Spring is coming!

On Saturday I spent the day birding at Empordà Marshes Natural Park (PNAE) and Cap de Creus Natural Park (PNCC). At a new discovered location at the there were some interesting migrants, such as Gadwall, Black-winged Stilt, Wood Sandpiper or Common Green Sandpiper. Then, at the Estany de Vilaüt I saw some Little Ringed Plovers, an Spotted Redshank, some Barn Swallows and, at the nearby fields, a male Lesser Kestrel. Then I moved to the Punta del Cap de Creus (PNCC), to join the migration monitoring program. Some interesting birds were seen, such as Yelkouan and Balearic Shearwaters, 2 Great Skuas, 4 Razorbills and an Atlantic Puffin (new tick for my catalan list. The spring is coming, and, for sure, new good birds will be seen in the next days.

You can check the full bird list here.

My Birding Atlas Update 2010-03-07

This is a new update of my birding atlas, with new interesting sights and some new birding places. New interesting sights will be added as the spring goes on!

Mostra un mapa més gran

A weekend at the Pyrenees

We have spent this weekend at El Ripollès, a Pyrenees county at the eastern part of this mountain range. On Saturday we wanted to spend most of the day birding at the Vall de Ribes. However, we were highly conditioned by the weather. We started on Saturday morning at the Collet de Barraques. Our idea was to climb up to to 2500m to try to wee the White-winged Snowfinch and the Alpine Accentor. However, the weather was horrible above 2000m, so we explored the area around the parking lot. It was very quiet, an the best bird there was a couple of Common Crossbills. At about 11:30 it started raining quite a lot, so we decided to do some car birding, which is not easy at the mountains. On the descent of the Collet de Barraques, we had a glimpse of a Black Woodpecker. Our next stop was the Coll de la Creueta, a very good place to see the White-winged Snowfinch (thanks to the PARUS nature group, which keep feeders there to band them). We explored the road which goes from the GI-400 to the Coll de la Creueta. There we saw a single Fieldfare, some Goldfinches, a few Yellowhammer and many (up to 100) Snowfinches. Great! By the time, it was almost lunchtime and it was raining heavily. Thus, we decided to go to our hut to prepare the lunch. After lunch it was still raining heavily and we decided to relax and do some "porch birding". It was a good decision, as it produced Great, Blue, Crested, Coal, Marsh and Long-tailed Tits, Green and Great Spotted Woodpeckers, Short-toed Treecrepers, Eurasian Nutchatches, ... We just missed the Bullfinch! We spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing and reading with a pleasant cup of Laphroaig.

Sunday February 28th 5:30 AM. The wind is blowing very hard, and I wonder if we could go to do some snowshoeing and try to see some mountain birds more. We had an appointment with some friends, and I was wishing the weather to be better. Fortunately, at 9:30 we were ready to start without wind. It was quite foggy, but the temperature was quite comfortable. At the lowest part the first interesting birds were some Citrl Finches and some Eurasian Siskins. We continued climbing and it was all very quiet. Some of us were beginners with snowshoes, and they were enjoying the hike a lot. At about 2200 I started looking for the Rock Ptarmigan, without luck. The last 100m to reach the Coll de la Marrana were quite steep and icy, so we had to wear the crampons instead of the snowshoes. At the top of the Coll de la Marrana I saw two good birds, an Alpine Choughs and a Lammergeier. It was time to go down. On our way down, I could see a small flock of 7 Alpine Accentors.

Summarizing, it has been a very good weekend in terms of activity and birds. We have seen up to 53 species (not bad considering the bad weather), and I have grown my catalan yearly list to 151 species.

