Rare Birds in Spain Blog

© Ricard Gutiérrez, 14.2.2015 And it was relocated. And hundreds of observers came to see it. And they all watched it... Not a religious reference, but true. The Brown Shrike ( Lanius cristatus) , the first for Catalonia and Spain, and the longest-distance known record from its usual breeding grounds, had been found on 31.12.2014 then on 6.1.2015 by Iain Hartley ( see this blog entry on the finding ). Many observers, even coming from Teruel, Girona or Barcelona, came in the immediate days after the 6th of January to attempt relocating the bird. Without luck. Despite the fuzzy photos of the original sighting, the description from Iain was good, particularly pointing out the key features of the bird, e.g. its tail structure, with the pointed shape due to the length of the central feathers. In order to accept the record into the official national list, it is widely agreed that having at least a couple of observers, or having supporting evidence, helps to get the record homologa...

Durante el 26-28.9.2014 se celebró en el Delta de l'Ebre, Tarragona el Delta Birding Festival , un evento de interés ornitológico en el que se combinaban actividades en el marco de las Salinas de Sant Antoni, junto a la laguna de la Tancada, con sorteos muy atractivos (como el de un telescopio Swarovski valorado en 4.500€ pero también unos prismáticos o una cámara de fototrampeo), actividades familiares y conferencias de primerísimo nivel para los aficionados 'dead-ahead' al birdwatching, pero también para los naturalistas y fotógrafos en general. Una oferta completa y, a mi juicio que pude estar y dar una charla -algo accidentada con corte de luz incluido- extremadamente atractiva, del estilo y sin desmerecer al holandés Dutch Vogeldag y en la onda de la British Birdwatching Fair , tan anhelada o referenciada por algunos otros certámenes. Bob Flood lecturing on Storm-Petrels. A must-see!! Killian Mullarney crowded lecture Gorka Gorospe explicando dónde ...

Photo: © Ricard Gutiérrez, 13.8.2008 On 12th August 2008, Aiguamolls de l'Empordà Natural Park birdwatchers' Jordi Martí-Aledo and Àlex Ollé found a juvenile/1w Allen's Gallinule (Porphyrio alleni) at El Matà area (see map below), within the Aiguamolls Natural Park. This is the 1st for Catalonia and the northwesternmost sighting of the species in Spain. News were broadcasted and on 13th August morning at least 3-4 birders (including Sergi Sales, Aleix Comas and Ponç Feliu, who took pictures, see below) could manage to see the species. Photo: © Ponç Feliu, 13.8.2008 Around midday Rafael Armada saw the bird briefly. By early afternoon at least 20 people had gathered in the tower hide in the area to attempt the twitch, including people from Tarragona (Albert Cama), Osona county (R. Jutglà, Martí Rodríguez and others), Barcelona (F.López, J.L.Copete; Oriol Clarabuch; A.Ramal and R.Gutiérrez) and France (!) (Pierre-André Crochet and three more observers. The bird showed briefly...