Photographing the wild wonders of northeast Spain

Darek Giej linked up with us at BirdingInSpain.com and Jerome, an accomplished and applied bird photographer from France, for a three-day bird photography trip based to the north of Lleida.

Both visiting bird photographers shared the common targets of Little Bustard, Bee-eaterLittle Owl and Griffon Vulture. So we organised everything for them, and just hoped that the birds would co-operate on the day. Although we can’t control the whims and fancies of our feathered friends, it certainly helps if all the aspects are well planned and organised.

We needn’t have worried, as both Darek and Jerome left for home after photographing the species they had come for. And more: in just three days they managed close to a dozen species, including Woodchat Shrike, Southern Grey Shrike and Roller.

And the best thing of all: they’re both really keen on coming back!

Here’s what Darek wrote:

Indeed, it was a great time!  Lots of great photos and species I had never seen before. I do hope I will visit Catalunya again. I am open to any new ideas, I am sure you have lots of them, if you are ready to go on with anything new just let me know, I will be there. Many thanks to Jordi, he did a great job! I attached some of my photos to prove I did not waste the time. I am very proud of a couple of the rollers…

Jerome:

I had a very good time and all was very nice in Catalunya! The guide (Jordi) was great and the lodge was very nice! 

Darek kindly agreed to share some of his photos with us and the Internet community. Enjoy!

Little Owl, Athene noctua.

Little Owl by Darek Giej

Woodchat Shrike

Woodchat Shrike by Darek Giej

Southern Grey Shrike, Lanius meridionalis.

Southern Grey Shrike by Darek Giej

In search of the world’s rarest cat: the Iberian Lynx

Pete Oxford

 Pete Oxford, wildlife photographer

The man who was sent to photograph the Iberian Lynx. That is just as daunting as it sounds, considering that the Iberian Lynx, or if you like the Spanish Lynx, is the world’s rarest cat, and only occurs in two isolated populations in Andalusia, in southern Spain.

How did Pete Oxford go about photographing the Iberian Lynx? Read about his mission here.

O bien, nosotros en BirdingInSpain.com hemos traducido el artículo al castellano.

Iberian Lynx. Spanish Lynx. Lince Ibérico.

Was Pete Oxford successful in his Iberian Lynx quest? Well, where do you think the above photo comes from?

Black Grouse

Male Black Grouse 

There are no Black Grouse in Spain, as this is a bird that inhabits the moors, bogs and forests of central and northern Europe. The Black Grouse is a sedenteray species, in decline over much of its range. Fortunate are those who have seen this handsome bird, or heard its far-carrying, bubbling song. More fortunate still is Erlend Haarberg: his mission for the Wild Wonders of Europe was to photograph Black Grouse on a lek in Sweden

 Erlend Haarberg, wildlife photographer

Of course he succeeded, and admirably. But don’t take our word for it, read the original article here.

O si prefieres, puedes leer el artículo en castellano.  

Castles and birds in “sunny” Spain

A fine walk with a group of keen birding newbies from the castle of Montsonís was one of the last local activities I had the joy of organizing before starting serious tour work. We all enjoyed a beautiful spring day and a variety of good birds too: a pair of Egyptian Vultures making baby Egyptian Vultures, and also a pair of Bonelli’s Eagles. We had good looks at Bonelli’s Warbler, Chaffinch, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Swallow, House Martin, Crag Martin, Blackcap and Robin. I enjoyed it and, most importantly, so did the public.

Out birding near Montsonís

Then came Tom and his lovely lady from Germany. Tom is a photographer, and to make bird photographers at least moderately happy is by no means an easy job. Well, thanks to the weather I had an even more complicated task. Day 1 came down to a drive in the increasingly heavy rain. On Day 2 I convinced them to visit Loarre castle, where it had just been snowing! It was really cold and Tom was about to pack his bags and leave. Luckily we had a clear spell around midday when the discovery of a dead sheep on a farm allowed him to get some very good shots of Egyptian Vulture, Griffon Vulture and Red Kite. Another castle nearby also provided the goods in the form of Chough, Spectacled Warbler and Blue Rock Thrush.

Loarre castle

Unfortunately we were not together when I watched a Lammergeier breaking a bone later in the afternoon.  

On day 3 we were assailed by a buffeting wind – photos of Sardinian Warbler and Scarce Swallowtail were the hard-earned fruits of our labours that day.

Tom was then going to head on down to Extremadura. I hope he had better luck with this crazy spring weather!

Dalmatian Pelicans Display for Wild Wonders

Dalmatian Pelicans by Jari Peltomäki

Dalmatian Pelicans at Lake Kerkini, Greece. Photo by Jari Peltomäki. 

Jari Peltomäki

To all appearances Jari Peltomäki is a lucky man: he is an excellent wildlife photographer – and that fact is widely recognised – and he has recently spent 10 days at Lake Kerkini in Greece photographing the Dalmatian Pelicans.

Read a little about Jari’s encounters with the Pelican with the frizzy hairdo, fisherman Tom and more on the Wild Wonders blog. Days 9 and 10 have also been translated into Spanish by our translation team.

Lammergeierfest in northeast Spain

Franck Renard and Gerd Herren returned to Belgium last week closely guarding memory cards and tapes with the precious images of Lammergeiers, Griffon Vultures, Black Vultures and more that they had collected after three days in our Lammergeier hides.

Thankfully they both got home safe and sound and were very satisfied indeed with their results. Franck forwarded a small selection of his photos and has generously agreed to allow me to show them to the readers of the BirdingInSpain.com blog.

So here they are. Many thanks Franck!

Lammergeier attack in northeast Spain

Photo by Franck Renard

Immature Lammergeiers often emit noisy whines in the presence of adult Lammergeiers and harass and chase after them. Such aerial encounters are not uncommon.

