BirdingInSpain

Our Lammergeier hides get excellent results, but admittedly are not over spacious.

Photographers getting ready to occupy the Lammergeier hides

Photographers patiently await the arrival of Lammergeiers, Griffon Vultures or Black Vultures. Or perhaps fidget nervously in anticipation of that special shot… the Lammergeier in flight, on the ground, landing, taking off…Either way, there isn’t anywhere for them to go until the designated pick-up time. No wonder they rub and massage their creaking bones when they get out of the hides for a welcome stretch.   

But a few stiff joints are worth it to get that close to the famed bone-breaking Lammergeier.

Lammergeier with bone

Michele Mendi came to us in mid-November and was very pleased with some of the photos he took. He has very generously offered to share some of them with BirdingInSpain.com and our readers, as a preview of some of his work. 

An aerial dispute

Black Vulture, or Black Sheep?

The Griffon Vulture – a handsome bird? 

Many thanks, Michele! Marvellous!

Michele was not alone. Present too was Frenchman Sebastien Beghelli from Naturapics. Sebastien gained a lot of useful experience here, as well as some very good shots which we hope to see in the near future. Come on Sebastien, show us some more!

November visitors also included two of Scandinavia’s top photographers:

Tom Schandy. See some of Tom’s photos and his article  here (someone translate from Norwegian please!)

Brutus Östling from Sweden. See Brutus Östling’s blog article here (English translation available).

And below a couple of the landscapes I enjoy while watching the proceedings from a distance.

Can you identify the flying birds in these photographs?

Photo flying birds number 1: tricky.

Photo flying birds number 2: not so tricky, but not easy.

Photo flying birds number 3: should be easy enough.

BirdingInSpain.com will give a prize to the first 3 correct answers received (all 5 species) which are accompanied with the contestant’s own mystery flight photo.

Part of the autumn maintenance of the BirdingInSpain.com website is the renovation of links to our many recommended hotels. This is the time when the professional establishments that collaborate with BirdingInSpain.com decide if they want to extend their relationship with us for another year, or to say farewell to the birding community.

It should be said that we at BirdingInSpain.com don’t just recommend any old hotel, because if we did we’d be putting our reputation on the line for a very poor return. We either select hotels that we know personally, or hotels which our clients or friends recommend to us. We also apply desirable criteria like an attractive rural setting (with good birding on the doorstep if possible), personal treatment, quality service at a reasonable price and an inclination to understanding a birder’s needs.  

These following hotels have decided to continue their relationship with BirdingInSpain.com and to welcome birders from all over the world:

Delta Hotel, Ebro Delta

Rincón Del Cierzo, Belchite

Allucant, Gallocanta

Castellsdelleida, Montsec

Monestir de les Avellanes, Montsec

Hotel Usón, Hecho Valley

Hospedería Loarre, Sierra de Guara West

Hostería Sierra de Guara, Sierra de Guara East

Hotel Roca Blanca, Aigüestortes East

Hospital de Benasque, Benasque

Hotel Mediodía, Aínsa to Gistaín

Hotel la Garbinada, Drylands of Lleida

Can Navata, Aiguamolls de l’Empordà

Mas del Joncar, Aiguamolls de l’Empordà

La Farinera, Els Ports

Hotel Santa Cruz de la Serós, Hecho Valley

Xalet de Prades, Montsant and Prades

Some others have only just joined us, and are keen to receive birders. Let’s not disappoint them: 

Les Eres, Serra del Cadí

Metsola, Irati and Roncal Valley

Hotel Secaiza, Gallocanta

Casagran, Cardó Massif

Font del Pas, Els Ports

Words from the author himself, Franck Renard:

The title of my new book is Photographier les oiseaux sauvage (Photographing wild birds)

It is a guide for beginners in which I give some information and advice to improve the quality of its images of birds in the nature.

Naturally there are some pictures of lammergeiers and Birdinginspain.com is quoted in the practical information !

The book is available on the site of the publisher in France, at this address : www.image-nature.com/objet_126.html

Franck was with us in the Lammergeier hides in February.

I hope your book sells out, Franck. I’ll be ordering mine very soon (and with it the opportunity to practice my secondary school French reading comprehension).

On a hot summer’s day going canoeing with friends is not a bad idea. Get some exercise, enjoy the landscape, tranquillity and wildlife, have a laugh and be left with the perfect excuse for enjoying a good meal in a local restaurant. If the sun beats down hard there is the shade of the gallery woodland, and you can always splash a bit more as you paddle along. Oh, and wear your swimming costume in case you overturn – as I did.

11 of us, ranging in age from 11 to a little over 50 paddled the 12 km between Miravet and Benifallet. The nature and adventure sports company Beniemocions based in Benifallet provided the canoes, the tuition, the guidance and also transported us to the river’s edge. Thanks Beniemocions! We had a great time.
 
Here’s the list of the birds I remember seeing along the river:
6 or more Squacco Herons
1 Purple Heron
2 Little Egrets
2 Kingfishers
3 Grey Wagtails
1 Short-toed Eagle
Several Golden Orioles (calling mostly)
Several Bee-eaters
1 Sardinian Warbler

Combine all that activity with a visit to the village and castle of Miravet, the caves of Benifallet, a walk in the sierras of Cardó or Pàndols, an afternoon on the beach, or else somewhere nice and quiet to enjoy a well-deserved siesta.

Thanks to Ramon for the use of his photos!

