Spring Birding in Central and Northern Spain: Apr 23—May 08, 2010

Alquezar, Northern Spain — Photo: Peter Roberts

A thorough exploration of the western Mediterranean specially designed for American birders. Coastal marshes, steppes and sierras, to the snowline in the Pyrenean mountains. Glorious scenery.

This is an extremely popular and comprehensive tour of much of the essential and best birding in the Iberian peninsula from the cork oak dehesas of Extramadura south of Madrid, to the central steppes near Zaragoza, up to the Pyrenees and their superb foothill Sierras, and the rich wetlands of the Ebro Delta on the Mediterranean coast. In the Monfrague region near Madrid we seek species unlikely further north: Black Stork, Cinereous Vulture, Great Spotted Cuckoo, Pallid Swift, Red-necked Nightjar, Azure-winged Magpie, Spanish Sparrow and, most important, the endemic Spanish Eagle. The steppe habitats, stony plains, mesas, and maquis vegetation to the north hold Great and Little bustards, Pin-tailed and Black-bellied sandgrouse, Montagu's Harrier, Red-legged Partridge, Little Owl, Lesser Kestrel, Eurasian Thick-knee, Spectacled Warbler, and White Storks—commonly nesting on village rooftops.

The Pyrenees and foothills are spectacular! Box scrub, olive groves, and stunted oak forest amidst impressive steep, red limestone gorges harbor classic Mediterranean species: Eurasian Hoopoe; European Bee-eater; Woodchat Shrike; Black-eared and Black wheatears; European Serin; Cirl, Ortolan, and Rock buntings; plus many warblers including Sardinian, Western Orphean, Subalpine, Dartford, and Western Bonelli's. More than 20 raptors are possible. Egyptian Vulture; Lammergeier; Eurasian Griffon; Golden, Booted, Bonelli's, and Short-toed eagles; and Black and Red Kites are just about guaranteed!

Magnificent fortified stone villages, ancient churches, monasteries, and castles date back to ancient Castile, Aragon, and Catalonia. We travel to alpine habitats at 5,000 to 7,000 feet of coniferous forests, mountain streams, flower meadows, and craggy snow-covered peaks. Here we find Alpine Accentor, Red-billed and Yellow-billed choughs, Ring Ouzel, White-throated Dipper, Gray Wagtail, Alpine Swift, Black Woodpecker, and the fabulous Wallcreeper—the latter often at nesting sites researched for us by our local contacts.

The Ebro Delta is one of the most important wetlands in Europe. An easily-birded complex of dunes, saline lagoons, fresh marshes, reedbeds, and rice fields produces masses of waterbirds: Red-crested Pochard, Great-crested and Little grebes, Water Rail, Purple Swamphen, Greater Flamingo, seven species of heron including Little Bittern and Purple and Squacco herons, and more than 10 tern and gull species including easily found Slender-billed and Audouin's gulls. Breeding shorebirds such as Pied Avocet, Common Redshank, Black-winged Stilt, and Collared Pratincole mix with migrants such as Wood and Curlew sandpipers, Spotted Redshank, and Little Stint. Here too are Savi's, Moustached, Eurasian Reed, Great Reed, Cetti's, and Melodious warblers.

By the end of this tour you will have seen over 200 of Europe's most representative bird species. Accommodations and food are good and we travel in comfortable self-drive vehicles allowing great flexibility in where we go to seek out all the special birds of this fine region.

Good accommodations including picturesque guesthouses in historic villages; easy birding in moderately paced days over easy terrain with very little walking; good food with free wine; climate warm and dry to snowy.