Charming three-minute video from a tower block in Vall Hebrón in Barcelona of kestrels being raised in a window box for flowers . The pair of kestrels have been raising chicks for the last seven years in the same place.  The kestrels have chosen a good home and the flat owner has even dedicated a poem to them. My friend Sergi Garcia explains why tower blocks are such a good environment for kestrels.

More than 200 puffins have been found dead along the coasts of Asturias and Cantabria in the last six weeks. SEO/Birdlife, who are unsure as to the cause, suspect the real figure could be in the thousands.  More here

Vultures in Catalonia are being increasingly spotted on the roads in search of roadkill, because of the paucity of their traditional sources of dead livestock: The EU prohibuts abandoning animal cacrasses because of mad cow’s disease. The above photo from La Vanguardia is along the N-230 between Lleida and Val d’Aran.

Nice, short video of a lammergeyer (bearded vulture – Gypaetus barbatus) swallowing a bone.  The images were  recorded in Tremp, in the Pyrenees at  “La Terret” observatory. Sent to me by recercaenaccio.cat.

Fascinating article in BMC Evolutionary Biology on the role of humans in helping the expansion of the Egyptian Vulture (Alimoche in Spanish, guirre in the Canaries) and its remarkably fast evolution into a sub-species (Neophron percnopterus majorensis).

Archaeological remains show that first colonizers were Berber people from northern Africa who imported goats. This new and abundant food source could have allowed vultures to colonize, expand and adapt to the island environment. Our results suggest that anthropogenic environmental change can induce diversification and that this process may take place on an ecological time scale (less than 200 generations), even in the case of a long-lived species. Full article here

Found on Crónica Verde: Los buitres llegaron a Canarias siguiendo a los hombres y sus cabras

Wikipedia on the Canarian vulture (above photo not the Canarian sub-species)

• N. p. majorensis, the Canarian Egyptian Vulture, the largest subspecies with by far the smallest and most restricted population, is found only in the eastern Canary Islands where they are known by the name of guirre. Described as a new subspecies only in 2002, studies suggest that it is more genetically distant from N. p. percnopterus than N. p. ginginianus is. Unlike neighbouring populations in Africa and southern Europe, they are not migratory and are consistently larger in size. The name majorensis is derived from “Majorata”, the ancient name for the island of Fuerteventura. The island was named by Spanish conquerors in the 15th century after the “Majos”, the main native Guanche tribe there^. A study suggests that the species colonized the island around 2500 years ago and the establishment of the population may have been aided by human colonization.
• The population in the Canary Islands have been isolated from populations in Europe and Africa for a significant period of time and have declined greatly and are of particular concern due to their genetic distinctiveness. The Canarian Egyptian Vulture was historically common, occurring on the islands of La Gomera, Tenerife, Gran Canaria, Fuerteventura and Lanzarote. It is now restricted to Fuerteventura and Lanzarote, the two easternmost islands. The total population in 2000 was estimated at about 130 individuals, including 25–30 breeding pairs^. The island birds appear to be more susceptible to infections^. Island birds appear to accumulate significant amounts of lead from scavenging on hunted animal carcasses and the long-term effect of this poison at a sublethal level is not known although it alters the mineralization of their bones^. In order to provide safe and uncontaminated food for nesting birds, attempts have been made to create “vulture restaurants” where carcasses are made available. These interventions however may also encourage opportunist predators and scavengers to concentrate at the site and pose a threat to nesting birds in the vicinity

A new Spanish study has highlighted the role played by vultures in reducing energy consumption in Spain, saving the annual energy use of an estimated 9,000 homes and preventing 193,000 tons of CO2 from being released in the atmosphere. Spanish livestock farmers produces 380,000 tons of carrion, whose incineration involves a high energy cost. An adult vulture consumes some three kilos of meat a week, with all vultures in Spain consuming some 10,000 tonnes a year. Unfortunately the strict EU rules, as a result of mad cow’s disease, force many farmers to incinerate dead animals in official centres at a high cost to both them and in terms of CO2 production. I’d be interested in knowing how much CO2 the vultures would save if and when the EU rules are eventually relaxed.

