Archive for February, 2007
Lynxes in Doñana need between 70 and 100 times more the present number of rabbits to survive. Lynx only present in 25% of National Park. 65% of Doñana lynxes live outside the Park, and none of these latter lynxes have survived for more than five years. Most, as you probaly know by now, have died on roads. The species could well disappear in 10-15 years in Doñana, one the world two remaining outposts. A new suplementary feeding programme is to try and tackle the issue. (CSIC) See also Iberian Lynx News
Andalucia, Doñana, Iberian lynx, Mammals | |
9-minute extract on the Short-toed eagle from the essential “El Hombre y la Tierra”, by Félix RodrÃguez de la Fuente. As you will see in full gruesome detail , águila culebrera its Spanish name (snake eagle) is well chosen. And as De la Fuente puts it in his indomitable style “even the lynx, the prince of the predators of the Mediterranean forest, stands in awe at such a feat” Remarkable.
[googlevideo]1172144579655644216[/googlevideo]
birds, reptiles & amphibians, videos | |
11/02/2007 Temperatures set to rise 4-7ºc in summer Spain by 2070, one of the worst hit places in the world. The country’s geographical position makes it particularly vunerable to climate change.
More soon (El Pais)
Climate, climate change | |
Future effects of climate change in Asturias.
09/02/2007 More heat, less but more torrential rain Semi-tropical climate within several decades. Rise 1-2 in winter and 2-4 in summer. Less rain in all seasons apart from Autumn.
Agriculture not excessively affected though heat will allow warmer crops to thrive. The famous “huerta murciana” would move north to Asturias. Irrigation would be needed.
Livestock farming, an essential element of Asturian landscape, threatened by less grass growth.
Flooding along Asturian coast, especially in points such as Ría de Villaviciosa and Ribadesella. Disappearence of some dune systems
17 new marine specieshave been detected in recent years in Asturian Cantabrian Sea. Sardines are moving north to British Isles
Lusher forests and benefits for bears. Bad news for much of the planet, but bear expert Roberto Hartasánchez of Fapas, often quoted by iberianature, is less catastrophic seeing acid rain as more urgent problem for forests in region. Bears, at least in Asturias, could benefit from milder climate. More here from
La Voz de Asturias See also
Climate change in Spain
Asturias, Climate, climate change | Tags: huerta murciana, Ría de Villaviciosa, Roberto Hartasánchez|
27/01/07Las Montañas del Lobo: Another wolf documentary from Spanish TV. This one looks at outcast wolves - subordiante animals which are expelled from the group. It tells the tale of a pair, one old and one young, which strike out alone after being denied food. Stunning photography. 52 minutes. Watch. See also Wolves in Spain. 
Mammals, Wolves, videos | |
21/07/2007 Effects of climate change in Catalonia this winter
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Jellyfish normally leave the coast in winter, but they’ve stayed this year because of the high temperatures of 15ºC (rather than 12-13). Winter rains which reduces the coastal sea’s salt level and pushes jellyfish out to deeper waters, have been sparse and so jellyfish have stayed. Banks of Pelagia noctiluca seen off Costa Brava. See also Spanish jellyfish
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More and more hoopoes and storks are wintering in Catalonia instead of flying south. Previously rare Catalan species ( black-shouldered kite, thekla lark & orphean warbler) are increasingly turning up. More here (El Periodico) . See also Climate change in Spain
- Update (23/01/06). Effects of climate change in Galicia: many butterflies, dragonflies and amphibians active. Oak tress keeping their leaves along coast (Voz de Galicia)
Catalonia, Climate, climate change | |
Wallcreepers in Los Mallos de Riglos
21/01/2007 These photos of wallcreepers were sent to me by bird guide Johan Bos of Natura Aragon -don’t be put put off by the Dutch- he also runs trips for English people. Johan notes:
“Wallcreepers in spring or summer: a difficult species for every birdwatcher. Annoying even. They can be anywere high up in the mountains. But in winter: they are sometimes very easy to see, like at Los Mallos de Riglos in Aragon. Just scan the sunny walls and, especially, look in the shady parts: they’ll be there searching for slow insects and caterpillars hiding in the cracks. Wallcreepers migrate vertically: from the high mountains to the lower region, were the climate is much milder. Sometimes you’ll even find them on ancient churches. Taking pictures is always difficult because they move around so quickly. On the other hand: they aren’t particularly shy and are even used to climbers”. Thanks Johan, Nick. Note, in Spanish there known as trepariscos (crag-climbers, if you like)
 
