100 birds - Ecoturismo en Lanzarote

100 BIRDS100 REASONS TO VISIT SPAIN

Text:Pedro Cáceres, Fernando Guerrero, Ramón Martí and Jordi Prieto

Illustrations:Juan Varela

Translation:Dave Langlois and David Howell

Design:Espacio de ideas

Maps:Lynx Edicions

Pictures:Turespaña and Fernando Guerrero

Legal deposit: M-22100-2013ISBN: 978-84-940398-5-0© SEO/BirdLife 2013Printed in Spain

C/ Melquiades Biencinto, 3428053 Madrid, Spain

Turespaña, the State Secretariat for the Environment and the National Parks Authority have joined forces with SEO/BirdLifein the international promotion of Spain as a birdwatching-tourism and ecotourism destination. This guide is part of theactions provided for in the agreement signed for that purpose in April 2013.

The opinions expressed in this publication are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Ministryof Industry, Energy and Tourism or the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Environment.

Prologue 4Introduction 5Birdwatcher’s Code of Ethics 6Birdwatching Tourism 8How to use this guide 9

wetlands and rivers

Marbled Duck 10Red-crested Pochard 10White-headed Duck 11Little Bittern 11Black-crowned Night Heron 12Squacco Heron 12Purple Heron 13Cattle Egret 13Little Egret 14Glossy Ibis 14Eurasian Spoonbill 15Greater Flamingo 15Purple Swamphen 16Red-knobbed Coot 16Black-winged Stilt 17Collared Pratincole 17Gull-billed Tern 18Zitting Cisticola 18Moustached Warbler 19Eurasian Penduline Tit 19Whiskered Tern 20

sea and coastlines

Cory’s Shearwater 21Balearic Shearwater 21Yelkouan Shearwater 22European Shag 22Eleonora’s Falcon 23Kentish Plover 23Slender-billed Gull 24Audouin’s Gull 24

woodland

Booted Eagle 25Eurasian Scops Owl 26Short-toed Treecreeper 26

Lesser Spotted Woodpecker 27Rock Bunting 27

towns and parks

White Stork 28Lesser Kestrel 28Spotless Starling 29Spanish Sparrow 29

mediterranean woodlandand scrub

Black Stork 30Black-winged Kite 30Cinereous Vulture 31Short-Toed Snake Eagle 31Spanish Imperial Eagle 32Rufous-tailed Bush Robin 32Common Crane 33Great Spotted Cuckoo 33Red-necked Nightjar 36European Bee-eater 36Golden Eagle 37Western Orphean Warbler 37Sardinian Warbler 38Little Owl 38Woodchat Shrike 39Azure-winged Magpie 39

high mountains

Citril Finch 40Alpine Accentor 40Common Rock Thrush 41Wallcreeper 41Alpine Chough 42White-winged Snowfinch 42Bearded Vulture 43

rocks and cliffs

Egyptian Vulture 44Eurasian Eagle-Owl 44Bonelli’s Eagle 45Griffon Vulture 46Pallid Swift 46

Alpine Swift 47Eurasian Crag Martin 47Red-Rumped Swallow 48Black Wheatear 48Blue Rock Thrush 49Rock Sparrow 49

plains and grassland

Black Kite 50Little Bustard 50Red-legged Partridge 51Common Bulbul 51Eurasian Stone-curlew 52Black-bellied Sandgrouse 52Pin-tailed Sandgrouse 53European Roller 53Hoopoe 54Calandra Lark 54Dupont’s Lark 55Great Bustard 55Greater Short-toed Lark 56Crested Lark 56Thekla Lark 57Black-eared Wheatear 57Southern Grey Shrike 58Trumpeter Finch 58

Canary Islands

Bolle’s Pigeon 59White-Tailed Laurel Pigeon 59Canary Islands Stonechat 60Blue Chaffinch 60Canary Islands Chiffchaff 61Atlantic Canary 61Berthelot’s Pipit 62Cream-Coloured Courser 62Houbara Bustard 63Bulwer’s Petrel 63

Much more than sunand beaches 64

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Turespaña, the State Secretariat for the Environment and the National Parks Authorityhave joined efforts with SEO/BirdLife in order to strengthen Spain’s international pro-motion as an ecotourism and birdwatching destination.

This guide reflects our rich biodiversity by including a selection of 100 bird specieswhich it is hoped will be of interest to enthusiasts from other countries consideringa visit to Spain, as an exceptional destination for this growing tourist market.

