Autumn Passage, 2023, Catalunya (2 Viewers)

[pandachris]

Don't get too excited, this isn't going to be great.

Our first visit to Tarragona (for Santa Tecla) since 2019. Mostly casual/incidental birding because we're busy with other things. Might be of limited value for anyone visiting Tarragona soon. No time this trip for an excursion to the Ebro Delta.

Thursday 21st September, Barcelona airport - one, probably 2 Stone Curlers seen whilst taxiing after landing.
Alpine Swift - several over the nature reserve adjacent to the airport.
Swallow - a couple, ditto.
Black Kite - a large raptor in the same place was probably this.

Friday 22nd, Tarragona, Part Alta - Short -Toed Eagle - one over whilst we were having lunch. Honey
Honey Buzzard - probable from same location.

Saturday 23rd - Tarragona, Plaça Corsini - several Alpine Swifts were probably local birds lingering.
Parc de Ciutat - Collared Flycatcher - one seen quite well and photographed badly. If correct, this will be a lifer. More to follow.

 

[pandachris]

Apologies for the delay in updating. Tech issues whilst in Tarragona and then a bit busy since getting back. Hopefully I can remember what else I saw.

Worth mentioning that I had breakfast with a local birder who works in conservation in South America and does a lot of birding in Catalunya. He was sceptical (though not dismissive) about Collared Flycatcher in Tarragona in September, although it's definitely possible on spring passage. He'd seen nothing about the species on the local forums/e-birder etc. and nothing regarding Parc de la Ciutat - however when I asked him if any birders go there he acknowledged that they probably don't (he doesn't and his office is 10 minutes away). I only went because it was the nearest place with both an extensive view of the sky AND some decent broad-leafed trees. If I'd been driving I would probably have gone somewhere with more possibilities.

We also talked about why I was seeing far fewer raptors passing overhead than I had done 10 years ago. He had a theory that that could be due to the presence of three resident pairs of Peregrines in the city, at least one pair introduced to control the city's pigeon population (it's not working). He's seen them harass eagles a number of times so perhaps they're now giving Tarragona a wide berth. Whilst this might explain the apparent absence of Crag Martins from the city centre (we've visited Tarragona 20+ times and have pretty much always seen them) I'm not sure that a few Peregrines can really drive all raptors away. We have a pair about a kilometre away from my partners house in Wolverhampton but still see Common Buzzards. Also we noted no hirundine passage. In the past there have been thousands.

 

[pandachris]

Saturday 23rd (continued)
Parc de la Ciutat - Chiffchaff - two or three present and calling.
Sub-alpine Warbler - the commonest passerine in the small part of the park that I covered (essentially a couple of large trees to the left of the main (uphill) entrance close to some low ruined buildings) - I'd guess 20+
Robin - quite a lot calling and flitting about were presumably migrants.
Pied Flycatcher - 2 or 3
Unmarked medium-sized warbler - I couldn't get a decent view and it was silent. Garden or Melodious, but TBH I couldn't even rule out Nightingale - the views really weren't great.

Sunday 24th
Parc de la Ciutat - Spotted Flycatcher - lots - I managed to walk clockwise around about half of the park and these were all over the place. Dozens, possibly even hundreds.
Blackcap - one or two calling
Robin - lots again
Blackbird - notably more than on the 23rd. I assume that both residents and migrants could be present.
One mystery bird dropped onto the ground near the fenced off modernista building at the bottom of the park. It was rounded and flicked its tail noticeably after landing. Disappeared as I was raising my binoculars.

Monday 25th
Parc de la Ciutat - no Spotted Flycatchers and no Sub-alpine Warblers. They'd been replaced by Pied Flycatchers of which there were decent numbers. Not many other migrants about other than Robins and Blackbirds.
Sardinian Warbler - presumably resident, although I hadn't seen or heard any on the previous visits.

And that's about it. Very few hirundines (maybe half a dozen Swallows, one House Martin) when we're used to thousands. No other raptors (I saw a Sparrowhawk from the bus back to the airport on the 25th. We might get a chance to test the Peregrine Theory because we're booking a few nights toward the end of October a bit further inland, near Valls. We've seen large raptors overhead there a few times, though not in the numbers we used to see in Tarragona - perhaps there will be more this time. If I see much I'll add to this thread.

 

[pandachris]

Friday 20th October

Arrived at Reus airport just before 4 p.m. A few hirundines at the air were mostly swallows but I think we saw a couple of House Martins through the windows whilst queueing for passport control.

