eBird Trip Report: https://ebird.org/tripreport/26355
Spain is a pretty good choice for birding in winter. Personally, I think it is also one of the most rewarding places with many potential lifers for me all over Europe. With my friends with the same interest, we made a 10-day trip to Catalonia (Catalan: Catalunya) and Madrid during the Christmas break in 2021, when I was studying at Uppsala University as a master’s student. The trip was mainly by driving, and we also visited several cultural sights along the route. We got 110 species in total, and I got 30 lifers. I hope it will be helpful for anyone interested in birding in Spain.
For the Chinese version of the Catalonia part, check here 中文版本 .
| Date | Site | Accommodation |
| 2021/12/21 | Arrival at Barcelona Airport, then drove to Delta de l’Ebre PNat | Deltrebre |
| 2021/12/22 | Delta de l’Ebre PNat | Deltrebre |
| 2021/12/23 | Delta de l’Ebre PNat, then drove to Lleida | Lleida |
| 2021/12/24 | Grasslands and steppes around Lleida, then drove to Barcelona | Barcelona |
| 2021/12/25 | Delta del Llobregat | Barcelona |
| 2021/12/26 | Barcelona city trip and flight to Madrid | Madrid |
| 2021/12/27 | Sierra de Guadarram and adjacent areas | Madrid |
| 2021/12/28 | Laguna del Campillo and Natural History Museum | Madrid |
| 2021/12/29 | Open fields near Daganzo de Arriba | Madrid |
| 2021/12/30 | Departure from Madrid Airport |
Arrived in Barcelona
It was already pretty late in the evening when we arrived in Barcelona. We had a quick dinner at the airport, then picked up the car we rented and headed to Deltebre, the town in the Ebro Delta. The road exiting the parking lot at the airport was narrower than I imagined, but fortunately, we exited safely.
The drive took roughly one and a half hours. We just came from Sweden and felt pretty comfortable with the local temperature and Mediterranean vegetation.
We arrived at the hotel at around 10 pm. We were actually a bit surprised that the landlord couldn’t speak any English at all. Thanks to translating apps, we managed to communicate and settle down.
2021/12/22 Delta de l’Ebre (Ebro Delta)
We woke up at 7 A.M. and spent the first day and a half in the fantastic bird hotspot, Delta de l’Ebre (Ebro Delta). The sunrise was around half-past 7, so we had enough time to prepare before departure for birding.
Starting from the Cantabrian Mountains, the longest river in Spain, the Ebro (Catalan: Ebre) flows all over northeast Iberia and finally reaches the Mediterranean Sea in the Delta Ebro. The sediments brought by the Ebro sustain to create the flourishing delta region. It is one of Spain’s most extensive rice-growing areas and an important wetland regarding ecological function. Though much of the natural vegetation has been replaced by rice paddies, it is still valuable to birds like herons, wild fowls, and waders. The canals and channels in this area are also of interest to birds.
We spent the first morning in the south half of the delta. We first drove from Deltebre town to the L’Encanyissada lagoon, then visited another lagoon, La Tancada. It was a cloudy day all day. The paddies, reed beds, channels, woods, and other landscapes along the way were inhabited by a collection of various birds. The birdwatching started with a big flock of Northern Lapwings flying over our car. The number I counted was 41.
Along the road, we made a few stops of rice fields. After harvest, the field filled with water provided excellent food resources for gulls, herons, egrets, waders, wagtails, and pipits. Among the Black-headed Gulls, we also had a lot of Slender-billed Gulls, which mostly spend winter around the Mediterranean and the Middle East. Besides, there were countless European Starlings, maybe also Spotless Starlings, which would be hard to distinguish in the winter.
After some signs of the natural reserve, we gradually went into the reed beds. We suddenly saw some Western Swamphens among the Eurasian Moorhens walking along the road. We were so excited! Instantly, we pulled over and had a longer view of them in the car. They looked slightly different from another species in the same genus, the Gray-headed Swamphen (Porphyrio poliocephalus) in Asia, which is much more familiar to me. Compared to the latter, Western Swamphens were darker in plumage and looked heavier and bulkier. As we were still thinking about the difference in ecology, they disappeared soon after we parked the car. They were not as tame as their Asian relatives. After that, we spent more time in the rice fields near some villages looking for Glossy Ibis. We finally got a couple flying, though they didn’t stop and flew too far away soon.
Soon, we arrived at L’Encanyissada and stayed about half an hour birding around. On the platform in the northeast, we had a nice view of flocks of Greater Flamingo, together with Common Shelducks, Great Cormorants, Mallards, and other water birds. Common Kestrels and Eurasian Marsh Harriers also were hovering around. Among the reedbeds, we met some old friends we missed for a long in Sweden, including Black-crowned Night Heron and Zitting Cisticola. We got a few wintering passerines among the woods, including Common Chiffchaff, European Robin, Black Redstart, Common Chaffinch, and so on, and a Eurasian Crag-Martin flying around, totally out of expectation. I’ve seen Carg-Martin in cities during winter mixed with Hirundo swallows when I was in China, but never in a wetland like this!
On the way to La Tancada, we saw some flamingos swimming in the water. That was something pretty fresh to us. We hardly see other similar birds; neither herons nor egrets swim frequently. We then arrived in the region between La Tancada and the Mediterranean. Here was the place my friend Bernat told me was a “must-go.” There was a vast, shrubby plane, and we stopped for a while looking for Mediterranean Short-toed Larks. We didn’t find any larks then but met a Greater Flamingo walking along. It showed no fear to us, unexpectedly. When it moved closer, I noticed its bill couldn’t be perfected closed. I didn’t know whether we needed to call the reserve management or wildlife rescue or do something. Then I was told some rescued flamingos were released by the lagoon, and people would monitor them. I wish it could be taken care of if needed. Many flamingos and other birds were also in the lagoon, including Northern Shovelers. In addition, we had a Black Stork in the morning. So far, nothing except the swamphen, ibis, and flamingo were brand new to me, but still very glad to see such a great diversity of birds in such a short time!
After a brief lunch downtown, we quickly looked at the northern part of the afternoon. We visited a bird Tower near the channel Rui Migjorn and then headed north, stopped by Riumar. Around the channel, we got terrific huge flocks of Glossy Ibis mixed with gulls and egrets and feeding in the field. I couldn’t imagine seeing such a big number in China, where they were vagrants, and recently, the largest number at one spot should be seven individuals. They should be commoner in history, but I don’t know why they declined so much there. It was enjoyable to appreciate the feeding of Ibis. Their long bills are like a pair of chopsticks, efficiently sticking into the mud and searching for any invertebrates for lunch. We got more species of waders, birds of prey, and other birds from the bird tower. It was a pity I didn’t have a telescope at that time. Otherwise, we could probably get at least 30 more species in the wetland.
We spent a few minutes waiting at the beach near the channel. Flocks of Mediterranean Gulls would fly over the sea. One largest flock exceeded 30 birds. There were also other birds, including some Calidris sandpipers. I saw my first couple of Sanderlings in the Western Palearctic here. Then we headed to Riumar. I tried to identify the starlings around this small town, but it was too hard for me with only a binocular. Black Redstarts were everywhere near the dwellings, which reminded me of their eastern relatives. We returned to the hotel before sunset and cooked dinner by ourselves.
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