We had the pleasure to guide a roup of Swedish birders of the
Avifauna company last May. With this group we visited many places in the Ebro
Valley and Pyrenees, but especially in the Navarra región, which is a fantastic
birdwatching destination. Steppe, wetlands, forests, bushland, mountains,
gorges and cliffs, rivers… all these habitats and more were scanned to reach
our main target: enjoying birding in a great scenary.
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| Lammergeier or Bearded Vulture seen in the Western Pyrenees (Photo: J. Hansson). |
The group arrived to Barcelona on the 20th of May and we
made our way to Navarra in few hours. No time for birdwatching this day, but in
a pair of stops and from the cars we could see many raptors like Griffon
Vulture, Egyptian Vulture, Short-toed Snake Eagle and even a Golden Eagle.
The next day was dedicated to steppe birds in Southern Navarra
having very good views of the Dupont’s Larks. Other good birds here were
Calandra Lark, Thekla Lark, Greater Short-toed Lark, Spectacled Warbler,
Black-eared Wheatear, Southern Grey Shrike and Pin-tailed Sandgrouse, but the
highlight of the day was undoubtely an inmature Spanish Imperial Eagle that we
saw very well three times!
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| This Spanish Imperial Eagle was one of the surprises in this trip, as they are very scarce in the Ebro Valley (Photo: J. Hansson). |
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| The group birding in the stunning Bardenas Reales Nature Park, in Southern Navarra. |
In the next day we visited another steppe area in search of
Great and Little Bustard with no luck (it’s difficult to find these birds at
this time of the year… but we had to try!) but the day wasn’t bad and we found
Blue Rock Thrush, Penduline Tit, Wryneck, several Short-toed Eagles, Hen
Harrier, Montagu’s Harrier and more birds. In the afternoon we visited the
Pitillas Lagoon, a large salty lake where we able to find Whiskered Terns,
Red-crested Pochard (a short glimpse of two flying birds), a Great Bittern and
a pair Ferruginous Duck (a rare bird here) very close to the main observatory.
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| Trying to find the Bustards. |
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| The pair Ferruginous Duck in the Pitillas Lagoon were another big surprise for the trip. |
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| Purple Heron leaving the breeding colony in search of food (Photo: J. Hansson). |
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| Penduline Tit! |
The fourth day was dedicated to the Navarra PrePyrenees, a
more hilly landscape with Mediterranean bushes, trees and farmland, but also
some fantastic gorges and cliffs: Ortolan Bunting, Common Rock Thrush, Tawny
Pipit, Black-eared Wheatear, Subalpine Warbler, Western Orphean Warbler,
Melodious Warbler, Bonelli’s Warbler… but also raptors like Short-toed Eagles,
Egyptian Vultures, Red Kites, Booted Eagles, many Griffon Vultures and two
Bonelli’s Eagles!
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| Tawny Pipit (Photo J. Hansson). |
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| We also enjoyed finding butterflies, like this Spanish Festoon (Zerynthia rumina) (Photo: J. Hansson) |
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| Ocelated Lizard (Photo: J. Hansson). |
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| Crag Martin (Photo: J. Hansson). |
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| The breathtaking Arbaiun Gorge. |
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| Adult Egyptian Vulture in the Lumbier Gorge (Photo: J. Hansson). |
We visited the higher Pyrenees in the two next days. This
has been a very dry year and wildlife is suffering because of this, so we found
poor bird and mammal activity in several places. Despite this circumstance we
managed to find Red Crossbill, Water Pipit, Ring Ouzel (the gorgeous ‘alpestris’
subspecies), Alpine Chough, Red-billed Chough, Raven, Red Kite, Black
Woodpecker, Alpine Swift, and the most wanted ones: Citril Finch, Lammergeier
and Wallcreeper! These days were completed with many orchids, butterflies,
several Pyrenean Chamois and Marmots.
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| Searching for Woodeckers and other forest birds. |
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| Moroccan Orange Tip (Anthocharis belia) (Photo: J. Hansson) |
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| 'Alpestris' Ring Ouzel: notice the pale scaled flanks (Photo: J. Hansson). |
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| One of the Marmots we saw. |
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| Boca del Infierno (Hell's Mouth) gorge. |
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| We were lucky to find the Wallcreeper! |
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| We had to point our scopes high up to see some Pyrenean Chamois. This has been a very dry year and most of them are grazing in the highest mountain grasslands. |
Leaving Navarra and heading back to Catalonia we stopped in
another area of the PrePyrenees. We had the opportunitty to find again many of
the birds we already had seen in the previous days, but also to add species
like the Black Wheatear. This seventh day had a very special moment when we saw
perfectly how two Lammergeier were throwing bones and eating their fragments:
an unforgetable show!