Travellers attracted to Spain by conventional and better-known tourist resources, willalso be able to discover other places of interest and value in our country by searchingout these species, and following the short texts and other information contained inthis guide.

As its title indicates, these birds also evoke other emotions and experiences in re-lation to their surroundings and human presence there, which has been instrumentalin the shaping and conservation of Spanish landscapes and biodiversity.

The text includes snippets of information related to culture, architecture, history, crafts,gastronomy or local traditions, and in this way the birds take on a central role in thisvoyage through Spain’s rich biodiversity.

Birds act, not only as bioindicators of an impressive natural richness, but also as at-tentive local experts, guiding the traveller through the length and breadth of our te-rritory, pointing out several aspects of interest in each of our autonomous regions.

As well as their function as tools for environmental education and awareness-rai-sing, wild birds and their environment are in themselves a tourism resource whichcontributes, through a responsible, sustainable and quality offer, to the wellbeing anddevelopment of our rural areas by generating local wealth and prosperity.

We hope this guide will help you to discover Spain´s natural richness. Come and seeus, we are waiting to meet you!

Isabel María Borrego CortésSecretary of State for TourismMinistry of Industry, Energy and Tourism

Federico Ramos de ArmasSecretary of State for the EnvironmentMinistry of Agriculture, Food and Environment

Basilio Rada MartínezDirector of National Parks AuthorityMinistry of Agriculture, Food and Environment

Eduardo de Juana AranzanaPresident, SEO/BirdLife

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PROLOGUE

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Introduction

This Miniguide to the Birds of Spain reflects Spain’s immense potential for ecotourismand international birdwatching tourism, quite apart from its world-famous seasideand beach resorts.

It is intended not only for nature lovers per se, but also for any international tou-rists who wish to complement their more traditional holiday visits with a closer lookat Spain’s other delights. Rather than a consuming interest in birds, all you needto enjoy this guide is the sensitivity, interest or simple curiosity to check out Spain’srich biodiversity and scenic variety on your Spanish holiday. As well as the birds them-selves, you will find out about Spain’s natural resources and how they are traditio-nally harnessed, discover off-the-beaten-track byways and observe Spain’s flora andfauna while getting to know its villages and people, its culture and traditions, its cui-sine, history and crafts… all the hallmark features that make up and define Spain’srich natural environment understood in the broadest sense.

Birdlife will always be one of the main magnets for such a nature-loving tourist. Theselection of birds in this guide will be of use not only to birdwatchers keen to seea particular species but also to more laidback visitors who wish to enjoy a simplecountry walk and spot birds as they go, together with wayside flowers, butterfliesand mushrooms, the cattle grazing in the fields and the mountains looming up onthe skyline. Ecotourists, birdwatching tourists, nature lovers, country holiday-ma-kers or anyone interested in Spain’s birdlife will all get something out of this book.

This birdlife can also serve as the catalyst that opens the tourist’s eyes to the vastrange of nature-tourism alternatives on offer in every region of the country. The web-sites www.spain.info and www.seo.org give links and detailed information on thesetourism options supplied by the various public authorities, institutions and professionalecotourism and birdwatching tourism organisations.

Tourism of this sort is not only eco-friendly but also socially, environmentally andeconomically sustainable, offering top-quality products and services that generatejobs and wealth, boost development and encourage settlement in otherwise depri-ved areas. Tourism, in short, that taps into Spain’s incomparable natural heritagein an ongoing and responsible way.

Birdwatcher’s Code of Ethics

1. The welfare of the birds themselves must always be the overriding concern.

Whether you’re a ringer, nature photographer, scientist or simple birdwatcher you must neverlose sight of the fact that the birds’ welfare ALWAYS comes first.

2. The habitat must be protected.

The habitat is vital for the birds that live in it. We should therefore make sure we never causeit the least harm. We should always leave it just as we found it.

3. Never alter the birds’ behaviour in the slightest.

Tolerance to human nuisance varies from one bird species to another and also depends on thetime of year. We must make sure we never disturb them at any time but especially during thebreeding season, otherwise birds might abandon the nest and that year’s clutch is lost. In win-ter too any disturbance might be fatal if we force the birds to expend energy that might be dif-ficult to restore in the harsh weather conditions. We should also be especially careful duringboth spring and autumn passage when birds are tired after their epic voyages.