Serra de Llancers

On Sunday I lead a hiking tour at Serra de Llancers, between La Garrotxa and Osona counties. It extends its range from north-south, being a natural border between these two counties. We started at about 1.5km east from Coll de Bracons. We climbed a little bit until we reached the Fageda de la Grevolosa, a beech forest with abundant European Hollies. Then we started the descent to the Pla de la Vola, and scenic area which was the lowest point of our route. Then, we started climbing to reach first the Port de Faja and then the Coll de Faja. This is a very scenic walk, with great views of the surrounding plains and summits. After the Coll de Faja we arrived at Coll d'Uran, just before reaching the Puig Satoies and Coll del Pedró. This is the southern edge of the Serra de Llancers. From that point, we climbed the ridge and walked it to the north to almost reach the Coll de Bracons. There, we turned south and arrived to the Fageda de la Grevolosa, to follow the morning trail until we reached the car.

If you like hiking while enjoying great landscapes, this route is for you. If you decide to walk it, prepare to enjoy some of the most exciting landscapes of our small country.

Empordà Marshes Natural Parkand Eagle Owl count

Yesterday morning we spent a couple of hours trying to add new species to our catalan yearly list. We started at Mig de Dos Rius Reserve, where I added a nice male of Lesser Spotted Woodpecker. Our next stop was El Matà area. At the depuration ponds I added a Moustached Warbler. Then we moved to El Bruel Lookout, where we saw some Tufted Ducks, Common Pochards, Western Marsh Harriers, ... but no sign of the Green-winged Teal. Then, we scanned El Matà meadows, where I added a Jack Snipe. We also saw many Dunlins, a few Little Stints, many Golden Plovers, Curlews, Alpine Pipits, ...

At the evening we carried out an Eagle Owl count at Cap de Creus Natural Park. With temperatures of -2ºC and a moderate strength NE wind, it was not a very pleasent bird count. And, unfortunatelly, I detected no Eagle Owl at all! However, there were detected up 13 breeding grounds, while about 7 traditional areas couldn't be properly explored due to the wind.

Santoña Birding Trip 2010

Last weekend I lead a birding trip to Santoña Marshes Natural Park, at the Spain's cantabric coast. This is a very important wintering ground for many waterfowl and wader species, with numbers ranging from 15000 to 20000 birds.
We started on Saturday January 23rd at the Bengoa Marshes. It was an exciting starting, which produced an Slavonian Grebe, two Greater Black-backed Gulls, a Great Scaup female or a Great Northern Loon. Then we moved to the Santoña Harbour (not really at the harbour, but at the youth hostel). Very interesting birds were seen there, such as a Red-throated Loon, a couple of Razorbills, an Osprey, 10 Brent Geese and we had the first glimpse of a female Common Scoter. Our next stop was at La Arenilla lookout. Just before arriving there it started raining. There we saw the same species as at the previous point, but the surprise appeared just before leaving: a Marsh Sandpiper! It continued raining, and our next stop was not sheltered from the rain at all: the Montehano Monastery. This areas is the Asón river estuary, being the deepest area of the marshes and, thus one of the best areas for diving ducks. We were not disappointed at all! There we saw up to 9 Slavonian Grebe, the previous female Common Scoter, up to 7 Velvet Scoters, two Arctic Loons, a Red-throated Loon and a Great Northern Loon. Then we moved to the Playerón de Cicero, a very good area for waders. There we saw many Dunlins, about 30 Curlew Stints, 4 Little Stints, 4 Common Ringed Plovers, many Bar-tailed and Black-tailed Godwits, Oystercatchers, ... In the meantime it stopped raining and we moved to Colindres Beach., where we had lunch looking at the birds (no of them new). After having lunch we had a look to the Escalante Meadows from the Montehano Quarry, under the watchful eye of a Peregrine Falcon. There we saw many Graylag Geese, up to 10 Eurasian Thick-knees, a Great Northern Loon, but no Greater White Fronted Geese or any Barnacle Goose, which we knew were there. Finally we moved to Santander. The first area we visited was the Marisma Blanca, where we enjoyed the great Bufflehead, which has been there for at least one month. We had a quick visit to the Santander Bay (a Red-breasted Merganser was seen there) and ended the birding day at the Playa del Camello, enjoying the great views of 5 Purple Sandpipers. We ended the day at the Restaurante Arredondo at Hazas de Cesto, enjoying a great "cocido montañés".

