BirdingInSpain

Very often I find myself birding the “Let’s see” style: let’s see what’s along this path, let’s see if any dotterels have arrived on the plains, let’s see if there’s something breeding inside this old building, etc.

I’m sure I’m not the only birder who does this. Sometimes though, it’s easy to lose sight if this explorative element of birding, especially when we go chasing round after “other people’s” birds.

Here’s a “let’s see” birding experience I had only last week. I was out on the drylands of Lleida, I had a bit of time on my hands and I saw this building.

So I said to myself “Let’s see if there’s an owl or some choughs inside that building”. There were some white dropping marks on the outside window ledge, but the first really encouraging sign was this:

A barn owl pellet (judging from its size and shape). A closer search of the surroundings also revealed this:

A barn owl feather. The signs were promising! I poked my head inside the mas and sure enough there were plenty of pellets at different stages of decay strewn around the floor. In one corner there were also lots of dropping marks too.

Then I looked in the other corner, and my search came to an end:

The remains of a barn owl dangling between a rafter and the wall. What had been the cause of the birds death? How long had it been there like that? A case for the CSI? 

Viaje a Bulgaria- IIa parte

Esta es la continuación de la entrada anterior, el viaje ornitológico a Bulgaria en junio 2010

Algunas de las aves, la mayor parte fotografiadas por Juanma Dominguez Robledo, y visibles en el entorno de “trip Report” en el blog de Miradas Cantábricas. 

Visitamos una cantera cerca de Plovdiv con una colonia de estorninos rosados, Sturnus roseus

El papamoscas semicollarino, Ficedula semitorquata, se beneficia de la colocación de cajas-nido

El águila imperial oriental, Aquila heliaca, quizás el ave más emblemática del viaje

El collalba pía, Oenanthe pleschanka,  es fácil de ver en las cercanías del Cabo Kaliakra

El collalba isabel, Oenanthe isabellina, en la región de Sakar.

Los carrizales del Lago Durankulak albergan una buena población del carricero agrícola, Acrocephalus agricola. 

El alcaudón chico, Lanius minor.

El alcaudón núbico, Lanius nubicus, fue otra estrella del viaje.

Viaje Ornitológico a Bulgaria 

Leed todo sobre el  Viaje a Bulgaria organizado por BirdingInSpain.com en el excelente blog Miradas Cantábricas

Un relato detallado, escrito con la pluma de Jose Luís Pacheco, Cristina Negueruela y Juanma Robledo, con muchas fotos de bichos (aves y demás bichos), paisajes, gente y lugares. Muchas de las fotos fueron tomadas por los propios autores del relato, pero también hay una importante contribución en este sentido que viene de los otros participantes en el viaje: Agustín, Leo, Ignacio y Loreto, Nat, y un servidor, Steve West.

Introducción

Un poco sobre el trasfondo del viaje: quien lo organizaba, a dónde, cuando….

Vitosha

La montaña de Vitosha, con vistas del capital de Bulgaria, Sofia, y un buen comienzo para bimberos y fotógrafos.

Sakar

El segundo destino principal. Una zona muy pobre pero rica en aves, fauna y flora. En el jardín del hotel pico sirio, pico menor, gorrión moruno, autillo, oropéndola y picogordo!

Burgas

Los lagos y las demás zonas húmedas alrededor de Burgas son unas de las zonas ornitológicas estrellas del país. Y casi imprescindibles para ver muchas de las aves acuáticas, incluso pelícanos. 

Durankulak y Kaliakra

Una península, una costa y varias lagunas forman un conjunto muy interesante para el ornitólogo en el norte de Bulgaria. Y el mejor sitio de Europa para ver el carricero agrícola. 

Montañas Rhodope

Unas montañas escarpardas y rocosas son la frontera con Turquía. Esta zona tiene un caracter propio muy pronunciado.

Bueno, ¿y fotos de las aves?

The Lesser Grey Shrike Lanius minor could be down to just one pair in Catalonia, in other words it is soon to be extinct in the whole of the Iberian Peninsula. The truth is nobody was betting on the species to hold out much longer. For several years now the known population was reduced to a single site, where despite close monitoring and trapping of Magpies (the main predator of nestlings) the numbers of Lesser Grey Shrikes has gone slowly but steadily downhill. From just over 10 pairs at the turn of the millenium, to 4 pairs in 2008, and now the last one. Will the species have any reason to turn up here next year?  

I was embarked on a survey for the Atlas of Breeding Birds of Catalunya 1999-2002 when I chanced upon this as-then unknown breeding population of Lesser Grey Shrikes, on the very edge of the city of Lleida. At the time the discovery seemed to breathe some new life into the hopes for the future of the species in Spain. By then this attractive shrike had disappeared from the Aiguamolls of Empordà in Girona and from the last few pockets remaining to it in Aragón. 

