Protected: Behind the binoculars – some useful tips for getting a bit more out of your birding
Nov 24
About the Birding In Spain Gift Pack now available:
Looking for a Christmas gift that will leave the loved one(s) open-mouthed with delight?
You must know that birders already have bird books, binoculars and apps, but that nobody – even the most experienced birder – has travelled the whole world and seen all of its birds and natural wonders.
Two birding together
Have they ever been birding in Spain? If not, can you think of a better way to make them a gift that they’ll enjoy and remember for a long time?
Birding In Spain is easy, safe and really enjoyable. Here’s how to do it:
Birding In Spain gift card
- Look at the website, and download our brochure to see what kind of tours we put on offer, who we are, etc.
- Decide if you want to participate in one of the set tours, or if you want us to design a private tour for you.
- Decide how much you want to spend on your gift for now. The minimum of 50 euros won’t buy you a tour but it will ensure you a provisional place on one until all the details have been arranged and confirmed.
- Send us all the the details you can about yourselves, approximate dates, tour interest, etc, as well as what text and details you would like us to incorporate on the personalized gift card.
- Birding In Spain Gift Pack Special! Purchase before 31st December 2018 and enjoy a 5% discount from the brochure price from any set tour, and a bottle of local wine or cava during your tour.
- Receive your personalized gift card from us. It’s a guarantee of our compromise with you. Merry Christmas!
The total number of wild birds in the world is somewhere between 100 and 400 billion according to an article published by Arbotopia. The fact that they are all around us in so many different shapes, colours and sizes is perhaps what makes them so fascinating. The migratory patterns of some birds or the peculiar habitats of others has spawned an interest in bird tourism. Going on a holiday in a bird hotspot, such as Northeast Spain, is decidedly attractive, but it’s also possible to create a home to many intriguing birds in your own garden.
Robins in your garden, photo by Andrew Alexander
Feed them
Birds have an eye for a tasty morsel and having flown thousands of miles in some cases will want to stop where it is safe and where they find food waiting for them. Furthermore, researchers believe feeding birds encourages flight patterns causing birds like the Blackcap to settle in the UK instead of going to Spain. With that said, you could try feeding them mealworms, as well as bits of fruit or peanuts to make the stay.
Give them a drink
Water is essential to birds. Not only to drink but also for the all important grooming of feathers and even for entertainment. They tend to be drawn to water in motion. If you want to attract a large variety of birds then you should consider a water feature. Keep it usable all year round by placing rocks in it to prevent the water freezing over and installing a solar powered version will make it conservation friendly. The Cuckoo and the Woodpeckers, although generally shy birds would both appreciate being offered a drink from the fountain.
Give them a shelter
The garden environment should also be considered as it is a shame to invite birds into the garden only to find that they are at risk from predators or the food on offer is being eaten by other animals. Consider where the food is being placed in order to attract a variety of birds. Even if you are not ready to completely redesign your garden you might be prepared to leave that old tree stump in place to accommodate a Woodpecker, or not cut back your bushes quite so neatly, and allow the Blackcap to roost there.
Birds are everywhere and there are many species worth exploring, particularly in Spain. But if you are concerned about your ‘ carbon footprint’ there is a lot you can do to attract birds to your garden and conserve the bird population.
Article by guest writer Sally Writes.
More reviews from clients of Birding In Spain
Lee Wilkinson says:
Birding in Spain – 2 excellent tours
“Three mates and I had a fantastic tour with Birding In Spain seeing 140+ species including all our targets including Bonelli’s Eagles, both Bustards and Wallcreeper. Steve West’s knowledge of the birds of the area is formidable, as are his call recognition skills. I remember one time he simultaneously identified by call three birds which sure enough popped into view. He’s also very good company. Great accommodation and comfortable vehicle. Later in the year I did their Lammergeier photography trip, which Florinda organised for me to perfection.”
Wallcreepers winter in the Sierra de Guara in Spain
Alquézar in the Sierra de Guara is a lovely place for a birding stroll. Photo courtesy of Lee.