4. If you find a species of bird in danger, inform the authorities but don’t spread theinformation indiscreetly.

If you find a breeding species of bird in danger and think it needs some protection, inform anyenvironmental authority or SEO/BirdLife office as quickly as possible. This is the best way ofprotecting and conserving it and will also help to build up a valuable database for protectingthis species. Avoid giving the birds’ exact location on any forum that might be exploited by eggcollectors or other groups intent on harming them and don’t visit the site during the breedingseason.

5. Don’t disturb vagrants.

Vagrants or rarities should never be disturbed. If you ever find any, report the observation toSEO/BirdLife so that it can be vetted by our Rarities Committee, [email protected]. Apart fromthis bear in mind that a flood of birdwatchers to the spot might cause a major disturbance tothe bird. Likewise, if you think the sighting might involve an introduced species, report it to ourIntroduced Birds Group at [email protected]

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6. Abide by bird protection legislation at all times.

Birds are protected by law. The Biodiversity and Natural Heritage Protection Act 42/2007 (Leydel Patrimonio Natural y la Biodiversidad) has been drafted on the strength of observations andcomments made by several generations of professional and amateur birdwatchers and scientists.

7. Don’t trespass.

Never trespass on private property or enter a site without permission just because a tar-get bird has turned up there. Keeping to public rights of way is an essential part of spe-cies conservation.

8. Respect the rights of other visitors at all times.

Whenever you coincide with other visitors in any bird observation spot, never forget that theyhave the same rights as you to enjoy the site and its birdlife, or any other interests.

9. Share your sightings with other local observers.

Much of the current knowledge of common bird species has been built up from many indivi-dual sightings shared voluntarily by other birdwatchers in the past. Add your own records tothis stock of knowledge in the interests of better protection and conservation of birds.

10. Behave as you would like others to behave in the birdwatching site.

Proper behaviour and abidance by these simple rules makes each and every birder an ambassadorof bird- and habitat-conservation.

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Birdwatching Tourism

Spain’s vast birdwatching potential, now at last being realised, has fuelled a birdwatching-tou-rism boom within the current options for nature-based tourism in general. Seeing this, many go-vernment authorities, institutions and companies have taken notice.

In our opinion, birdwatching tourism should not only encourage the observation and enjoymentof birds but also a deeper understanding of their interrelations with the environment, with humanbeings and human use of natural resources. The interest generated by tourism of this type is re-flected in many tourism-promotion initiatives. All of them are now duty bound to pay special heedto the risks and threats that this type of tourism might pose for the very resource they aim to tapinto, the living and fragile resource that is Spain’s birdlife. Furthermore, the tourism supply sideto meet this demand must be top quality, meticulous in its approach and suited to the tourists’needs and expectations.

The importance of a top-quality birdwatching tourism supply is therefore obvious, and quality issynonymous with training, sound guidance, interest and knowledge. SEO/BirdLife, as an NGO wor-king for the conservation of birds and their habitats, has therefore become involved in a wide ran-ge of actions and initiatives that aim to ensure a truly eco-friendly and sustainable birdwatchingtourism supply.

SEO/BirdLife has led and conducted various initiatives and prepared a varied range of materials;these can be found in the birdwatching tourism section (http://www.seo.org/turismo-ornitologi-co-2/) of our website (www.seo.org). Among other things these compromise: an online trainingcourse for birdwatching tourism called iberaves: una apuesta formativa por el turismo ornitológi-co. This is made available free of charge to everybody and particularly tourism firms and other lo-cal stakeholders (hoteliers, café and restaurant owners, local craftspersons, nature-tour guides,etc). There is also a Handbook of Good Environmental Practices (Manual de Buenas Prácticas Am-bientales) and initiatives like Iniciativa iberaves and turismo ornitológico (birdwatching tourism).All tourism stakeholders such as hoteliers, managers of rural accommodation and self-cateringcottages, restaurant owners, managers of local crafts and/or natural-products shops, tourism-service and -activity firms, nature guides, etc, can opt into these mutual-support schemes if theyagree to abide by certain fundamental commitments. They will then be supported as an “esta-blishment”, “company” or “freelancer” working alongside SEO/BirdLife in a new initiative to en-courage a responsible and sustainable range of ecotourism and birdwatching-tourism activitiesin Spain.

These initiatives, together with those of many other government authorities, institutions, compa-nies and freelancers, ensure that progress is being made in the right way, with true respect forthe resource itself and a sustainable approach overall. This will all be conducive to the conser-vation of Spain’s birdlife and its habitats and will also have valuable knock-on effects for local com-munities and the countryside in general.

