richard dunn
birder
can anyone out there supply good sites for Dupont's Lark and Wallcreeper both of which i hope to see on a birding trip to spain in april
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spain (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter richard dunn
- Start date
IanF
Moderator
Hi Richard,
Welcome to Birdforum.
I cannot help you with the species but hopefully one of our members will be able to as we have several from Spain. Whereabouts are you staying in Spain ? - as this may help. Unfortunately my knowledge is Majorca & Menorca.
I hope that you enjoy the site and I look forward to reading your posts.
See you around.
Welcome to Birdforum.
I cannot help you with the species but hopefully one of our members will be able to as we have several from Spain. Whereabouts are you staying in Spain ? - as this may help. Unfortunately my knowledge is Majorca & Menorca.
I hope that you enjoy the site and I look forward to reading your posts.
See you around.
birdman
Орнитол&
As promised...
It seems the area you need to be in for Dupont's Lark is the Spanish Steppes.
About 120km west of Zaragoza (as Dupont's Lark flies!) is ALTOS DE BARAHONA (Lat 41 20 N, Long 02 30 W)
My NE Spain Michelin Map just doesn't quite stretch that far west (typical huh?) so I can't give you accurate directions, but herefollows a passage from me book...
"Immediately east of the Sierra de Ayllon is a high, stony, limestone plateau, the altos, which surrounds the small town of Barahona. There are some small cliffs along the many small rivers which cross the 50,000 hectare area, but the majority is under dry cereal cultivation or sheep-grazed scrub.
Dupont's Lark is the bird of these altos: with 2000 - 3000 pairs it is probably the best area in Spain, and therefore Europe, for this elusive species. Other birds include a small population of Little Bustards and Black Bellied Sandgrouse, plenty of Stone Curlews and good numbers of raptors.
Barahona is 25km south of Almazan on the C101. The N111 crosses the eastern part of the area between 18 and 38km south of Almazan. Just south of Puerto de Radona turn westwards to Barahona and beyond to Rello traversing most of the IBA. Smaller roads and tracks off this road lead into the best scrub areas, although it is inadvisable to drive off the roads both for the car's and the birds' sakes."
There are a number of other locations in the general region of Zaragoza, stretching as far
east as Lleida (Lerida), as follows:
Los Montenegros
Belchite and the Zaragoza Steppes
Laguna de Gallocanta
Alcañiz
Montes Universales and Llanos de Pozondon
Lleida Steppes
For Wallcreeper, you're probably not surprised to hear you will have to head towards the mountains.
Picos de Europa in NW Spain, or else the Pyrenees.
However, my book does tell me that it might be possible to see Wallcreeper in winter on the walls of Lleida Cathedral!
Assuming you are around Lleida / Zaragoza looking for you lark, it seems the most local Wallcreeper haunt is Garganta de Añisclo.
Taking the N240 NW out of Lleida for approx. 70km, turn north onto the N123 just before reaching Barbastro. After a further 8 km, take the A138 north towards Ainsa (and France). 11km north of Ainsa, continuing on the A138 is Escalona.
Now back to me book...
"The Añisclo gorge is reached along a well-marked road leading from Escalona to Ereta de Bies and the Ermita de San Urbez, at one end of the gorge."
I must point out again that none of this is from personal experience, but whosever information you make use of, I wish you the very best of luck.
And if you get your Wallcreeper, I'll be seriouly jealous, as it is numero uno on my wish-list!
It seems the area you need to be in for Dupont's Lark is the Spanish Steppes.
About 120km west of Zaragoza (as Dupont's Lark flies!) is ALTOS DE BARAHONA (Lat 41 20 N, Long 02 30 W)
My NE Spain Michelin Map just doesn't quite stretch that far west (typical huh?) so I can't give you accurate directions, but herefollows a passage from me book...
"Immediately east of the Sierra de Ayllon is a high, stony, limestone plateau, the altos, which surrounds the small town of Barahona. There are some small cliffs along the many small rivers which cross the 50,000 hectare area, but the majority is under dry cereal cultivation or sheep-grazed scrub.
Dupont's Lark is the bird of these altos: with 2000 - 3000 pairs it is probably the best area in Spain, and therefore Europe, for this elusive species. Other birds include a small population of Little Bustards and Black Bellied Sandgrouse, plenty of Stone Curlews and good numbers of raptors.
Barahona is 25km south of Almazan on the C101. The N111 crosses the eastern part of the area between 18 and 38km south of Almazan. Just south of Puerto de Radona turn westwards to Barahona and beyond to Rello traversing most of the IBA. Smaller roads and tracks off this road lead into the best scrub areas, although it is inadvisable to drive off the roads both for the car's and the birds' sakes."
There are a number of other locations in the general region of Zaragoza, stretching as far
east as Lleida (Lerida), as follows:
Los Montenegros
Belchite and the Zaragoza Steppes
Laguna de Gallocanta
Alcañiz
Montes Universales and Llanos de Pozondon
Lleida Steppes
For Wallcreeper, you're probably not surprised to hear you will have to head towards the mountains.
Picos de Europa in NW Spain, or else the Pyrenees.
However, my book does tell me that it might be possible to see Wallcreeper in winter on the walls of Lleida Cathedral!
Assuming you are around Lleida / Zaragoza looking for you lark, it seems the most local Wallcreeper haunt is Garganta de Añisclo.
Taking the N240 NW out of Lleida for approx. 70km, turn north onto the N123 just before reaching Barbastro. After a further 8 km, take the A138 north towards Ainsa (and France). 11km north of Ainsa, continuing on the A138 is Escalona.