On Sunday 24th we wanted to have a quick look at the Escalante Meadows just to see if the geese we missed the day before were there. And they were! So we had seen almost all of the needed species! On our way home we had a visit to the Balsa de Zolina, just to know the place. There was much waterfowl, specially Common Pochards. On the surroundings we could also enjoy some Red Kites and a Rock Petronia.

You can check the full birdlist here.

Puig d'Arques and Santa Coloma de Fitor

On Sunday we had a great mountain biking route that allowed us to explore the southeastern part of the Gavarres mountains. We started at Torre Valentina beach and, after about 13km of climb, reached the Puig d'Arques summit, the highest summit of these mountains. Then, we started the descent to La Ganga, visiting Can Darna and Sant Cebrià dels Alls hermitage. After having reached La Ganga, we headed towards the Santa Coloma de Fitor hermitage and, finally, after a fast and funny descent, reached Palamós Beach just before arriving to the departing point. In summary, it is a very beautiful, medium hard, route

Roses Bay Birding Boat Trip

Last Sunday we carried out the annual winter birding boat trip at Roses Bay. About 80 people gathered to enjoy the great show of the winter seabirds. We left Roses at 9:15 and sailed southwards along the coast until we reached Sant Martí d'Empúries. The best birds there were a Velver Scoter, about 15 Black-throated Loons and up to 5 Great Northern Loons. Then we turned north, to the Cap de Creus. When we were about 5 miles from the coast started throwing fish to attract the birds. There, we also saw a Great Skua. The first birds to come were the Yellow-legged Gulls mixed with some Black-headed Gulls. Then, arrived the Northern Gannets and, finally, the Balearic and Mediterranean Shearwaters. Unfortunatelly, no Kittiwakes were seen. During this journey we also saw an Ocean Sunfish (Mola mola) and a Fin Whale (Balaenoptera physalus). We stopped throwing fish when we reached the Cap de Creus. At its cliffs, we saw a Peregrine Falcon and four Shag nests. Although we looked for the wintering Wallcreeper, we saw none. Finally, at about 13:00, we arrived once again to the Roses harbour.

Ebre Delta Natural Park

We spent the last days of 2009 at Onda, a small city close to Castelló de la Plana, where my girlfriend's aunts live. We didn't any birding there, but on our way back home, on January 2nd, we spent most of the day at Ebre Delta Natural Park. We visited the most interesting areas there (see my Birding Atlas link at the sidebar for more info), which produced, just to highlight a few, a Great Bittern (Llacuna de l'Encanyissada, almost the first bird of the year!), 30 Glossy Ibis (Can Figueres), 4 Red-breasted Mergansers (Lo Goleró) and a Horned Grebe (also at Lo Goleró). We saw up to 74 species, not bad in winter and a very good way of beginning the year! You can check the full list here.

2009 Yearly Catalan List

The 2009 is over and now it is time to look back to see what it has produced. I've seen 250 species this year, which is not bad for me, considering I spend most of my time working in a laboratory or with my compter. It has been a poor year in terms of rarities, but it produced species as interesting as Great Northern Loon, Richard's Pipit or Western Olivaceus Warbler. However, I'm still missing the most sought after (for me) species of Catalonia: the Red-footed Falcon. Let's hope that the newly 2010 brings at least (more would be better!) so many species (if possible the Red-footed Falcon also!) as the 2009 has brought. You can check the complete list here.

My Birding Atlas Update 2009-12-27

Mostra un mapa més gran

Christmas birding

Holidays should be a relaxing time, but not for me! Thus, it will be a very short post regarding our activity during the last three days. We spent the Christmas day at my parent's home, and we took the chance to visit the Basses d'en Coll, which is at the very nice Middle Ages village of Pals, about half an hour driving from Sant Feliu de Guíxols. We spent the 25th andand today's mornings. The best birds were a Great Northern Loon (seen both days) at the beach and a juvenile Bluethroat seen today. Other interesting birds seen these days where Shags, Eurasian Wigeons, a Common Pochard, a male and a female Lesser Spotted Woodpeckers, a male Great Spotterd Woodpeckers, Curlews, ... You can check the full list here.

