The prime wetland site on the coast of Catalonia (Catalunya), and perhaps the most sizzling birding hotspot in northeast Spain, is the Ebro Delta.
I’m sure it wouldn’t take me long to find the official statistics to inform those drawing up plans for a birding trip to the Ebro Delta, something like:
“The Ebro Delta covers an area of x km2, and has a human population of y,000. The Natural Park of the Ebro Delta includes z protected areas, totalling x hectares. y species of bird have been recorded in and around the Ebro Delta”
Very interesting, but that’s not my style anymore. However, one of the first things I would say to anyone thinking of a birding trip to the Ebro Delta would be “Do it. You won’t regret it, even though you should be prepared for a surprise or two.” And those surprises take on all kinds of forms. If you think the Ebro Delta is one giant unbroken nature reserve with turtles scuttling on the beaches and crocodiles sunning themselves on the banks of the rivers, then you are certainly in for a surprise.
The possibilities for birding offered by the Ebro Delta are never quite exhausted, as I can testify. My first visit here was in 1990, and since then I have made regular visits leading bird tours or to satisfy my own birding needs. In the early days a real danger was getting lost. Then came the realization that mosquitoes not only thrived in the summer but also seemed to survive well into the winter. In October birders have to try and bird the Ebro Delta while coexisting with hordes of hunters.
But then come the pleasant surprises: a short seawatch turns into a spectacle as you spot hundreds or even thousands of Balearic Shearwaters plying the waves at a short distance from the shore; a winter visit to the Alfacs bay produces three species of divers on mirror-like waters; you chance on a spring day where hundreds of migrant passerines are piling up in the few available bushes along the shoreline; a Short-eared Owl jumps up silently from almost under your feet; a strange gull flies over your head and you look more closely and see that it’s a Caspian Tern.
Those are the surprises that birders like best. And something similar could happen to you while birding in the Ebro Delta, in northeast Spain.
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