have seen between us. Could this be due to wear or bleaching?

We would be glad to hear any comments that can shed light on this matter.

Last Monday’s snowfall in Catalonia made the records. It must be said that Barcelona doesn’t usually get knee-high in snow in early March.

But the snow wasn’t just in Barcelona you know. The mountains of the Pyrenees and pre-Pyrenees had a very good helping of the stuff too. On Monday the roads were blocked, but on Tuesday I took 3 photographers up to the site to photograph the Lammergeier through 30cm of snow. The landscape was a delight, the sky was a perfect sky blue and the odd gust of wind blew glittering powdered snow around trees and rocks.

We had to shovel snow and push the car through snow drifts. It took us 2 and a half hours to get to the feeding station when normally it only takes 25 minutes. But we had our reward. Unforgettable. The birds, the light, the landscape. The experience.   

BirdingInSpain.com, getting you to places where nobody else would even try.

A snow-capped Villa Hide

There’snow problem!

¡Este año sí!

¡Vamos a Bulgaria!

El año pasado nosotros en BirdingInSpain.com lanzamos una propuesta ornitológica al público español que pensábamos iba a ser ideal, ganadora, atractiva y, además, iba a contribuir directamente a la conservación del patrimonio del país que planeabamos visitar: Bulgaria.  

Pensábamos que, después de leer la oferta, ver el precio super asequible, leer el potencial ornitológico de Bulgaria a través del enlace al “trip report” de un viaje que hicimos en el año 2005: 

http://www.birdinginspain.com/free-downloads/bulgaria.pdf

 …pensábamos que iba a ser un éxito inmediato. Pensábamos que, a pesar de la crisis, los ornitólogos españoles reconocerían el valor de la oportunidad de hacer un viaje ornitológico excelente, al mismo tiempo que contribuirian con el 10% del coste del viaje a la conservación del águila imperial oriental Aquila heliaca.

¡Tanto pensar nos hizo mal! Por las razones que sean, no hubo respuesta suficiente para seguir con el viaje y, muy a pesar nuestro, tuvimos que cancelarlo.

Pero este año hemos vuelto, y hemos resucitado el viaje a Bulgaria, gracias sobretodo al interés demostrado por un contingente importante de ornitólogos del norte (Miradas Cantábricas). ¡Ya tenemos viaje a Bulgaria!

Así, que vengan los Pelícanos Ceñudos, los Gavilanes Griegos, las Águilas Imperiales Orientales, los Pitos Canos y Siriacos, y un largo etc. ¡Estaremos preparados! Y con el guiaje de Neophron Tours , guias nativos de Bulgaria, profesionales y expertos en las aves de su país, tenemos garantizadas las mejores posibilidades de encontrar las especies más interesantes.

Y, como último, una contribución de 94.5 euros por persona, total = 756 EUR para  ayudar al águila imperial oriental. Un pequeño bálsamo para nuestras conciencias ecologistas.