· 

Birding Big Day 2021

With this post I am inagurating the ornithological section of my website, as until now all posts and reports were mostly about amphibians and reptiles. However, my passion for birds is older than that for herps, and although  in recent years I've been more focused on the latter ones, I am resuming my birding journeys more and more, thanks in part to having some fellow birders and friends here in León. 

 

So, last Saturday was the Global Big Day. This is an event created by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology with the aim of encouraging all birders to go out into the field and make as many observations as possible. Coinciding with this event, this weekend was also the "ornithological marathon" held by the Spanish Ornithological Society (SEO), a competition among birder teams to observe as many species as possible in two days. With the splendid spring we are having here in Spain, there was no excuse not to spend a full-day birding. I teamed with two expert birders and friends from León, María Borrego and Martín Rey. As Martín was busy on Sunday, we decided to spend all Saturday trying to spot the maximum number of bird species, all inside León province. We took the day as a personal challenge, testing both our knowledge of the province's avifauna and our ability to spot and identify all the different bird species.

 

The journey began at the end of the night's curfew due to the covid pandemic, at 6AM. Just as we met we heard the first species, eurasian scops owl (Athene noctua). The first stop on the Bernesga river near the city allowed us to note black-crowned night heron (Nycticorax nycticorax), which have a breeding colony there (both seen and heard species count). Next stop in the village of Villadangos del Páramo allowed us to see the most unique bird of León's province, the rook (Corvus frugilegus), which has their only Iberian population here. Then we headed south to the most mediterranean parts of León, on our way we spoted a little owl (Athene noctua) perched on a mount of stones near the road. Shortly after sunrise we arrived at the foothills of Sierra del Teleno, were a quick run uphill allow us to observe some gorgeus birds associated with rocky habitats: Western black-eared wheatear (Oenanthe hispanica), the two rock thrush species (Monticola solitarius and Monticola saxatilis), Thekla's lark (Galerida theklae) and also the first raptor, a peregrine falcon (Falco peregrinus). However, we failed to find the shy spectacled warbler (Sylvia conspicillata), on the heathlands. 

 

 

 

After ending there, and with a 20 minute delay from our planning, we headed to the mediterranean agro-forest landscapes on the Valdería-Jamuz ZEPA (Bird Protection Area). This is one of the best birding places in León, home to rare species which this time showed relatively easy, so we make almost "a perfect". First we found a male little bustard (Tetrax tetrax) on a field, and at the same time a black-shouldered kite (Elanus caeruleus) flew over our heads. Two very beautiful birds. We saw also Montagu's harrier (Circus pygargus), and woodchat shrike (Lanius senator). On our way to the forested part of the area we found a stone curlew (Burhinus oedicnemus). On the holm oak "dehesas" we heard the song of ortolan buntings (Emberiza hortulana) and orphean warblers (Sylvia hortensis). Finally, the heathlands provided nice views of a male bluethroat (Luscinia svecica), which, and that is uncommon, here breed on mediterranean shrub. Of course we noted also many other commoner species.

 

 

A brief stop on the river and reservoir in the locality of Jiménez de Jamuz allowed us to increase our day list to more than 80 species. Among the most important novelties we saw wryneck (Jynx torquilla), red-rumped swallow (Cecropis daurica), iberian chiffchaff (Phylloscopus ibericus) or spotted cuckoo (Clamator glandarius), with the final prize of a common kingfisher (Alcedo attis). 

 

The middle part of the day was spent visiting some of the few "wetlands" in León, which are mostly artificial, such as irrigation reservoirs and old gravels. Migratory passage seemed rather weak that day, with very few wader species compared to previous weeks, which would ultimately be an impediment to our goal of reaching at least 150 species. However, we managed to see a spoonbill (Platelea leucorodia) in the Santas Martas gravel. On our way to this wetlands we went through a steppe area in Los Oteros ZEPA where some emblematic steppe birds were spotted such as lesser kestrel (Falco naumanni), great bustard (Otis tarda) or calandra lark (Melanocorypha calandra). The fact of being a full-birding-day did not prevent me to spot and briefly catch an adult montpellier snake (Malpolon monspessulanus), on the steppe area, which add the herpetological part of the day. 

 

 

After a quick stop to eat some of the best ice cream in León we headed north into the Cantabrian Mountain Range, home of more "eurosiberian" species of birds. On our way we spotted an egyptian vulture (Neophron percnopterus). We chose an old oak forest near the village of Prioro as we know it had potential from previous visits. And the forest did not disappoint, shortly after arriving we saw a gorgeus common redstart (Phoenicurus phoenicurus) and common withethroat (Sylvia communis). As we explored the forest more species were added to the list, as the surprisingly abundant pied flycatcher (Ficedula hypoleuca), bullfinch (Pyrrhula pyrrhula), nuthatch (Sitta europaea), marsh tit (Poecile palustris), short-toed eagle (Circaetus gallicus) and middle spotted woodpecker (Leiopicus medius), along with some other forest birds. However, we missed the emblematic black woodpecker (Dryocopus martius), seen here in previous visits.  

 

 

Next stop was probably the worst decision of the day. We went up to a montane grassland at 1600 masl where we expected to sum some alpine birds as the water pipit (Anthus spinoletta). However, the strong wind there made that bird activity was almost nule, so we only added one red-billed cough (Phyrroorax phyrrocorax) to our list. Martín spotted a possible golden eagle but was very brief and we could not confirm it. As we headed down to Riaño reservoir to add some gulls, the splendid sunset on the mountains was a comforting reward after the tough climb up the hill. On a meadow in the way to Boca de Huérgano, we spotted a big european wildcat (Felis sylvestris), very close to the road. The last part of the day was spent noting some birds we missed in previous stops, such as a hobby (Falco subbuteo), or a yellowhammer (Emberiza citrinella), seen with the last light of the day. We missed its cousin the cirl bunting (Emberiza cirlus), despite being much more common in the province!

 

 

After hearing tawny and long eaered owl on two nocturnal stops, we ended at 00PM with 136 species. It is not a bad number considering the small number of species found on the wetlands, which could have otherwise increased our number on 15 or 20 more. We missed some relatively common species like some raptors (hen harrier, golden eagle, goshawk, sparrowhawk), white-throated dipper, cirl bunting, garden warbler or tree pipit. It is interesting to note that most of the birds we saw (130 out of 136) are breeding species, with a small number of migrants. This is proof of the great bird biodiversity that this part of the Iberian Peninsula hosts, that we hope can be preserved so that in the future we can continue to enjoy fun bird-filled days like this one. You can find the complete bird list of the day (extracted from eBird) here: FINAL BIRD LIST. 

 

Write a comment

Comments: 0