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Birding
Vacational Trip Reports
North & Central Spain - April 2017
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<blockquote data-quote="foresttwitcher" data-source="post: 3559584" data-attributes="member: 97625"><p>Having missed out on some new species on my last couple of trips to Andalucia, I decided on a spring tour of Northern and Central Spain targeting mainly steppe birds. So over the festive period, in order to try to help me ignore it as much as possible, and with some advice on timing sought on the forum, pretty soon a plan was hatched.</p><p></p><p>Thinking of a week initially, I got a better deal on flight prices with Ryan Air by going for a little longer. [I know, the additional hire car and hotel costs will more than outweigh the savings made on the cheaper flight but my poor brain does not think like this when on the flight booking sites. And it results in more time for birding.] Soon airport parking was booked and a hire car arranged through Rentalcars. After locating potential sites to visit in 'Where to Watch Birds - Northern & Eastern Spain' (Rebane & Garcia) cheap hotels were booked in nearby towns through Trivago.</p><p></p><p><u>Wednesday 19th April</u>:</p><p></p><p>A mid-afternoon flight from Stanstead got me in to <em>Zaragoza</em> late afternoon, with airport birds being a hovering <strong>Kestrel</strong> & a <strong>Magpie</strong> seen whilst taxiing plus <strong>Feral Pigeon</strong> & <strong>House Sparrow</strong> around the terminal buildings.</p><p></p><p>On the drive to <em>Fuentes de Ebro</em> I soon added <strong>White Stork</strong>, seen nesting on many of the pylons & buildings, <strong>Black Kite</strong> alongside the road and <strong>Wood Pigeon</strong> & <strong>Collared Dove</strong> on roadside wires.</p><p></p><p>After finding the (strangely deserted) hotel, booking in and dropping off my bag it was a fine warm evening with still a bit of daylight left so I headed off to <em>Los Galachos del Ebro</em>. Parking near the <em>Finca de la Alfranca</em> I walked the track and boardwalk towards the nearest oxbow lake: kicking off nicely with a very close <strong>Nightingale</strong> singing from the top of a path-side dead tree and a flock of half a dozen <strong>Bee-eater</strong> overhead; <strong>Blue Tit</strong>, <strong>Chaffinch</strong>, <strong>Goldfinch</strong>, <strong>Greenfinch</strong> & <strong>Serin</strong> were all seen and heard in the scrub / trees; the lake from the hide was a bit quiet but held one each of <strong>Grey Heron</strong> & <strong>Moorhen</strong> with a pair of <strong>Mallard</strong>, <strong>Barn Swallow</strong> & <strong>Marsh Harrier</strong> over and a <strong>Cetti's Warbler</strong> yelling out of the reeds; following a track through the adjacent fields added <strong>Crested Lark</strong>, <strong>Blackbird</strong> & <strong>Corn Bunting</strong>. The walk back to the car as dusk fell featured many of the above plus large numbers of White Stork over heading South.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="foresttwitcher, post: 3559584, member: 97625"] Having missed out on some new species on my last couple of trips to Andalucia, I decided on a spring tour of Northern and Central Spain targeting mainly steppe birds. So over the festive period, in order to try to help me ignore it as much as possible, and with some advice on timing sought on the forum, pretty soon a plan was hatched. Thinking of a week initially, I got a better deal on flight prices with Ryan Air by going for a little longer. [I know, the additional hire car and hotel costs will more than outweigh the savings made on the cheaper flight but my poor brain does not think like this when on the flight booking sites. And it results in more time for birding.] Soon airport parking was booked and a hire car arranged through Rentalcars. After locating potential sites to visit in 'Where to Watch Birds - Northern & Eastern Spain' (Rebane & Garcia) cheap hotels were booked in nearby towns through Trivago. [U]Wednesday 19th April[/U]: A mid-afternoon flight from Stanstead got me in to [I]Zaragoza[/I] late afternoon, with airport birds being a hovering [B]Kestrel[/B] & a [B]Magpie[/B] seen whilst taxiing plus [B]Feral Pigeon[/B] & [B]House Sparrow[/B] around the terminal buildings. On the drive to [I]Fuentes de Ebro[/I] I soon added [B]White Stork[/B], seen nesting on many of the pylons & buildings, [B]Black Kite[/B] alongside the road and [B]Wood Pigeon[/B] & [B]Collared Dove[/B] on roadside wires. After finding the (strangely deserted) hotel, booking in and dropping off my bag it was a fine warm evening with still a bit of daylight left so I headed off to [I]Los Galachos del Ebro[/I]. Parking near the [I]Finca de la Alfranca[/I] I walked the track and boardwalk towards the nearest oxbow lake: kicking off nicely with a very close [B]Nightingale[/B] singing from the top of a path-side dead tree and a flock of half a dozen [B]Bee-eater[/B] overhead; [B]Blue Tit[/B], [B]Chaffinch[/B], [B]Goldfinch[/B], [B]Greenfinch[/B] & [B]Serin[/B] were all seen and heard in the scrub / trees; the lake from the hide was a bit quiet but held one each of [B]Grey Heron[/B] & [B]Moorhen[/B] with a pair of [B]Mallard[/B], [B]Barn Swallow[/B] & [B]Marsh Harrier[/B] over and a [B]Cetti's Warbler[/B] yelling out of the reeds; following a track through the adjacent fields added [B]Crested Lark[/B], [B]Blackbird[/B] & [B]Corn Bunting[/B]. The walk back to the car as dusk fell featured many of the above plus large numbers of White Stork over heading South. [/QUOTE]
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Vacational Trip Reports
North & Central Spain - April 2017
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