More from 20 Minutos

Two pairs of ospreys (Pandion haliaetus) have reproduced in Andalucía (Cádiz and Huelva) for the second year running, thus confirming the recolonization of the species, some fifty years after disappearing from the Peninsula as a nesting bird (and eighty from Spain). It is claimed that the osprey is the first vertebrate top achieve this in centuries but it should be said that they have been helped by a reintroduction scheme involving the release of more than 100 chicks in the last seven years, until finally a released bird joined up with wild bird. The second pair is formed by two wild ospreys of unknown origin. Between the two pairs, four chicks have been raised this year (five were fledged last year) so a round of applause to them and the people involved in the project. Crónica Verde

• See also last year’s news on this Osprey breeds in Spain

Cory’s Shearwater (Calonectris diomedea) an endangered seabird, is under threat in Lanzarote, a World Biosphere Reserve, from unscrupulous restaurant-owning rogues selling them as “special chicken”. Thousands of shearwater chicks are being taken in Lanzarote and to a lesser extent Fuerteventura. The chicks are then being sold for as much 100 euros a go to punters wanting to try their “exotic” flesh”. Lanzarote is home to the second largest colony of Cory’s shearwaters in the world, and despite being a natural park, there is a woeful lack of suverlance, allowing the bird thieves to take their fill. Crónica Verde

There are few known coastal breeding sites for the  in Spain and France, apart from their core breeding areas in the Balearics and central Mediterranean. After carrying out some years of a ringing program in the Costa Brava area, Catalonia, some potential breeding areas for the Mediterranean Storm-Petrel (very irregular and endangered breeding species in the area, regularly recorded in Spring and Summer offshore) were identified. From Birds in Spain Blog (lots of photos

Bizarre photo of the month goes to the people involved in the bald ibis reintroduction programme, who released six birds this week in the Sierra de Retín (Cádiz), making a total of 24 so far this year, and 215 since the proyecto Eremita began. El País. Note: the hats, in addition to an essential fashion item this summer in Cadiz, are part of the plot to confuse the birds that they have been raised by ibises not humans.

The aim is to reintroduce the bird to areas where it has become extinct and to strengthen existing wild populations in North Africa. The last definite reference to the bald ibis breeding in Spain is from a 15th century falcony book.

See also Bald Ibis breed in Spain for first time in 500 years

• Proyecto Ibis Eremita – Zoobotánico de Jerez
• BirdLife Species Factsheet (comprehensive)
  

The Black Vulture Aegypius monachus is currently being reintroduced in the Catalan Pyrenees. Some 27 individuals were released between 2007 and 2009 in the Alinyà area. Each bird is being tracked: 15 regularly use the area, 3 are dispersing, 7 have been found dead and 3 are missing. A chick born on 25th April at one of the release sites was was the first to be born in the region since the late 19th century. Black Vultures in the Pyrenees

Note: SEO made the black vulture its Ave del Año for 2010.

Spectacular image of a lizard impaled on a branch by a Great Southern Shrike (Lanius meridionalis Alcaudón Real in Spanish), in the La Geria region of Lanzarote. Lizards and small mammals are occassionally impaled by shrikes, though invertebrates are much more frequent victims. Photo by Yummifruitbat on Wikipedia.