Aragonese Pyrenees, Pyrenees, birds | |
21/01/2007 I’ve been given the enjoyable job of translating this excellent and complete webpage on the reintroduction of peregrine falcons in Barcelona. At the moment it’s only in Catalan but Spanish and English versions will be available soon. Persecution drove the peregrine to extinction in the city in 1973, but a reintroduction programme has successfully brought the bird back using hacking, and there are now four pairs of peregrines in Barcelona (Montjuic cliffs, Mouth of River Besós, Santa Maria del Mar and Sagrada Familia). A couple of interesting snips adapted from the web:
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During the hacking work in 1999 in the Church of Santa Maria del Pi, a pair of kestrels (Falco tinnunculus) nesting in the same bell tower brought food both to their chicks and the peregrine chicks inside the nest box. They almost always brought swifts (Apus apus) and house sparrows (Passer domesticus ). When the young peregrines left the nest box, they lived together with the young kestrels and could often be seen perched together. Update The person in charge of the programme had looked for suitable sites in the year in question, but hadn’t realised this one had kestrels nesting “next door”. When their own chicks had fledged - which was early, before the peregrines- the adult kestrels heard the peregrines and started to feed them - but they couldn’t see them as they were in a box. They dropped headless swifts and sparrows through the letterbox. They also continued to feed their young, now-flying birds. When the peregrines emerged both species seem to have got on fine, and were frequently seen perching together. The next year they repeated the hacking in the same site, but on this occasion the kestrels hatched and fledged later than the peregrines, and the adult kestrels did not feed the young peregrines.
This phenomenon is somewhat surprising if we consider that both kestrels and peregrines are highly territorial species which zealously and aggressively protect their offspring. Moreover, peregrines will occasionally capture and eat kestrels.
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Of particular interest in the diet of Barcelona ’s peregrines is the presence of many migratory species, some as difficult to see as Baillon’s Crake (
Porzana pusilla), revealing the importance of the city as a point along the migratory routes of many species. Other species include
scops owl, snipe, bar-tailed godwit and teal. A total of 29 different species of prey have been recorded since 1999, although pigeons make up 52% of their diet. Clearly, however Barcelona’s four pairs of peregrine make no dent on the city’s 180,000-strong army of doves. (Photos by
Roger Sanmartà ) See also older piece on
Kestrels and peregrine falcons in Barcelona
BBC Radio 4 Costing the Earth “Portugal: Species Wipe Out” Listen (30 minutes) Website
Barcelona, Catalonia, birds, urban wildlife in Spain | Tags: peregrine falcon|
Parakeets in the barrio By Lucy BrzoskaÂ
No one pays the ubiquitous Monk parakeets (Myiopsitta monachus) much attention any more in Barcelona, unless they’re unlucky to have a raucous communal nest near their window. Once considered exotic, they’re now just another noisy element of city life. The Mitred parakeets (Aratinga mitrata) , on the other hand, still turn heads. Every Christmas, in the busy San Antonio neighbourhood, shoppers look up in surprise as squadrons of up to 40 of these large green and red birds descend into the streets. They’re attracted by the round black seeds of the Celtis australis (European nettle trees, almez), plentiful in this area and more resistant to pollution than the other Barcelona staple, the plane tree. This year’s seed crop is particularly plentiful. The parakeets settle in the trees and work along the branches, stripping them methodically. From below, you hear an incessant cracking as they open up the seeds to get at the kernels and litter the pavements and parked cars with husks. They’re handsome birds, deep green with red markings on the head, and larger than the Monk parakeet. While feeding they keep up a subdued squawking, which rises to a crescendo when on a signal every member of the group takes off, instantly falling into formation. In a few seconds they’re gone, the cacophony fading away. When they regroup, they generally head in the direction of Park Ciudadella, so I suspect that’s their base. Their annual visits to the neighbourhood give the impression that their city population is stable, unlike the more invasive Monk parakeet. By Lucy Brzoska. See also Natural History of Barcelona + Blue-fronted Amazon in Barcelona
