Delta del Ebro 30/10/2011

Last sunday I went with my father to the Delta del Ebro.
We arrived and our first birding point was Pont de Través. There was the usual stuff, Coot, Red Crested Pochard, Great White Egret, Kingfisher...
We continued and stopped at the Salines de Sant Antoni, where we saw Greenshank, Cormorant and other common species. We tried also to see something at the trabucador, but there was too much people and we only saw some Great Crested Grebes, Turnstones and Sanderlings.
After the trabucador we went to la Tancada, but there wasn't much activity appart from the Flamingos so we decided to have lunch and then go to Riet Vell reserve. Once there we started observing. Suddendly, a Water Rail flew over some reeds very close to the hide, I could see it again a minute later, it was my second sighting of this species.
I had seen Marsh Harrier, Kingfisher, Purple Swamphen and Common Snipe but the best was to come. My dad was having a siesta and i was looking at some Coots when suddendly something big flew across the reeds in front of me. i didn't know what it was until I realized it was a Bittern!!! I woke up my dad who could get a quick look before it dived into the huge reed extension.
From Riet Vell we got to l'Alfacada, up to the big tower. From there I saw Dunlins, Marsh Harrier, Common Buzzard, Reed Bunting, Greylag Geese and others.
Finally, as we were driving home i saw a very big formation. We got out of the time and with the scope I could identify them, Glossy Ibis.

New tele for my camera!

On tuesday I got a call from a photography shop, my reservation had arrived. THe next day I went with my mum to get it. It was a teleobjective for my camera (Canon EOS 1000D).
It's the Sigma 150-500mm.
I can't wait to get out to make my first pictures!!!  :)

Holiday report: 4-Photos

I'm Sorry about the order, but it didn't work very well. The first four photos are from Benasque and the rest (except for the two last ones, which are from Germany) are from Scotland.

 Butterflies

Nice Panoramic vision of the Pico d'Alba (3107m)

Black Guillemot

Fulmar Chick

Guillemot

Twite

Black Guillemot

Cliffs on Mainland (Orkney)

Great Northern Diver

Cliffs at Mainland

Razorbill

Arctic Skua

Lighthouse

Great Northern Divers

Seals

Fulmars

Grey Seal

Red Deer

Dunes at Sanday

 Short Eared Owl

 Smoo Cave (Durness)

Ringed Plover

Common Gull

Arctic Skua

 Great Skua

 Arctic Skua

 Red Deer

 Grey Seal

Great Skua

Common Dolphin

 Great Skua

 Gannet

 Wryneck

Frog

Holiday report: 3-Germany

This will be the shortest part of the report, because it consists of only one birding day.
We arrived just after Scotland to Cologne-Bonn airport, where my uncle was waiting to take us to my grandma's house.
The 16th august my mum took me to visit the Rieselfelder Münster, a very good wetland nature reserve. Once we arrived (difficult task) we went to a hide and an observation tower, where there were some Greylag Geese, Mute Swans, Ducks and some Black Headed Gulls.
We continued and did a circular walk around some hides, where we could observe Common Buzzard, Hobby and others.
The star of the day was without doubt a superb Wryneck, which showed brilliantly (though a bit to far away for the camera).

Holiday report: 2-Scotland

This one will be the most extensive part of the report.
We arrived the 22nd July in Edimburgh, and stayed two days there. We rented a car and started our travel to the North.
In Thurso we spent the night, and the next day, we took the ferry to St.Margaret's Hope on the Orcadian Island of Mainland. On the ferry I could do my first observations of birds and Seals. I made four lifers on the ferry: Fulmar, Razorbill, Guillemot and Black Guillemot. There also were birds like Arctic Tern, Puffin, Eider Duck...
On the afternoon, we visited a little hide where I saw Sedge Warbler (lifer) and a nature reserve on the North-West of the island called Burgar Hill, where I cluld see Red Throated Diver, Curlews, Great Skua, and others.
After Burgar Hill, we went to a cliff area called Marwick head, where there were plenty of Skuas and Fulmars.
The next day, we decided to do a guided walk on the South of the island, at the nature reserve of Hobbister next to Scapa Flow. On the car, getting to the reserve a Short Eared Owl (lifer) flew over the car. At the resserve there were birds such as Black Guillemot, Red Throated Diver, Arctic Tern and Twite (lifer).
The 28th august we woke up early so we could take the ferry to an outer island, Sanday. Unfortunately, it was quite foggy and there wasn't much to see from the ferry.
Once on the island, we made some walks on the beaches and I saw plenty of waders and some Skuas and Fulmars.
I used the next day to sleep and relax a bit, but we also did some excursions on the island. On a beach, I saw the best species of the holidays, an adult Great Northern Diver and three young ones.
I saw them again the next day, when I was birding on another beach. On that beach, a Seal approached to us up to ten meters.
On the afternoon we took the ferry back to the island of Mainland, and the next day we left the Orkney and travelled to Durness, at the North coast.
Ar Durness we spent two nights. We made two trips, one to a cave called Smoo Cave, and one to a cape, called Faraid Head, where I saw Rock Pipit (lifer), Red Throated Diver, Hermelin among others.
After Durness, we continued down the West coast, to a place called Achininver, where we spent two nights more.
On the way there, we decided to take a look to a nature reserve called Handa Island. It was very nice there. Thee were lots of nesting Great and Arctic Skuas. There, you also could see the nesting seabird colonies, which weren't as full as in top season but still impressive.
In Achininver, my dad got sick, so my mum and i had to make the planned excursion alone. We did a roundwalk around a mountain called Stac Pollaidh. While we were resting on a mountain pass, my mum suddendly pointed me out two large mammals which were quite close to us.
My mum started to get nearer to see if she could take some photos, but they didn't seem very frightened. Finally, she could take some really good pictures.
We continued down the coast to Gairloch, our last stop at the Highlands. At Gairloch, we did a little boat excursion to see Dolphins, which showed brilliantly, swimming under and on the side of the boat.
There also was a group of Gannets fishing, and lots of Great Skuas which approached a lot.
After Gairloch we spent a night in Stirling and then drove to Edinburgh to get the plane to Germany with my mum.