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How to use this guide

In this brief guide we have kept the species down toa “shortlist” of 100 birds that European birdwatchersmight be keenest to see in Spain. Instead of the tra-ditional taxonomical grouping by orders and familieswe have decided to classify the birds by the habitat inwhich you are most likely to see each particular spe-cies. These categories are very general but give a quickidea of what might be found in each particular spot forthose with little time to spend there.

Readers will therefore find the species grouped intothose most likely to be found in the following habitats:wetlands and rivers; the sea and coastline; woodland;towns and parks; Mediterranean woodland and scrub;high mountains; rocks and cliffs; plains and grasslandand, last but not least, the Canary Islands, which cons-titute a world apart with many endemic species.

Each species has a colour-coded map of Spain andPortugal to show when they are present. Green me-ans year-round residents; yellow means summer vi-sitors and blue means winter visitors, broken downfurther into dark blue for common winter visitors andlight blue for the rarer or sporadic birds.

The text is a nutshell account of each bird’s appea-rance and distinguishing features, its typical behaviour,range, territorial preferences and good spots to seeit. Then we have allowed ourselves a slight poetic li-cence to tie the bird into certain scenic highlights, sightsor even the culture and cuisine of Spain. These non-birdwatching comments help us to understand betterthe bird’s relationship with its general surroundings andalso to get to know the whole area better. This coin-cides in with one of the goals of this guide: birds inthis book become standard-bearers of Spain’s vast ran-ge of scenic and cultural delights so that the readerswho use and enjoy the guide become in turn ambas-sadors of Spain’s other tourist attractions, besides itstraditional seaside resorts.

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wetlands and rivers

sea and coastlines

woodland

towns and parks

mediterranean woodland and scrub

high mountains

rocks and cliffs

plains and grassland

Canary Islands

Marbled DuckMarmaronetta angustirostrisCerceta pardilla

This duck, with a characteristic speckled or “mar-bled” appearance, is very rare overall and currentlyin grave danger of extinction, though it can be lo-cally quite common in favoured spots. In the wes-tern Mediterranean basin it is heavily dependenton the wetlands of North Africa. In Spain it bre-eds in shallow waters; the wintering populationis particularly scarce and localised. The mainstrongholds are the Marismas del Guadalquivir(Guadalquivir marshes) and the wetlands of Ali-cante province, such as El Hondo and Salinas deSanta Pola. Alicante city is a seaside resort fa-mous for its beaches, its castle-fortress and its“Moros y Cristianos” (Moors and Christians)fiesta, a living relic of Islamic presence in Spainfrom the eighth to fifteenth centuries.

wetlands and rivers | 10

Red-crested PochardNetta rufinaPato colorado

The drake is a large colourful duck with a cha-racteristic red beak; the female is plain brown. Aplant eater breeding in areas with abundant un-derwater vegetation, whether lakes, marshlandor reservoirs. Although this duck is one of the flags-hip species of the nature reserve Parque Nacio-nal de las Tablas de Daimiel in Ciudad Real, 50%of the breeding population is currently found inthe Parque Natural del Delta del Ebro in Tarra-gona. Recently listed as a Biosphere Reserve, thisnature park includes wetlands and ricefields in thedelta built up by sediment brought down by Spain’slargest river.

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White-headed DuckOxyura leucocephalaMalvasía cabeciblanca

Little BitternIxobrychus minutus

Avetorillo común

A peculiar-looking and unmistakable duck, smalland chunky with a short neck and large head; thebreeding drake’s beak has a swollen sky-blue base.An avid diver with a long tail that it often holds stifflyupright. It has a patchy range on a few wetlandsof southern Spain, the population increasing in re-cent decades. One of its main threats is the ex-pansion of the introduced species Ruddy Duck (O.jamaicensis), which interbreeds with the native po-pulation. Good sites to see this duck are the lakescalled Charcones de Miguel Esteban in Toledo andLaguna de Pedro Muñoz in Ciudad Real. These twolakes are both in La Mancha Húmeda, the stam-ping ground of Don Quixote, a low-lying, low-rain-fall continental-climate plain dotted with oasis-likelakes. Special arrangements are made for touristswith reduced mobility or other handicaps(www.seo.org/2012/05/08/siente-red-natura/).

