Friday, November 13, 2009

Around Barcelona

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We haven't had time for much real birding yet but we have seen quite a few birds already.

The balcony of our daughter's apartment overlooks some small yards and these have a resident population of Collared Doves and House Sparrows. The two species co-exist without any problems.



They also share the space with 2-3 Black Redstarts, busy little birds that act rather like Robins.


We managed one trip out to one of the Llobregat reserve
s near the airport. Although construction work has caused most of the birds to move far away from the hides, there were still plenty of birds to watch, including scores of Lapwings.

Closer to home, I've spent a couple of hours in Parque Guell, where the bird life is dominated by Magpies and Monk's Parakeets.



However, the park also has a lot of other, smaller birds: Great Tits, Robins, Serins, etc. I was also lucky enough to see some more interesting and new (to me) species: Nightingale, Firecrest and Treecreeper.

Long-tailed Tit

This evening we drive south to spend the weekend at the Ebro Delta, which is supposed to be one of the best birding sites in Europe. And the weather seems likely to cooperate - dry and 74F/25C!

2 comments:

T Shaughnessy said...

So, are the Collard Doves over there referred to as Euro-asian Collard Doves? European Collards Doves? :)
Sorry... I had to ask.

Jeff said...

Just Collared Dove.