Barcelona, Catalonia, birds, urban wildlife in Spain | |
The man with the lynx waistcoat
13/12/2006 An enjoyable morning in the Delta del Llobregat today with Juan Carlos Fernandez of Grupo de Aves Exóticas de Catalonia. There was too much water and so not much variety birdwise, though I’d never seen a short-toed eagle there before. He told me about his grandfather who lived in the Sierra Tejeda in Granada. When the Civil War ended, Juan José Fernández alias José Patillas (José Sideburns) and thousands others in the defeated Republican Army had to walk back home. It took him months. Life in post-war Andalusia was harsh, and hunger rife. As everywhere, the cats in his village were soon eaten - herein, I think, the Spanish expression dar gato por liebre (literally to give a cat for hare: to take somebody in). José kept his family of seven children alive by trapping in the hills with nets, snares and gin traps. He carried a wicker sack (capacho), with the catch stuffed inside, and a bunch of grapes on top to fool the Guardia Civil, for game was only for the rich. Most of the birds and rabbits he sold to buy oil, pulses and bread. Sometimes he’d trap a beech marten or a badger. The fur was sold and the meat eaten. One day he caught a lynx. After hanging it out in the moonlight, just as you have to do with a village cat, the family ate the animal they called gato clavo (clavo - sharp/nail - after its pointy ears). He took the skin to a fur merchant who offered him a good price -some 500 lynx skins were sold every year in Madrid until the 1940s- and said if he had two he could have made a waistcoat. Although poor and in need of money, a lynx-fur waistcoat was too much to resist, and why should only the rich have the best! He declined the offer and a few months later, he trapped another lynx, and wore the coat until he came to Catalonia in 1965. At first, the family lived in a shack along a railtrack in Barcelona. There were many other Andalusians, and also Hungarians. He worked as a bricklayer and when he had enough time and money he built a house in Terrassa. Old habits died hard. He used to take a young Juan Carlos, today a fervent defender of birdlife and an expert ornithologist, out netting for songbirds for the pot. One day they caught a badger. They ate badger stew that night and after they made shaving brushes from its hairs. Other times. Juan Carlos still nets birds, but as a ringer for ICO.See Iberian Lynx
Andalucia, Catalonia, Iberian lynx, Mammals, history | |
12/12/2006 Conflicts with wolves in Spain (press note). 23 minutes. The Sierra de la Culebra is a model to follow. Click on play. Another Spain Wolf documentary here
[googlevideo]7237590041613235115[/googlevideo]
Mammals, Sierra de la Culebra, Wolves, videos | |
12/12/2006. Another great trip to the Sierra de la Culebra, that immense, empty landscape on the north-east frontier with Portugal, organised by Galanthus. Iberian newt tadpoles. salamanders, some 30 red deer, 2 foxes, and 5 black vultures flying over the place we were staying. On the way back we stopped off at Vilafafila for ten minutes and I saw my first long tailed duck (Clangula hyemalis), a rarity at that site, and a throng of fifteen great bustards, the heaviest flying bird in the world. Oh and we also watched a big male wolf moving slowly through the scrub, as ravens picked at an animal it had presumably killed, and a fox struggled to drag off a piece of the carcass. More on this and some great photos also not by me soon.
 Photo by Jordi Dalmau Caner
Mammals, Sierra de la Culebra, Wolves | |
02/12/2006 Galician bears and honey
Following on from news of possible return of bear to Galicia, here’s a photo of an alveriza (known as cortines in Asturias). These old constructions were built to protect beehives from bears. Note, the hives were positioned together to capture the maximum amount of sunlight. Photo from here. More on bears and bees. Christmas present idea. Fapas in Asturias will install your very own sponsered unprotected beehive so bears can gorge on it. 413 sponsered so far. 57 euros here.
Galicia, bears, traditional architecture | |
Don Quixote mounted without replying, and, Sancho leading the way on his ass, they entered the side of the Sierra Morena, which was close by, as it was Sancho’s design to cross it entirely and come out again at El Viso or Almodovar del Campo, and hide for some days among its crags so as to escape the search of the Brotherhood should they come to look for them. He was encouraged in this by perceiving that the stock of provisions carried by the ass had come safe out of the fray with the galley slaves, a circumstance that he regarded as a miracle, seeing how they pillaged and ransacked.
