BirdingInSpain

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!

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!

We’ve really splashed out here at BirdinginSpain and have just had 100 unique T-shirts printed with the BirdingInSpain.com logo. The logo is on a white background and the size range includes S, M, L, XL and XXL.

These T-shirts will not be available to the general public I’m afraid. Only to BirdingInSpain.com clients, and on request.

By the way, I must admit I got a bit of a shock when Florinda politely observed that my size was more of an XL than an L or even an M!

This last season our Lammergeier hides have been used by no fewer than 33 bird and wildlife photographers. Not one of them returned home without a good number of photographs of Lammergeier, Black Vulture and Griffon Vulture. The later visitors also had Egyptian Vulture.

Access to the Lammergeier hides for photography is now closed until October. In that time we are planning to make a series of important and interesting improvements, which will mean greater comfort, more photographic possibilities and more convenient logistical arrangements for our demanding clients!

We will keep you informed. For the moment we would like to issue a huge THANK YOU to all of our clients who deposited a great deal of trust in us. And another one to all of them who graciously shared some of their hard-earned fruits with the rest of the bird photography community. One such person is Jonny Verheyden, who has kindly given us permission to reproduce one of his superb Lammergeier photos on this blog.

Lammergeier in flight by Jonny Verheyden.

We can’t thank you enough for such a great trip! It was wonderful, and made us hungry for more.

Ann

I’ve finally gotten my lists more or less in order and find I have more than thirty life birds, but finding new birds didn’t mean as much as the wonder of the days—clouds of swifts above and carpets of poppies below.

John

The two days I spent with you both, showing you the birds and the landscapes around my home in Lleida were a pleasure for me too. Thank you John and Ann, and may you have many more marvellous birding experiences!

Favorite birds of the SPAIN TOUR,
conducted 15-27 April 2010, as voted upon by the 11 participants & 2 leaders.

Rank Species   Points  Votes  First place votes

1 LAMMERGEIER    105     12    7
2 Great Bustard           60      9
3 Wallcreeper               57      6     4
4 Collared Pratincole   39      8
5 Firecrest                    35      6     1
6 Ring Ouzel                 32      7     1
7 Black Wheatear        32      6
8 Dartford Warbler     28      6
9 Little Bustard           28      5
10 Pin-tailed Sandgrouse    22      5
11 Azure-winged Magpie    18      4
12 Wryneck      18      3
13 Spanish Imperial Eagle    15      3
14 Little Bittern     15      3
15 Red Kite       15      2
16 Garganey     14      2
17 Crested Tit   13      2
18 Montagu’s Harrier     9      1
19 Audouin’s Gull      8      3
20 Snowfinch      8      1

The Lammergeier strikes again!

Lammergeier, Gypaetus barbatus. Reproduced with kind permission of wildlife photographer Jonny Verheyden.

For tour participants there is now a story behind all of these names. And each story will have its own personal touch.

The best of Spanish greetings to Bob and Nancy at Birdtreks and to the Westchester Bird Club members who participated in this unforgettable tour!

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.