BirdingInSpain

Birding northeast Spain

Here are some images to accompany the trip report we posted in the last blog entry:

Trip Report: Images from Late Winter Birding in Northeast Spain

A birding trip report kindly reproduced by permission of its author Steve Lane. We invite you to read this amiable report about how his group encountered Wallcreepers, Lammergeiers, Pin-tailed Sandgrouse, Black Wheatears and more in February last year.

Enjoy!  

Birding northeast Spain

Northeast Spain birding trip report February 2013

A birding trip report kindly reproduced by permission of its author Steve Lane. We invite you to read this amiable report about how his group encountered Wallcreepers, Lammergeiers, Pin-tailed Sandgrouse, Black Wheatears and more in February last year.

Enjoy!  

Raptorfest Special Offer

We are offering November Raptorfest photo trips with a 10% discount.

See full details here…

November Raptorfest photo trip special offer 

For example, the birds photographed in one day last year, on the 30th October:

2 Bonelli’s Eagles from the Bonelli’s Eagle hide

1 Golden Eagle, 2 Goshawks, several Buzzards and numerous Red Kites from the Raptor Hide

Little Owls from 2 different Little Owl hides

Then combine these possibilities with the well-known Lammergeier, Griffon Vulture and Black Vulture hides

Then on another day maybe add Marsh Harrier from the Raptor hide

You can have 10 species of Raptor  on a raptor photo trip in November. You also have good light that you can use for almost all of the day.

And of course all of our professional expertise that goes with our photo trips.  

Birding in Spain: the Wallcreeper

It’s December. Imagine you’re walking along the base of a steep rock face somewhere in the Pre-Pyrenees. You detect a movement and look up. There’s a bird, and it’s close enough for you to see its long, slender down-curved bill and its slate-grey and black plumage. A moment later the bird flutters, and on its open, butterfly-like wings you see a dazzling flash of deep crimson.

Wallcreeper photo by Cezary Pióro 

Rejoice! You are now among the lucky few that have set eyes on one of nature’s jewels: the Wallcreeper. An amazing bird that is at home clinging to vertical rock faces in order to probe into nooks and crannies and pry out spiders and insects with that slender bill. Little wonder then that when foreign birders visit this country this is usually the bird they most want to see, or that even the pragmatic Chinese have baptised it with the graceful name of “rock flower”.

In the breeding season the Wallcreeper inhabits sheer cliff faces in the Pyrenees at altitudes of between 2,000 and 3,000m. That means that between May and September the Wallcreeper is rarely an easy bird to see – first of all one has to reach its secluded, mountain haunts and then one has to strain the neck muscles, and often the patience too, in order to spot it among towering mountains of naked rock. That’s one reason why winter is not all bad: by then Wallcreepers have left their high mountains to occupy more accessible terrain in the pre-Pyrenees, Montsant, el Ports…even cliffs by the sea at Cap de Creus.

One day last winter I made a personal pilgrimage to the sunny rock faces of Montsec and I received my reward. I took home the Wallcreeper’s colours and a little of its wing-flashing warmth, clutching onto the vision as I descended once more into the blanket of fog enshrouding Lleida and the surrounding plains. And I hadn’t even strained my neck muscles.

Happy Wallcreeper watchers

There’s more about the Wallcreeper and many more birds in “Flying over the Pyrenees, standing on the plains” 

Northeast Spain Trip Report

Mikko Pyhälä from Finland has kindly agreed to share this trip report with Birding In Spain blog readers. Mikko came to us for a couple of day’s birding in May, and we had a very enjoyable time together.

Birding with Birding In Spain trip report May 2014

There were many highlights according to his report, but I suppose that what I will remember for the longest was the immature Golden Eagle near the roadside at Candasnos and how, inexplicably, the bird did not fly away when we approached.

That’s Mikko in the photo below, taking photos of the poppies on the drylands. Good birding and happy clients, what a magic formula. Thanks Mikko!

Domestic birding.

With the long, hot summer days and not a great deal of paid work on the near horizon a spot of evening birding has become something like an essential boredom survival technique. So round about 6pm, when the sun’s rays don’t bite into the flesh, I hop into the red Suzuki and drive to a birding spot as near as possible to Lleida.

The trusty Red Suzuki 

A few days ago I followed the river Segre’s course out of town, and watched a couple of very young Penduline Tits, all gape and contact calls, in some bulrushes opposite the sewage treatment plant. When mother flew over the river – maybe the grass was greener on the other side – her bewildered-looking offspring were hot on her heels, despite the obvious exertion required from such a small, virtually tailless and clueless young bird.

By that time joggers and cyclists were about in some number, so waders such as Green Sandpipers and Little Ringed Plovers were only at ease in the widest parts of the river with little stone or mud islands.

I eventually parked and took a walk around the Basses de Rufea, a few smallish tree- and reed-fringed ponds, and one of those places you felt could always deliver a surprise or two. I particularly have my sights set on the Tamarisk scrub flanking the eastern side of the pools, there’s just got to be a rare passerine turning up there sooner or later, as long as its watched. This I left to last.

A vaguely familiar bird call came from the small poplar plantation as I passed. I had to think about it for a moment or two before I placed the clear and repeated “kek-kek” as a juvenile Golden Oriole, a call which I hear much less than the familiar onomatopoeic “o-ri-ol” or the squealing “cat call”. I stood for a minute or two, lazily scanning the canopy in a vague hope of seeing the calling bird, which never happened. Oh well, que será será.

Some small details had changed since my last visit: where the old hide had been burnt down there was now a more sensible wooden screen with viewing slits at different heights. The emergent vegetation had emerged so much though that there was little of the open water to be seen, and fewer birds, ie none. It’s never an easy job trying to “manage” nature. A new path led me around the edge of this pond for the first time, and I found myself cutting across an unmarked trail to get to another viewing point, again with a new wooden screen.