Frequent on marshland edges and lakes with thickvegetation. Quite secretive and easily overlookedexcept when feeding along the reedbed fringe. Itoften stretches it’s neck and beak bolt upright toblend in with the reeds among which it lives. Itnest inland in almost all river catchment areas andalso on the Mediterranean coast. A small popu-lation regularly overwinters, even in sites with he-avy human pressures, such as the gravel pits andrivers of the Parque Regional del Sureste only afew kilometres from Madrid.

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Black-crownedNight HeronNycticorax nycticoraxMartinete común

Broad winged and stout beaked, this gregariousheron nests in colonies and congregates in hugeroosts in winter. Haunts the middle and lower re-aches of mainland rivers; most often seen at dusksince it is quite nocturnal, as the name suggests.The best wintering sites are the Guadalquivir es-tuary, the Ebro Delta, the Albufera de Valencia (Al-bufera means “coastal lagoon” from the Arabic for“small sea”) and Gerona, where it also breeds onthe Medas Islands, a marine paradise for flora andfauna, famous for its seagrass beds.


Squacco HeronArdeola ralloidesGarcilla cangrejera

A small, chunky and usually solitary heron witha stout beak. Often seen standing stock still in ty-pical heron posture in shallow water to hunt in-sects, small fish and amphibians. Fairly restrictedin range, its main breeding colonies are in the EbroDelta, Marismas del Guadalquivir and wetlandsof Valencia region. For many years it has been thelogo of the Sociedad Española de Ornitología,SEO/BirdLife.

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Purple HeronArdea purpurea

Garza imperial

Cattle EgretBubulcus ibis

Garcilla bueyera

Two sites account for almost half Spain’s bree-ding population: Doñana-Marismas of Guadalquivirand Ebro Delta. Other important sites are thecatchment areas of the rivers Ebro, Guadalqui-vir and Tagus. Smaller than the Grey Heron, it isoften seen in the same motionless postureamong lake vegetation ready to lash out and catchfish and frogs, etc. One of the best sites for se-eing this bird is the Laguna de la Nava in the pro-vince of Palencia, a restored former wetland inthe Castilian plains. This is a relic of the Mar deCampos, a huge wetland that once covered thewhole area. One of the typical scenic features hereare the eye-catching adobe dovecotes, still usedtoday for breeding feral pigeons.

A very gregarious species often forming hugeflocks at breeding or roosting sites. A commonsight in nearly all Spanish river catchment are-as, it feeds both in wetlands and open fields whe-re it often shadows the grazing cattle and sheepto catch the insects they flush in passing. Stri-kingly white overall with yellow flashes onhead and back in breeding plumage, it is dis-tinguished from the Little Egret in flight by themuch shorter legs, hardly projecting beyond thetail. One of its most important sites is Lagunade La Janda in Cádiz, once a huge lake and ve-ritable paradise for birds that has been drainedto produce rich farmland. It is still an importantstop-off point in their migratory route towardsthe Strait of Gibraltar.

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A beautiful snowy-white egret with black legs andbeak (unlike the Cattle Egret) and long flowing neckfeathers in breeding plumage. It feeds on fish, amp-hibians and invertebrates and is frequent on bothinland wetlands and on estuaries and coastalmarshland. Breeding colonies are usually mixedwith other heron and egret species. Its strongholdsare Doñana, Ebro Delta and Albufera de Valencia.It has recently started breeding also on the Can-tabrian coast and can now be easily spotted in theBahía de Santoña in Cantabria, an enclosed baywell known for its attractive marshland and the pro-duction of delicious canned anchovies.


Glossy IbisPlegadis falcinellusMorito común

The ibis with the biggest world range, currentlyin expansion in Spain at various wetland siteslike Doñana, Delta del Ebro and Albufera de Va-lencia, where a new colony has formed in an ar-tificial wetland, comanaged by SEO/BirdLife,constructed to purify the lagoon's inflow water.It also takes to ricefields, planted up to produ-ce the main ingredient of one of Spain’s mostfamous dishes: paella. An interesting organic ricegrowing scheme is now underway at Ebro Del-ta (www.rietvell.com).

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Little EgretEgretta garzettaGarceta común


Eurasian SpoonbillPlatalea leucorodia

Espátula común

Greater FlamingoPhoenicopterus roseus

Flamenco común

Most frequent on shallow coastal wetlands, bre-eding in the south of Spain; rarer inland. The bestwintering sites are the wetlands of northern Spainlike Ría de Arousa, Santoña marsh and Ebro Del-ta. In Santoña there is a very interesting schemecalled NACAR, short for Nature and Prison (Na-turaleza y Cárcel) in Spanish. Every year inma-tes from El Dueso prison take part in Spoonbillmigration counts as part of an overall scheme torehabilitate them back into society.