Adult Lammergeier in flight

Photo by Franck Renard

Adult Lammergeier, or Bearded Vulture. Some say that the word “Lammergeier” is inappropriate – they may be right, but is Bearded Vulture more so? Looking at the bird here doesn’t that thing dangling from its bill look much more like a “moustache” than a beard?

Lammergeier in snowstorm.

Photo by Franck Renard

Franck and Gerd were really enjoying the photographic opportunity provided by the snowstorm. I was mainly worried about getting them back to civilization before being snowed in!

Juvenile Lammergeier in the Pyrenees of Catalonia, Spain.

Photo by Franck Renard

We also had some hail too. The Lammergeiers took it all in their stride.

It’s hoots! for the Great Grey Owl

BirdingInSpain.com have completed the Spanish translation of Peter Cairns Great Grey Owl assignment. Spanish-speakers can read about it here. Hispanohablantes pueden leerla aquí.

Great Grey Owl

Great Grey Owl. Photo by Peter Cairns, one of the founders of the Wild Wonders of Europe project.

Pete Cairns

Peter Cairns himself.

The Great Grey Owl – what a magnificent bird! A bird that has set down its own laws of gravity.

I wonder if Peter was taken to the same nest site as we were, somewhere around midnight, back in the summer of 2006.

Dutchman meets the Flying Pelican

I met up with Marten van Dijl from the Netherlands recently. We did a spot of birding around Montsec and then the drylands of Alfés, before going our own ways.

Marten was back in Holland for the New Year, but still found the time to send an e-mail with some of his photos.

The following are his photos of the White Pelican that’s been loitering with the local White Storks. Check out some of Marten’s work at his website.

 White Pelican with storks near Lleida

Preening is a very important task for any Stork, sorry, Pelican.

White Pelican on church roof with Storks

Can’t think why they’re ignoring me.

“I had a great time again, seeing some friends, birding and coming back with some good photos. I’ll tell you what I saw after I met with you at Alfes – first of all the white pelican, which was roosting at the church in Torres de Segre, until it flew off. You don’t have to be a psychic to predict it went to the rubbish dump, and there it was.

 White Pelican at rubbish dump

Oh! The promised land!

“Later, at the same spot the three little bustards were still there, in exactly the same spot, still not moving. There was also a flock of pin-tailed sandgrouse, I counted 70! Other good birds included a perched golden eagle at Bellmunt.

The next day I went to Laguna de Gallocanta – lots of cranes, hard to photograph, and after that I decided to spend my last day in the Ebro Delta. I was surprised by the number of chiffchaffs (everywhere, along the shores and canals) and kingfisher (10+). I had good photos of a circling booted eagle after a short chase in the car.

Like you suggested, I started reading your book during my flight back, I’ve now just finished the chapter about the Bewick’s Swan at Buda Island. I enjoy reading it, it’s a good read, recognizable stories and interesting because it deals with an area of Spain I’ve come to know. At the same time, it’s useful to refresh my English.”

Spanish translations for the Wild Wonders of Europe blog

BirdingInSpain.com have reached an agreement with the good people of the Wild Wonders of Europe project to translate some of the blog articles into Spanish. In fact we’ve already started with the translation of Magnus Elander’s recent blog entries on his visit to Spain to photograph the Lammergeier and the Griffon Vulture.

Lammergeiers

Photo by Magnus Elander

Magnus and his assistant Stefan came in early November and spent 3 days in the hide photographing Lammergeiers at Boumort before moving on to Ordesa for a week to continue the task in different surroundings. His blog entries outline the places he went to and the people he met in Spain, and also give us a sneak preview to some of his excellent work.

Magnus Elander

We won’t be translating every blog entry, as there are more than 50 photographers involved in the Wild Wonders project! But there will certainly be more translations of some exciting blog entries in the near future. It is rumoured that we have a soft spot for polar bears!

Birding in Spain: unseen, unexpected, unforgettable?

Magnus Elander and Stefan Strandberg on their November visit to Catalonia to photograph the Lammergeier.
Swedish photographers in northeast Spain

Really nice guys.

I’m sure the creators of the wild wonders of Europe project won’t mind if I use their own words “unseen, unexpected, unforgettable”. After all Magnus Elander was very pleased with the results after spending 3 days in our Lammergeier hide (thanks to the birds and not the hide itself, which is a far cry from the Ritz).

Unexpected: the experience was certainly so, in Magnus’s own words. He didn’t know what to expect, but neither he nor Stefan (his assistant) were disappointed.

Unforgettable: it’s hard to talk for someone who has dedicated most of his time to photographing many of the world’s natural wonders, although surely the vision of 11 Lammergeiers in one place is not something he will forget overnight!

Unseen? Almost so for 3 days, apart from a small party with a couple of birders from Barcelona who stumbled upon Magnus and Stefan as they were packing up to leave.

Before departing I presented them both with signed copies of my two books (“Where the Birds are in Northeast Spain” and “Flying over the Pyrenees, standing on the plains”), which they received with enthusiasm. Then a short interview, photos, handshakes and farewells. Their next destination was Ordesa National Park (see itinerary), while I was going home, the long way round.

What is the “Wild Wonders of Europe” project?

Magnus: “It was started by three photographers: from Sweden, Germany and Scotland. The basic idea is that more than 50 European photographers are to travel to another European country with an assignment to photograph some aspect of the natural world: it could be a species, landscapes or other. The final results will include books, a website, an exhibition, a special issue of National Geographic…

What did you like most about your time here?

Magnus: “The scenery is breathtaking, we don’t have places like this in Sweden. The solitude too. In all it feels like being at home, but better.”

Thank you Magnus and Stefan, and bon voyage.

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