BirdingInSpain

During my recent northeast Spain birding trip with a Swiss group we stayed at the Rincón del Cierzo, Lécera (only 20 minutes from the Dupont’s Larks). The location is ideal, the hotel was good, clean and the food just right. And the service was friendly – with real smiles.

Just before we left Olga, the proprietor, handed me a card which she had been given the week before by a couple of British birders. On it I read “The Biggest Twitch” and the names Alan Davies and Ruth Miller. When I got home I checked them out. See their story for yourselves at www.thebiggesttwitch.com  (I wonder if they have problems with that double “t”).

It would have been nice to bump into them, but alas it could not be. Apparently they lucked upon the hotel. There’s no reason for you to do the same, as the BirdingInSpain.com website has a direct link to the hotel’s website where you can see the details for yourself.

It’s there, use it!

A quick breather between tours. And so a quick note on some of the birds just seen on a birding tour organised by BirdingInSpain.com for Beat Ruegger, a well-known Swiss birder and tour leader for Liberty Bird.

The route: Barcelona – Ebro Delta – Lleida – Belchite – Plan in the Pyrenees of Aragón. All in northeast Spain.

The dates: from 12th to 20th April

The tour participants: a total of 14 birders, including myself and Beat Ruegger as the bird guides.

The numbers: 196 bird species detected, in spite of 2 days strong winds and 2 days of rain (we really need rain here in Catalonia so I won’t complain!).

What’s behind the numbers: we managed to see all of the special target birds the group was interested in seeing. And there were quite a few pleasant surprises along the way. And quality encounters all through.

Some of the birds:

No fewer than 6 Dupont’s larks were seen (yes, seen!) on the Belchite steppes, including 2 parent larks with 2 young Dupont Lark offspring. Additionally, two singing Dupont’s Larks allowed themselves to be watched at leisure by all in the birding group.

16 Lammergeiers (not a total, but all at once!) in the sky in the Ordesa National Park. And scenery to remember for a long time.

A last-minute Wallcreeper on the edge of the village of Plan, after we were turned back by the snow when trying to reach a known site for this incredible bird. In the same place as two Alpine Accentors the previous day!

About a dozen male Little Bustards fighting, chasing and displaying on the drylands of Lleida on a pre-breakfast outing.

A pair of Bonelli’s Eagles drifting over our heads in Montsec.

Then the surprises: a Baillon’s Crake watched at leisure in the Ebro Delta on the 12th April (what a way to start! Could we keep it up?).

A Red-necked Nightjar on the second day, again in the Ebro Delta. This time while we were eating our picnic lunches!

A Broad-billed Sandpiper in the Ebro Delta just before we made our way inland towards Lleida.

A Ring Ouzel in the Montsec range in the morning (only the third I’ve seen in the area after more than 15 years of regular birding around Lleida). Then a Red-necked Phalarope at an inland lake in the afternoon. Too much!

Two days later there was a late Crane by the River Ebro to the south of Zaragoza. And on the last day an early Ortolan Bunting on the edge of Plan.

One day all birding trips will be made this way!

Spring has been around here in Lleida for some time now. According to weather reports from the UK it’s difficult to echo that statement further north.

So just for a bit of fun, let’s compare notes. The good (native and naturalized) birders from the general area around Lleida have been collecting observations of first spring arrivals of migratory bird species for the last few years. And rather than keeping them to ourselves, I thought “Why not share them with the international birding community?”. Someone out there might find this information useful or at least interesting.

Of course observations of first arrivals of migratory birds are not much use for scientifc purposes. Personally I think that such records should be extended to at least second and third observations, mostly in order to help to iron out anomalies, either in the bird world or in their human recorders.

But let’s be content with what there is, rather than gripe on about what there isn’t.

Below then are the first arrival dates for the migratory birds recorded in the Lleida area (northeast Spain) up until the 15th March. Birds recorded on later dates to follow.

