Mirua es una empresa dedicada a las actividades en la naturaleza y que ahora ha puesto en marcha un servicio dedicado a la observación de aves y su entorno llamado MiruaBirds. Nuestro ámbito de trabajo es Navarra (Pirineo Occidental y norte del Valle del Ebro, España). En este blog encontrarás información sobre este territorio y nuestra oferta para conocerlo de la mano de nuestros guías.
Mirua is a local company dedicated to organize activities in nature. We now also offer birdwatching tours and nature guided tours with local experts with MiruaBirds. We work mainly in Navarre, although we also organize tours in the Pyrenees and Ebro Valley area (NortEast of Spain). You’ll find everything you need to know about us in this blog.

Birding despite the drought

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Early September can be a very interesting time for birdwatching in Navarra, as we still have many summer birds in the area and migration is in one of its peaks (especially for some passerines and many raptors). This has been a very dry year and it seems that there is not much food and because of that some of the usual birds have been more hard to find. Although this we had a quite good trip during three days with Nöelle (from Belgium) who came for some birdwatching in the second week of the month.

Eagle Owl resting somewhere in Southern Navarra (Photo: Nöelle Piron).
During these days we visited different habitats all along Navarra: beech forests, gorges, wetlands and steppe. The highlights in those places were 2 different White-backed Woodpeckers in Irati forest, Bonelli’s Eagle in Lumbier, a couple Ferruginous Duck in Pitillas Lagoon and steppe birds such as Black-bellied Sandgrouse, Tawny Pipit, Greater Short-toed Lark and Eagle Owl, among others. Other interesting birds that came along were Spectacled Warbler, Iberian Green Woodpecker, Southern Grey Shrike, Thekla Lark, Golden Eagle, Booted Eagle, Red-billed Chough and others. We were lucky with the weather, as it was warm and dry, but the land needs to get good amounts of rain in the next months to recover.

Nöelle looking for some birds in the Pitiless Lagoon.
Bird species list (89 species)

Greylag Goose – Anser anser
Mute Swan – Cygnus olor
Northern Shoveler – Anas clypeata
Mallard – Anas platyrhynchos
Eurasian Teal – Anas crecca
Red-crested Pochard – Netta rufina
Common Pochard – Aythya ferina
Ferruginous Duck – Aythya nyroca
Tufted Duck – Aythya fuligula
Red-legged Partridge – Alectoris rufa
Little Grebe – Tachybaptis ruficollis
Grey Heron – Ardea cinerea
Red Kite – Milvus milvus
European Honey-buzzard – Pernis apivorus
Griffon Vulture – Gyps fulvus
Egyptian Vulture – Neophron percnopterus
Short-toed Eagle – Circaetus gallicus
Western Marsh Harrier – Circus aeruginosus
Golden Eagle – Aquila chrysaetos
Bonelli’s Eagle – Aquila fasciata
Booted Eagle – Hieraaetus pennatus
Common Buzzard – Buteo buteo
Eurasian Sparrowhawk – Accipiter nisus
Lesser Kestrel – Falco naumanni
Eurasian Coot – Fulica atra
Pied Avocet – Recurvirostra avosetta
Black-tailed Godwit – Limosa limosa
Ruff – Calidris pugnax
Green Sandpiper – Tringa ochropus
Black-bellied Sandgrouse – Pterocles orientalis
Rock Dove – Columba livia
Stock Dove – Columba oenas
Little Owl – Athene noctua
European Scops Owl – Otus scops
Eurasian Eagle Owl – Bubo bubo
White-backed Woodpecker – Dendrocopos leucotos
Great Spotted Woodpecker – Dendrocopos major
Iberian Green Woodpecker – Picus viridis sharpei
Eurasian Jay – Garrulus glandarius
Common Raven – Corvus corax
Carrion Crow – Corvus corone
Eurasian Jackdaw – Corvus monedula
Red-billed Chough – Pyrrhocorax pyrrhocorax
Woodchat Shrike – Lanius senator
Southern Grey Shrike – Lanius meridionalis
Thekla Lark – Galerida theklae
Crested Lark – Galerida cristata
Greater Short-toed Lark – Calandrella brachydactyla
Calandra Lark – Melanocorypha calandra
Common House Martin – Delichon urbicum
Sand Martin – Riparia riparia
Eurasian Crag Martin – Ptyonoprogne rupestris
Barn Swallow – Hirundo rustica
Coal Tit – Periparus ater
Crested Tit – Lophophanes cristatus
Marsh Tit – Poecile palustris
Eurasian Blue Tit – Cyanistes caeruleus
Great Tit – Parus major
Long-tailed Tit – Aegithalos caudatus
Eurasian Nuthatch – Sitta europea
Eurasian Treecreeper – Certhia familiaris
Short-toed Treecreeper – Certhia brachydactyla
Cetti’s Warbler – Cettia cetti
Willow Warbler – Phylloscopus trochilus
Zitting Cisticola – Cisticola juncidis
Eurasian Blackcap – Sylvia atricapilla
Sardinian Warbler – Sylvia melanocephala
Spectacled Warbler – Sylvia conspicillata
European Robin – Erithacus rubecula
Black Redstart – Phoenicurus ochruros
Northern Wheatear – Oenanthe oenanthe
Whinchat – Saxicola rubetra
Eurasian Blackbird – Turdus merula
Mistle Thrush – Turdus viscivorus
Dunnock – Prunella modularis
Spotted Flycatcher – Muscicapa striata
European Pied Flycatcher – Ficedula hypoleuca
Spotless Starling – Sturnus unicolor
White Wagtail – Motacilla alba
Grey Wagtail – Motacilla cinerea
Tawny Pipit – Anthus campestris
Cirl Bunting – Emberiza cirlus
Corn Bunting – Emberiza calandra
Common Chaffinch – Fringilla coelebs
European Greenfinch – Chloris chloris
European Goldfinch – Carduelis carduelis
Eurasian Linnet – Carduelis cannabina
House Sparrow – Passer domesticus
Drake Common Pochard tagged in the bill; we saw it and another one in the Pitiless Lagoon. Later we found that it came from France. 

Ferruginous Duck swimming in the Pitiless Lagoon.

Short-toed Eagle sitting in a rocky edge at the end of the day.

A comienzos de septiembre nos visitó Nöelle, de Bélgica, para observar aves en Navarra. Visitamos bosques, foces, humedales y estepas en los que logramos ver hasta 89 especies a pesar de la sequía que ha provocado que algunas aves sean más complicadas de encontrar este año. Lo más destacado fueron pico dorsiblanco y porrón pardo, por mencionar solo un par.