Distribution in Spain “Reproductora en la mayor parte de la Península, pero
con distribución más laxa en las regiones de influencia atlántica y
cantábrica.” More here

The genus name Aegypius is a Greek word for ‘vulture’, or a bird not unlike one; Aelian describes the aegypius as “halfway between a vulture (gyps) and an eagle”. Some authorities think this a good description of a lammergeier; others do not. Aegypius is the eponym of the species, whatever it was.^[5] The English name ‘Black Vulture’ refers to the plumage colour, while ‘Monk Vulture’, a direct translation of its German name Mönchsgeier, refers to the bald head and ruff of neck feathers like a monk’s cowl. More from Wikipedia

The house sparrow is still probably the commonest bird in Spain with some 10 million pairs, and although they are certainly not threatened as they are in, say, Britain which has lost 5 million pairs in the last 30 years, some areas have shown alarming trends. The birds are less and less common in Madrid and have seen a 90% fall in the orange orchards of Valencia. Crónica Verde

The poet Miguel Hernández described sparrows as the “los gorriones son los niños del aire” – the children of the air,

Ospreys (águila pescadora in Spanish) have bred in mainland Spain for the first time in 80 years. Three chicks have been born in the Marismas del Odiel, in Huelva and two in Cadiz. Since 2003, 108 chicks have been released in Cádiz and Huelva from Germany (68 birds), Finland (20) and Scotland (20).  The young ospreys released in Andalusia have shown normal migratory behaviour of birds raised in their own nests in the region, and have begun to fly south to areas typical osprey areas. Radio-tracking has detected them on the West African coast along the rivers in Senegal and Gambia .The presence of huge expanses of water in Andalusia in the form of reservoirs built since then bodes well for the species future. The osprey never became extinct in the Balearics where they have clung on with 20 pairs and the Canaries with 12 pairs.

El País

The programme to reintrodce the lammergeyer (bearded vulture) in the Sierra de Cazorla is continuing with the release last week of three more females. 12 birds have now been released through the technique of hacking in the range since 2006. Five chicks were also born in captivity in Cazorla this February.

El Mundo

The Spanish imperial eagle (Aquila adalberti) has recovered “spectacularly” over the past 30 years, and is one of the success stories of conservation in Spain, increasing from 38 pairs in 1974 to 253 in 2008. The latest figures are from a study published recently in the journal Oryx and in this interview from Science Daily.

“This study shows that the species has recovered and has responded well to conservation initiatives. Although it has been known for a long time, the study shows once again that this species is highly affected by changes in adult survival rates”, Santi Mañosa, one of the authors of the study and a researcher at the University of Barcelona, tells SINC. Some of the most important reasons behind the failure of the Spanish imperial eagle (Aquila adalberti) to increase its numbers have been premature adult deaths resulting from electrocution on electricity lines and the consumption of poisons used to control predators.lthough the major threat to the birds differs from region to region in Spain, Mañosa says that habitat conservation is essential in order for the bird to be able to nest and hunt. For this reason “it is essential to manage the rabbit population well, because this is what makes up its diet during the breeding season in all areas”, adds the researcher.

However,

“Things have gone well over these past decades, but this could all be lost within five or ten years if things start to go wrong. It is a question of making improvements – electricity lines continue to pose a serious threat to this species, and efforts to resolve this problem are going very slowly,”

Read complete story in Science Daily

See also: Una red para proteger al águila imperial (El Mundo). “Una hembra de águila imperial ibérica (‘Aquila adalberti’) ya está incubando en el nido que puede verse, en directo en Internet, gracias a una cámara instalada por SEO/Birdlife en el Parque Nacional de Cabañeros. El macho está buscando la comida. Es una de las 253 parejas reproductoras contabilizadas en la Península Ibérica, un número que se quiere aumentar ahora con una Red de Custodia para que esta majestuosa ave deje de estar en la Lista Roja de especies vulnerables.”

• Photo above from SEO/Birdlife

The population of storks in Spain is continuing to rise, rising from 6,700 pairs in the mid-1980s to 35,000 pairs today. Specifically in Catalonia numbers have risen from just 8 pairs in 1974 to 358. The reasons for their recovery lie in a greater respect for their nests, more nature reserves, availability of food from rubbish tips and the change in their habits due to warmer temperatures. This latter point has meant that some 10,000 storks no longer undertake the arduous migration to Africa, but instead migrate to sites in southern Spain. It appears that the old Castilian adage Por san Blas la cigüeña verás in reference to the arrival of storks in early February (San Blas is on 3rd February) no longer applies.