SPECIES                                                                     DATE
Black Stork Ciconia nigra 19-Feb
Little Ringed Plover Charadrius dubius 19-Feb
Great Spotted Cuckoo Clamator glandarius 21-Feb
House Martin Delichon urbicum 23-Feb
Barn Swallow Hirundo rustica 23-Feb
Garganey Anas querquedula 27-Feb
Black Kite Milvus migrans 01-Mar
Red-rumped Swallow Hirundo daurica 01-Mar
Ruff Philomaxus pugnax 02-Mar
Egyptian Vulture Neophron percnopterus 04-Mar
Short-toed Eagle Circaetus gallicus 06-Mar
Lesser Kestrel Falco naumanni 08-Mar
Ring Ouzel Turdus torquatus 09-Mar
Sand Martin Riparia riparia 09-Mar
Osprey Pandion haliaetus 12-Mar
Black-winged Stilt Himantopus himantopus 13-Mar
Reed Warbler Acrocephalus scirpaceus 13-Mar
Booted Eagle Hieraaetus pennatus 13-Mar
Yellow Wagtail Motacilla flava 13-Mar
Tree Pipit Anthus trivialis 13-Mar
Redstart Phoenicurus phoenicurus 14-Mar
Whinchat Saxicola rubetra 14-Mar

Extract from the review by André J van Loon in Dutch Birding vol 30, nº1, 2008:

…..

This second book is a personal account of his life in Catalunya. It is divided into chapters with a story on a particular local species as a starting point, which triggers thoughts about a wide variety of subjects, such as hunting, conservation, the migration strategy of shrikes, the dancing displays of cranes in relation to finding a partner in the human world, going out birding with young children (“never, never forget the wet wipes”), memories of birding trips with his friends or as a tour leader, the Spanish Civil War, or observations of the same species as a vagrant or rare breeding bird back in England or elsewhere. ….

The book is a good, pleasant, humoristic and at times even emotional read. Since he also explains certain features or behaviour of birds (or behaviour of birdwatchers!), this book is not only fun for birdwatchers (especially those with a hunch for birds and birding in Spain) but also for their non-birding friends and partners.

Thanks André!

April is here, almost, and bird tours and their guides are already roaming the countryside here in northeast Spain.

I’m going to be busy this month, but as a dutiful blogger I will have to keep up a minimum input before my silent viewers give up on me and turn elsewhere. So a quick note of the last few days out birding with a couple of English birders (father and son in fact).

The chosen accommodation was La Garbinada rural hotel (see the drylands of Lleida itinerary recommended accommodation on the BirdingInSpain.com website). It’s a real rural retreat, so don’t go looking for pubs or discos here: nightlife is strictly for the owls! (and perhaps nightjars around May). Good food, nice hotel and access to the drylands to the south of Lleida, some interesting inland water bodies and about 50 minutes from the eastern Monegros.

On the first day we did a quick tour of the Alfés drylands, chalking up the following sightings:

3+ Red-rumped Swallows

2 Black Wheatears

2 Black-eared Wheatears

6 Great Spotted Cuckoos

2 Dotterel

2 Golden Eagles

1 Hen Harrier

Stone Curlew, Calandra Lark, Short-toed Lark, Egyptian Vulture, Red Kite, Thekla Lark, Woodlark, Blue Rock Thrush, etc.

On the afternoon of the first day and the morning of the second we visited two different water bodies near Lleida:

Purple Gallinule

6 Bluethroats

1 Moustached Warbler

1 Savi’s Warbler

Marsh Harrier, Black-winged Stilt, Wood Sandpiper, Garganey, Little Ringed Plover, Ruff, Black-tailed Godwit, Cattle Egret, Iberian Green Woodpecker, Penduline Tit and a looong etcetera.

Day 2 was spent mostly visiting the Congost de Mont-rebei (see the Montsec itineraries) where the main targets were Wallcreeper and Lammergeier. End result: Wallcreeper 1, Lammergeier 0, which we were perfectly happy with. Apart from the splendid walk, great weather and scenery we also managed to see Rock Bunting, Cirl Bunting, Dipper, Griffon Vulture, Golden Eagle, lots of Black Redstarts and co.

On the way back Lesser Kestrels, 7 Black-bellied Sandgrouse, Stone Curlews and a single Golden Plover.

Day 3 was spent in Aragón (Alcolea and Candasnos itinerary). The obligatory wetland stop produced Garganey, excellent views of about 10 Marsh Harriers, 6+ Black-necked Grebes, c.30 Red-crested Pochards and more Stone Curlews.

Spectacled Warbler, Yellow Wagtail and Pin-tailed Sandgrouse (my bird of the day), Great Spotted Cuckoos, a juvenile Bonelli’s Eagle and another Golden Eagle and two more Stone Curlews before lunch.

Then Lesser Short-toed larks, another Great Spotted Cuckoo or two and back to Lleida in time to catch the train. Not before finishing off with close up views of 11 Little Bustards. And another Stone Curlew or two!

