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.

Late winter birding in the Western Pyrenees

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Four kind birdwatchers from Finland came recently to Navarra. Some of them had already been in the area, but they wanted to try a different time of the year with a very clear target in mind: Wallcreeper. So Jouko, Mauno, Jarmo and Kari came in mid March as this in this time of the year the grey-black-white and red birds are still in the lower parts of the mountain valleys.
We spent two days guiding them with two purposes: get some ‘lifers’ and complete their Spanish bird lists.

First day was dedicated to the Southern part of Navarra visiting some steppe areas and wetlands such as the Lor Lake and the Pitillas Lagoon. Despite the windy weather we managed to hear (and see!) a few Dupont’s Larks in our first stop. Other interesting birds in the area were Calandra Lark, Greater Short-toed Lark, Thekla Lark and Dartford Warbler.  During the rest of the day we found and enjoyed with three Great Spotted Cuckoos, A Golden Eagle, a couple of Hen Harriers, both Kite especies, Booted and Short-toed Eagles and Bearded Reedlings among others, but we had luck and got good views of two local rarities like e Great Northern Diver and a Ring-necked Duck.

One of the many Red Kites we saw in these two days.
Pitillas Lagoon Reserve 

The Great Northen Diver in the Lor Lake


The second day we went to the Roncal valley, in the Pyrenees. Weather forecast was not very good, but we were lucky and avoid most of the announced rain.  We started the day very well as we found a Wild Cat close to the road; we could even take some pictures of it: great moment!
In the valley we had good sights of Griffon Vultures and Egyptian Vultures feeding on a sheep carcass, many Red Kites, a group of 8 migrating Black Kites and a Bearded Vulture flying close to us. The highest part in Larra Reserve was not very busy with birds, but Red-billed and Alpine Choughs were trying to find some food in the areas with less snow. And then, when we stopped in one of the villages, we saw a small bird climbing in a sunny building’s wall: a Wallcreeper! We also visited Arbaiun and Lumbier Gorge and we saw more Griffon, Egyptian and Bearded Vultures, more Kites, more Choughs… and we added another interesting species: Bonelli’s Eagle (two individuals).
The day ended stopping in another place before returning to the hotel in order to find the Black Woodpecker: we saw male and female quite well. This was the best end we could expect for two fantastic days of birding in Navarra.

Bearded Vulture silhouette in the Ronal Valley sky.
Surprise: a Wild Cat!
Wallcreeper!

Griffon and Egyptian Vulture resting after feeding

The spectacular Arbaiun Gorge mirador

Bird list (100 species)

Mute Swan (Cygnus olor)
Eurasian Wigeon (Mareca penelope)
Gadwall (Mareca strepera)
Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos)
Northern Shoveler (Spatula clypeata)
Common Pochard (Aythya ferina)
Ring-necked Duck (Aythya collaris)
Tufted Duck (Aythya fuligula)
Red-legged Partridge (Alectoris rufa)
Great Northern Diver (Gavia immer)
Cattle Egret (Bubulcus ibis)
Grey Heron (Ardea cinerea)
White Stork (Ciconia ciconia)
Little Grebe (Tachybaptus ruficollis)
Great Crested Grebe (Podiceps cristatus)
Black-necked Grebe (Podiceps nigricollis)
Black Kite (Milvus migrans)
Red Kite (Milvus milvus)
Bearded Vulture (Gypaetus barbatus)
Egyptian Vulture (Neophron percnopterus)
Griffon Vulture (Gyps fulvus)
Short-toed Eagle (Circaetus gallicus)
Western Marsh Harrier (Circus aeruginosus)
Hen harrier (Circus cyaneus)
Eurasian Sparrowhawk (Accipiter nisus)
Common Buzzard (Buteo buteo)
Golden Eagle (Aquila chrysaetos)
Booted Eagle (Hieraaetus pennatus)
Bonelli’s Eagle (Aquila fasciata)
Water rail (Rallus aquaticus)
Eurasian Coot (Fulica atra)
Northern Lapwing (Vanellus vanellus)
Ruff (Calidris pugnax)
Black-headed Gull (Chroicocephalus ridibundus)
Yellow-legged Gull (Larus michahellis)
Rock Dove (Columba livia)
Common Wood Pigeon (Columba palumbus)
Great Spotted Cuckoo (Clamator glandarius)
Hoopoe (Upupa epops)
Iberian Green Woodpecker (Picus viridis sharpei)
Black Woodpecker (Dryocopus martius)
Pico picapinos (Dendrocopos major)
Common Kestrel (Falco tinnunculus)
Merlin (Falco columbarius)
Peregrine falcon (Falco peregrinus)
Eurasian Jay (Garrulus glandarius)
Common Magpie (Pica pica)
Alpine Chough (Pyrrhocorax graculus)
Red-billed Chough (Pyrrhocorax pyrrhocorax)
Western Jackdaw (Corvus monedula)
Carrion Crow (Corvus corone)
Common Raven (Corvus corax)
Firecrest (Regulus ignicapilla)
Eurasian Penduline Tit (Remiz pendulinus)
Crested Tit (Lophophanes cristatus)
European Blue Tit (Cyanistes caeruleus)
Great Tit (Parus major)
Bearded Reedling (Panurus biarmicus)
Common Skylark (Alauda arvensis)
Thekla Lark (Galerida theklae)
Crested Lark (Galerida cristata)
Greater Short-toed Lark (Chersophilus duponti)
Common Sand Martin (Riparia riparia)
Eurasian Crag martin (Ptyonoprogne rupestris)
Barn Swallow (Hirundo rustica)
Common House Martin (Delichon urbicum)
Cetti’s Warbler (Cettia cetti)
Long-tailed Tit (Aegithalos caudatus)
Common Chiffchaff (Phylloscopus collybita)
Blackcap (Sylvia atricapilla)
Dartford Warbler (Sylvia undata)
Zitting Cisticola (Cisticola juncidis)
Wallcreeper (Tichodroma muraria)
European Nuthatch (Sitta europea)
Short-toed Treecreeper (Certhia brachydactyla)
Winter Wren (Troglodytes troglodytes)
Spotless Starling (Sturnus unicolor)
White-throated Dipper (Cinclus cinclus)
Common Blackbird (Turdus merula)
Song Thrush (Turdus philomelos)
Mistle Thrush (Turdus viscivorus)
European Robin (Erithacus rubecula)
Black Redstart (Phoenicurus ochruros)
Common Stonechat (Saxicola rubicola)
House Sparrow (Passer domesticus)
Common Rock Sparrow (Petronia petronia)
Meadow Pipit (Anthus pratensis)
Water Pipit (Anthus spinoletta)
Grey Wagtail (Motacilla cinerea)
White wagtail (Motacilla alba)
Common Chaffinch (Fringilla coelebs)
Hawfinch (Coccothraustes coccothraustes)
European Greenfinch (Chloris chloris)
Common Linnet (Linaria cannabina)
European Goldfinch (Carduelis carduelis)
European Serin (Serinus serinus)
Eurasian Siskin (Spinus spinus)
Cirl Bunting (Emberiza cirlus)
Common Reed Bunting (Emberiza schoeniclus)

Corn Bunting (Emberiza calandra)

Finding new birds in Lumbier Gorge