On November 21st-23rd 2008 we went birding to Gallocanta Lagoon. This place is well known because it is the wintering area chosen by thousands of Common Cranes. Other interesting spices are steppe birds, such as Black Bellied Sandgrouse or Calandra Lark.We arrived at Daroca on Friday at about 21:30h. This village is at 20km from Gallocanta, and is worth visiting, because of its arabesque buildings. We stood at Posada del Almudi, which is a nice and clean hotel, but meals are not that good.
On Saturday we left at about 8:30h and arrived to Gallocanta at about 9:00h. Just passed this village of Gallocanta we saw the first flock of Cranes feeding on the ground. Then, we took the road that leads to Berrueco. About one kilometer and a half before reaching Berrueco, there's a dirty road that leads to a lookout tower. There are about two kilometers from the road to the tower. It is worth wolking that distance, as there we saw Black-bellied Sandgrouses (about 60!), a Merlin, a male Northern Harrier and some females, many Calandra Lark and, of course, many cranes. It is a good place to see some Short-eared Owls. In fact, all the open areas sorrounding the lagoon are feasible places to see it. We didn't see any during all the trip. After this walk the wind began to blow, and it didn't stop, but increased, making harder to see any bird. It's worth saying that usually birds are pretty far away, as the roads do not approach the lagoon, so is better to take a telescope with you. Our next stop was at the visitor's center, located some kilometer passed Berrueco on the road to Bello. It is worth visiting it, as there is an exhibition explaining the importance of the lagoon for wintering Cranes and many other interesting things on it's particularities. We had lunch there (a picnic, there is no bar!), while having thousands of cranes flying over our heads. The weather was really windy now. After lunch, we went to Laguna de la Zaida (Zaida Lagoon). To reach it you have to take the road to Cuerlas. Just after the village of Cuerdas there is a road crossing. You have to go straight on and, after a kilometer, you
will see the lagoon on your right. There is a signpost indicating it, a parking lot and a lookout. You park the car there and have a look from the lookout. Then, you can walk some meters following the tarmack road and take a dirty road on the right, which allows you to approach to laggon. This years there was plenty of water, and we saw many birds, specially ducks, such as Pin-tailed Duck, Northern Shoeveler or Common Pochards. After spending an hour or so there, we went back to Gallocanta by the same way we had token to reach Zaida. You can go faster if once you are on the road crossing you turn left instead of going straight on. At Gallocanta village we walked the dirty road that climbs to the Ermita del Buen Acuerdo (Good Agreement Church), but it is possible to drive it with a regular car (we went on bus). This small church is the place to wait for the cranes when they go to sleep at the lagoon. We had no luck, it was windy and cloudy, and we saw "only" 1000 cranes there (but we had a great dawn). We walked back by trying to see any mammal with our spotlights, without luck. Once we reached the bus, we drove back to the hotel at Daroca. We had a cultural night visit to the village just before having dinner.
On Saunday we went home. The day seemed windy, so we expected not to see many birds. We left the hotel after breakfast and took the road to Ivars d'Urgell-Vilasana Lagoon. It is a lagoon drought at mid 40s and recovered some years ago. Now, it is full of water, and many spices breed or winter there. When we reached the lagoon we had a very good surprise: there was no wind and it was warm. Great! He had a quick lunch and started birding. It's worth
saying that this area in winter it is often very foggy, so be awared if you go there. Moreover, the area surrounding the lagoon are called Lleida Steppes, and it is a good area to see interesting birds such as Little Bustard, Pin-tailed Sandgrouse or Montagu's Harrier in spring/summer. Anyway, we didn't visit it. From the lagoon lookout we saw three Little Gulls (two adults and one 1st winter) and many ducks. There were also lots of Common Coots and three Purple Swamphens. We took the trails that goes by the lagoon and the most interesting bird we saw were a couple of Lesser Black-backed Gulls (a juvenile and a 3rd winter), no very common inlands. Other birds we saw were Reed Bunting, Chiffchaff o Northern Harriers. We did not make the complet loop, as we didn't have time, but we had seen many interesting things.