Just a bit of fun. Can you identify these three bird silhouettes, all Spanish birds?

Level: easy – moderate (if you think otherwise tell me so and I’ll adjust the difficulty)

Bird number 1:

Above: Bird silhouette number 2. Below: bird silhouette number 3.

Look out for more coco-busters coming soon!

Maintaining a blog requires constancy and vanity: I’m obviously lacking in one of those, but I’m not sure which.

Ideas for the environment, and hence for birds. This month’s apparently “whacko” suggestion is spring-loaded cars.

Imagine it: go to a “petrol” station which has no petrol but rather exercise bikes of similar. There you can pedal for as long as you like on a static bike which in fact is winding up a very strong, resistant spring-loaded mechanism housed inside a rechangeable tube. You pay nothing for the exercise, and in fact get a credit for replacing your spent “tube” or cannister for a recharged one, depending on the amount of exercise you have done, or how much you want to pay.

I’m no engineer, so I expect such a system would have to be used in combination with petrol or similar, as a spring-petrol hybrid.

Want more? Got more?

Just a quick note of the “first” arrivals that I have had the fortune to encounter over the last week or so:

3 Short-toed Eagles (together, and screaming like gulls, weird)

Several Garganey, both male and female

Willow Warbler singing

A horde of Swallows and Sand Martins

Little Ringed Plover, Wood Sandpiper, Black-tailed Godwit and Black-winged Stilt as the wader representation

2 Egyptian Vultures and a few Black Kites in the Pre-Pyrenees

Tree Pipits calling, small parties of Yellow Wagtails

What I haven’t seen, despite looking:

Spectacled Warbler, Montagu’s Harrier (or even a flukey Pallid Harrier), House Martin

All the more reason to get out and about!

Bonelli’s Eagle   Hieraaetus fasciatus

The Bonelli’s Eagle is a resident species with juvenile dispersal to non-breeding areas with abundant prey items. The Bonelli’s Eagle is undergoing a serious decline throughout its range, which in Spain is mostly due to electrocution, illegal shooting and habitat fragmentation. Nevertheless, Spain holds around 70% of the European population of this marvellous species of bird. The healthiest populations of Bonelli’s Eagle in northeast Spain are found in the sierras of Tarragona in Catalonia.

Some birding itineraries in northeast Spain where the Bonelli’s Eagle can be seen: Els Ports, Cardó massif, Prades and Montsant ranges, Garraf, Montgrí massif, Cap de Creus, Montsec range.

Out with my friend Manel birding on the drylands of Bellmunt, Lleida. A quick visit on the way home from Mont-roig (I know! I was there last week too, but it’s such a great place for birding!), mainly to see if any Little Bustards were marking territories. Nope, none.

But there we stood, listening to the melodic song (ehem!) of the Southern Grey Shrike, while watching a good number and variety of raptors sailing on the morning’s thermals: a handful of Griffon Vultures, a Golden Eagle, 2 Red Kites, a Hen Harrier and a Marsh Harrier too.

We drove on a little and then Manel stopped. I’d signalled for him to do so because I had seen a black bird in a short grassy field (barley actually but being young and green it looked like grass) but I couldn’t tell what it was.

“A starling” said Manel. I was looking at an angle through the windscreen, and you know how that distorts, but starling didn’t seem right.

“A blackbird?” I suggested. “Or perhaps a Ring Ouzel?” even more tentatively.

“A Ring Ouzel?” repeated Manel, with an inquisitorial tone, which made me sincerely hope that the bird was not in fact a starling after all. The bird then hopped, flew a little closer to us, and helpfully turned towards us, showing a gleaming white half-moon.

“Oh! It is a Ring Ouzel!” exclaimed Manel, “Isn’t that strange!”

Well, strange no, because birds have wings and they use them to migrate. Furthermore early March is the peak season for Ring Ouzel migration in this part of Spain. Nevertheless, it was only the second Ring Ouzel I had seen near Lleida in the 20 years that I have lived here. So “strange” maybe not, but stimulating certainly.

The Ring Ouzel that breeds in the Spanish Pyrenees is of the race alpestris, while the Bellmunt bird was obviously a male of the nominate race torquatus. So if any of you more northern European residents happen to see a Ring Ouzel in your garden in the next week or so think that there’s just a tiny possibility that Manel and I had been watching that same creature on the drylands of Bellmunt, northeast Spain.