June / July 2010: Is Summer a bad time to come?

"Thank you for a sensational trip - wonderful varied habitats, some great views and lots of new birds for me.  I enjoyed every minute of it."

Peter Kemmis Betty, UK

After unexpected demand forced me to cancel my plans to watch the World Cup in peace and recuperate from an extremely busy Spring schedule, we finished on a rather respectable 190 species for June and the extra birding proved to be a welcome tonic - especially with encounters like this Stone-curlew, or Eurasian Thick-knee, above - given the events that unfolded in South Africa!

Thanks to David Linstead, who visited on a short birding break with Peter Kemmis-Betty from 6th to 10th June, for supplying all the best photos.


THE STEPPES OF LLEIDA and LOS MONEGROS

He took the pretty impressive photo above in the STEPPES OF LLEIDA on the 7th, where we also successfully sought out Pin-tailed Sandgrouse, including a small group feeding amongst the same poppies as this displaying and calling Little Bustard that I digiscoped...



Also from the same viewpoint, perched in a distant tree-top, we picked up the juvenile Black-shouldered Kite that we'd watched hunting earlier, apparently feasting on its success.  A great moment for Catalunya, which has hosted up to three breeding pairs this year, and especially for me as this was, as far as I know anyway, my first Catalan-born bird.  May the expansion continue.

As usual the Steppes, which also comprises Los Monegros just over the border in Aragon, offered up a whole mix of raptors with Griffon Vulture, Booted Eagle, Short-toed Eagle, Montagu's Harrier, Hobby, Lesser Kestrel and Peregrine all paying us a visit today. 

But no sign today of any of the Egyptian Vultures I'd seen with Jean and Chris Cox, on their second trip after first sampling the birds of Catalunya back in September.  We took this photo on the 4th.



And another of my digi-snaps, of this Black-eared Wheatear, was taken in the same area with Nathaniel Wanders on the 26th.  A strange bird that has two male forms - this black-throated version and an alternative that shows just a zorro-mask around the eyes - that co-exist even in adjacent territories.



Of course, Red-necked Nightjar, Roller, Rock Sparrow, Penduline Tit and the rest of the region's speciality attractions continued to show, although the impending harvest reduced the chances of Common Quail even more than usual and Great Spotted Cuckoo, now mostly magnificent juveniles showing off their black heads and burnt orange wing-flashes, were also becoming harder to come-by.


AIGUAMOLLS DE L'EMPORDA and CAP DE CREUS

My first trip 'up north' for some time, on the 2nd, provided some reasonably nice views of all three regular shearwaters, with about 60 Balearic Shearwaters, 40 Yelkouan Shearwaters and a single, larger Cory's Shearwater diving in amongst the countless Yellow-legged Gulls.

We also had the reliable Ortolan Bunting and several Western Orphean Warblers in full song, a handful of migrating Honey-buzzard and a marvellous Bonelli's Eagle floating over the car.


BARCELONA: GARRAF MASSIF and LLOBREGAT DELTA

David captured this Wood Sandpiper almost as soon as he got off the plane, at Llobregat, on the 6th...



a site that, apart from the common wetland breeding species (e.g. see Ebro Delta), also provided an even-now steady stream of migrating wading birds.  Yes, it is Summer!



And on the 5th, as we got back to the car, we witnessed almost a dozen Monk Parakeets painstakingly removing the seed heads from nearby weeds before flying up out of harms and arms reach to unpack their gifts in peace.  Surprisingly after all that hard work, when one was accidentally dropped from the cable, birds chose to return to clip off a new head rather than pick up the old one from the floor.

And in the Garraf.  Both Red-necked Nightjar and European Nightjar continued the evening-time entertainment, reliably at least until the middle of the month, and the usual Golden Oriole, Pallid Swift, Blue Rock Thrush, Western Bonelli's Warbler, Dartford Warbler, Rock Sparrow, Red-rumped Swallow and Bee-eater (another David pic below) never failed to make the trip list.



Also of note, an unusually good month for sightings of Northern Goshawk.


THE PYRENEES

Lammergeier, Alpine Chough, Citril Finch, (Rufous-tailed) Rock Thrush, Red-backed Shrike, Rock Bunting, Tawny Pipit and a host of mountain woodland and meadow passerines... yet my favourite rain-soaked moment was Nathaniel rescuing this Fire Salamander on the 28th...



