Birdinginspain.com – our top 10 … continued
Number 5: Black Woodpecker
The Black Woodpecker impresses by its size, its coloration and its powerful, far-carrying voice. The several encounters I’ve had with this species at its nest sites constitute some marvellous birding moments that I hope I will never forget.
You can find Black Woodpecker in Northeast Spain in this itinerary
Number 4: Pin-tailed Sandgrouse
Personally, I have a soft spot for sandgrouse, and luckily both species that can be seen in Europe are to be found here in northeast Spain.
If you ever get the chance to get close enough to this wary bird take a good long look at the wonderfully intricate designs on its plumage. As a ground nesting bird it is one of the masters of camouflage, but apart from that it’s a bird with a lot of character.
Number 3: Black-bellied Sandgrouse
The Black-bellied Sandgrouse is deservedly famous for its long flights to water pools and the male’s ability to soak his belly feathers with water and then fly back to the nest scrape to provide his chicks with precious droplets of water.
I’ve spent a lot of time scanning open fields in dryland areas for this emblematic species; I’ve been lucky at times, and at others the rocks I was staring at never moved.
Selected Black-bellied sandgrouse itinerary
Number 2: LammergeierThe Lammergeier is unique in many ways, not the least for its dietary habits seeing that it’s the only bird in the world that eats bones. It’s one of the biggest birds you can see in Spain, it’s majestic, silent, and inhabits some of the most remote and scenic areas in the country.
Excellent credentials that make it my number 2 bird in the region.
Here is a detailed itinerary with a high chance of seeing a Lammergeier, or even 10!
Number 1: Wallcreeper
I’m sure that I’m not alone in choosing the Wallcreeper as the number 1 bird of northeast Spain. It’s one of those birds that captivate both the imagination and the attention when it’s actually within sight. Or in other words, a bird that you really want to see and that when you do you actually spend a long time watching it.
A summer itinerary for Wallcreeper
A winter itinerary for Wallcreeper
That’s my own personal list, but what do you think? What are your top 10 favourites from the region? It could be a list of birds you have seen or else birds you want to see. If enough people send in their own lists we can really see what the most popular species are.
If you want to read more about these species and others then you would do well to get hold of a copy of my latest book “Flying over the Pyrenees, standing on the plains”. At the Birdinginspain.com website you can download a couple of free chapters, and you may also like to know that it was Subbuteo Natural History Book’s “Book of the month” in September 2007.
For full details about where to see these species and more in northeast Spain purchase a copy of my first book “Where the birds are in northeast Spain”.
Leave a Reply