An unmistakable and spectacular bird thatprefers very salty water (lakes, marshes and salt-flats…). It breeds in a few spots in southern andeastern Spain and winters mainly in Mediterra-nean wetlands (basically in and around Doña-na and in the Ebro Delta). Both its breeding andwintering population are heavily dependent onwater levels in the various wetlands. Its strong-hold is the lake near Fuente de Piedra in Má-laga, a typically Andalusian town of whitewashedhouses with wrought-iron balconies and linte-lled doors.

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Purple SwamphenPorphyrio porphyrioCalamón común

Living in dense wetlands and ricefields, this si-zeable bird is unmistakable with its iridescentblue plumage and thick red bill and red legs.It uses its long toes to drag towards it the plantstems it feeds on. Spain accounts for 85-90%of the European population, and numbers arecurrently growing, helped by some reintroduc-tion schemes (Aiguamolls del Empordà, Albu-fera de Valencia and Albufera de Mallorca) afterthe population reached rock bottom in the1960s. SEO/BirdLife’s Riet Vell S.A. nature re-serve has one of the biggest wintering con-centrations of the Ebro Delta.


Similar to the Common Coot but, as the namesuggests, sporting two red knobs above the fa-cial shield in the breeding season. Very scarceand local, breeding only on a few Andalusian andeast-coast wetlands. Several reintroductionand reinforcement schemes have been carriedout in Andalusia, Valencia Region, Albufera deMallorca and Catalunya. Easily seen in the Re-serva Natural Concertada de la Cañada de losPájaros and Dehesa de Abajo, both in Puebla delRío, between Seville (Andalusia) and also aroundthe Marismas del Guadalquivir and Parque Na-cional de Doñana.

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Red-knobbed CootFulica cristataFocha moruna


Black-winged StiltHimantopus himantopus

Cigüeñuela común

Collared PratincoleGlareola pratincola

Canastera común

A handsome, frail-looking wader like a tiny, long-legged stork, boisterous and feisty with easily trig-gered alarm calls. It feeds along the edges ofshallow, fresh or brackish wetlands: ricefields,marshes, estuaries, lakes and rivers. One ofSpain’s commonest breeding waders, it is abun-dant in the breeding season on nearly all wetlandsof the southeast; much rarer in winter. Spain hasEurope’s biggest breeding population. A good sitefor seeing them is the saltflats known as Salinasde San Pedro del Pinatar and other wetlands ofthe Region of Murcia. This popular tourism regionhosts the Mar Menor, Europe’s biggest saltwa-ter lake, well known for its beaches, spas and the-rapeutic mud baths.

It's camouflaged plumage helps it to blend intothe background. In flight, often hawking for in-sects in flocks, it looks like a marsh tern or lar-ge swallow with its long wings and deeplyforked tail. Rather uncommon as a whole. It bre-eds in bare or arid zones close to water, espe-cially in Andalusia and Extremadura. In the EbroDelta, where the population is small and seemsto be dwindling, SEO/BirdLife reached an agre-ement to leave some ricefields fallow on its RietVell S.A. nature reserve to favour breeding of thespecies.

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Gull-billed TernGelochelidon niloticaPagaza piconegra

Distinguishable from the similar Sandwich Ternby its short, thick and completely black bill. In theIberian Peninsula it breeds mainly in and aroundbrackish lakes, both on the coast and inland, fe-eding predominantly on insects or small animals.The biggest breeding populations are in Doñana,Ebro Delta and the lakes of La Mancha, but a re-latively important colony has recently settled inSierra Brava reservoir in Cáceres, a well-knownfishing resort.


Zitting CisticolaCisticola juncidisCistícola buitrón

This tiny bird, formerly called Fan-Tailed Warbler,is easily recognised by its airborne buzzing call,one buzz for each dip of its undulating flight. Itbreeds in flat open ground with good ground co-ver, where it often perches while flicking its tail.It is very common in wetter parts of the Medite-rranean regions of Spain, and a fragment sightingin the Parque Nacional de las Tablas de Daimiel,a unique inland wetland in Ciudad Real, attrac-ting many visitors in years when the wetland holdsa lot of water.