Apparently their body markings are as unique as finger prints.



And whilst we've strayed off the bird life, here's yet more of David's pictures.. of Chamois and Alpine Marmot.


EBRO DELTA

Trips to the Ebro Delta on the 1st and 30th ensured that we finished as we started - with a high quality range and number of the best that any Mediterranean, or even European, wetland has to offer.  And it stayed steadily spectacular through trips in between time too, with this superb shot of a Little Bittern from David taken on the 9th.



along with the its old dependable cousins, the (Black-crowned) Night Heron...



... Purple Heron...



and, after doubling back in the car to catch this bird hiding in the corner of a field near La Tancada, finally, Squacco Heron.  I love the colours in this photo but David's original is far better than I have done justice to here.



Other dependables include many gulls and terns, including the world-rare but locally increasingly-expanding Audouin's Gull, with in excess of 10,000 pairs breeding on the delta, and this splendid Slender-Billed Gull, complete with pink belly-flush and blood-red bill...



and, of course, the Collared Pratincole.  Although this particular shot took some work due to a bit of tourist disturbance...



And, although it may be not the best photo in the world, I was very grateful to David for this very-difficult-to-get Savi's Warbler... the only photo I have.




BUT.  APPARENTLY THE SPRING ISN'T OVER!!

On the 25th, after searching high and low in vain since mid-April for one of my all-time favourite birds, I slammed the breaks hard on and hardly dared to glimpse back at what surely was, at long last and with some extreme fortune, a Red-footed Falcon perched on a cable near La Tancada.



It allowed us to reverse back, exit the car, set up the scope and watch it for some minutes before moving off to the next post down when, given that the record was very late in the season, I finally decided to grab a couple of digi-snaps to confirm the report with local doubters - oh, you have them too?

A miracle.  After a (hopefully temporary) shift in the timing of the wheat harvest that now seemingly comes too late to supply migrating birds with the much-need glut in flying insects, I had only recently resigned myself to a no-show for the year.


JULY 2010

As you might expect, the birding produced a similar range of species, with the slightly lower total of 183 perhaps reflecting the lesser number of days spent out in the field compared to June.

"I really enjoyed the trip and was highly impressed by the way you got around the dodgy weather, especially on the Ebro Delta day!"

David Linstead, UK

"Stephen's knowledge of Catalan birds is outstanding.  If you're looking for a specific bird, Stephen can take you to it.  If you want to know what birds are in a particular locale, he will show you.  And if you want to learn how to identify a species by appearance or behaviour, he will teach you."

Nathaniel Wander, US/UK

"We very much enjoyed both the birding and your company.  We're saving the [Spanish Champagne] you gave us as a reminder of the wonderful time of our birding and our honeymoon."

Elaine and Barry Dancis, USA

Come what May in the Aiguamolls and Cap de Creus

May 2009 - The Aiguamolls de L'Emporda and The Cap de Creus

“Many thanks once again for a fantastic holiday.”

Liz and Mike Bunting, UK (23 May - 3 June 2009)

A day for firsts.  The first of the month marked the first pleasure-only, leisure-only, responsibility-free, non-working birding day for more than a little while.  Even a friend, who I'd arranged to meet for a lazy day chasing come-what-may in The Aiguamolls de L'Emporda and The Cap de Creus, had been given strict instructions not to ask for any targets.  'O.K.,' he'd e-mailed back totally empathising with my outlook on the day, 'but it would be nice to see Orphean Warbler, Ortolan Bunting, Red-throated Pipit, Wryneck and Marsh Sandpiper.'  'And I wouldn't mind Roller or Red-rumped Swallow.'


In truth, I too was out to get my self a few year-firsts, some of those aforementioned included, but as I sat in the thankfully-lonely hide at Vilaut at 0720, I had already achieved my main objective for the day.  This 'close', Catalan for a pasture surrounded by trees, that floods naturally in perfect time to attract passing waders, terns and others, is my favourite place in the world to be alone.  I poured my self a coffee, opened up a packet of 'Chips Ahoy' cookies and settled down to begin the scan - if I was working, it would have been the other way around.

