![\"Red-rumped](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.birdinginspain.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/08\/red-rumped-swallow-sil.jpg\")
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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 Al\u00f2s 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.<\/p>\n
![\"Hotspot](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.birdinginspain.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/08\/hotspotsbalaguer.jpg\")
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The BirdingInSpain.com hotspot<\/em>\u00a0<\/p>\n But that’s not all: we had a\u00a0pleasant paddle and then strolled in search of a picnic site – somewhere cool and shady, as temperatures were raging close to 40\u00baC. Well, I was more than a little surprised to see a Plain Tiger Danaus chrysippus\u00a0<\/em>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!\u00a0<\/p>\n 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.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n \u00a0The Red-rumped Swallow in northeast Spain<\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0Red-rumped Swallow\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>Hirundo daurica<\/em><\/font><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n The Red-rumped Swallow<\/strong> is a summer visitor to northeast S<\/strong>pain from mid-March to October. Scarce and localised as a breeding bird<\/strong>, it is a regular but uncommon migrant<\/strong> at coastal locations. In recent years it has undergone a range expansion<\/strong> in the region, with breeding proven or suspected in Montsec, Sierra de Guara and the Lleida drylands.<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n Birding itineraries where you can observe the Red-rumped Swallow<\/strong>: <\/font><\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n Cap de Creus<\/a>, Aiguam\u00f6lls of Empord\u00e0<\/a>, Montgr\u00ed massif<\/a>, Prades and Montsant ranges<\/a>, River Ebro<\/a>, Drylands of Lleida<\/a>. <\/font><\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n Distribution map of Red-rumped Swallow in northeast Spain. We’ll have to fill in a few more green blobs.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" 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 Al\u00f2s de Balaguer. A pretty unusual sighting and a new one for my rather neglected Hotspot list, now standing at 196 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-386","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-birds-in-spain"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7I752-6e","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.birdinginspain.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/386","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.birdinginspain.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.birdinginspain.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.birdinginspain.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.birdinginspain.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=386"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.birdinginspain.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/386\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.birdinginspain.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=386"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.birdinginspain.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=386"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.birdinginspain.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=386"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Red-rumped](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.birdinginspain.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/08\/redrumpedswallowmap.jpg\")
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