• La Vanguardia
• White storks in Spain (Iberianature)

Portuguese environmentalists have denounced the deliberate shooting of the country’s only nesting male Iberian Imperial eagle.The incident took place in February in the Vale do Guadiana natural park, close to the country’s southeastern border with Spain.

Miguel Rodrigues, spokesperson for SOS Lynx, said, “Irrational attitudes constitute one of the main barriers to predator conservation in Spain and Portugal. If predator persecution cannot be adequately controlled, the future recovery of many important predator species will be in doubt.” The species was once widespread across the Iberian Peninsula, but is now confined to small parts of central and southern Spain, and areas close to the Spanish border in Portugal.

• Environment News Service
• Last Nesting Male Iberian Eagle in Portugal Shot Dead

Dan Ward on his new lynxblog comments on this shooting that:

“Irrational attitudes constitute one of the main barriers to predator conservation in Spain and Portugal, and if predator persecution cannot be adequately controlled, the future recovery of many important predator species will be in doubt”.

The Spanish (or Iberian) imperial eagle is one of the three rarest birds of prey in the world. Spain currently (2007) is home to all 234 pairs of imperial eagles, with a slight rise in recent years (see news archive on iberianature.

The reed bunting (Emberiza schoeniclus) has been named bird of the year by SEO. There are just 400 breeding pair of the species in Spain.  Two sub-species are present: Emberiza schoeniclus lusitanica, an endemic of the Iberian Peninsula and clasified as in critical danger and Emberiza schoeniclus witherbyi which only breeds in Spain, soutrhern France and northern Morocco which is considered as endangered.
SEO
List of previous birds of the year

Most unusually, a wild pelican (Pelecanus onocrotalus) has turned up with a group of storks in Lerida. It probably breeds in Eastern Europe and usually migrates to Africa through Turkey and Egypt, but somehow has strayed too far to the west, and joined up with these storks who have come from Germany and Switzerland. I believe there are around half a dozen sightings of pelicans in Spain a decade. Photo from flickr, taken in Lleida on December 31st (by eb3alfmiguel)
Read about this story on the forum
Read in El Periódico

SEO has teamed up with a well-known bank and produced this multimedia encyclopedia of the 563 birds seen commonly in Spain. The site is packed with useful information on everything you could think of connected with birds in Spain with heaps of pictures, sound, video, games for kids and maps, and easy to navigate around. It is, however, frustratingly to easy to close the main window. People with slow internet connections should probably refrain, but interestingly, 60,000 free CD-ROM/books containing the complete encyclopedia are also to be distributed.
Encyclopedia of birds of Spain

Doñana has managed to halt the mortality of the Spanish imperial eagle (Aquila adalberto). The annual number of chicks has tripled in the last three years from 3.5 to 10.5 chicks a year according to an article by scientists from CSIC in the ‘Journal of Applied Ecology’, thanks to a reduction in the use of poison in the areas surrounding Doñana. Between 1992 and 2004 there was a dramatic increase in annual adult mortality due to an increase in poisoning in hunting areas surrounding the park. “The use of poison against generalist predators accounted for more than 54% of the total number of breeding eagles found dead since 1990, increasing annual adult mortality from 6·07 to 12·01%.”

• El Mundo
• Journal of Applied Ecology

SEO note

• “This will suppose the direct occupation of more than 300 hectares of land, directly on the principal winter roost of the common crane in Europe, with 11,325 cranes registered there last year.
• Those two solar power plants also include a natural gas combustion unit each, to maintain the energy production during cloudy days, which will suppose the installation of both tall chimneys for the evacuation of waste gases and of cooling towers.
• In order to be able to use the energy produced, both power stations will share an electrical substation and a new high voltage power line more than 38 km in lengh, to connect with the grid at Valdecaballeros, and which will affect the entire Vegas Altas del Guadiana zone, including two SPAs.