I'd already walked under a flock of bubbling European Bee-eater, made eye-to-eye contact with a Nightingale and received a warm welcome from a Reed Warbler posted at the hide door before a flock of paddling White Stork, three Greenshank and smatterings of Mallard made up the precursory glance as I perched my self in excited expectation ready to pan from right to left.  I didn't care what I saw, I told my self, but this was the place of many lifers over the ten years I've been coming, not least of which was a small flock of never-to-be-forgotten Red-throated Pipit busying themselves beneath the lip of the hide window, so I'm not sure I was entirely convincing, or convinced.

The silhouette of a Wood Sandpiper stepped first into the water and then into the light, a male Garganey shared some synchronised up-ending with a pair of moulting Common Teal and a Common Cuckoo was, peacefully, the only soundtrack.  At least until my phone bipped with a text that read, 'I'll be there in ten minutes.'  The white hook on the neck of a Northern Pintail caught my eye as it preened in the shallows and a single apparently cold Collared Pratincole just sat there, even when the sun glowed across the water to bathe it in orange and even when I left, nearly two hours later, in the company of said friend.





Although famed for the unexpected and unpredictable, Vilaut is a reliable site for the (this year, very) late-arriving Roller and as we neared the track's end, the familiar rowing action flapped across our bows and landed in a conveniently leafless tree.  A furtive Garden Warbler was betrayed by a mischievous relative, as a singing Sardinian Warbler first attracted our attention to it, and provided a second year-first in as many minutes.

Little more than ten minutes later and we exited the car on the edge of the Cap de Creus National Park and a little under ten paces later were marvelling at a stationary Western Orphean Warbler singing loudly from the underhang branches of an adjacent cork oak.  Reliable site this.  Usually for Wryneck too, and two more Orphean Warblers later, we heard one kreeching, kestrel-like and made our way over carefully to track it.  No luck.  It didn't call again and our chance had fled.

Stopping along the way, we picked off Pied Flycatcher, Cirl Bunting and almost unprecedented numbers of Greenfinch, seemingly craving our attention as much as the warmth as they perched in the shafts of sunlight piercing the shady canopy of the surrounding pines. 

Upon reaching another favourite spot, I was momentarily surprised to see space where usually there was scrub, or maquis.  However, my joy, at witnessing the apparent start of an active clearance programme to combat the dominance of the maquis and its encroachment into the open spaces many birds depend upon, disappeared as sure as the birds themselves as I noticed the rows and rows of recently planted sapling trees.  Man has become so good at preventing the regeneration caused by natural fires that, just as in the Garraf where such burn back hasn't happened for nearly thirty years!, many species such as Rock Thrush, Black Wheatear, Tawny Pipit and Spectacled Warbler are struggling to keep a foothold.





As if to emphasise the value of re-creating these open spaces, however unintentional in this case, the enchanting and enigmatic short-song of an Ortolan Bunting was quickly tracked to reveal two stunning males frolicking amongst the torn up roots and newly-exposed dirt and, when one flew to the dead branch of an old tree to sing again, its yellow throat lit up in the sunshine and swelled as if it was going to burst.  For some reason, the optimism flooded back.

This was my fourth year-first of the day so far, the late-season arrival of three of them inspiring this trip in the first place.  Targets five and six, however, were passage visitors only and both were reaching the end of their respective windows of opportunity.

So imagine my excitement when, almost written-off, not one but two wonderfully sleak, needle-billed Marsh Sandpiper were the first birds I was drawn to amongst the train-station-like throngs criss-crossing over the shallows of El Mata back in the Aiguamolls.  Dwarfed by the Common Redshank, Ruff and Black-winged Stilt, it was a breathe-in-and-savour-it thrill to see their black-spotted plumage so close and watch them slalem their way gracefully between the legs and bodies of their taller rivals.

I was hooked for the next sometime-and-more - truly one of my all-time favourite birds - and confess to paying scant attention to the Red Knot, Spotted Redshank, Grey Plover and the rest, until the tick-tock of time, a.k.a. birding friend, tapped me on the shoulder and said, 'Don't forget you promised me a Red-throated Pipit.'

For year-first number six and a full set for the day, we strolled over to and along the edges of the adjacent field to scour the patch and each blade of grass where Red-throated Pipit are seen each and every year.  Indeed a flock of twenty-one and many more sightings had been reported recently so our expectations of getting the sometimes-binoculars-down views of arms-reach birds began to rise... and then fall.  All twenty-one and their mates were obviously in hiding.  And after a few minutes, where became apparrent as a single dark-throated bird rose vertically up from the mass of impenetrable carpet of grass, drawing-out a diagnostic call of mischief, before teasing a iberiae Yellow Wagtail off a bordering fence-post and settling down back into obscurity.

