Dear Birders,
My wfe and I have just returned from a holiday in North and Central Spain with
a brief diversion into the Tarn region of France. This was mainly a cultural
and family oriented trip, with 8 days walking in the Eastern foothills of the
Pyrenees, but was balanced by a bit of birding on the side. I used the
excellent "Collins Bird Guide" and binoculars but not a scope. There are a
number of books available on where to find birds in Spain but I did not avail
myself of these, not wanting to hijack the holiday into a full-on birding trip.
The trip started with a few days in each of Madrid and Barcelona. We then
joined friends for the walking section of the trip. We hired a car when the
walking finished and drove into France for a few days to see family. We then
drove back over the Pyrenees into Spain again. We drove south, touching the
coast briefly at the Delta De L'Ebre, and then heading inland and circling
Madrid while visiting the magnificent cultural centres of Cuenca, Toledo,
Avila, Salamanca and Segovia.
I was surprised at how many birds were to be seen in Spain and how easy it was
to see them compared with Italy and other parts of France in which I have
birded in the past. The principle difficulty I encountered was that while the
roads were generally excellent they typically had no verge at all which made it
very difficult to pull over if an interesting bird appeared.
One absolute birding highlight was observing late one afternoon that a flock of
around 40 white stalks had settled on the spires and crennelations of the
gothic cathederal in Segovia that could be seen in the distance from our hotel
room. They were still there in the morning when we awoke. Knowing that they
were now in migratory mode I expected them to dissapear at any moment. We took
a taxi into the centre of Segovia arriving around 10:00 with the sun shining
brightly and the day warming up. The storks were all still in their roosting
positions standing majestically on the seemingly tiny tips of carved stone
crennelations around the cathederal. Soon a few of them started to take off and
land (often displacing an already perched bird). Gradually the number flying
increased and then suddenly they were all in the air and gracefully circling
the cupola of the cathederal, obviously being carried upwards by thermals
developing over the city. As they rose higher and higher a few Griffon Vultures
glided into the thermal and the whole disorganised flock of soaring birds rose
until they were but specks in the sky and then drifted south out of our view.
The full ist of birds seen follows :-
Birds in Spain and Southern France Aug/Sept 2007
Little Grebe
Podilymbus podiceps
Great Cormorant
Phalacrocorax carbo
Black-crowned Night Heron
Nycticorax nycticorax
Cattle Egret
Bubulcus ibis
Little Egret
Egretta garzetta
Great Egret
Egretta alba
Grey Heron
Ardea cinerea
Purple Heron
Ardea purpurea
White Stork
Ciconia ciconia
Black Stork
Ciconia negra
Glossy Ibis
Plegadis falcinellis
Greater Flamingo
Phoenicopterus ruber
Mallard
Anas platyrhynchos
Gadwall
Anas strepera
Northern Shoveller
Anas clypeata
Common Pochard
Aythya ferina
Eurasian Griffon Vulture
Gyps fulvus
Black Vulture
Aegypius monachus
Golden Eagle
Aquila chrysaetos
Red Kite
Milvus milvus
Hen Harrier
Circus cyaneus
Common Buzzard
Buteo buteo
Common Kestrel
Falco tinnunculus
Capercaillie
Tetrao urogallus
Red-legged Partridge
Alectoris rufa
Common Pheasant
Phasianus colchicus
Common Moorhen
Gallinula chloropus
Eurasian Coot
Fulica atra
Common Sandpiper
Tringa ochropus
Black-tailed Godwit
Limosa limosa
Ruff
Philomachus pugnax
Black-headed Gull
Larus rudibundus
Yellow-legged Gull
Larus cachinnans
Lesser Black-backed Gull
Larus fuscus
Caspian Tern
Sterna caspia
Whiskered Tern
Chilidonias hybridus
Rock Dove
Columba livia
Wood Pigeon
Columba oenas
Eurasian Collared Dove
Streptopelia decaocto
Tawny Owl
Strix aluco
Red-necked Nightjar
Caprimulgus ruficollis
Common Swift
Apus apus
Hoopoe
Upupa epops
Common Kingfisher
Alcedo atthis
Great-spotted Woodpecker
Dendrocopos major
Skylark
Alauda arvensis
Crested Lark
Galerida cristata
Sand Martin
Riparia riparia
Eurasian Crag Martin
Ptyonoprogene rupestris
Barn swallow
Hirundo rustica
Red -rumped Swallow
Hirundo daurica
Common House Martin
Hirundo daurica
Tawny Pipit
Anthus campestris
Tree Pipit
Anthus trivialis
White Wagtail
Motacilla alba
Grey Wagtail
Motacilla cinerea
Winter Wren
Troglodytes troglodytes
White-throated Dipper
Cinclus cinclus
European Robin
Erithacus rubecula
Black Redstart
Phoenicurus ochruros
Common Stone Chat
Saxicola torquata
Common Blackbird
Turdus merula
Blackcap
Sylvia atricapilla
Common Whitethroat
Sylvia communis
Sub-alpine Warbler
Sylvia cantillans
Savi's Warbler
Lucostella luscinoides
Willow Warbler
Phylloscopus trochills
Chiffchaff
Phylloscopus collybita
Firecrest
Regulu ignicapillus
Spotted Flycatcher
Muscicapa striata
European Pied Flycatcher
Ficedula hypoleuca
Great Tit
Parus major
Blue Tit
Parus caerulus
Crested Tit
Parus cristatus
Long-tailed Tit
Aegithalos caudatus
Eurasian Nuthatch
Sitta europaea
Short-toed Treecreeper
Certhia brachydactyla
Great Grey Shrike
Lanius excubitor
Common Magpie
Pica Pica
Eurasian Jay
Garrulus glandarius
Western Jackdaw
Corvus monedula
Red-billed Chough
Pyrrhocorcorax pyrrhocorcorax
Carrion Crow
Corvus corone corone
Common Raven
Corvus corax
Common Starling
Sturnus vulgaris
Spotless Starling
Sturnus unicolor
House Sparrow
Passer domesticus
Spanish Sparrow
Passer hispaniolensis
Eurasian Tree Sparrow
Passer montanus
Common Chaffinch
Fringilla coelebs
Common Linnet
Carduelis cannabina
European Goldfinch
Carduelis carduelis
European Green Finch
Carduelis chloris
somewhat chastening to see how many of the birds are "Common" according to
their name!
Regards
Peter Marsh
==============================www.birding-aus.org
birding-aus.blogspot.com
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