Llobregat Delta - BirdForum Opus

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Overview

One of the most popular tourist cities in Spain, Barcelona is also well worth visiting for birders with good urban parks and an excellent wooded area to the north, a harbour area that attracts birds and the superb Llobregat Delta just to the south. Although much of the delta area has been lost to development there are still some excellent beaches and lagoons, marshes, farmland and pinewoods. For those on a short city-break or business trip Barcelona offers some of the best and most accessible birding in Spain.

Birds

Notable Species

The parks have a thriving population of the Monk Parakeet, a South American species now established through escapes. In addition there are many of the smaller typical Mediterranean birds such as Eurasian Scops Owl and Alpine Swift, Hoopoe and Wryneck, Short-toed Treecreeper, Common Redstart and warblers such as Melodious Warbler, Sardinian Warbler and Western Bonelli's Warbler. The Ciutadella park, containing the Barcelona Zoo, is one of the best parks and home various free-flying members of the parrot family as well as Monk Parakeet. Further north is the Laberint d'Horta with more trees and in the north-west of the city is La Orenata with large areas of more or less natural vegetation. The Collserola is a large area of scrub and pinewood-covered hills in the north of the city with a good range of Mediterranean birds including Great Spotted Cuckoo and European Bee-eater, Nightingale, Woodchat Shrike, Golden Oriole and Subalpine Warbler, Dartford Warbler and Orphean Warbler. During passage periods Cory's Shearwater and Balearic Shearwater, Arctic Skua, terns and gulls including Little Gull and Mediterranean Gull can be seen offshore.

Much of the once extensive Llobregat Delta has now been lost to development but there are still some excellent areas of beaches and lagoons, marshes, farmland and pinewoods. Monk Parakeet is found in the delta, Ring-necked Parakeet is also present and Black-hooded Parakeet (Nanday Conure) has bred as well as small numbers of other introduced birds such as Red Avadavat, Common Waxbill and weavers. More typical wetland birds include Little Bittern and Little Egret, Squacco Heron, Black-crowned Night Heron, Grey Heron and Purple Heron. Crested Coot has recently been reintroduced. Waders such as Black-winged Stilt, Kentish Plover and Little Ringed Plover breed as well as Water Rail and very small numbers of both Little Crake and Baillon's Crake. Red-crested Pochard is rare but regular. Breeding warblers include Zitting Cisticola, Cetti's Warbler, Reed Warbler and Sardinian Warbler which are all very common and smaller numbers of Moustached Warbler, Savi's Warbler and Great Reed Warbler.

Audouin's Gull is present in summer and Mediterranean Gull in winter. Also present in winter are Cattle Egret, Moustached Warbler and Penduline Tit. The delta also attracts waders in good numbers, particularly Golden Plover and Northern Lapwing but wintering waterfowl can include 5,000 ducks of up to 15 species including Ferruginous Duck and Red-crested Pochard. Raptors including Booted Eagle, Hen Harrier, Merlin and Peregrine Falcon may be present in winter as well as a range of gull species.

Rarities

Rarities recorded at the Llobregat Delta have included Black Stork and Glossy Ibis, Purple Swamphen, Great White Egret, Pacific Golden Plover and Marsh Sandpiper and Pectoral Sandpiper.

Checklist

Birds you can see here include:

Little Grebe, Great Crested Grebe, Cory's Shearwater, Balearic Shearwater, Great Cormorant, Northern Gannet, Little Bittern, Black-crowned Night Heron, Squacco Heron, Cattle Egret, Little Egret, Grey Heron, Purple Heron, White Stork, Greater Flamingo, Common Shelduck, Eurasian Wigeon, Gadwall, Common Teal, Mallard, Northern Pintail, Garganey, Northern Shoveler, Common Pochard, Ferruginous Duck, Red-crested Pochard, Long-tailed Duck, Common Scoter, Red-breasted Merganser, Western Honey-Buzzard, Marsh Harrier, Hen Harrier, Eurasian Sparrowhawk, Common Buzzard, Booted Eagle, Osprey, Common Kestrel, Merlin, Peregrine Falcon, Red-legged Partridge, Common Quail, Common Pheasant, Water Rail, Spotted Crake, Baillon's Crake, Little Crake, Moorhen, Eurasian Coot, Crested Coot, Oystercatcher, Black-winged Stilt, Collared Pratincole, Little Ringed Plover, Kentish Plover, Northern Lapwing, Golden Plover, Grey Plover, Sanderling, Dunlin, Black-tailed Godwit, Bar-tailed Godwit, Eurasian Curlew, Spotted Redshank, Common Redshank, Greenshank, Green Sandpiper, Turnstone, Arctic Skua, Little Gull, Mediterranean Gull, Audouin's Gull, Lesser Black-backed Gull, Yellow-legged Gull, Caspian Tern, Sandwich Tern, Common Tern, Whiskered Tern, Black Tern, Common Guillemot, Razorbill, Stock Dove, Feral Rock Dove, Woodpigeon, Collared Dove, Turtle Dove, Monk Parakeet, Black-hooded Parakeet, Ring-necked Parakeet, Great Spotted Cuckoo, Common Cuckoo, Barn Owl, Eurasian Scops Owl, Little Owl, Common Swift, Pallid Swift, Alpine Swift, Common Kingfisher, Hoopoe, European Bee-eater, Wryneck, Green Woodpecker, Greater Short-toed Lark, Crested Lark, Eurasian Skylark, Eurasian Crag Martin, Barn Swallow, Water Pipit, Spanish Yellow Wagtail, White Wagtail, Dunnock, Bluethroat, Nightingale, Common Redstart, Stonechat, Blackbird, Cetti's Warbler, Zitting Cisticola, Savi's Warbler, Moustached Warbler, Reed Warbler, Great Reed Warbler, Melodious Warbler, Dartford Warbler, Sardinian Warbler, Subalpine Warbler, Orphean Warbler, Blackcap, Western Bonelli's Warbler, Iberian Chiffchaff, Goldcrest, Firecrest, Spotted Flycatcher, Penduline Tit, Long-tailed Tit, Crested Tit, Great Tit, Short-toed Treecreeper, Golden Oriole, Southern Grey Shrike, Woodchat Shrike, Common Magpie, Common Starling, Spotless Starling, House Sparrow, Tree Sparrow, Red Avadavat, Common Waxbill, European Serin, Greenfinch, Goldfinch, Reed Bunting, Corn Bunting

Other Wildlife

In addition to birds the Llobregat Delta is of great herpetological interest with a wide range of species present. Amphibians include Fire Salamander Salamandra salamandra, Midwife Toad Alytes obstreticans, Spadefoot Toad Pelobates cultripes and Natterjack Bufo calamita, Iberian Frog Rana perezi and Stripeless Treefrog Hyla meridionalis. The impressive Ocellated Lizard Lacerta lepida can be seen as well as Large Psammodromus and Spanish Psammodromus Psammodromus algirus and hispanicus, and Turkish Gecko and Moorish Gecko Hemidactylus turcicus and Tarentola mauretanica. Snakes include the large Montpellier Snake Malpolon monspessulanus, the Southern Smooth Snake Coronella girondica, Ladder Snake Natrix scalaris and Viperine Snake Natrix maura. The native Stripe-necked Terrapin Mauremys caspica is common as is the introduced Red-eared Terrapin Trachemys scripta elegans.

Site Information

Access and Facilities

The urban parks are well-signposted and easily found using public transport. Collserola Park can be reached from the A-2 motorway or the N-II going to Molins de Rei and from there to Santa Creu d'Olorda and on towards Sant Cugat. About 5km before Sant Cugat, at Vil.la Joana, is the visitor centre where details of the extensive network of footpaths over Collserola can be found. The Llobregat Delta lies just south of Barcelona city and can be explored from the roads around the airport or to the beach. Part of the area is protected as reserves and entry to some areas may be prohibited at times. Accommodation is plentiful in Barcelona and there are campsites in both the Collserola and the Llobregat Delta.

Contact Details

To do

External Links

To do

Content and images originally posted by Steve

Reviews

Hanzel Jurij's review I visited it at the start of November. I saw my first Purple swamp hen and Spoonbills here. There were numerous Cory's shearwaters off shore and to cap it all up I saw a flock of about 15 Cattle egrets practically in the middle of the motorway near the airport.

The info centre offers a wide variety of brochures and the possibility to rent a binocular for 2 euros. Pros

• very well organised
• great birds
• friendly staff

Cons

• none

Stephen C's review One of the best sites in Spain for migrants and vagrants; its proximity to the city and airport meaning it is well-watched.

Literally you could walk around it in thirty minutes but I defy anyone to achieve it as there's so much to see.

There's been some reorganisation after vandalism which, for my mind, has been detrimental to it as a bird watching site.

It now opens too late, at 10 am (and I have been left waiting until 10.30) and often closes well before sunset (which means you can't get the Scops Owls or Nightjars nearby). Pros

• Very compact wetland site adjacent to Barcelona (El Prat) airport

Cons

• can be a little hard to find and the staff don't always seem to care when they open