BirdingInSpain

Dani Valverde and Joan Morales are the bird and nature photographers who have generously shared their work and love of nature with the international birding community.

Just click on this link and then follow through to download their 2011 calendar, illustrated with birds like the Yelkouan Shearwater, the Snow Finch, the Pectoral Sandpiper, and more. There’s more than just birds however, as the exuberant Apollo butterfly also manages to collar a month, as does a Red Fox. 

The calendar is written in Catalan and English.

Our Facebook group “Friends of the Lammergeier” is fast approaching 1,000 members. Many are the bird and wildlife photographers who are sharing their photographs, comments and references about this splendid bird with a growing Facebook community.

For example, Jari Peltomaki left this little appetizer for us all:

Magnificent work, Jari!

Although he’s not the only one….

“Then I pass over a rise in the terrain and something unexpected happens. A field of grass and flowers lies before me, bursting with the song of calandra larks and crickets. In this scented field, which has somehow been overlooked by the ploughman, I see the unmistakeable bulks of several great bustards, necks stretched and eyes fixed in my direction. I am too close for their liking, so they take to a nonchalant but purposeful gait to move away from me, stopping now and then to raise their heads and check that I am not following hard on thier heels. I watch from the path as, slowly, the last of their heads sinks below the grassy horizon like a setting sun. Tipping an imaginary cap, I wish them the best of luck. ”

Excerpt from the chapter “Little Tales and Great Bustards” from the book “Flying over the Pyrenees, standing on the plains“

Irene from Paris got in touch after the summer and explained that she was set on coming to film vultures. Vultures feeding seen from the hide? No. Vultures perched on the rocks? No. Irene was explicit: she wanted to film vultures circling in thermals.

Irene and friends Dorothy, Jean and Gilles

It became clear to me that her best option would be Mas de Bunyol. The patron of Mas de Bunyol, Jose Ramón Moragrega has been feeding the vultures of els Ports on his land near Valderroures every day for more than 20 years now. In the eyes of the public he’s on the way to becoming a local legend; for the hundreds of vultures that turn up every morning waiting for him to serve their food he already is.  

From the comfort of the newly-completed vulture observatory, with benches and all-round vision, vulture displays and the attentions of Loly, José Ramón’s partner, one can watch as he enters the compound with a wheelbarrow loaded with dead rabbits. The vultures sail down from the nearby trees, the bravest of them actually going up to José Ramón’s wheelbarrow to try and grab a rabbit for themselves even before he can unload them!

Everything unfolds as usual, although José Ramón is a little upset that today we have only seen 150 Griffon Vultures, instead of the more usual four or five hundred. Only! The vultures feed, and then rest, some in the trees, some in the compound itself next to a pool where they often bathe. Irene, however, is far from relaxed. When will the vultures start circling Steve? I consult with Loly, and she tells us not to worry – the vultures are just hanging around waiting for the first thermals to form.

Griffon vultures just hanging out after a feed at Mas de Bunyol. But Irene was looking for something more…

They make us wait in a nervous state before they eventually comply by finding a thermal that brings some 70 of them circling closer and closer until they are just over our heads! Phew! Mission accomplished, and that after spending a lovely night dining on Loly’s roast chicken, drinking local wine and sleeping in one of Mas de Bunyol’s tastefully furbished rooms.

José Ramón told us about the Eagle Owls and Peregrines that inhabit the nearby rock faces, and after the vultures had all but left two adult Bonelli’s Eagles sailed leisurely over the observatory! However, Irene and her crew were already thinking about a fish lunch on the Mediterranean coast…

If you’re curious about the title of this article take a look at Irene’s website. 

White light?

Together with SPEA from Portugal, Spanish SEO-Birdlife have designed a birding tourism questionnaire. Both organizations are representatives of Birdlife International in their respective countries. And both would like to know more about the interests, motivation, logistics, etc of the birders, both foreign and national, who bird in Spain and Portugal. 

BirdingInSpain.com was invited to a presentation of the initiative and we found it interesting and well designed.

So instead of playing cards on the Internet, or whatever else you do to kill a few minutes, we suggest that you follow this link to the Iberaves questionnaire and help the good people of SEO-Birdlife with their search for knowledge. It may lead to improvements in services, infrastructure and, indirectly, to the conservation of the species that birders want to see.

The Black Vulture Aegypius monachus has returned to the Pyrenees of Spain. A chick born on 25th April this year was the result of the first breeding attempt of this species in the region since the second half of the 19th Century.

As part of a reintroduction scheme 27 individuals of this species were released in 2007, 2008 and 2009 in the Pre-Pyrenees of Lleida, Catalonia. Of these, 15 regularly use the area, 3 are occupied with juvenile dispersal, 6 have been found dead found dead and 3 are missing.

Black Vulture. Photo by Chris Schenk.

Feeding stations, habituation enclosures and hacking have all been employed to attempt to establish a permanent breeding population of Black Vultures in the region, strategically located to connect the French and Iberian populations of the species.

Read more about the Black Vulture reintroduction programme at this link:

Black Vulture reintroduction scheme

 Balearic Shearwater, Puffinus mauretanicus.

Pomarine Skua, Stercorarius pomarinus. Photo by Erik. 

Sooty Shearwater, Puffinus griseus. Photo by Toni Boyer.

Sooty Shearwater, Puffinus griseus. Photo by Toni Boyer. 

All of the photos here were taken on the 12th and 14th May during a training course “Identification of Marine Birds of Catalonia” for the rural agents of Catalonia. Our vessel sailed from the port of Tarragona and headed straight out to sea; on board were 17 rural agents, the skipper, first mate and myself (teacher).

Seawatching off Tarragona on a sunny day

We didn’t really know what to expect; some shearwaters, gulls and the odd skua or two, perhaps. In fact we had a lot more than we dared hope for, including a rarity for Catalonia in the shape of a Sooty Shearwater – up to 2008 there had only been 12 records of this species off the Catalan coast.

We also enjoyed great views of numerous Balearic and Mediterranean Shearwaters, 2 Pomarine Skuas, a Great Skua, an Arctic Skua, a single Storm Petrel, Audouin’s, Lesser Black-backed, Yellow-legged and Mediterranean Gulls and, what for most was the star of the day, a Fin Whale Balaenoptera physalus.  

Audouin’s Gull, Larus audouinii. Photo by Erik.

Great Skua, Stercorarius skua. 

That was all on Wednesday 12th May. What would Friday 14th May bring?

Els agents rurals (“forestals”) de les 4 provincies de Catalunya van assistir a un curset a Salou els dies 12, 13 i 14 d’abril. “Identificació d’aus del litoral català”.

En total vam passar unes 20 hores junts, incloent-hi un dia sencer en el camp, tot posant en pràctica els coneixements adquirits a l’aula. La reserva de Remolar-Filipines (Delta del Llobregat) va donar molt de si (a més d’una sorpresa molt agradable en forma d’un Rascletó Porzana parva). Hi havia també un gran nombre d’ànecs i de limicoles, el Xarrasclet, un Territ de Temminck, Tètols, Becplaners, …

Desprès del nostre picnic a la platja vam pujar al massís de Garraf, on l’única cosa que es movia era una parella d’Aguila Cuabarrada. Al poble del mateix nom vam caminar al peu dels penya-segats. Aquí vam veure Merla Blava, Còlit Negre, Falcó Pelegrí, Tallareta Vulgar, Cotxa Cua-roja entre altres.

Participants en el curset. Tots contents perque ningú va suspendre l’evaluació final!

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!