BirdingInSpain

Roy Mangersnes and his Wildphoto photographers came to the drylands of Lleida to photograph displaying Little Bustards, Stone Curlew, Little Owl, Bee-eater, Montagu’s Harrier and more last week. By all accounts they had a great time and got some excellent shots.

You can read Roy’s blog entry at this link. 

And see a small selection of his photos.

By the way, some of the birds that could be seen at or near the photo sites in the previous blog article:

Pallid Swift, Melodious Warbler, Yelkouan Shearwater, Bonelli’s Eagle

Sardinian Warbler, Bonelli’s Eagle, Black Wheatear, Griffon Vulture

Peregrine Falcon, Red-billed Chough, Crag Martin, Crossbill

Golden Eagle, Water Pipit, Rock Thrush, Black Redstart

Bittern, Bearded Tit, Montagu’s Harrier, Calandra Lark

Spanish birds, Spanish skies.

Just enjoy the photos, taken at different places in northeast Spain while out looking for birds. Sometimes you get to see the birds you want to see, at others you don’t, but get a thrill from the places you go to all the same.

Maybe you know where these photos were taken?

Perhaps we should provide a list of the birds you can usually see at each site. Would that make it any easier?

Are any of you birders planning a visit to Belchite? You know, Dupont’s Lark, Black-bellied Sandgrouse and associated company?

Here’s something for you to start familiarising yourself with the birds of this unique area:

And some of their local names too!

What a lovely detail this is for guests staying at the nearby Hotel Rincón del Cierzo. BirdingInSpain.com’s recommended accommodation for the Belchite steppes itinerary. We don’t recommend any old place you know, but rather the best-placed, well-regented and reasonably-priced establishments we know about. Do you get the picture?

If not, here it is again!

I don’t know how far people in the know go these days to define art, but here’s a minor contribution to the debate.

And another one:

And another:

This one’s not art, it’s about Choughs…

You could hang this one upside-down and it would be the right way up. Now isn’t that cool?

This one invites comment… I said “This one invites comment”….No?

The cold spells we have been through here in Catalonia have ensured that the Almond Trees didn’t start flowering until close to the end of February. In more settled, warmer winters flowering may advance a couple of weeks or even more, which puts the entire almond harvest at great risk from a late frost.

It’s a time worth waiting for. The days are drawing out, and one can easily be fooled into thinking that spring is already here. Especially when the strident tones of the marvellous Great Spotted Cuckoo ring out from a nearby tree on the plains, and I realize that it is not someone calling me on my mobile phone (the dial tone is a Great Spotted Cuckoo as chance would have it!) but rather the real thing.

Almond tree blossom with Great Spotted Cuckoos, bliss! 

I’m glad February is gone,

it usually gets me in a foul mood

And then when I go out to do a spot of birding,

just to calm down a little bit,

I start seeing and hearing some strange things…

Am I the only one who’s glad February is behind us?

Birds of the Middle East – Second Edition

Authors: Richard Porter and Simon Aspinall
Illustrated by John Gale, Mike Langman and Brian Small

Princeton Field Guides – Princeton University Press

Dimensions – 215 x 140mm

384pp

The ancestor of this field guide was first published in 1988 as “Birds of the Middle East and North Africa” (Hollom et al.). Later, in 1996, the first edition of “Birds of the Middle East” was published, reducing the area covered while increasing the information on each species described. Now the area covered spans from Western Turkey to Eastern Iran, and south to Yemen

There has been a clear progression with this new publication. “Birds of the Middle East” has successfully evolved into the format that most of us have come to expect from our field guides: quality colour plates depicting all of the species described and most of their distinctive plumages, reasonably detailed distribution maps and species descriptions all on the same page; all this opposite the plate illustrating the corresponding bird species. Over 130 additional species and subspecies have been incorporated, giving a total of over 850 species and subspecies depicted and described.

The order, taxonomy and nomenclature follows the OSME region list, ORL. Most of us who have lagged behind in the face of the taxonomic upheavals of the last two decades may take a little longer to locate some of the species we are looking for. A tip: Anyone looking for Caspian Snowcock, for example, should turn straight to the first plate rather than waste time flicking around the middle pages of the book.

This re-ordering required to accommodate taxonomic and structural changes means that some of the plates appear either cramped, with birds like the bustards being too scaled down in order to fit on the page, or under-exploited – the drawings on the crests and vultures pages, for example, could have been scaled up to fill the empty spaces. 

The back cover blurb asserts that the guide is “stunningly illustrated”. Bearing in mind that today’s birder has come to expect very high standards of graphic content I think that is overstretching things a bit, although the general standard of illustration is high. In my opinion some of the drawings are just a little too small for the “stun” effect to really sink in. 

One thing I often find lacking in this kind of guide is national bird recorder’s addresses. Where does one send what one considers to be useful or interesting observations? Admittedly there is the Ornithological Society of the Middle East, but wouldn’t it be appropriate to include national bird recording institutions or persons country by country, where they exist?

Quite rightly, the authors state the importance of recognising bird vocalizations, greatly aided by the interpretation of sonograms. Consequently, it could have been useful and even educational if they had included a sample or two for us to have a go at interpreting ourselves.

In terms of usability the book has the right size, weight and general feel to it although I have my doubts about the durability of the binding: would it survive the rough and tumble of a two-week birding trip?

Don’t let these minor points fool you though, they are born of the need for a certain originality in the appraisal. This is one guide that is certainly worth it’s weight in the suitcase when travelling to do some birding in the Middle East. I have no doubts that I’ll be taking it to Turkey with me when I go.

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….