El Montclar

This mountain bike route will lead to one of the most beautiful summits of the area, while giving you great views from the sea to the Pyrenees. Even if it is not a really hard route, it requires good riding technical skills for both the ascent and the descent. You can check the full IBP analysis here.

4-days birding weekend

This last weekend has been an intensive birding weekend, splitted between the Empordà Marshes Natural Park and the Ebre Delta Natural Park. I have spent the first two days birding at the first natural park. It was very quite and warm (April temperatures!!), and it was hard to find birds. I visited the best sites I know in the park, and I got almost 90 spices. I had a couple of surprises, including 5 Common Scoter female sleeping at the Fluvià River, close to the Illa de Caramany (a very rare place for this species!), and a Richard's Pipit at the Mas Trencat meadows (this is the best place to look for this species). Other areas I visited where the Santa Margarida harbour (a good area for Razorbills, loons and grebes) looking for the Red-throated Loon (no luck), the Gola del Fluvià (many Razorbills and a couple of Stone Curlews), la Gallinera (a female Hen Harrier), Mig de Dos Rius Nature Reserve (Great, Lesser and Green Woodpecker), El Matà (6 Spotted Redshanks) or El Bruel Lookout (1 Eared Grebe and 3 Tufted Ducks). See the two maps below for my itinerary.





On Monday 7th we went to the Ebre Delta Natural Park. Our first stop was at the Bassa de les Olles. There we had a big surprise, when we saw a very nice Great Bittern. Before moving to another area an Osprey showed up. Then we explored the delta north coast, known as Lo Goleró. The best bird there were 5 Red-breasted Mergansers, some Common Shelducks, ... Just before lunch we went to El Fangar, but there was much people there, and few birds were seen. After having lunch we explored the area around the Canal Vell, where we saw many Glossy Ibis and a nice adult Little Gull. We ended the day at the Gola de Migjorn, enjoying a Great Skua and 13 Comon Scoter.

On Tuesday 8th we went early to the Punta de la Banya to avoid the crowd. On the Alfacs Bay side we enjoyed some Turnstones, a couple of Oystercatchers and 15 Red-breasted Mergansers. There we met Ricard Gutiérrez (http://www.rarebirdspain.net/home.htm), who told us about a Great Northern Loon at the very end of the peninsula. We went to the lookout (be careful not to get stacked in the sand!) and, after a little searching, we found it. There we saw many avocets as well. On our way back we could see a very nice adult Audouin's Gull roosing on the seashore. We headed to the Llacuna de la Tancada where we could see a couple of adults Mediterranean Gulls in winter plumage and 3 Gull-billed Tern (they should be wintering further south!). We stopped at the Erms de la Tancada to look for the Richard's Pipit before having lunch at the Salines de la Tancada (Greater Flamingoes, Greenshanks, ...). After lunch we visited the Llacuna de l'Encanyissada (very good for ducks) and the Llacuna de l'Aufacada, from where you can look at the Illa de Buda. There we saw Graylag Geese, a Pintail Duck, an Osprey, ... We ended at the Gola de Migjorn, where nothing interesting was seen. You can see our itinerary at the map below.



These two days produced 90 species, and the 4 days 120 species. You can check the full list here.

Exploring La Selva Plain

This morning we've gone exploring La Selva plain with the great naturalist Albert Ruhí. Our first stop have been the Sant Sebastià dall meadows (see pic below). This is a very interesting area, a mix of farmlands, flooded meadows and dall meadows. Event if it is quite disturbed, it still has many interesting things, specially for botanics. However, as it is late autumn, there were no flowers at all. Furthermore, being a very dry autumn, there was no water at all. Then we've moved to the Esclet area, where we have seen the Black-shouldered Kite one again and few things else. Finally, we have ended at the Can Capçanes temporary pond. These kind of ponds are quite common in our region, and they are very interesting when there's water, as they harbour a good range of amfibians. However, there was no water at all and, thus, no amfibian to see.