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| European Bee-eater (Photo: J. Hansson). |
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| Griffon Vulture (Photo: J. Hansson). |
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| Mallos de Riglos. |
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| Both Bearded Vultures (or Lammergeier) landed to take some bones and eat them; they were far but we saw them very well with our scopes (Photo: J. Hansson). |
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| Part of the group enjoying the flight of the Bearded Vultures. |
In the last day we were back close to Barcelona, but before
returning to the airport we had time to make two stops, one for enjoying with a
pair of Bonelli’s Eagles flying up and down in a gorge, and another one to see what
I had kept as a surprise for the end of the trip: some Lesser Grey Shrikes that
still live in this region. Hobby, Woodchat Shrike and Roller were also seen
here, so we had a great end for this 8-day trip.
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| We ended our trip watching two adult Bonelli's Eagles (Photo: J. Hansson). |
A finales de mayo de 2017 recibimos 12 'birders' suecos de Avifauna, con los cuáles recorrimos diversas zonas de los Pirineos Occidentales, desde la estepa hasta la alta montaña, visitando también bosques de diverso tipo, humedales, roquedos, monte mediterráneo y muchos otros hábitats. El tiempo acompañó y pudimos disfrutar de especies muy apreciadas por los observadores norteños, tales como alondra ricotí, ganga ibérica, quebrantahuesos, treparriscos, alcaudón chico, carraca, águila perdicera y hasta un águila imperial ibérica, entre otras muchas.
Bird species list (153 species)
20 – 27 May 2017
Mute Swan – Cygnus olor
Greylag Goose – Anser anser
Gadwall – Anas strepera
Mallard – Anas platyrhynchos
Northern Shoveler – Anas clypeata
Red-crested Pochard - Netta rufina
Common Pochard – Aythya ferina
Ferruginous Duck – Aythya nyroca
Red-legged Partridge – Alectoris rufa
Common Quail – Coturnix coturnix
Little Grebe – Tachybaptus ruficollis
Great Crested Grebe – Podiceps cristatus
Black-necked Grebe – Podiceps nigricollis
Eurasian Bittern – Botaurus stellaris
Cattle Egret – Bubulcus ibis
Little Egret – Egretta garzetta
Grey Heron – Ardea cinerea
Purple Heron – Ardea purpurea
White Stork – Ciconia ciconia
Eurasian Spoonbill – Platalea leucorodia
European Honey Buzzard – Pernis apivorus
Black Kite – Milvus migrans
Red Kite – Milvus milvus
Bearded Vulture – Gypaetus barbatus
Egyptian Vulture – Neophron percnopterus
Short-toed Snake Eagle – Circaetus gallicus
Western Marsh Harrier – Circus aeruginosus
Northern Harrier – Circus cyaneus
Montagu’s Harrier – Circus pygargus
Eurasian Sparrowhawk – Accipiter nisus
Common Buzzard - Buteo buteo
Spanish Imperial Eagle – Aquila adalberti
Golden Eagle – Aquila chrysaetos
Booted Eagle – Aquila pennata
Bonelli’s Eagle – Aquila fasciata
Lesser Kestrel – Falco naumanni
Common Kestrel – Falco tinnunculus
Eurasian Hobby – Falco subbuteo
Peregrine falcon – Falco peregrinus
Common Moorhen – Gallinula chloropus
Eurasian Coot – Fulica atra
Black-winged Stilt – Himantopus himantopus
Little Ringed Plover – Charadrius dubius
Common Sandpiper – Actitis hypoleucos
Common Redshank – Tringa totanus
Black-headed Gull – Chroicocephalus ridibundus
Yellow-legged Gull – Larus michahellis
Whiskered Tern – Chlidonias hybrida
Rock Dove – Columba livia
Stock Dove – Columba oenas
Common Wood Pigeon – Columba palumbus
Eurasian Collared Dove – Streptopelia decaocto