Lee Wilkinson from the UK arranged a birding trip with Birding In Spain for himself and three friends in early April 2016. Then he returned alone later in the year to enjoy some hide sessions on his own taking photographs of Lammergeiers and vultures galore. You can see some of Lee’s birding trip photos at this link:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/45727856@N05/albums/72157664553377224
Birding In Spain says:
“Lee, thanks to you and the lads I had an excuse to be out and about in the countryside looking for birds just when things were on the move for the spring season. We managed to see the last wintering Wallcreeper, and the first Red-rumped Swallow, and the air seemed so alive and refreshing at that time of the year. So I should thank you for getting me out of the city! It was also fun playing the numbers game, although I can’t remember who the winner was, can you?
Another thing: Do you remember how thrilled Pete was at seeing the wild boar (the one you photographed, and included here)? And that you really have to return one day for another try at Black Woodpecker and Penduline Tit?”
Photo: Wild Boar on the run, by Lee Wilkinson
Our regards to Pete, Pete and Rick.
Rick kindly sent a list of the birds we saw on the trip, which can be seen here:
Pyrenees birders. Photo courtesy of Lee.
Following with more feedback and reviews from Birding In Spain clients.
Simone Wolthius says:
“Fantastic experience”
“Every time we visit Spain, we arrange a birdwatching tour with Steve West. We are never disappointed! He is a very good guide, who almost always finds the birds he has promised! So, we go out for a long half day touring in the beautiful Spanish countryside and are really happy when we return home. Steve even came all the way to the Pyrenees to be our guide. Birding in Spain is a special experience with Birding In Spain!”
Photos: Birding in the Pyrenees and Eurasian Wryneck
Simone and husband Alexander from the Netherlands are regular visitors to Spain. They contracted guided birding days around different parts of northeast Spain in 2012, 2013 and 2014. Apart from birding we have discovered that among Simone’s and Alexander’s other interests are those of playing golf and staying at lovely rural hotels.
Birding In Spain says:
“I still remember the Wryneck in the Sierra de Guara and how delighted you both were that we had come across it. It’s reactions like that that give us a gentle smile and a lot of job satisfaction. We hope you continue to enjoy birds like that for many years! On the negative side, we’re sorry about the long drive to the very disappointing salad on your last visit!”
The next bird video in the 10 second bird video series is one of Hoopoes in the spring in the Lleida steppes, Catalonia, Spain.
Hoopoe on branch in the Lleida steppes
You can see Hoopoes landing on a forked-branch perch when entering or leaving their nest nearby.
Listen out very carefully for the following birds: Corn Bunting, Hoopoe, Thekla Lark and Mistle Thrush. You may have to turn up the volume!
Dirk from the Netherlands was one of the photographers to use our photography hide for Hoopoes in the Lleida steppes with very good results. Although he wasn’t too happy that I had forgotten to bring a chair that day!
Once we manage to overcome a technical detail or two relating to optimizing the quality of the videos we can post Birding In Spain would like to offer a new series of home-made videos showing some of the birds of Spain and their habitats.
They are not BBC documentaries, but rather short 10 second looks at some of the bird delights this region has to offer. Some videos will be aesthetically pleasing, others that too but also educational, others entertaining, or posing a small challenge to the viewer.
We hope you like them, and welcome any feedback, questions, etc.
The first one is Lammergeiers in flight. All the clips of the Lammergeier (Bearded Vulture) incorporated here were taken in the Pyrenees of Lleida, Catalonia.
Lammergeier in flight. Photo by Chris Schenk.
Lammergeiers in flight Facebook video
Here is the “Lammergeiers in flight” video card.
- What will you see? Several Lammergeiers of different ages in flight over the mountainside.
- Wait til the end? It’s only 10 seconds long, and the closest bird is in the last frames.
- What can you hear? Nothing, except the presentation Bee-eater, which has nothing to do with the action. In subsequent videos there will be birdsong and natural in situ sounds.
- Can I learn more about the Lammergeier? Yes, more Lammergeier videos will be coming, so that you can learn or practice identification of the species through its silhouette and flight action, and also see how plumage varies with age.