Martin kelsey of Birding Extremadura has brought this to the attention of iberianature so thanks to him, and he has drafted the following series of letters for you to get in contact with the authorities in Extremadura. Revenue from birding tourism now represents quite a fair of amount for Extremadura and the more people that contest this, the more the Extremaduran authorities are likely to rethink such a poorly planned scheme.

“it is very important that this message gets to as many people as possible who have had the opportunity to enjoy watching birds at the site known as Casas del Hito, in the ricefields of Extremadura, close to the town of Madrigalejo.

This wonderful area is threatened by a huge solar thermal generation plant, where heat from solar panels will be used to generate electricity, involving major infrastructure including cooling towers, gas combustion and high tension power lines. There are many other more suitable sites for such development, where the sunshine is the same, but where the impact on wildlife will be much less.

Those of you who have visited Casas del Hito in winter will have seen one ofthe finest bird spectacles in Europe: last winter’s roost of cranes totalled more than 11,300 birds (that’s 5% of the Western European population and the second largest winter roost in Spain). It has a large harrier roost and winter flocks of Little Bustard. In passage, I have recorded 27 wader species (a remarkable total for an inland site in central Spain), and it is a regular stopover for Glossy Ibis.
Breeding birds include Black-winged Kite (I have recorded 20 species of raptor there) and Extremadura’s first Kentish Plovers.

It is without doubt one of Extremadura’s top sites both for conservation as well as birdwatching.
The decision to go approve the plan will be made by the Consejería de Industria,Energía y Medio Ambiente (Council for Industry, Energy and the Environment) of the government of Extremadura. I attach examples of letters that can be sent to…

• The head of the Extremadura government (Presidente de la Junta de Extremadura),

• The Counsellor for Industry, Energy and Environment.

There is also an example of a letter that can be sent to the Counsellor for Culture and Tourism
which emphasises the birding tourism value of this site.

These letters are examples, and you can modify them as you wish. Some of you I know have got some wonderful photos of birds from Casas del Hito, and they couldeven be included.

If you want to support this campaign, please send these letters as soon as possible. They can either be mailed (each letter has the address) or sent by email using the email addresses below.

• Presidente de la Junta de Extremadura: presidente@prs.juntaex.es

• Consejero de Industria, Energía y Medio Ambiente: consejero.iema@juntaextremadura.net

• Consejera de Cultura y Turismo: consejera.cyt@juntaextremadura.net

Your support will demonstrate international concern for the future of conservation in Extremadura and is very important.=

EXAMPLE ONE

D. José Luis Navarro Ribera
Consejero de Industria, Energía y Medio Ambiente
Junta de Extremadura
Paseo de Roma, s/n
06800 Mérida (Badajoz)
Spain

Dear Sr. Navarro:

The purpose of this letter is to express my profound concern for the future of one of the most important sites for migratory and wintering birds in Extremadura: the area around the Sierra Brava reservoir and the estate known as Casas del Hito, in the municipality of Madrigalejo in the province of Cáceres.

I have recently learnt that permission has been requested for the construction of two solar thermal power plants, each of 50 hectares area, in adjacent plots, situated in the Casas del Hito estate, with an electricity substation and a high-tension pylon line of up to 47 kms. All of this will seriously affect the two Special Protection Areas for birds in the area: “Llanos de Zorita y Embalse de Sierra Brava” and “Vegas del Ruecas, Cubilar y Moheda Alta”.

These areas, now under treat by this proposal, represent one of the most important zones for birds in Extremadura, attracting numerous visitors from all over the World, coming to watch birds there. There are few places where this sort of development could cause so much damage. It would be unforgiveable for this to proceed when there are available many hundreds of more suitable sites, each receiving the same amount of sunlight.

Given my personal knowledge of this site, I consider its ornithological importance to be very seriously under treat and I wish to register my opposition to the construction of these solar thermal power plants. I urge you to take into account the outstanding ornithological and conservation value of this area and that the Consejería de Industria, Energía y Medio Ambiente does not approve the proposal for these power plants.