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Moustached WarblerAcrocephalus melanopogon

Carricerín real

This is the only one of the streaked Acrocepha-lus species that habitually breeds in Spain, albeitlocally and patchily in reedbeds. It tends to avoidsingle-species reedbeds, preferring an inter-sprin-kling of reedmace and bulrush, etc. Commoneston the Mediterranean coast, it faces the same th-reats as other birds of Mediterranean wetlands,with habitat changes and losses. One of Spain’sbiggest populations lives in Albufera de Alcudiaon the island of Mallorca.

EurasianPenduline TitRemiz pendulinus

Pájaro-moscóneuropeo

Its most notable features are its black mask andrich brown back. The song of short trills and whis-tles is very discret, and it builds a hanging nestin downward-growing twigs of deciduous trees(Black and White Poplar, Willow). One of the bestspots to look for it is in and around Aranjuez, acity of Madrid region on the banks of the RiverTagus. Its historical buildings and landscaped gar-dens and hedges have won it UNESCO listing asa World Heritage site.

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Whiskered TernChlidonias hybridaFumarel cariblanco

The commonest marsh tern with striking whitecheeks. The tail, only slightly forked, and grey rumphelp to tell it apart from other terns. Like the ot-her marsh terns it tends to flutter low over the wa-ter picking up insects from the surface. It breedsvery locally (with fluctuating numbers dependingon water levels) on Andalusian wetlands aboveall, and also the Mediterranean coast, thinning outinland. From SEO/BirdLife’s Centro OrnitológicoFrancisco Bernis in Doñana it can be seen togetherwith many other wetland birds. As well as beingthe site of the Parque Nacional, Doñana is alsofamous for the religious procession called Romeríade El Rocío, attracting hundreds of thousands ofpeople in spring.


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Balearic ShearwaterPuffinus mauretanicus

Pardela balear

This bird has now been divided into two separa-te species, the Mediterranean Cory’s Shearwa-ter (Calonectris diomedea), breeding in theBalearic Islands, Chafarinas, Columbretes and is-lets off the coast of Murcia and Almería, and theAtlantic Cory’s Shearwater (Calonectris borealis),breeding in the Canary Islands but also in the Cha-farinas Islands. It turns up off Mediterranean co-asts and the Gulf of Cádiz in passage, from Marchonwards, and even during the breeding seasonwhen it often ranges far and wide in search of food.Look for it in summer-autumn off the coast of Ta-rifa, in the Strait of Gibraltar. The more adventurousamong you can take a boat trip out on the opensea to enjoy close-up views of this shearwater andother seabirds and cetaceans.

The Balearic Islands, whose beaches and nigh-tlife attract millions of tourists each year, are stillhome to this unique bird, endemic to these islands.It breeds in colonies in caves and cliffs, coinci-ding here with the Yelkouan Shearwater (P. yel-kouan). In the breeding season it often flies acrossto the Spanish mainland and North Africa in se-arch of food. In winter it is seen in passage rightround the Mediterranean coast of Spain to theAtlantic and as far round as the English Channel.Counts are especially high off the east coast. Itnormally lives far out at sea but can sometimesbe glimpsed from beaches and cliffs, especiallyclose to its breeding areas.

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Cory’s ShearwaterCalonectris diomedea

Pardela cenicienta

YelkouanShearwaterPuffinus yelkouanPardela mediterránea

A Mediterranean endemic with breeding colonieson various islets. It is very similar to the Balea-ric Shearwater but can be distinguished by themuch sharper contrast between upper- and un-derparts as it shears. It is seen in winter off theCatalan coast but seldom spotted south of the EbroDelta. A breeding colony has recently beenfound on the island of Menorca, which was heldby Great Britain for a short spell a few centuriesago. It is the only place in Spain where gin is stilldistilled using the traditional method inherited fromthose times.

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A cliff nester rarely straying far from this habitat;most often found on the north coast and in theBalearic Islands. It is smaller and slimmer thanthe Cormorant with a more buoyant flight, usuallyseen skimming low over the water. Close up, itsattractive green eye is a distinctive feature. Oneof the places where it can be seen is the ParqueNacional de las Islas Atlánticas in Galicia, sharingestuaries and cliffs with mussel farmers and smallfishing craft that picturesquely work the sea to har-vest the area’s famous fish and seafood. One ofthe most important showcases of this traditionaltrade, happily recovered from the devastating Pres-tige oil spill back in 2002, is the seafood trade-fair called Feria del Marisco de O Grove.