- And more? There’s a chapter dedicated to the Lammergeier in “Flying over the Pyrenees, standing on the plains” and it just so happens that it can be downloaded free of charge from the Birding In Spain website at this link:
Icemen and Lammergeiers chapter from “Flying over the Pyrenees, standing on the plains”
If you want to photograph Lammergeiers from one of our hides or see them flying over their mountain haunts on a guided birding tour just send us an e-mail. You can also work things out for yourself by using “Where the birds are in northeast Spain” and the free birding itineraries on the Birding In Spain website.
Happy Birding!
3 calling birds: Cetti’s Warblers in a bush
In the course of an average week-long birding tour around many parts of Spain it is quite usual to come across a number of Cetti’s Warblers, usually more than one at a time. However, even if encountered on every day of the trip we are rarely regaled with the possibility to observe the Cetti’s Warbler for more than a second or two. It’s a skulking bird which sings loudly and explosively from the depths of the thicket or undergrowth. One particular morning springs to my mind when we must have heard close to 50 different birds, without spotting even one of them.
So imagine my surprise and appreciation when I came across no fewer than 3 Cetti’s Warblers together out in the open while I was on a gentle walk at our local municipal park. I stopped in my tracks to watch these 3 birds, which were more engaged with each other than concerned by my proximity. All 3 were calling, cocking their tails, strutting on branches at a couple of metres from the ground and flicking or quivering their wings.
This was obviously a bid for local power, a territorial dispute, the importance of which was perhaps paramount to these birds at this particular moment in their lives. For some brief moments I was the spectator of a natural avian drama, and standing still I was anticipating watching the development and outcome of this show-down.
Cetti’s Warblers: By Richard Crossley (The Crossley ID Guide Britain and Ireland)
Unfortunately, the bird I shall unimaginatively call Cetti’s 1, the one nearest to me, flew off into cover just the other side of the canal to where I was standing. I had the distinct feeling that his departure was premature, and provoked, almost certainly by my presence.
Unperturbed, Cetti’s 2, the bird in the middle, called loudly again and received no answer from Cetti’s 1 (departed), and a muted response from Cetti’s 3, now further away and no longer quivering his wings. Cetti’s 2 had prevailed, and as such sang out his victory call louder than ever, with no competitor prepared to answer him back.
To me it was clear that I had witnessed Cetti’s 2 victory and that that patch of vegetation next to the path would be his for the time being, perhaps for the whole of the breeding season.
It also appeared to me that my presence there, if you like as a birder, although I wasn’t “out birding”, may have had a direct influence on the outcome of their confrontation. Whether or not Cetti’s 2 would have won without my passing we have no real way of knowing, but just for the sake of it let’s indulge in some speculation and see what conclusions (admittedly tentative) we can draw.
Cetti’s Warbler Cettia cetti
Theory 1: Cett’s 1 or Cetti’s 3 would have won the dispute had I not come along.
Therefore 1 or 3 would have established this area as part of their territory. However, if they are so easily spooked by passing humans then their foraging and subsequently breeding success is likely to be negatively affected by this factor, seeing that this is a frequently used path by many park-goers, joggers, cyclists, dog walkers, passers-by, etc. So if 1 or 3 were so susceptible to human disturbance it’s unlikely they would have ever been successful there anyway, and it would have been better for Cetti’s 2 (less easily spooked) to have stayed.
Theory 2: Cetti’s 2 would have won anyway, so my presence had no real effect on the bird’s selection and control of territory and its potential breeding success.
That’s fine, as long as you only correlate breeding success to disturbance and susceptibility to disturbance. But that’s obviously not the case. Supposing, for example, that Cetti’s 2 was the least effective forager of the 3 birds, or the least attractive mate, and only won because I disturbed the others. Cetti’s 2 would then attempt to breed in this patch of territory, and may even fail, its resistance to disturbance being no advantage to it when compared to the “other” skills, traits and fitness shown by birds in territories without disturbance. Perhaps 1 or 3 would have been more successful, able to find more food, make better use of the territory, attract a healthier female, and with subsequent overall positive breeding success.
Then a bolder, less skulking, bird may be easier prey to a Sparrowhawk; or is it a safer territory, due to the presence of passing humans, and which is therefore largely avoided by such predators?
