18 January 2009 - Winter in the Pyrenees (Spain Birding)
Please browse 'archives' under the 'links' heading in the right hand column for date-ordered trip reports and monthly summaries.
On 11th January, we were staring up towards the rock face in front of us, binoculars gripped at at-the-ready-chin-height and waiting for the next white flashes to explode into the clarity of the blue-blue sky before arching and falling back down into the obscurity of white-on-white – Snowfinch on snow.
At officially up to 3cm longer than a Chaffinch, there’s no deception at how big these long- and white-winged relatives seem when set against the contrast of the sky, even at this distance, and it all just adds to the thrill. We ‘ooo-ed’ and ‘argh-ed’ like children around a bonfire, calling ‘there!’ and ‘this side!’ as each small flock threw itself up and dropped back down. Occasionally, again just like fireworks, we lucked upon one or two on the ground and gleefully gathered our telescopes around to watch them feeding.
The post-breeding movements of (White-winged) Snowfinches, which can start as early as late July, is always unpredictable, depending upon the weather as it does, but this has been a good year. Out of the total of 613 birds rung in the Collada de Toses between 2005 and 2009, 328 have been rung this winter, with none in the two years previously.
‘Wait a minute,’ I mumbled as I was scanning the rock face, and headed for my telescope to confirm an overactive imagination. But, ‘Wallcreeper!’ Max shouted before I got there and sure enough the apparent peering head, that I may have dismissed as fantasy without a back-up pair of eyes, turned out to be a crazy lone pela-roques, in Catalan, eeking out a lunatic living on the freezing cold, snow-covered cliffs of the magical, magical Pyrenees.
In turns, it was seen fluttering out way over our heads to disappear into thin air, avoiding the high-mag gaze of our scopes with some sleight-of-wing, and dropping like a Peregrine the whole height of the cliff only to be suddenly sucked onto it’s sheer surface just metres from certain death as if it was suddenly magnetised. Wallcreeper are supposed to descend to lower altitudes in weather like this and, although it breeds at up to 3000m above sea level, I would hardly call the snow-covered 2000m at which we were now perched a descent!
Unlike (White-winged) Snowfinch, which rarely drop below 1500m, Wallcreeper are regularly found wintering even at sea level (see Garraf in the January 2009 Summary) so it was really the former that inspired the trips up from Barcelona and, a few days before, on the 6th, we’d been lucky enough to watch more than one-hundred work their way down this same hill, rolling over each other back over front (like a slinky if you remember the seventies!), over our heads and settle along the edges of the melting snowline a few metres below us. With us too engrossed and the flock restless, we didn’t think of photos but when we drove right into a small group a couple of hours later, we jammed on the brakes and clicked away as about a dozen skipped their way onto a roadside bank and grazed fearlessly at window-level as we followed on in first gear. Worth the trip alone.
With a distinct feeling of dejà vu, and six kilometres, twenty-minutes and a three hundred metre drop in altitude later, we were doing exactly the same thing with a half-dozen disinterested Alpine Accentor. What a plumage. What a place.
Alpine Accentor had been observed on the 11th too, sneaking between the feet of the Snowfinch, but a little too far to truly appreciate. No matter, Alpine Accentor, again unlike Snowfinch, also make winter trips to low-level mountains ranges and can be found quite easily in the same spot in the Garraf, for instance, along with Wallcreeper.
And anyway, another better surprise was yet to come.
Having been sent packing by a swarm of woollen hats and skis, we found ourselves tracking the white wings and tail edges of what we thought was a lone Snowfinch dipping and diving over the contours and corners of the winding road cutting it’s way through the deep snow of the Moixero Natural Park. When it finally stopped, we did likewise, this time even managing a photograph – of a Snow Bunting! The average for Catalonia is less than one per year so we were lucky we found a whole one.
In all the excitement it might have been easy to forget another rather startling moment of discovery. Whilst enjoying the cliff-side matinee described earlier we were treated to a honking Raven flying low overhead. Only to fill in time, or perhaps out of habit, we all raised our binoculars to the remarkable – and for me never-seen-before – sight of the underside of a Raven lit in a bounced snow light that revealed more shades and tones of brown than I’d ever seen. I swear I could see every feather and will never think of a Raven as a black bird again.
Now fast forward to the 17th and we’re back again…déjà vu…as, standing in almost exactly the same spot, the same reflected snow light paints every contour of the underside of a truly majestic (there is no other word for this bird) low-flying, adult Lammergeier. Orange. Beard. The lot. For a fleeting moment I contemplated the fifteen metres between my self and the camera (in the boot of the car of course) but in the end thought, ‘sod it’ and just enjoyed it. Wow. It actually hung around for an hour or so, at one point deigning to land - but immediately taking off in the moments that it saw me glance towards my camera bag.
The snow remained but this encouraged the skiers as well as the Snowfinch, now estimated at around sixty birds, to hang around so the former made the job of tracking the latter much harder and unusually it took us until the afternoon. In the meantime, the usual Peregrine, Griffon Vulture, Crossbill, Firecrest, Dipper and array of tits kept us entertained, we successfully out-waited the Alpine Accentors at their regular spot and a lovely flock of eighty chirping Alpine Chough floated around us and landed noisily on the road ahead.
It was clear that many birds, Wallcreeper included, found it hard to tear themselves away even in times of harsh and ruthless weather and on each and every visit, as we left the slope of the village main street and upped the gears onto the road back to Barcelona, I had no difficulty understanding why.
Photos by Dilys Powell, Max Andrews, Darren Shirley and Stephen Christopher.
"Thank you so much for showing us so much. So many birds. Great memories of the Snowfinch (our favourite), bluethroat, hoopoe, etc etc etc etc...... Another thank you for the footie match. What a treat - Please thank Anna for that!!!
How wonderfully relaxed it all was - not having to think about where we were going and just being able to enjoy the scenery and look for the birds was about perfect and then lunch was served.
Hope that you have a good year with lots of bookings. Thanks again."
Dilys and Eric Powell, U.K.
.
|
|
Post A Comment!
|
29 June 2009 - Untitled Comment |
| Posted by Anonymous |
| I enjoyed the vicarious experience of birding in Spain, but your blog is far too long. I'd suggest eliminating most of the testimonials for one thing. I wish the pictures had each been clearly labeled. White on black type would be easier to read than the reverse plate. |
| Permanent Link |
29 June 2009 - blog design comments |
| Posted by stephenc1 |
many thanks anon. The B&W thing, yes. I've been meaning to change it for quite a while but am always worried about losing the content in the process.
"far too long"? Can't really comment on that unless I know how much you read. I certainly don't think this piece above is. It's only really meant to be read, say, month by month, or entry by entry, not all in one go.
And as for the testimonials. I centre them so people - anyone other than potential clients nipping in to see what others thought - can skip them easily.
again much appreciated, will try and sort the B&W thing out. |
| Permanent Link |
|
About Me
I now spend my life birding in Spain, taking every opportunity to head out on my own even when not working as a professional bird guide.
Most of the birding trip reports and photos will be from my local patch, The Garraf Massif and Llobregat Delta around Barcelona, but I also visit The Ebro Delta, The Steppes of Lleida, Los Monegros, The Pyrenees, Cap de Creus and Aiguamolls de L'Emporda.
Please e-mail me if you would like to be placed on the mailing list for this blog and I'd be happy to help with information if you're planning a bit of Spain birding your self.
If you're looking for birding holidays, short breaks and day tours in Catalonia, for families and serious birders, details can be found at www.catalanbirdtours.com.
Friends
|
