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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Allen S. Moore" data-source="post: 1831400" data-attributes="member: 22662">Birdwatching in a big city, Barcelona on 15th May 2010I only had 2 nights in Barcelona this time, but spent a few hours on the 15th in some of my favourite birdwatching sites in the city. Rising early, I walked from my hotel on Carrer Valldonzella through Plaça de Catalunya to Arc de Triomf and then down Passeig de Lluís Companys to Parc de la Ciutadella. Before reaching the park I had already noted yellow-legged gulls, feral rock doves, monk parakeets, swifts, robin, blackcap, starlings, spotless starling, house sparrows, greenfinch and goldfinch. As soon as I walked into Parc de la Ciutadella I started to see interesting birds, the first being a short-toed treecreeper just inside the entrance. I spotted it as it fed on the ground underneath a tree, but then it flew up onto the tree trunk. Calls suggested other birds close by, young, perhaps? I know that Barcelona has quite a range of escaped parrot and other bird species, and I soon saw 2 of a species that I had never seen before, nanday (or black-hooded) parakeets. A kestrel flew over the top pond, where there was another escaped species, a family of what looked like greylag geese. Other birds seen in the park included mallards, moorhen, woodpigeon, collared doves, swallows, house martins, blackbirds, common chiffchaff, great tit, magpie, jackdaw and serins.I found a tram stop close to the park, and caught a tram to just before the mouth of Riu Besòs, seeing an alpine swift by Torre Agbar on the way. The area around the lower part of Riu Besòs was very productive for birds. I had another surprise as I walked over the nearest bridge to the river mouth, as there was an adult audouin's gull with 25 black-headed gulls on a gravel bank in the river. I had seen quite a lot of audouin's gulls in the Ebro Delta with Rob and Marg of Ebrotours just a few days before, but I had never previously seen the species in Barcelona.I walked to the river mouth and then back inland a little along the path at the edge of the green area along the river. Along the little creek just in from the river mouth I saw a little ringed plover and then a yellow wagtail. The latter looked as if it had a paler crown than that of the iberian subspecies, but it was very flighty. I tried to approach it in the creek, but it flew inland a bit close to the path. I hotfooted that way and noticed movement in open ground to my left, but checked myself when I realised that it was a couple, erm, sunbathing under a blanket. I continued walking quickly along the path, but the woman seemed to be shouting at me, maybe something like, "Oi! Watch where you're going!" Of course, they could have been birders who had not been able to afford the expensive prices of some of the hotels in the city and were just calling something like, "Hey, have you seen the squacco heron?" or whatever! Anyway, there were lots of other birds along that part of Riu Besòs, including little egret, grey heron, moorhens, 2 common sandpipers, white wagtails, 2 cetti's warblers, fan-tailed warbler, 2 reed warblers and spotted flycatcher. Another escaped bird was a muscovy duck, swimming in the river. I caught the tram again and travelled a few stops before catching the Metro to Vallcarça, as I had last October. Almost noon by now, it was hot and I was grateful to use the escalators to reach Parc Güell. The park was really busy with people, but I managed 4 new bird species for the day, including coal tit, blue tit and chaffinch. For much of the previous week there had been flight cancellations somewhere in Europe because of the volcanic ash cloud, so I sometimes glanced up to see if planes were flying over. I hadn't turned into a plane spotter, honest, but it did help when I was in Parc Güell. A plane was approaching Barcelona airport and at the same time I saw a yellow-legged gull mobbing a large raptor over the slopes below Turro de les Tres Creus. It was a short-toed eagle! My birdwatching for the day having reached a great moment, I relaxed under the trees and watched monk parakeets nest building before returning by foot and Metro to the city centre, La Rambla to be exact. I did not stay there, however, as I went to Bar Irati in a neighbouring street where I enjoyed some excellent Basque pintxos. I then walked to a favourite square nearby, Plaça del Pi, where there were groups of musicians in costume playing and singing.On my previous 2 visits to Barcelona I had an evening meal outside Cerveceria Inter-tapa on Avinguda de Gaudí close to La Sagrada Familia, and I did that this evening, too. However, there was no sign of the peregrines this time. I noticed that there was netting on some of the taller towers of La Sagrada Familia. I did see an alpine swift, and there were several bats of 2 species (well, sizes, anyway) over Plaça de Gaudí. Altogether this day I recorded 45 species of birds, my best for a day in Barcelona, although it did include 5 species of feral and escaped pigeons, parrots and waterfowl. Still, I think that 40 species of wild birds is good for a day in a big city!Allen</blockquote>

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