Yours sincerely,

Copia al Excmo. Sr. Presidente de la Junta de Extremadura
Copia a la Consejería de Cultura y Turismo

EXAMPLE TWO

Dña. Leonor Flores Rabazo
Consejera de Cultura y Turismo
Junta de Extremadura
C/ Almendralejo, 14
06800 Mérida (Badajoz)
Spain

Dear Sra. Flores:

The purpose of this letter is to express my profound concern for the future of one of the most important sites for migratory and wintering birds in Extremadura: the area around the Sierra Brava reservoir and the estate known as Casas del Hito, in the municipality of Madrigalejo in the province of Cáceres.

I have recently learnt that permission has been requested for the construction of two solar thermal power plants, each of 50 hectares area, in adjacent plots, situated in the Casas del Hito estate, with an electricity substation and a high-tension pylon line of up to 47 kms. All of this will seriously affect the two Special Protection Areas for birds in the area: “Llanos de Zorita y Embalse de Sierra Brava” and “Vegas del Ruecas, Cubilar y Moheda Alta”.

These areas, now under treat by this proposal, represent one of the most important zones for bird tourism in Extremadura, attracting numerous visitors from all over the World, coming to watch birds there. There are few places where this sort of development could cause so much damage. It would be unforgiveable for this to proceed when there are available many hundreds of more suitable sites, each receiving the same amount of sunlight.

Given my personal knowledge of this site, I consider its ornithological importance to be very seriously under treat and I wish to register my opposition to the construction of these solar thermal power plants. I urge you to take into account the outstanding value of this area for bird tourism and that the Consejería de Industria, Energía y Medio Ambiente does not approve the proposal for these power plants.

Yours sincerely

Copia al Excmo. Sr. Presidente de la Junta de Extremadura
Copia a la Consejería de Industria, Energía y Medio Ambiente

EXAMPLE THREE

Excmo. Sr. D. Guillermo Fernández Vara
Presidente de la Junta de Extremadura
Plaza del Rastro, s/n
06800 Mérida (Badajoz)
Spain

Dear Sr. Fernández Vara:

The purpose of this letter is to express my profound concern for the future of one of the most important sites for migratory and wintering birds in Extremadura: the area around the Sierra Brava reservoir and the estate known as Casas del Hito, in the municipality of Madrigalejo in the province of Cáceres.

I have recently learnt that permission has been requested for the construction of two solar thermal power plants, each of 50 hectares area, in adjacent plots, situated in the Casas del Hito estate, with an electricity substation and a high-tension pylon line of up to 47 kms. All of this will seriously affect the two Special Protection Areas for birds in the area: “Llanos de Zorita y Embalse de Sierra Brava” and “Vegas del Ruecas, Cubilar y Moheda Alta”.

These areas, now under treat by this proposal, represent one of the most important zones for bird tourism in Extremadura, attracting numerous visitors from all over the World, coming to watch birds there. There are few places where this sort of development could cause so much damage. It would be unforgiveable for this to proceed when there are available many hundreds of more suitable sites, each receiving the same amount of sunlight.

Given my personal knowledge of this site, I consider its ornithological importance to be very seriously under treat and I wish to register my opposition to the construction of these solar thermal power plants. I urge you to take into account the outstanding environmental value of this area and its importance for bird tourism and that the Consejería de Industria, Energía y Medio Ambiente does not approve the proposal for these power plants.

Yours sincerely

Copia a la Consejería de Industria, Energía y Medio Ambiente
Copia a la Consejería de Cultura y Turismo

As a painter, I regard nature as my main interest. Drawing from nature requires observation and concentration, so it makes me learn a lot. Trying to sketch geese or cranes, in the cold, or exploring a lichen as it covers a branch, are teaching experiences. I try to capture the poetry that lies in the elements of nature, and sometimes I desire to add some imagination, too, because old stories and magic inspire me. Visit Anna’s blog and see more of her work

Some rather nice photos of Mediterranean seabirds here from Jesús including this great skua.