Perhaps the greatest claim to fame of Rufea is what one can see from this spot: a large, disperse and often lively colony of herons and egrets dotted all over the trees growing on islands or right at the water’s edge. Abundant Cattle Egrets, numerous Little Egrets (although I had to look closer and more carefully than normal to separate these two species because of the large number of darker-billed and dark-legged juvenile Cattle Egrets), and several Night Herons, mostly juveniles, in view. A few Grey Herons here and there, all but one standing by the reeds and studying their reflections in the water. A single Squacco Heron flew over my head from behind me and landed out of view. Not too many years ago that would have raised eyebrows and the pulses of any Segrià county listers that there may have been. Lastly was another rare gem, although not seen, but unmistakably identified by its muffled barking call, a Little Bittern.

It was quite fun to see half a dozen Cattle Egrets riding sheepback among a tightly-packed flock of maybe two hundred sheep. Some rain fell from heavy clouds, and I picked out a large poplar for shelter. Its thick, slightly hollowed trunk lay at the ideal slant and even had a kink just above head height. I was quite looking forward to putting it to the rain test, but the rain stopped all too soon. I’ll have to remember that tree and go back and test it under better conditions.

Nightingale. Didn’t see one. 

And that was it really. I skirted around the Tamarisk bushes, getting bitten by a few insects, thinking that the dark clouds and the breeze wouldn’t give me the right combination to find my sought after rarity, and so it was. The only other birds I encountered were a couple of Reed Warblers and a scolding Cetti’s Warbler. And you ask: Was that because there were no unusual birds there at the time, or because you didn’t make any effort to find them?

That is something we’ll never know.

The Raptors game

If a Bonelli’s Eagle confronted a Lesser Kestrel, which one would win?

Any parent of boystrous boys would most likely be familiar with the framework of such a question. “which one is stronger”, “Which is the fastest”, “the best” etc.

Although the answer to this particular question, that of the Bonelli’s Eagle vs the Lesser Kestrel, doesn’t seem too difficult to come by.

“The Bonelli’s Eagle, of course” is what many would probably say. And it’s true, the Bonelli’s Eagle is bigger, stronger, meaner, and I can’t imagine a Lesser Kestrel being much of a match for it. Or maybe it is….

Take a look at these two cards from La Sabina’s raptor game, and tell us what conclusion you reach.

Ophrys orchids

My first discovery of this species was my field guide to the orchids of Catalonia (Guia de camp de les orquídies de Catalunya) and I must admit to some sense of wonder that Catalonia had its own species of orchid. However, I hadn’t actually seen one until this spring.

In early May I was escorting photographers to and from our hides based at Montsonís, in the  province of Lleida. One of these was a keen Belgian photographer and naturalist, Bart Vercruysse, and he alerted us to the presence of these beautiful Ophrys orchids which I had never seen before. On seeing a few flowers in full bloom it was immediately obvious that they were not one of the species I was used to seeing in the area, namely O.spegodes, O.scolopax, O.apifera and O.fusca, and the name Ophrys catalaunica rang a bell in my head.

Ophrys bertolonii subsp catalaunica photos by Bart Vercruysse

Delightful, although I must admit a little disappointment on later discovering that Wikipedia states that O.catalunica is not acceptable, and that the scientific name of this plant should be taken as Ophrys bertolnii subsp catalaunica.

Oh well, it was no less beautiful, even though it’s not accepted as a species in its own right.

A new logo for Birding In Spain

This is the Birding In Spain logo that has served us faithfully on t-shirts, e-mails, webs, etc over the last years:

This is the new Birding In Spain logo, because we think it’s time for a change, and maybe more than just logos:

2104 Tours

Birding In Spain 2014: Scheduled tours with international tour operators

This year 2014 Steve is scheduled to be leading these birding trips with or for these international bird tour operators. Take a look, maybe you can join one.

Coto Doñana and Extremadura – 6th to 13th April

Ornitholidays

We’ll be exploring one of the most important wetlands in Western Europe and one of the best regions for birds of prey, among many other great birding delights!

Southern Catalonia – 24th May to 31st May

Ornitholidays

Here the accent is on enjoying the natural delights of little known Mediterranean massifs, and the very bird-productive Ebro Delta. There’ll also be butterflies, birds and red wine!

Spain’s Natural Areas – 1st to 13th June

Ceiba Nature Tours

This is a well tried and tested classic birding tour, offering some of the best birding that Spain has to offer over one of the most compact itineraries. Extremadura, the Ebro valley plains, the Pyrenees and pre-Pyrenees, and the Ebro Delta. And then we still find time to look at some historic sites and even do a bit of wine tasting!

The Pyrenees – 18th to 25th June

Ornitholidays

Plains, foothills, mountains and wetlands; this Pyrenees tour has birds for every occasion! It is also timed to enhance encounters with butterflies and wild flowers.

Bay of Biscay to Tarifa – 1st to 14th September  Bird Treks

Bird Treks

This is a new tour itinerary, taking the lucky from the north coast of Spain past the stunning Picos de Europa, Extremadura and down to the south coast wetlands of the Coto Doñana, finishing with the raptor migration special at Tarifa.

Tarifa and Coto Doñana – 14th to 21st September

Ornitholidays

Watch the autumn migration spectacle of thousands of birds of prey and other soaring birds, and then that of wetland birds galore at the Coto Doñana!

Aragón – 8th to 15th November

Ornitholidays

This is a popular autumn tour timed to coincide with wintering Wallcreepers and Alpine Accentors, as well as large numbers of Cranes. There are also Lammergeiers, bustards, sandgrouse, and a lot more besides.