That night they reached the very heart of the Sierra Morena, where it seemed prudent to Sancho to pass the night and even some days, at least as many as the stores he carried might last, and so they encamped between two rocks and among some cork trees.(Trans John Ormsby, 1829-1895) Don Quijote library. See also Epistemology in Don Quixote + Dehesas de Sierra Morena
Andalucia, Sierra Morena, history | |
26/11/2006 150 new species are discovered every year in Spain
An interview with Mario GarcÃa ParÃs of the Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales in today’s (El Pais) . I paraphrase.
“There are some 60,000 species of animals in Spain, of which some 40,000 are insects. And we are incapable of knowing how many are catalogued. A species is a group of animals which are genetically compatible. There are worms which look the same but are different species and frogs which are as similar as an egg to chestnut tree, but which can breed.
It is impossible to know how many species are still to be recorded. One knows when most of the biological wealth of a country has been recorded when the rate of discovery slows down. This does not seem to be likely in the short term in Spain. We’ve been discovering some 150 new species a year since the late 1970s. And this rate has continued unabated. Since 1978, 3,627 new species have been discovered in the Peninsula, with a further 1,417 in the Canaries at an almost constant rate of 150 a year. “In the distribution maps of species there are dark areas around Madrid, Barcelona and Las Hurdes, in Extremadura. The county of Las Hurdes appears because several people from the museum spend their holidays there”.
There are even big gaps in knowledge with groups such as amphibians despite the legions of amateur naturalists out and about recording them. “A year ago we discovered a new midwife toad which only lives in the fountains of villages. We called it Alytes obstetricans pertynas. “Pertinacious†because while most amphibians are becoming extinct, this one is resisting in human settlements”.
Spain because of its geographical position and the variety of its climate is particularly rich in biodiversity, but much of this being lost. “In the county you can’t hear anything anymore. Ten years ago you heard and saw lots of insects. Now they are spraying everything and all is quiet. When I look at my field notes from 15 years ago describing swarms of bugs I think I must have been exaggerating, but the truth is I was only describing what I saw. When we visit Morocco today we see animals everywhere, just as it was here years ago. If a Goya is burnt. It’s a national tragedy, because it cannot be replaced. The same is true for a species but nobody seems to care”. See also Montseny Brook Newt
Extremadura, biodiversity, new species in Spain, reptiles & amphibians, zoology | |
The largest colony of the endangered Bechstein’s Bat (Myotis bechsteini - murciélago ratonero forestal) in the Iberian Peninsula has been discovered in the Alta Garrotxa in Catalonia by Xavier Puig of the wildlife research group Galanthus, as part of a bat census together with the Museum of Granollers. The colony is formed by 24 individuals and is the first non-fossil citing for Catalonia. These bats, probably the rarest species in Europe, live in mature forests with old trees with plenty of nooks and crannies for shelter. They will also nest in cracks in rocks and even old buildings. They have a penchant for taking non-flying invertebrates (spiders, centipedes, caterpillars, etc) on the ground, or vegetation, swooping upon them with their slow, low-flying ponderous but agile flight, though they’ll also snap up insects from the air. Fossil evidence suggests that 5000 years ago Bechstein’s bat was one of the commonest species in Europe, thriving in the continent’s old mature woods, but the historic destruction of forests has led them to their current plight. Photo of Bechstein’s bat by Xavier Puig. See also Bats in Spain
 
Catalonia, Mammals, bats, new species in Spain | Tags: Bechstein's Bat, Galanthus, Garrotxa|
26/11/2006 More bears in the Cordillera Cantábrica.