• Read on the forum

Aena offers this information on Malaga airport

Malaga Airport uses a falconry service made up of three falconers, a tutor dog (working in conjunction with the falcons) and a team of falcons and eagles (of the Harris species). Fully-experienced in the complexities of falconry, they patrol the airport grounds every day combining their techniques: waiting on and out of hood or similar, thus creating an area that is completely prohibited to all other birds.

With the waiting on technique, the falcon flies in concentric circles over the falconer and the dog. When the birds go into hiding, the dog helps to flush the prey, startling the birds to take flight, which are then caught by the falcon. With the out of hood and similar techniques, the birds go from the falconer’s fist to catch their prey. The main differences between the waiting on technique and out of hood and similar is that the latter are direct attack techniques, used to control rabbits and hares, herons, seagulls and the like, whilst the former is used mainly as a preventive measure.

The birds of prey currently used at the airport are employed to scare away bird fauna. Every day an average of six birds make deterrent flights of between ten to thirty minutes. The time and place are never repeated to ensure that the invading birds do not get used to a behavioural pattern that they will eventually get to know and, therefore, evade.

The majority of the time, the flights are preventative, with no attacks and expulsions. When the flocks are located, the falconer sets the falcon loose to drive the birds away from the airport grounds. Birds of prey always perform a natural selection process and choose the weakest bird that is less lightly to survive.

Before taking flight, the falconers weigh the falcon or Harrishawk (Parabuteo unicintus). Weight control determines, amongst other aspects, the aggressiveness of the bird of prey. The less they weigh the more aggressive they are and with greater desire to hunt. Furthermore, the bird of prey is tagged with a small radio transmitter on its tail that enables easy and permanent localisation.

The falconers train the birds of prey at the airport and training can last up to three to four months. During this period, by rewarding certain behaviour and punishing others, the falcon or Harris hawk is turned into a relentless hunter.

Malaga Airport also has a breeding programme for Harris hawks to ensure the maintenance and development of a service that helps, day after day, to make air traffic safe. Read Falconry at Malaga airport

“cuando las grullas van para Castilla, coge el hacha y haz astillas” When the cranes set off for Castilla, get your axe and start chopping firewood.

Flocks of lapwings are also arriving.

Answers here from Steve’s website. If that isn’t enough for you, he’s also posted another set of raptor profiles here for you so far without the answers.

See also

• Iberianature birds
• Spanish Eagles and vultures (English-Spanish matching)
• Other Spanish birds of prey (English-Spanish matching)

As part of the Spanish ornithological society SEO/Birdlife’s campaign, El Sonido del Bosque (Sounds of the Forests), work-camps will begin this August to improve the habitat of the Cantabrian Capercaillie (Tetrao urogallus cantábricus) in the Picos de Europa National Park. Working through to mid-December while the birds are at their most inactive, they hope to help promote the growth of berry-bearing plants and, at the same time, identify the Capercaillie population within the areas where the field-work will be concentrated. The last censuses of the remaining main populations centred in Asturias and León were carried out in 2001 and 1998-2000 respectively and gave a figure of about 400 individuals in total. SEO/Birdlife give a figure of 500, which supposedly takes into account the numbers of Capercaillie in the subspecies’ other habitats of Galicia and Cantabria, a number strongly refuted by the Asturian ornithological society, the Coordinadora Ornitolóxica d’Asturies, who say the total population must now be only about half that number.

Another great bit of writing from Lucy, this time on the swifts of Collserola. “The city doesn’t get more pristine than this. It’s the middle of July, typically a month of stagnant heat, when the sky is discoloured by smog. But in today’s diaphanous atmosphere, Barcelona is visible in intricate detail and the sea is like deep blue silk. After yesterday’s torrential storm, there’s a mountain freshness in the air that promises a good night’s sleep. The soaring swifts take your heart that little bit higher.” Read

Lucy has written this lovely piece of natural history observation on the hoopoes in her local Barcelona park. Great photos too.