In the face of the continued decline of the species it was closely monitored at this site. In fact, the presence of the Lesser Grey Shrike went a long way towards the declaration of the area as a “ZEPA” (SPA), a fact welcomed by a one-in-a-thousand enlightened landowner. Local biologists and conservationists even started working on a reintroduction scheme. 

None of this has been enough. Surely, now is the time for all involved to ask themselves if they really thought it was ever going to be enough. If the (public) money spent on the Lesser Grey Shrike, on counting, monitoring, studying and paperwork, had any significance for the conservation of the species? And if anyone so employed believed that getting results was what really mattered the most?  

That brings me to an issue which has come to me time and again in my contact with conservation initiatives in this country. Does anybody seriously propound that counting (surveying, censusing) is conservation?

Yes? Then please explain to me how it works, and why the Dupont’s Lark went extinct in Catalonia despite regular censuses, and why the Lesser Grey Shrike is now close to the end of the same path.

No? Then why do so many conservation efforts in Spain (Iberian Peninsula, Catalonia…) focus almost exclusively on solely counting the birds? Where’s the conservation in knowing that a rare species is getting rarer year by year, if you don’t use that information immediately to draw up some plan of remedial action?

That’s my point. Counting is not conservation. It might be many things, most of them good: birding, collaborating, training, group-bonding, identity-forming, whatever. But if no-one has bothered to work out what to do with the results before the count has been done, then it is not going to be of any service at all to the bird in question, ie. it is not conservation.

My proposal is that public funding for counting birds or other beasts should always be conditioned towards action based on the results. In other words, if a species is declining and the cause is known (lack of habitat, disturbance, predation by magpies, etc), then the lion’s share of the available funds should be allocated to action to ameliorate the situation. In other words, action, not numbers.

Bulgaria, un bon destí per observar aus

Un article del Diari “La Manyana del Ponent”

L’ornitòleg anglès,Steve West, afincat a Lleida, col•labora per conservar l’àliga imperial oriental

Steve West va viatjar aquest mes a Bulgaria juntament amb d’altres nou ornitòlegs espanyols per tal d’observar aus en aquest país. A més, l’expedició va tenir una finalitat solidària, ja que van fer una donació a la Societat Búlgara per la Protecció de les Aus per ajudar en la companya de conservació de l’àliga imperial oriental, en perill d’extinció.

Els diners de la donació (756 euros)…es destinaran a contribuir a la preservació dels nius i a la compra de pasturatges amb colònies de suslik, que constitueix un dels aliments principals d’aquesta àliga.

Aquesta donació esta emmarcada dins el projecte LIFE+ Save the Raptors

Llegeix l’article sencer descarregant el Pdf Adjunt.

Spring is over, summer is here, so shouldn’t you be making plans for a short winter trip to northeast Spain?

In the February mid-term Max came birding with us for just 4 days and took home no fewer than 15 lifers, and it wasn’t his first birding trip to Spain!

Here’s a little about the 15 lifers we got for Max:

2 Wallcreepers (Sarah: “All I can see are two butterflies”)

Black Woodpecker. Photo by Michele Mendi.

2 Black Woodpeckers – they gave us a damn good run for our money (me: “I’ll master their call in the end”)

Alpine Accentor Prunella collaris. Photo by Franck Renard.

2 Alpine Accentors (they came out of the blue and landed on the monastery walls right in front of us).

Firecrest. Photo by Jan-Michael Breider.

2 Firecrests (me: “This looks like the right kind of place for a Firecrest”)

7 Great Bustards (all males, and a bit too close for their comfort)

2 Little Bustards (I wasn’t expecting them to be here!)

Dupont’s Lark.

1 Dupont’s Lark (cracking views, only wish I could get into the habit of having my camera with me at the right moments).

Common Crane. Photo by Franck Renard.

170+ Cranes

70+ Pin-tailed Sandgrouse

About 40 Black-bellied Sandgrouse 

Bonelli’s Eagle. Photo by Joao Cosme.

3 Bonelli’s Eagles (2 adults perched on rocks on the second morning were a good incentive for getting out of bed!)

1 Eagle Owl (cracking views!)

Goshawk. Photo by Michele Mendi.

2 Goshawks (you never know when you’re going to bump into these)

Lammergeier. Photo by Chris Schenk.

1 Lammergeier (a camera with flat batteries is worse than no camera!)

1 Spectacled Warbler

Plus Little Owl, Thekla Lark, Lesser Short-toed Lark, Wryneck, Blue Rock Thrush, Calandra Lark. 

All in all it was quite an instructive period, wouldn’t you agree Max?!  

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?

 Artist José’s impression of Steve West during the “Marine Birds of Catalunya” course held at Vila-seca

Many thanks for your drawings José! You’re an artist. I don’t know how you got my knees right without ever seeing them!