Very unsatisfactory.  But after the leisurely day-off of relaxing, responsibility-free birding I'd had, I wasn't complaining.  Not one bit.  Roll on the rest of May and roll on the getting back to work.

Finally, as the Roller showed up again to see us off back at our respective cars near Vilaut, we also got the Red-rumped Swallow skimming the crop-tops in an adjacent field.

24th May, 2009


My optimism regarding the Ortolan Bunting proved founded as the two males were still singing in exactly the same place on my only other trip to the region this month.  Lots of Red-rumped Swallow too, well spread across the Cap de Creus National Park and very encouraging as this species is still rather localised in Catalonia.


Western Orphean Warbler continued to show well, particularly a marvellous pair singing and playing right by the car as we drank coffee, and its cousin, the Melodious Warbler, seemed to post singing sentinels everywhere we went.  Wryneck at last improved on its rather poor showing so far this year with two heard calling and one seen well close to a good spot for Dartford Warbler.


Over a dozen immature Shag and a spectacular pair of Honey-buzzard over the car proved to be the only additions over the trip from the first of the month but the mean time, whilst not quite drying up the water in El Mata in the Aiguamolls, certainly saw a reduction in wetland species overall, signalling the beginning of the end of the migration season and the start of getting down to breeding business.  A pair of Mute Swan chasing a Eurasian Spoonbill out of their patch of water confirmed the process was well under way.

A Birding Holiday in Catalonia, Spain (May 2010)

Plus a few extra May days...

A hefty total of 217 species recorded in 24 birding days this month, including 21 raptors, 23 wading birds, 13 gulls and terns, and 18 warblers - so I'll wrap this attempted summary conveniently around Vicky and James King's birding break, and the amazing photos James took between 11th - 17th May 2010.  Many more of his photos, uncropped and much better quality, can be seen here: James King Gallery





11th May 2010 - LLOBREGAT DELTA, BARCELONA

Let's kick off with my own personal favourite that dropped in after some night-rain on the morning of 11th May.

The photo above is clearly a Western Yellow Wagtail but, even on first sighting I was captivated by the dark olive-green head that stood out in the low morning sunlight as it worked its way bobbing between the blades of grass outside the hide on The Llobregat Delta.  A black-headed, or feldegg sub-species, one would suppose - but their heads are usually, er, black.

For comparison, see this classic example of a Black-headed Wagtail (Motacilla flava feldegg) from our trip to The Pyrenees on 14th...



... and, quite remarkably, we had a second green-headed version by the car in The Aiguamolls de L'Emporda on 15th May and, again, it was so unusual that it took a long, long time before we could draw ourselves away from it.  Well, if anyone has any ideas... feel free to post a remark or send me an email.



Back in the real world at Llobregat, this Eurasian Coot scrap was a thriller, going on for more than some minutes with this assassin's repeated attempts to drown a presumed rival and it eventually involving four birds.

Two very late Garganey was an encouraging sign, even if they were both males, and indeed news later in the year confirmed Catalonia's first breeding pair for some time, although this was at Vilaut, Aiguamolls.



Little Bittern, Squacco Heron, Eurasian Spoonbill, Great Crested Grebe, Purple Swamphen, Collared Pratincole, Eurasian Oystercatcher (first time breeding!), Pied Avocet, Audouin's Gull, Great Spotted Cuckoo, Bee-eater, Hoopoe, Golden Oriole and this Great Reed Warbler, above, made up the regulars on Barcelona's Llobregat Delta, whilst the day's migrants included European Roller, Garden Warbler and Pied Flycatcher.

Other May Llobregat Birds: Northern Gannet, Temminck's Stint, Eurasian Nightjar, Caspian Tern, Red-rumped Swallow, Wood Warbler and Common Waxbill.


12th May 2010 - EBRO DELTA

Many of the same species as above, of course, including this Purple Heron below, can be seen on the Ebro Delta, where the Kings and I headed on the 12th, but it's not every time that you get to witness one in an almighty struggle with a highly resistant Ladder Snake (I think).  A full photo-series on James' link above.