“A woman comes out on the fire escape to smoke a cigarette. Nearby there’s a Judas tree – it’s seen better days and bears little foliage now, only on the highest branches. The woman stands and talks on her mobile. She’s unaware that on the other side of the tree, there’s movement and two eyes appear at a hole.” Read

News from lne.es

I’m pleased to announce that iberianatureforum stalwart Lucy Brzoska has started her own blog on iberianature called straightforwardly enough, Lucy’s Blog. Lucy will probably concentrate on Barcelona and environs with forays into the Catalan Pyrenees and her beloved Leonese mountains.

Check out this frankly excellent post by Lucy, on Barcelona’s best kept secret, the heronry, perched in the trees above the city’s zoo. Read Citadel of herons

In the near future Simon Rice will be joining in with his own blog from the deepest hinterlands of Catalonia.

I’m pleased to announce the Barcelona swallow webcam is back on line after some technical hitches this year. Once again it is hosted by iberianature and organised by Galanthanus.

Press f5 to refresh every 30 seconds. There is no artificial lighting so it’s only clear between about 12:00-1600 CET.

The swallows appeared on 2nd April. This year they were given an artificial nest (by Schwengler) in which to nest but preferred to build their own on a wooden beam above. In early May the eggs were laid and on May 18th five chicks hatched of which two fell from the nest and died. On June 11th the fledglings flew for the first time. There is a possibility of another clutch. Information about last year’s webam.

To find out more take a look at their website here

Greater Flamingo first colonised Fuente de Piedra back in 1963 and has since made the area a star attraction for many visitors. With a maximum count of some 34,000 birds being present in the past then it is not surprising why many people want to make this area a ‘must see’ site during their stay in Andalusia….

It is sad to report that the numbers of Flamingos present at Fuente de Piedra are now down to 4 individuals and that non-breeding has been drastically affected by abuses of self interest and the lack of managed water resources…. Read the full post on the forum

The San Feliz windpark will have to wait. The heavy machinery belonging to the company Producciones Energéticas del Bierzo entered the León side of the Cantabrian Mountains in order to “pave the way” for the wind turbines. They don’t care that the area is one of the few remaining in which the Capercaillie still breeds. The alarm raised by the researchers specialising in this endangered species – there’s even a ringed female that they are monitoring on a daily basis – led the Spanish Ornithological Society (SEO) to request the courts to halt the works as an emergency measure. And even though judges are reluctant to take such steps, León’s Court No. 1 for Contentious Administrative Proceedings ruled that the works were to be halted. In his ruling, the judge stated that “the required urgency is crystal-clear”.
News originally found in El País and translated by Technopat on Iberianature forum.

Photo from Zoobotánico de Jerez

A pair of Northern Bald Ibis (Geronticus eremita), of which less than 250 individuals survive in the whole world, have managed to breed in the wild in Spain for what is probably the first time in 500 years. The pair have laid two eggs in the Spanish Ministry of Defence training ground in the Sierra de El Retín, in Barbate (Cádiz). The breeding represents an important landmark for the ‘Proyecto Ibis Eremita’, which with the help of the Zoo Botánico de Jerez and the Estación Biológica de Doñana, is seeking to reintroduce the bird to areas where it has become extinct and to strengthen existing wild populations in North Africa. The last definite reference to the bald ibis breeding in Spain is from a 15th century falcony book. El País

Until recently the Northern Bald Ibis was believed to survive in the wild only in Morocco at Souss-Massa National Park (338 km²) where there are three colonies, and at the nearby Oued Tamri mouth, where there is one colony containing almost half the African breeding population, with some movement of birds between these two sites. In 2002 a relict colony was discovered in Syria, where the species was regarded to have vanished more than 70 years before. More from Wikipedia

• Proyecto Ibis Eremita – Zoobotánico de Jerez
• BirdLife Species Factsheet (comprehensive)