At last Gerd Herren’s super Lammergeier and vulture video is up on the BirdingInSpain.com website! And it’s a film that anyone remotely interested in photographing or filming raptors should not miss.

Belgian Gerd Herren is a professional film-maker who spent several days with his friend Franck Renard in our Lammergeier hides in February. In this short film, approximately 8 minutes long, he magnificently portrays some of their unforgettable experiences, let alone the unique images of Lammergeiers and other vultures they obtained! 

Driving along a mountain track in a snowstorm?

That’s Steve and Belgian bird photographer Franck Renard. What are they talking about?

Black Vultures? In the Pre-Pyrenees of Lleida, Spain?

A Lammergeier, or Bearded Vulture, with a meaty bone. What’s going to happen next?

The mountains look lovely in the snow, but what about the vultures?

Well, the snow certainly hasn’t kept the Lammergeiers away!

Admiration or rivalry

Click on this link in the photography section of the BirdingInSpain.com website to see the full video.

 Spplllppp!

Aquest dilluns 17 d’agost en TV3 va emetre el programa “Quin país!” presentat per en Llucià Ferrer. El programa va presentar el poble de Montsonís, a prop d’Artesa de Segre. Els televidents vam tindre la oportunitat de veure el castell, alguna de les coves i alguns personatges interessants del poble, a més de sentir explicacions sobre regals inútils, visites al castell, un itinerari de tir amb arc i sortides per observar ocells portades a terme en anglés. 

Per aquest últim em van demanar que vingués a una entrevista amb en Llucià Ferrer, antic presentador de ràdio de RAC 105.

Vam passar una estona força distesa,  i a en Llucià no li va costar massa demanar coses que en una entrevista formal no s’acostuma a demanar: imitacions de les veus d’alguns ocells. Vam acabar fent l’oriol i el puput (fàcils), i al final, la piece de resistance, el sisó Tetrax tetrax.

Voleu veure com vam plasmar la parada nupcial del sisó? Cliqueu en el següent enllaç per veure el programa:

El sisó segons en Steve i en Llucià Ferrer

Darrere de les escenes

Early on Saturday morning (15th August) while out picking Blackberries with the family (they ripen earlier here than in the UK) a familiar call made me look up and spot 2 Red-rumped Swallows near Alòs de Balaguer. A pretty unusual sighting and a new one for my rather neglected Hotspot list, now standing at 196 species since the beginning of the year.

The BirdingInSpain.com hotspot 

But that’s not all: we had a pleasant paddle and then strolled in search of a picnic site – somewhere cool and shady, as temperatures were raging close to 40ºC. Well, I was more than a little surprised to see a Plain Tiger Danaus chrysippus fluttering around a roadside verge. Only the second time I’ve seen the species, and less than a month after my first observation in the Ebro delta! 

It just goes to show that you should never leave your binoculars at home, even if you’re only going blackberry picking with the family. 

 The Red-rumped Swallow in northeast Spain

 Red-rumped Swallow   Hirundo daurica

The Red-rumped Swallow is a summer visitor to northeast Spain from mid-March to October. Scarce and localised as a breeding bird, it is a regular but uncommon migrant at coastal locations. In recent years it has undergone a range expansion in the region, with breeding proven or suspected in Montsec, Sierra de Guara and the Lleida drylands.

Birding itineraries where you can observe the Red-rumped Swallow:

Cap de Creus, Aiguamölls of Empordà, Montgrí massif, Prades and Montsant ranges, River Ebro, Drylands of Lleida.

Distribution map of Red-rumped Swallow in northeast Spain. We’ll have to fill in a few more green blobs.

Descendants of the British House Mouse are killing huge numbers of albatrosses, petrels and shearwaters every year in British Overseas Territories and British Protectorates. Yes, MICE! They gnaw at and eventually eat defenceless chicks on the nest.

If you are a British resident or expat then you can sign the petition requesting that the British government dedicate sufficient economic resources to overcome this macabre situation.

Click here to read and sign the petition. 

Painted Lady butterflies invaded Europe in their millions this spring, astounding many observers by the sheer volume of their migration. However, the usual time for a birder to be showing interest in butterflies is the summer: there’s more butterfly and less bird activity.

Ebro Delta, mid-July. With a young British birder, Max Levy and his parents. Over two days we saw at least a dozen of these handsome butterflies, which I initially identified as Monarchs Danaus plexippus.

Max spotted the first one on 18th July and then we saw about a dozen the next day. I got rather excited and subsequently reported our “Monarch” sightings on a couple of forums. Luckily there are some diligent and knowledgeable forum-goers out there, and I was promptly redirected to the right identification: Plain Tiger Danaus chrysippus.

Both of these butterflies breed in the Canary Islands. On the Spanish mainland the Plain Tiger (Spanish: “Mariposa Tigre” or “Monarca Africana”) has been recorded from all around the coastline, parts of which it has colonized in the last decade or so. Currently it breeds at several localities, including the Ebro Delta. The Monarch is more restricted in range, but has bred alongside this species in the province of Málaga.

Here’s another spectacular butterfly, the Cardinal Argynnis pandora.

I feel pretty confident about its identification (please!), and that the photograph is my own, taken on the edge of the Montsant range in mid-June.  In Catalunya the Cardinal is is a rare and localised species which shows significant variations from year to year.

If interested in these attractive insects you could do much worse than download a pdf of Cynthia, the bulletin of the CBM scheme (Catalan Butterfly Monitoring).

Now you know what to do with those long, hot summers: when the birds go quiet, take a glance at the butterflies.