A total of 8 species of heron can be seen easily at this time of year on the Ebro Delta, Europe's third most important wetland, including Little Bittern and this Squacco Heron, showing a blue-ish bill in breeding plumage ...



... with other high-priority target species being Caspian Tern, Greater Flamingo, Glossy Ibis, Purple Swamphen...



... Gull-billed Tern, Slender-billed Gull and this Audouin's Gull...



... not to forget land birds, including the very localised Savi's Warbler, and the rather enigmatic and somewhat unique Collared Pratincole (below), which for some reason didn't seem to have a good year on the Ebro Delta this year (but excelled at Delta de Llobregat) ...



Other May Ebro Delta Birds: similar to Llobregat Delta above.


13th May 2010 - STEPPES OF LLEIDA (Catalonia) and LOS MONEGROS (Aragon)

May is a good time for the speciality target species such as Little Bustard, Pin-tailed Sandgrouse, Black-bellied Sandgrouse and Stone-curlew, unfortunately good photos of them were not forthcoming today.

However, I did manage this Red-necked Nightjar taken in a regular spot a few days earlier [and now forms the back drop to this blog].



Males often have several day time roost spots, occupied when the female is sitting, so they can be hard to pick up.  But actually, its mate is sat close-by, just out of frame.

James' picture of this stubborn car-side adult Great Spotted Cuckoo that just wouldn't budge demonstrates quite typical behaviour for this species, which lays its eggs in Magpie nests, and photos like this are not too difficult to come by.



The same cannot be said for European Roller however with birds usually taking flight just before the camera shutter clicks.  To make up for it though, they are sometimes seen in pairs carrying out their 'rolling' display.



Another easy one, European Bee-eater.  Very common and often returns to the same perch.



This Iberian (or Southern) Grey Shrike, Lanius meridionalis, below, can be told from its European (Great Grey) counterpart with relative ease by the pink flush to the lower parts and a white eye-stripe that crosses and meets over the bill.



One of my all-time favourites turned out to be a May regular.  The ghostly Black-Shouldered Kite (still nesting!) flies like an owl and hovers like a kestrel.

Others worth a mention are:

Egyptian Vulture, Golden Eagle, Booted Eagle, Montagu's Harrier, Lesser Kestrel, Spectacled Warbler, Common Quail, Black Wheatear, Black-eared Wheatear and nest-building Penduline Tit.

Bonelli's Eagle, European Honey-buzzard and Dupont's Lark only occasionally made the list, although the latter of course is to be expected without specialised early-morning trips, but Thekla Lark, Calandra Lark (below)...



Lesser Short-toed Lark and Short-toed Lark (below) were amongst those making sure the family were well-represented.




14th May 2010 - PYRENEES

Almost standard stock in May for the Catalan Pyrenees, in the province of Barcelona, include the almost mythical Lammergeier, as well as other raptors, and the much-asked-for flocks of Citril Finch, the somewhat contradictory (Rufous-tailed) Rock Thrush (they really don't seem to like the weather at altitude) and the hugely impressive Black Woodpecker.



But, although by nature there are less species in mountain woodlands, some, such as Firecrest, Crested Tit, Short-toed Treecreeper, Red Crossbill, Western Bonelli's Warbler (above) and Bullfinch (below), present enough challenges to easily fill in the day and so it proved on the 14th.



Typically, the charming Alpine Chough (poorly photographed by me below), are often to be found noisily mixing with their Red-billed Chough cousins, when you should listen out for the most un-corvid-like sound you're ever likely to hear. 



Along with Red-backed Shrike, (White-throated) Dipper, Rock Bunting and Nuthatch, they rarely disappoint but sightings of Wryneck, Ring Ouzel and Egyptian Vulture are less predictable.

Grey Partridge is quite rare for Catalunya and a small family group seen on the 24th proved to be the only May sighting.


15th May 2010 - AIGUAMOLLS DE L'EMPORDA and CAP DE CREUS

The Kings decided not make the full Cap de Creus trip, all the way to the Cap itself, but on the 15th we did manage an early morning jaunt through some song-filled woodland within the park, picking up lots of passerines but especially targeting the noisy and characterful Western Orphean Warbler.



A steady stream of European Honey-buzzard passed overhead and, despite the usual confusion between it and the Common Buzzard, I defy anyone to have doubts over this classic example above.