Holiday report: 1-Benasque

Hi, as you can see, I'm back from holiday.
I'm going to make the report in four posts:

1-Benasque
2-Scotland
3-Germany
4-Pictures

Let's start with number 1-Benasque

As I said before, from the 16th july to the 21st, my dad and I went to Benasque.
We travelled by car, and I saw some interesting birds on the way. In Lleida, I saw a couple of white storks, and in a resting area on the road, there were some Short Toed Snake Eagles and a Golden Oriole.
The next day, it was raining, so we couldn't do great excursions, so we made two little walks. On the second one i could make a lifer, the Siskin, which had persistently eluded me in my previous trips to the Pyrenees.
The rest of the days, we did some bigger walks, and I could see some intertesting alpine species, but in general, there weren't many birds. I also saw lots of Marmots.
I also tested my new camera (Canon EOS 1000D with 18-55mm) and did some nice pictures of butterflies and landscapes.

Summer holidays

Hello,

I'm writing my last post before summer holidays.
Tomorrow (my bithday :) I'm going with my dad for one week to Benasque, in the Pyrenees (Aragón).
The day after we come back to Barcelona, we'll take the plane with my mum and we'll go to Scotland. There, we're renting a car for two weeks. We're also passing a few days on the Orkneys. Finally, from Edinbrough, my mum and me are taking the plane to Germany to visit my grandmother for two weeks.
When I'm back I'll post a complete holiday report.

Have a nice summer :)

Ports de Tortosa i Beseït with Cristian Jensen (25/06/2011)

Last saturday I went birding to the Ports de Tortosa with Cristian Jensen (Audouin Birding Tours). It was a great trip, and I saw almost all of the species I wanted to see.
We started at l'Ampolla, from where we took the road to get inland, to the Montsacres, where we wanted to look for Rock Thrush. On the way there, we made a little stop to look under a bridge, where Cristian showed us a Red Rumped Swallow nest, with its caractheristic tunnel entrance. We took a little track and Cristian drove to a very nice place in the mountains. There on a field, I saw my first lifer, we heard a Tawny Pipit and then we could localize it through the scope, there was also a juvenile Rock Bunting. We continued and stopped on a quite high place, from where we started walking to a place where there was Rock Thrush. On the way we could observe a lot of Spanish Ibex. Once there, we mounted the scope and started looking, we saw the first Blue Rock Thrush of the year for me (and only my second observation), but we couldn't see Rock Thrush. We went nearer and started looking, but nothing. Cristian also tried with reprducing his call on the mobile phone but nothing. We decided to sit under a near tree and have lunch. A we were eating my dad noticed a bird which had just settled on a not very far bush. We looked with the bins and bingo! a female Rock Thrush. We could see the red tail very well.
As it was getting a bit late and we wanted to see some more species we decided to continue. We went to some cliffs, looking for Black Wheatear which didn't show up, and Bonelli's Eagle, which we could see later.
After the cliffs, we decided to look at the Ebro river on the forests on it's side for Wryneck. Cristian tried with reproducing it's call and in a few moment it was there, on a tree next to us. It was a very nice experience.
On the final part of the day we went to some cliffs and olive plantations, where we saw Bonelli's Eagle, Black Eared Wheatear and Thekla Lark, another lifer for me.
Finally we went down to the Delta de l'Ebre looking for Short Toed Lark, which we couldn't confirm.

To all who are in the area I really recommend Audouin Birding Tours. I think the trips are great and you learn a lot. Audouin Birding Tours also makes longer tours like Andalucía or Morocco.
For more information look at the website:

http://www.audouinbirding.net

Pyrenees 10/06-13/06

Last weekend I was at the Pyrenees.My parents had made a resevation at a hut in the Aigüestortes national park.

The first day was the hardest. We had to climb 1000m to the hut (2350m). There weren't much birds, but I got a lifer, two Rock Ptarmigans, which I saw flying. I also saw Greater Spotted Woodpecker, Golden Eagle, Coal Tit, Crested Tit and Eurasian Treecreeper.

The next day, we wanted to climb up to a peak which was near, the Tuc de Saburó (2912m), but we finally couldn't becaus my father was a bit dizzy. On that trip we saw some very nice birds, including Citril Finch, Alpine Accentor, Raven, Alpine Chough and Lammergeier, an adult which showed pretty well.

The third day we returned. That was hard, a thousand meters down, my knees are still killing me. The third day was the better birding day. We started with Grey Wagtail, Honey Buzzard and Coal Tit. As we went lower, different species were appearing. We stopped to rest near a lake, I went to llok for a bird which I had seen before, which turned out to be a Crossbill. There was also a Dunnock. When I returned to my parents which were resting I saw a Dipper.
After some time we also saw Goldcrest and Golden Eagle.

On the car back to Barcelona I still could see Bee-Eater and a Shrike which I couldn't ID: