The Birdbox, 22-29 April 2006, Catalan Bird Tours
Having been sent a wish list of over 170 species by my two American clients, Dick and Myrna, I began Catalan Bird Tours’ first-ever full week tour with as much nervousness as optimism. True, I’d planned meticulously, shed some species not present through distribution or time of year and the migration invasion was just getting into swing but, as the couple had visited Europe and its birds’ wintering grounds before, I couldn’t even rely on the ‘bankers’ such as bee-eater and the whole family of herons. No herons?!
As I greeted them at the airport my mouth went dry and I felt the pressure building.
But, three hours and fifty species later, after a stop-off at the Llobregat Delta (Saturday 22nd April) on the way back to the villa, I was already relishing the challenge. It seemed that my nerves had caused a temporary loss of perspective and birds like Common Redshank, Yellow-legged Gull and Eurasian Coot had suddenly and joyfully began to bounce themselves off the target list. Spoonbill, Crested Lark and Zitting Cisticola quickly joined them and, with the sun shining and a sense of optimism returning, I dangerously (and only half-jokingly) revealed my theory that Catalonia grants birders a gift species right at the very end of each day. Right on cue, a migrant Pied Flycatcher, a starkly beautiful male and my first of the year, hovered and fixated on a doomed insect. Bonus.
The Steppes of Lleida (Sunday 23rd April) Our first stop, La Timoneda south of the city, produced immediate sightings of Little Bustard, just ahead of the car, Lesser Kestrel, just over our heads, and Stone-curlew (or Eurasian Thick-knee to trans-Atlantic travellers) just about everywhere. Escorted on our way by Great Spotted Cuckoo, Calandra Lark, Rock Sparrow and a pair of nest-building Penduline Tits, we arrived at one of my favourite spots by the side of the River Set near Cogul in search of Black and Black-eared Wheatear, Blue Rock Thrush and Short-toed Eagle. We were not disappointed on any count, with the latter settling on a nearby rock after a slight skirmish with a Golden Eagle.
As the day neared its end I spotted a distant speck, which through my involvement on the Migres raptor-counting project, was confidently able to identify as a Montagu’s Harrier. Spurred on by chuckles of American-accented incredulity, I declared that Catalonia still owed us our gift-bird of the day and ‘There’ll be a Montagu’s on the Aspa-Alfés link road'.
Now that was stupid I know. Everyone knows that the first rule of guiding is that you never promise a bird. In fact, the only words my mum said when I told her I would no longer see her very often as I was emigrating to become a bird guide in Spain were, ‘O.k. but never promise a bird.’
As we exited the small group of farmhouses on the Aspa to Alfés link road and ventured into the vast expanse of recently planted farmland, I kid you not, but the most amazing male Montagu’s Harrier ghosted across our viewpath and quartered for an afternoon snack right in front of us. Wearing an exhilarated smile, I turned to my passengers to share the joke. Of course it was fluke.
The Ebro Delta (Monday 24th April). Garganey, Red-crested Pochard, Audouin’s and Mediterranean Gulls, Reed, Great Reed, reed-top reeling Savi’s Warblers and seven species of heron (Purple Heron pictured) kept us fully entertained but the highlight of the day - and arguably the week - was a flight-weary Western Olivaceous Warbler showing extremely well in a Tamarisk bush right next to a migrant Wryneck! Fantastic.
In fact, after adding Collared Pratincole, Short-toed Lark and Oystercatcher, the only serious omission for the day, given my clients’ pre-disposition towards gulls, was Slender-billed Gull (pictured). Odd considering how well they’re doing on the Ebro Delta so – without making any promises! - I suggested going back to a spot on the edge of La Tancada that we’d checked earlier. The two graceful adults we saw paddling there made up the 87th - and Catalonia’s parting gift - bird of the day and, once again, everyone went home happy.
Dick and Myrna were international tick-listers rather than bird watchers as such, their hobby being about seeking, ticking and moving on. Their objective was to tick 7500 species and so, the next day, after having dedicated no more than twenty minutes for Wallcreeper, Black Woodpecker and Lammergeier at a breathtaking spot in The Pyrenees (Tuesday 25th April), Dick declared that ‘whilst we’re waiting here, they’re birds out there’ and we left to continue the quest.
Rock Bunting, tree top Ring Ouzel (subspecies alpestris) and flocks of Red-billed and Alpine Chough, mixing loosely but always feeding on separate sides of the track, were amongst those subsequently added to the Griffon Vulture, Bonelli’s Warbler, and (White-throated) Dipper we’d already seen.
After Water Pipit (pictured), Dunnock and Black Redstart, Catalonia’s last-gasp gift bird was a glorious screaming Black Woodpecker, which brought up 22nd lifer of the day, making 93 in all between them in the three-and-a-half days since we started.
To my surprise, like a phantom pregnancy, I did find my self thoroughly caught up in their experience, but I couldn’t help wishing we’d stayed watching the Alpine Choughs floating alongside the car a little longer or wondering why we’d left the large family of Alpine Marmots at their drinking hole so soon.
It had been windy all week. But today, as we battled our way around the Llobregat Delta and Garraf Massif (Wednesday, 26th April), it was very windy. Common Shelduck and Garden Warbler were ‘ticked’ at Llobregat, whilst the six lifers in the Garraf were Pallid Swift, Tree Pipit, Stonechat, Dartford Warbler, Woodchat Shrike and, true to form, Spotless Starling as the day’s parting gift.
In all we had seen over 90 species today and I would have been perfectly content with just that wonderful Osprey over the river but, to be honest, I could sense Dick and Myrna's disappointment at only having gained eight lifers so I resolved my self to some harder work the following day.
At the Aigüamolls de l’Empordà (Thursday 27th April), the wind just got worse, its effects being apparent as it buffeted a light-phase Booted Eagle across the highway as we arrived. This same wind though brought and kept down a truly magical female Red-footed Falcon in a tree not ten metres from us (pictured); it resulted in a dozen or so summer-plumaged Red-throated Pipits resigning themselves to sticking around for the day and, when it finally calmed down in the late afternoon, released a sustained burst of surround-sound choral mating song, including a lone Melodious Warbler proclaiming itself ‘final gift of the day’. A great day.
All week I’d been awaiting a Llevante, or east wind, to bring in the shearwaters and other seabirds but it had not materialised so, on the final day, we headed for the Cap de Creus (Friday, 28th April).
The wind today was so ridiculous we couldn’t walk in it. So we sat. And for twenty minutes we watched an actual migrating Black Kite struggle in from the sea and miraculously and masterfully avoid being dashed against the rocks. When it finally landed we cheered. The wind was so bad today that we had to divert our route away from the cliffs for safety reasons. And banged into a small flock of Red-rumped Swallows taking refuge in a wind-sheltered hollow. Today the wind was so bad that we turned it to our advantage and, knowing the birds would seek shelter, searched behind an old farm building to find a flock of beautiful feeding Ortolan Buntings and in a small clump of cork oak in the hope of encountering the majestic Western Orphean Warbler. It was our final gift of the day and our final gift of the week.
Over the course of the week we had a collective total of 182 species, sighting nearly three-quarters of the birds actually possible from their target list. One of my clients saw 62 lifers, 12 above his expectations, and the other almost 100.
Despite the undoubted success of the week that lay behind, and with no disrespect to my clients, I dropped them off at the airport and awaited the arrival of my next client, Declan, already looking forward to following his instructions for the week ahead. Strictly nice and easy! And, although Declan’s philosophy is closer to my own, I couldn’t help but wonder if the American’s ‘dash and grab’ approach would actually in the end produce more birds. Well now I was about to find out.
To find out your self look out for the Birdbox 29th April – 6th May Trip Report already posted.
Stephen Christopher