What about “displaced” individuals 1 and 3? Couldn’t they then go on to dispute with their respective neighbours? And with very unpredictable results? For example, one or more of their neighbours then rebounding to dispute 2’s territory.
I’m still trying to get my head around all of this. Does anyone want to add any more possibilities or insights?
The idea is to allow just a small insight into the complexity of environmental science and ecology, and how we humans are influencing just about everything, no matter how respectful we try to be.
From Australia to Spain, and beyond
Featuring the Ken Cross Back to Europe Trip Log
This May past Ken Cross came from the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Australia, and brought his merry crew of Australian birders and companions with him to enjoy a superb classic spring birding tour of Spain.
After many months of e-mails and planning Ken and Steve finally met up in Madrid in mid-May, and from here was launched our tour of the best of Spain and its birds. Over the next 12 we toured and birded Extremadura, the Picos de Europa, the Pyrenees, the Ebro Valley plains and the Ebro Delta, finishing the tour in Barcelona. We also managed to organize a pelagic cruise one morning to look for shearwaters and petrels…How did we get on?
You can read all about it here at Ken’s blog:
http://kceuropebirds.blogspot.com.au/2015/05/day-15-groups-final-full-day-in-spain.html
The first challenge that faced us was to work out a packing scheme; however if there’s one thing we have come to excel in in the birding circuit it’s just that. As we think the photo shows:
A few days later another challenge arose: how to beat the hotel views, food and service that we had in the Picos de Europa. I don’t think we beat it in the subseqüent hotels, but we came reasonably close.
2 amazing and stimulating views from our hotel in the Picos de Europa
Our impressions were that Ken (Mr Cross) and his crew (Russ, Maria, Vince, Steve, Jan, Karen, Norm, June, Ray) had a good time all round, but in particular they really loved the mountains, and this is judging from the battery of “oohs” and “aahs” delivered by all when the Pyrenees and Cantabrian mountains came into view.
The final tour tally was 213 species of birds, with of course some very interesting and unusual sightings, and with fun and Aussie humour all the way.
Dupont’s Lark and Lammergeier were chosen as the group’s bird of the tour. Although we should remain impartial with questions of taste we are very glad that the Corn Bunting did not enter the competition!
The big surprise to me was that when I arrived home from a later trip I found 2 field guides to Australia waiting for me: one for the mammals, and another for the birds. A big thank you to our Aussie friends for that, and for their great company!
Now though I have to start saving up to go to Australia.
At Montsonís
The First International Meeting on Raptor Conservation, Photography and Responsible Tourism was held at Montsonís, Catalonia, between the 16th and 19th March 2015. For a first of its kind it was undoubtedly a resounding success.
The meeting itself was held at Montsonís castle and reception area on Thursday 19th March, and featured talks by photography and nature tourism wizard Staffan Widstrand from Sweden, Norwegian photographer and nature entrepreneur Espen Lie Dahl, and two Catalan raptor researchers, Joan Real from the University of Barcelona and Àngel Bonada of the Lammergeier Research and Study Group.
Among the rapt audience were representatives from the Generalitat de Catalunya, Diputació de Lleida, local mayors, barons of L’Albi, members of La Sabina, the organizers, and others. The baron and baroness very kindly contributed to the act by allowing it to take place in their home, the castle of Montsonís.
During the two days leading up to the meeting, special guests made good use of different raptor photography hides. The invitees included bird and wildlife tour operators from the UK, the editor of the digital magazine Wild Planet Photo Magazine, a photo tour operator from Slovenia, and the sales representative from a major camera and optics retailer in the UK. In the course of their visits they enjoyed encounters with birds such as Goshawk, Lammergeier, Bonelli’s Eagle, Wallcreeper, Griffon Vulture, Egyptian Vulture, Red Kite, Black Kite, White Stork and more.
La Sabina’s reason for organizing the meeting was to promote good practices in development and promotion of nature tourism products, especially raptor photography, as well as to involve the local community and administrations by demonstrating the benefits of this kind of tourism for the environment and the local economy.
According to speaker Staffan Widstrand the number of people enjoying nature tourism in the USA is greater than the sum of sports fishermen and hunters, and nature-oriented tourism is growing rapidly in other countries too.