This year’s bear cub census by the Fundación Oso Pardo “seems to indicate that the bear is moving back towards viability in the Cordillera Cantábrica”. Between 24 and 26 bears were born in the western sector and five in the eastern sector, totalling 31, one more than than 30 born last year. Four more bear cubs are to be confirmed, giving a total of 35. At least three cubs were killed by their mothers. There has also been a huge decline in illegal wild boar snares found in the area (189 in 2004, 32 so far this year). Not all good news though, some bears are still being injured by snares and a bear was also found poisoned this year in Somiedo, The quality of the above graphic of cubs raised (1989-2006) is not very clear but you’ll get the idea of the rise. The estimated population is now some 160 individuals. (LNE) More on bears
Asturias, Cantabria, Cantabrian mountains, Castilla y León, Mammals, bears | |
12/11/2006. Diary of a bear tracker Brief desciption of tracking bears in Proeza, Asturias by Fapas. The area is the only possibility of linking the two bear populations in the Cordillera Cantabrica, currently separated by 40 km. 11 bears have been tracked in Proeza in the last three years, including a female which is rasing two cubs here. By Fapas here
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Asturias, Cantabrian mountains, bears, tracks and signs | |
I’ve been invited by Josele J. Saiz to stay a couple of day at his Boletas Birdwatching Centre in the Sierra de Guara in Huesca. More on him soon. While there I hope to talk to Oscar Díaz of the Fundación Quebrantahuesos (English) as part of research for the book. FCQ, one of the most active wildlife groups in the Pyrenees, works in the conservation of lammergeyers, but also in the conservation of the Pyrenees in general. I’ve been doing a bit of background reading on the lammergeyer or bearded vulture. What an utterly remarkable bird this is.
Photo by F. Marquez.
This is the world’s only bone-eater. They feed on marrow which they get by dropping bones repeatedly onto rocks, as their Spanish name, quebrantahuesos, aptly suggests. They’ll come back again and again to their favourite rocky areas known in English as ossuaries.
The evocative English Lammergeier or Lammergeyer (both correct) comes from the German, lammergeier, meaning “lamb-vulture“. This was apparently coined by 19th century naturalists due to the mistaken and incredibly widespread belief across Central Europe that they would take young lambs.
They are also known in English as bearded vultures. This is in reference to the ochre ruff of quills they sport around their necks. They are not born with this colour, but acquire the colour by actively seeking out iron-rich muds and rubbing their feathers in them. One theory goes that in a stand-off, the redder the feather, the tougher the lammergeyer, though I need to check this.
The female lammergeyer lays one egg, and then a few days later, lays another. The second chick plays the role of a substitute if the first egg fails to hatch. In most cases, the second chick dies, despite the efforts of its parents to feed it: the older sibling is stronger and takes its food. And then, when the right moment arrives it will kill its brother or sister. This is known by biologists as Cainism, the advantage being that if the first chick fails to hatch or dies young the second chick is at hand. Some of these second chicks are now being rescued are used as part of a captive breeding programme in Andalucia.
• The most serious problem for the bird is poisoning. Some 40% of unnatural deaths of lammergeyers in Spain are from poisoned meat put out principally, these days, to kill foxes, though in the past the bird also suffered from more direct persecution
• Unusally, reproductive units can be comprised of two or three adults. Groups of three appear to be more common that thought. In the latter case there usually are two males and one female, although exceptionally reproductive units made up of four specimens have been observed. The members of the group mount each other as part of a bizarre mating simulation, male on male and female on male.
Currently the Spanish Pyrenean population is comprised of around 125 occupied territories (2004) with an estimated pre-adult population of 156-162 specimens distributed in an area of 21,000 km2. Perhaps the best site to them is the Sierra de Guara with 12 bearded vulture territories, the densest population in Europe. ,
There really is so much more. Just about the only live prey they take are tortoises, which they also dash on the rocks, though as they have been pushed out of low-lying areas this may no longer occur, and certainly not in Spain. Legends abound across Eurasia and Africa. There are for instance strong associations with the pheonix and the bearded vulture. More on this soon. More on lammergeyers in Spain and here on lammergeyer around the world
Aragon, Aragonese Pyrenees, Pyrenees, Sierra de Guara, Vultures in Spain, birds, lammergeyer | Tags: bearded vulture|
23/10 I’m taking a course over the next two weeks on Iberian Birds of Prey at the Facultad de Biologia in Barcelona. Interesting stuff, but I also came across this poster in the faculty foyer as part of a small exhibition of Spanish Civil War posters. More on the Madrid bear and its origin.
Madrid, bears, history | |
