Swedish birders birding in eastern Spain

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

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