Saturday 21st

We're staying at Las Masies near L'Espluga de Francoli at the Villa Engracia hotel which is rather lovely and very rural. We're mainly here for the Santa Ursula Castellers day in Valls but we had a bit of free time and we decided to have a look at the Iberian culture archaeological site at Els Vilars. Birds seen mainly from the car (we drove on some of the minor roads between the site and Arbeca) - Goldfinch, hundreds; Crested Lark, common; Red Kite, common: Black Kite, 2; Common Buzzard, 3; Common Kestrel, several; Marsh Harrier, 1; Griffon Vulture, 4; Sardinian Warbler, a few; Chiffchaff, several; Meadow Pipit, 2; Stonechat, 3. Also poss Calandra Lark, a probable Red-footed Falcon and, hard though it may be to believe, a possible Hoopoe. It was distant from a moving car and now I can't switch italics off.

 

[pandachris]

Additionally a lone and very tired looking Chaffinch and a Sparrowhawk high up and looking like it had somewhere to be went over Valls shortly before sunset.

 

[pandachris]

Also for the 21st, the archaeological site was pretty good for butterflies. We saw at least 6 species, most of them in good numbers. Apart from Clouded Yellows and a couple of Geranium Bronzes that we didn't get a photo of, we'll need to inspect the images to get positive IDs.

Sunday 22nd October

Not much time for birding today because it was the Diada de Santa Ursula and we were building human towers with Colla Joves Xiquets de Valls. No spectacles allowed in the towers so even though I was looking up quite a lot my vision was reduced. Two large raptors over together might have been Honey Buzzards but there was no uncertainty about the ID of hundreds of Alpine Swifts that spent a few minutes over Plaça del Blat.

off to the Ebro Delta today, where hopefully we'll get a few hours in.

 

[pandachris]

Monday 23rd October

I would have liked an earlier start than we eventually managed but we were at the delta by about 9 a.m. and after a quick breakfast in Camarles our first real stop was near Finca de Bombita on the road running northwest from the T-340 at the roundabout by Parc Deltaventur. We followed this road as far as the entrance to the Finca. Here we found my main target species for the day, Bluethroat. Park where the road ends at a gate and look through the fence along the tracks that continue in the fenced off areas. There were at least two birds along the track next to the ditch on the right. There was at least one Thekla's Lark in the dry area to the west of the road. I don't think these are common in the delta but September to October seems to be the peak period.

The muddy, flooded field to the north appeared birdless but a quick scan with binoculars revealed numerous Ringed Plovers and a few Kentish Plovers. We heard but didn't see a Redshank and there were several Greenshanks. Cetti's Warbler, Stonechat, Chiffchaff, Meadow Pipit, Kingfisher and Robin all present and a Siskin called as it flew overhead. The first of many Monarch Butterflies was seen here but they became more numerous as the day warmed up.

From the car we noticed, as expected, thousands of herons, egrets and gulls. I imagine that we saw a couple of thousand Glossy Ibis with small to medium-sized flocks in many locations. Purple Herons were less numerous with perhaps 3 or 4 seen. Cattle Egrets appeared more localised than Lille or Great Egret but were often in large numbers when they were present. We only saw a couple of Auduoin's Gulls although we've not normally had much difficulty finding the species here.

We moved on to the Mirador Mitjorn. A Reed Warbler was calling from cover nearby and there was a Sky Lark at the side of the road as we approached the tower. A possible third Bluethroat was in the same area. I don't know if this is a regular location for them. We haven't seen them here before. Most of the birds seen from the tower were quite distant although at least 166 Spoonbills were impressive. I might have missed a few. A large raptor flying away from us gave no clues to its identity but Julie had no such problem when she spotted an Osprey in the distance. Marsh Harriers were visible pretty much all of the time we were in the delta and sometimes you could see 5 or more simultaneously. A small dark diving duck on the pond on the far side of the Riu de Mitjorn might have been Ferruginous but it was too far away to be certain. Almost all the birds in the area were flushed by, presumably, an eagle, which meant that we saw our first flamingos of the day (goodness knows where they had been 'hiding' but there were 8 of them) but try as we might, we couldn't see the cause of the disturbance anywhere. The only Squacco Heron of the day was also seen from the tower.

Lunch was at the lovely Casa Fusta where we avoided laughing at the typo on the menu for the Wild Duck Casserole (the 'i' is next to the 'u' so it's easily done) but time was getting short so afterwards we popped down to La Tancada Observatory where there were huge numbers of Greater Flamingos (thousands) followed by a final stop at Riet Vell for Purple Swamphen. The tree-lined track leading from the car park here had lots of small passerines. We only definitely identified Chiffchaff but there might have been other species.

With some extra time we would probably have explored some of the minor roads and pools west of El Poblenou del Delta but we had a flight to catch so set of back towards the airport with a couple of hours of daylight remaining. As always an enjoyable day in the area. Next year we'll perhaps try to fit in an overnight stay.

 

[pandachris]

Just a final note. I've finally had a look at the photos of the possible Collared Flycatcher from 23rd September. As expected, they're awful because the bird was quite some distance away and I've seen nothing that has been indicative that my initial ID was correct, so it will need to go down as 'probable Pied Flycatcher'.