A little higher up we added Pallid Swift and our next target, Ortolan Bunting, didn't prove too difficult either, with a belligerent singing male ignoring the wind with more success than we did.



Back at the Aiguamolls reserve in the lowlands, where many species are obviously similar to the other wetlands we'd already visited, we satisfied ourselves with better views and better photographs of some, such as these Eurasian Spoonbill above.

From other May trips to these north-eastern locations in the Emporda, Balearic Shearwater, Garganey and Northern Lapwing are all worth a mention.


16th May 2010 - GARRAF MASSIF, BARCELONA

The Kings spent the 16th and the morning of the 17th exploring deeper into the Garraf Hills where we enjoyed tracking down Bonelli's Eagle, Hobby, Dartford Warbler and Red-necked Nightjar, compared Pallid, Alpine and Common Swifts and watched a male Peregrine Falcon suddenly rise from his ocean-side perch, drop like a stone and, in a flash, grab a Crag Martin no more than one metre from the surface of the Mediterranean Sea.  His larger mate sauntered over momentarily but, unimpressed by the size of the catch, she returning condescendingly to her own perch.



A final quick-stop back at Llobregat, where we began the trip, proved to tie things up nicely with a little deja-vue - Western Yellow Wagtails, this time iberiae sub-species, drawing the attention again, and fighting in almost the same spot as the coots!

Other May GARRAF birds:

Temminck's Stint and Balearic Shearwater on and from Vilanova beach respectively.  My first Garraf Common Quail.  And evening trips to see displaying and singing Red-necked Nightjar and European Nightjar.

And finally, on 28th, a very rare vagrant to Catalonia, and not too far from the house - a Rook!

"It was well worth putting up with the nausea on the ferry to get the fantastic week's birding that you organised!!
Got home on Saturday and am now reading through my Spanish bird lists with a big grin on my face.
A big thank you again for the best introduction to European birding - I'm hooked now!  Simply cannot decide on the best day of the week; every trip offered something unique."

Sandra Davies, UK (April and May)

"What more could I add to what Sandra wrote!  My feelings were very similar.  If I had to pick two destinations it would be the Pyrenees and the Steppes, however the birding on the coast and elsewhere was brilliant!  So no favourite then."

John Maddock, UK (April and May)

"Thanks for all you did in making the trip a happy and memorable one - not only did you show us a lot of birds but it also gave us some background for the rest of our trip."

Vicky and James King, USA

April in Catalonia: The migrants just keep coming!

April 2010 - Catalonia, Spain

"It was well worth putting up with the nausea on the ferry to get the fantastic week's birding that you organised!!"  Sandra Davies, UK

April began where March left off with this Spotted Crake and at least one Little Crake still present on The Llobregat Delta as I write on the 13th.  And I also had three Little Crakes (one male) in The Aiguamolls de L'Emporda on the 12th.

I had my first local Common Cuckoo in The Garraf Massis on the 1st and, from that moment, the chain of first arrivals around Barcelona has brought Pied Flycatcher and Little Bittern (3rd), Collared Pratincole (6th, photo below), Great Reed Warbler and Wood Warbler (9th), and Bee-eater, Nightingale and an (unremarkable) Siberian Chiffchaff, sub-species tristis, singing on the 10th.  This photo was taken by Ferran Lopez Sanz, who discovered it the day before.



Garganey, Common Redstart, Northern Wheatear, various heads of Yellow Wagtail and thousands of waders including Temminck's Stint and Marsh Sandpiper, have continued to hang around and pass through, with a high count of 600 Little Gull off the coast of Barcelona throughout the second week of April especially worth a mention.  As is the presumably last Gannet diving off the Garraf coast on the 3rd.

The 17th proved to be the day of the year I always look forward to, when two year-first Ortolan Bunting fed a few metres away as I nibbled on a sandwich in the Garraf Hills.  And two days later, on the 19th, a late Chaffinch, a couple of Bonelli's Eagles and finally, after searching the whole 10,000 km2 of the Natural Park, this lone Turtle Dove was found sat in a tree by my house!

 

This very approachable Great Spotted Cuckoo captured on the Llobregat on 9th, joins a host of species such as Purple Heron, Red-rumped Swallow, Bonelli's Warbler, Woodchat Shrike and Whiskered Tern that have all settled themselves in by now.  Squacco Heron, Black-eared Wheatear and Sub-alpine Warbler, which always sets the blood racing, are still trickling into the region.