European Turtle Dove – Streptopelia turtur
Monk Parakeet – Myiopsitta monachus
Common Cuckoo – Cuculus canorus
Barn Owl – Tyto alba
Eurasian Scops Owl – Otus scops
Eurasian Eagle Owl – Bubo bubo
European Nightjar – Caprimulgus europaeus
Common Swift – Apus apus
Alpine Swift – Apus melba
European Bee-eater – Merops apiaster
European Roller – Coracias garrulus
Hoopoe – Upupa epops
Eurasian Wryneck – Jynx torquilla
European Green Woodpecker – Picus viridis
Black Woodpecker – Dryocopus martius
Great Spotted Woodpecker – Dendrocopos major
Dupont’s Lark – Chersophilus duponti
Calandra Lark – Melanocorypha calandra
Greater Short-toed Lark – Calandrella brachydactyla
Crested Lark – Galerida cristata
Thekla Lark – Galerida theklae
Eurasian Skylark – Alauda arvensis
Eurasian Crag Martin – Ptyonoprogne rupestris
Barn Swallow – Hirundo rustica
Red-rumped Swallow – Cecropis daurica
Common House Martin – Delichon urbicum
Tawny Pipit – Anthus campestris
Water Pipit – Anthus spinoletta
Yellow Wagtail – Motacilla flava
Grey Wagtail – Motacilla cinerea
White Wagtail – Motacilla alba
White-throated Dipper – Cinclus cinclus
Winter Wren – Troglodytes troglodytes
Dunnock – Prunella modularis
European Robin – Erithacus rubecula
Common Nightingale – Luscinia megarhynchos
Black Redstart – Phoenicurus ochruros
European Stonechat – Saxicola rubicola
Northern Wheatear – Oenanthe oenanthe
Black-eared Wheatear – Oenanthe hispanica
Black Wheatear – Oenanthe leucura
Common Rock Thrush – Monticola saxatilis
Blue Rock Thrush – Monticola solitarius
Ring Ouzel – Turdus torquatus
Common Blackbird – Turdus merula
Song Thrush – Turdus philomelos
Mistle Thrush – Turdus viscivorus
Cetti’s Warbler – Cettia cetti
Zitting Cisticola – Cisticola juncidis
Great Reed Warbler – Acrocephalus arundinaceus
Melodious Warbler – Hippolais polyglotta
Dartford Warbler – Sylvia undata
Spectacled Warbler – Sylvia conspicillata
Subalpine Warbler – Sylvia cantillans
Sardinian Warbler – Sylvia melanocephala
Western Orphean Warbler – Sylvia hortensis
Garden Warbler – Sylvia borin
Eurasian Blackcap – Sylvia atricapilla
Western Bonelli’s Warbler – Phylloscopus bonelli
Common Chiffchaff – Phylloscopus collybita
Goldcrest – Regulus regulus
Firecrest – Regulus ignicapilla
Spotted Flycatcher – Muscicapa striata
Long-tailed Tit – Aegithalos caudatus
Marsh Tit – Poecile palustris
European Crested Tit – Lophophanes cristatus
Coal Tit – Periparus ater
Eurasian Blue Tit – Cyanistes caeruleus
Great Tit – Parus major
Eurasian Nuthatch – Sitta europea
Wallcreeper – Tichodroma muraria
Eurasian Treecreeper – Certhia familiaris
Short-toed Treecreeper – Certhia brachydactyla
Eurasian penduline Tit – Remiz pendulinus
Eurasian Golden Oriole – Oriolus oriolus
Red-backed Shrike – Lanius collurio
Lesser Grey Shrike – Lanius minor
Southern Grey Shrike – Lanius meridionalis
Woodchat Shrike – Lanius senator
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
Northern Raven – Corvus corax
Spotless Starling – Sturnus unicolor
House Sparrow – Passer domesticus
Rock Sparrow – Petronia petronia
Common Chaffinch – Fringilla coelebs
European Serin – Serinus serinus
European Greenfinch – Chloris chloris
Citril Finch – Carduelis citrinella
European Goldfinch – Carduelis carduelis
Common Linnet – Carduelis cannabina
Red Crossbill – Loxia curvirostra
Eurasian Bullfinch – Pyrrhula pyrrhula
Yellowhammer – Emberiza citrinella
Cirl Bunting – Emberiza cirlus
Ortolan Bunting – Emberiza hortulana
Corn Bunting – Emberiza calandra
We want to thank Jörgen Hansson (one of the participants) for sending us a lot of pictures to publish in this report.