Now back to me book...
"The Añisclo gorge is reached along a well-marked road leading from Escalona to Ereta de Bies and the Ermita de San Urbez, at one end of the gorge."
I must point out again that none of this is from personal experience, but whosever information you make use of, I wish you the very best of luck.
And if you get your Wallcreeper, I'll be seriouly jealous, as it is numero uno on my wish-list!
Edward
Umimmak
Hi Richard
Three of us are going to Spain in April and one of our targets is Dupont's Lark. We're going to try Hoces del Ria Duraton north of Madrid. I know someone who's been ther twice and seen Dupont's twice. There are apparently better sites further east near Zaragoza (Belchite) but we're going to be heading west for Extremadura so we can't make it east. There is good site information on both Dupont's Lark and Wallcreeper in "Where to Watch Birds in North and East Spain" by Michael Rebane.
Three of us are going to Spain in April and one of our targets is Dupont's Lark. We're going to try Hoces del Ria Duraton north of Madrid. I know someone who's been ther twice and seen Dupont's twice. There are apparently better sites further east near Zaragoza (Belchite) but we're going to be heading west for Extremadura so we can't make it east. There is good site information on both Dupont's Lark and Wallcreeper in "Where to Watch Birds in North and East Spain" by Michael Rebane.
richard dunn said:
Hello Richard,
Had stunning views of Dupont's Lark on the steppe near Belchite "El Planeron". Though an elusive bird it was very good to watch there (along with Spanish emperor-eagle, stone curlew and the enormous variety on toher larks Spain has to offer).
Also encountered Dupont's lark near a salt-lake at Alcaniz along with Richard's pipit, calandra lark etc...
Try to obtain a tape or CD with the sound of the Dupont's lark, its sound did surprise me and at first I was'nt even knowing what type of bird I was looking for in the dense low vegetation.
Have fun watching and looking,
Leo van Brunschot
Also off to Spain this year 4days Pyrenees and 4 days Extramadurawlallcreeper and duponts are both on the 'must see' list (in fact they ARE the must see list) so if any of you good people who are going in April see either (I'm going 1-9 May) please post the info ASAP. I've got all the books, trip reports etc but it's out of date as soon as it's written and as this is my 2nd trip to both these areas I would be most peeved (or similar) to miss them again.
Incidentally I'm off to Madrid in March (6-9) for a few days, mainly to see Gt Bustards, displaying I hope, so if anybody has got any info in that direction (or anything elsei n the area) please let me know.
Cheers
Nick
Incidentally I'm off to Madrid in March (6-9) for a few days, mainly to see Gt Bustards, displaying I hope, so if anybody has got any info in that direction (or anything elsei n the area) please let me know.
Cheers
Nick
Pie Face
Well-known member
Edward said:
We had excellent views of 3 (They were several more singing) Dupont's there last May. It's only about 1.5hrs from Madrid and is excellent for Larks in general. We had Calandra, Wood, Short-toed, Skylark, Thekla and Dupont's.
The Canyon nearby also has Rock Sparrow and Rock Bunting.
Mark
Last edited:
Edward woodwood
Member
Belchite is excellent as mentioned
try to get there before dawn.....they can sing most of the night. Can be very hard to pick up as they run between tussocks and are often further away than you think
Hecho valley is great for wallcreeper where road gets very very narrow
try to get there before dawn.....they can sing most of the night. Can be very hard to pick up as they run between tussocks and are often further away than you think
Hecho valley is great for wallcreeper where road gets very very narrow
Hello Mark
Any directions for Hoces del Ria Duraton, I think I know roughly where it is but any pointers as to best places/times etc would be very welcome. If I can manage to miss out Belchite area it would give me more time in Pyrenees and/or Extramadura.
cheers
Nick
Any directions for Hoces del Ria Duraton, I think I know roughly where it is but any pointers as to best places/times etc would be very welcome. If I can manage to miss out Belchite area it would give me more time in Pyrenees and/or Extramadura.
cheers
Nick
Edward
Umimmak
Nick-on said:
I think Hoces Del Rio Duraton is contained in Rebane's excellent "Where to watch Birds in Northern and Eastern Spain" and should be a map there. I say "I think" because I borrowed this book from a friend and haven't got it to hand. Perhaps somebody will confirm. The town of Sepulveda makes an excellent base. Dupont's Larks are indeed present there but we failed to see any although they were singing quite clearly very close to the road. Pick a spot about half-way between the village and the monastery, looking just like the habitat illustrated in Collins, and listen. It has a very distinctive song. The canyon by the ruined monastery is incredibly spectacular and superb for raptors. We only spent a morning there but the area is a goldmine and I will definitely return on a future trip to Spain. We also saw a family of Wild Boar in the canyon.
E
Pie Face
Well-known member
Nick-on said:
Hi Nick
Get hold of the Michelin map 576. From Sepulveda take the road to Villaseca (a very small village. After the village turn right onto the track for Eta de San Frutos. Park about 3/4 mile before the car park and scan the area, we found the area on the right to be the most productive. We failed at our first attempt, in the evening, though it was windy and very cold,though we heard them as soon as we got out of the car. We did however have superb views the following morning at dawn, including a bird song flighting next to the car. The whole area is superb and well worth a full day there.
Regards
Mark
Attachments
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Edward
Umimmak
M N Reeder said:
Unless you go at Easter in which case finding a hotel room in even the smallest Spanish town on spec is extremely difficult. I don't remember the hotel we stayed in but it was nice enough. I do remember checking in was like getting across the border between East and West Germany, the passport scrutinised time and time again.
E