On Saturday we left at about 8:30h and arrived to Gallocanta at about 9:00h. Just passed this village of Gallocanta we saw the first flock of Cranes feeding on the ground. Then, we took the road that leads to Berrueco. About one kilometer and a half before reaching Berrueco, there's a dirty road that leads to a lookout tower. There are about two kilometers from the road to the tower. It is worth wolking that distance, as there we saw Black-bellied Sandgrouses (about 60!), a Merlin, a male Northern Harrier and some females, many Calandra Lark and, of course, many cranes. It is a good place to see some Short-eared Owls. In fact, all the open areas sorrounding the lagoon are feasible places to see it. We didn't see any during all the trip. After this walk the wind began to blow, and it didn't stop, but increased, making harder to see any bird. It's worth saying that usually birds are pretty far away, as the roads do not approach the lagoon, so is better to take a telescope with you. Our next stop was at the visitor's center, located some kilometer passed Berrueco on the road to Bello. It is worth visiting it, as there is an exhibition explaining the importance of the lagoon for wintering Cranes and many other interesting things on it's particularities. We had lunch there (a picnic, there is no bar!), while having thousands of cranes flying over our heads. The weather was really windy now. After lunch, we went to Laguna de la Zaida (Zaida Lagoon). To reach it you have to take the road to Cuerlas. Just after the village of Cuerdas there is a road crossing. You have to go straight on and, after a kilometer, you
will see the lagoon on your right. There is a signpost indicating it, a parking lot and a lookout. You park the car there and have a look from the lookout. Then, you can walk some meters following the tarmack road and take a dirty road on the right, which allows you to approach to laggon. This years there was plenty of water, and we saw many birds, specially ducks, such as Pin-tailed Duck, Northern Shoeveler or Common Pochards. After spending an hour or so there, we went back to Gallocanta by the same way we had token to reach Zaida. You can go faster if once you are on the road crossing you turn left instead of going straight on. At Gallocanta village we walked the dirty road that climbs to the Ermita del Buen Acuerdo (Good Agreement Church), but it is possible to drive it with a regular car (we went on bus). This small church is the place to wait for the cranes when they go to sleep at the lagoon. We had no luck, it was windy and cloudy, and we saw "only" 1000 cranes there (but we had a great dawn). We walked back by trying to see any mammal with our spotlights, without luck. Once we reached the bus, we drove back to the hotel at Daroca. We had a cultural night visit to the village just before having dinner.On Saunday we went home. The day seemed windy, so we expected not to see many birds. We left the hotel after breakfast and took the road to Ivars d'Urgell-Vilasana Lagoon. It is a lagoon drought at mid 40s and recovered some years ago. Now, it is full of water, and many spices breed or winter there. When we reached the lagoon we had a very good surprise: there was no wind and it was warm. Great! He had a quick lunch and started birding. It's worth
saying that this area in winter it is often very foggy, so be awared if you go there. Moreover, the area surrounding the lagoon are called Lleida Steppes, and it is a good area to see interesting birds such as Little Bustard, Pin-tailed Sandgrouse or Montagu's Harrier in spring/summer. Anyway, we didn't visit it. From the lagoon lookout we saw three Little Gulls (two adults and one 1st winter) and many ducks. There were also lots of Common Coots and three Purple Swamphens. We took the trails that goes by the lagoon and the most interesting bird we saw were a couple of Lesser Black-backed Gulls (a juvenile and a 3rd winter), no very common inlands. Other birds we saw were Reed Bunting, Chiffchaff o Northern Harriers. We did not make the complet loop, as we didn't have time, but we had seen many interesting things.You can see some pictures by clicking that link: http://picasaweb.google.es/dani.valverde/Gallocanta#. There are no many bird photographs, as I don't have tele lenses (yet). I hope you enjoy them!
Spices seen:
Spices seen:
- Little Grebe
- Great Crested Grebe
- Great Cormorant
- Gray Heron
- Cattle Egret
- Greylag Goose
- Eurasian Wigeon
- Gadwall
- Eurasian Teal
- Mallard
- Northern Shoveler
- Common Pochard
- Red Kite
- Eurasian Griffon
- Western Marsh-Harrier
- Northern Harrier
- Eurasian Buzzard
- Eurasian Kestrel
- Merlin
- Peregrine Falcon
- Red Partridge
- Common Crane
- Purple Swamphen
- Common Moorhen
- Eurasian Coot
- Eurasian Thick-knee
- Northern Lapwing
- Common Snipe
- Eurasian Curlew
- Green Sandpiper
- Lesser Black-backed Gull
- Yellow-legged Gull
- Black-headed Gull
- Little Gull
- Black-bellied Sandgrouse
- Rock Pigeon
- Common Wood-Pigeon
- Eurasian Collared-Dove
- Little Owl
- Green Woodpecker
- Calandra Lark
- Meadow Pipit
- White Wagtail
- Song Thrush
- Zitting Cisticola
- Cetti's Warbler
- Willow Warbler
- Sardinian Warbler
- Black Redstart
- European Stonechat
- Great Tit
- Southern Gray Shrike
- Eurasian Magpie
- Red-billed Chough
- Eurasian Jackdaw
- Carrion Crow
- Common Raven
- European Starling
- Spotless Starling
- House Sparrow
- Eurasian Tree Sparrow
- Chaffinch
- European Greenfinch
- Eurasian Siskin
- Eurasian Linnet
- Reed Bunting
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