And a thrilling day on the 22nd, when I had to enlist the help of the local warden to fast-jeep me across the Ca L'Arana beach to a viewing tower where I watched in awe as more than 150 Yelkouan Shearwater were circling and feeding in two loose groups low over the Mediterranean.  They were joined on the fringes by a handful of Common Scoter and, amongst the throngs, a half-dozen Northern Gannets and a pirating Arctic Skua!  And all that just after a passing male Ferruginous Duck had been picked out through a gap in the reeds.  One of the best hours of the year so far!

Nest-building Penduline Tit, more Bonelli's Eagle (including an immature), frisky Black Wheatear and Blue Rock Thrush competing for rock space and singing Moustached Warbler all fight not to be upstaged by the new arrivals whilst some, like the summer plumaged Black-necked Grebe below, merely change their outfit to attract attention.  A terrible photo but what a bird this is.



This Lesser Kestrel above, along with Black Kite, Short-toed Eagle, Great Spotted Cuckoo, Black-eared Wheatear and Spectacled Warbler, had all established themselves by the time I made my first Spring visit to The Steppes on the 8th April, with a pair of the latter even nest-building.

But the highlight today was the real reason for my visit and a day-time singing (as they usually do at this site) Dupont's Lark, walking along the path in front of me, would have kept me smiling for the rest of the day even if I hadn't also had the usual Little Bustard, Pin-tailed Sandgrouse and Black-belied Sandgrouse, all in the same field at one point, along with Stone-curlew and year-first Short-toed Lark and Whinchat.

However, a return trip on 15th April, besides a pair of year-first passing Tree Pipit, witnessed the remarkable scene of a pair of displaying Black-shouldered Kite with the birds even disappearing into a nearby likely-looking tree.  Subsequent events were to reveal possibly three breeding pairs for the region and a very promising outlook for the future.

 

A trip to the Aiguamolls, on the 12th, saw six Collared Pratincole and three Egyptian Geese sitting out the rain on El Mata, where I also found 12 Whimbrel, a pair of Little Crake and, overhead, a constant string of hundreds and hundreds of Common Swifts heading north.  Along the edges, apparently uninterested in my soaking appearance standing before them, Sedge Warbler (below), Moustached Warbler, Sub-alpine Warbler and a solitary Linnet all sang their hearts out oblivious.



Two Nightingale were singing, or practicing at least, in other parts of the reserve, one at Cortalet, with a nearby year-first Melodious Warbler doing likewise and a Wryneck joined in briefly.  On the water, a pair of Northern Lapwing and a few Eurasian Wigeon put in a reminder for winter but a lone rare Ferruginous Duck stole the show.

Finally, a quick stop off at the Estany Europa produced yet another Little Crake and a single Marsh Sandpiper and a Rose-ringed Parakeet cawing.

But I wasn't able to return for the regular passage of Red-throated Pipit (below) in the north of Catalunya until the 20th, when at least six birds were present, with the show continuing at least until the 26th.



The other main year-first target for the 20th was the Western Orphean Warbler, which was easily located on every trip through the summer in The Cap de Creus from this day forth.  Today, I was saved a bit of leg work with two competing birds singing close to the car.  And another highlight for the day was around 100 Balearic Shearwater active around the Cap itself.

Two end-of-the-month trips to The Pyrenees, on the 28th and 30th, produced not only the usual bag of Lammergeier, Citril Finch, Alpine Chough, Black Woodpecker, Honey-buzzard, etc. but good numbers of year-first (Rufous-tailed) Rock Thrush.

And sandwiched between them, on the 29th in The Ebro Delta, quite remarkably my only White-winged Tern of the year!!  What's going on?

"Thanks for a great day's birding, especially the two Bonelli's species.  We'll be in touch again."

Derek Gifford and Janet Hale, UK

"Got home on Saturday and am now reading through my Spanish bird lists with a big grin on my face.
A big thank you again for the best introduction to European birding - I'm hooked now!  Simply cannot decide on the best day of the week; every trip offered something unique."

Sandra Davies, UK (April and May)

"What more could I add to what Sandra wrote!  My feelings were very similar.  If I had to pick two destinations it would be the Pyrenees and the Steppes, however the birding on the coast and elsewhere was brilliant!  So no favourite then."
 

John Maddock, UK (April and May)