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European ShagPhalacrocoraxaristotelisCormorán moñudo

23 | sea and coastlines

Eleonora’sFalcon

Falco eleonoraeHalcón de Eleonora

Kentish PloverCharadrius alexandrinus

Chorlitejo patinegro

Named in honour of Leonor de Arborea (c.1350-1404) of Sardinia, famous for havingbrought in the first ever raptor-protection legis-lation (though in all probability solely to reservethe use of these birds in falconry by the nobility).It times its arrival on Spain’s coasts (late summerand autumn) to coincide with the return passa-ge of passerines to ensure plentiful prey speciesto feed its young. It breeds in small colonies onisland and islet cliffs of the Balearics, Columbretesand Canaries. In summer, however, it moves in-land to feed on woodland insects, when it mightbe seen around Cuenca (Castilla-La Mancha), ahistorical city famous for its picturesque hanginghouses perched vertiginously atop a sheer river-side cliff.

Midway in size between the Ringed Plover and LittleRinged Plover and distinguished from both by itsblack legs. It tends to prefer beaches rather thanlakes, favouring the Mediterranean and Atlantic-Andalusian coast, numbers thinning out inland andnorthwards, and nests on bare ground in a sim-ple scrape among pebbles and shells. One of thebest places to see it is the Parque Natural de laBahía de Cádiz, a wader paradise around the cityof Cádiz. This city is famous for its February car-nivals and also as the city where Spain’s first cons-titution was drawn up in 1812.

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Slender-billed GullChroicocephalus geneiGaviota picofina

A fairly scarce and slim gull species, breeding onsandy soil in brackish marshes of shallow water,especially in saltflats. The biggest breeding co-lony is in the Ebro Delta with smaller colonies inAlbufera de Valencia and Marismas del Guadal-quivir. There is another important population inLa Mata-Torrevieja, one of Alicante’s most popularseaside resorts.

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Audouin’s GullLarus audouiniiGaviota de Audouin

A Mediterranean endemic, breeding nowhere else.The bulk of the population winters on the NorthAfrican Atlantic coast. Dapper, with a characte-ristic stout dark red bill, its lifecycle is closely boundup with man’s fishing activities, a traditional tra-de around the whole Spanish coast. At night itmight follow the purse seine fishing boats that at-tract fish to the surface with lights, but also ha-bitually follows trawlers to scavenge discards. Itfeeds above all on small ocean-going fish like sar-dines and anchovies, both typical dishes of theMalaga coastline. The world’s biggest breedingcolony is in the Ebro Delta, with over 70% of theSpanish population.

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25 | woodland

Booted EagleAquila pennataÁguila calzada

Smaller than the Bonelli’s, this eagle turns up intwo different morphs (dark and pale), breeding inwooded areas with a mixture of open land and hillsor mountains. It feeds on mammals, reptiles andbirds, most often caught close to the ground af-ter swooping down with folded wings. Frequentin wooded areas of the whole of Spain, its num-bers peak in the province of Salamanca (Casti-lla y León). University town par excellence sincethe middle ages, Salamanca is a Word Heritagecity with a distinctive orange tone due to the sands-tone from which its buildings are constructed. Theatmosphere is young, bustling and cosmopolitan.De rigueur visits nearby are stunning natural si-tes like Sierra de Béjar or Sierra de Francia or Arri-bes del Duero. The city’s cuisine is also well worthtrying, especially its charcuterie like the horses-hoe-shaped sausage called farinato and the meatpie called hornazo.

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A small woodland bird with a speckled back andlong, thin, down-curved beak. Undemonstrativeas it creeps mouse-like up the tree trunks in se-arch of the insects and grubs it feeds on. It ta-kes to various sorts of woodland (Oak, Holm Oak,Birch and Pine…), at a lower altitude than the Eu-rasian Treecreeper. One of Spain’s most heavilywooded regions is Galicia, whose famous pilgrimroute, the Camino de Santiago, crosses many ofthese lovely woods.

Eurasian Scops OwlOtus scopsAutillo europeo

Spain’s smallest owl, it lives in riverside woods andcopses, dehesas, etc. (rarely in mountainous zo-nes), but is more often heard than seen. Its callis a two-syllable hoot, repeated indefatigably (so-metimes by day too), which could be confused withthe similar call of the Midwife Toad, though thelatter is shorter and more metallic. It also turns upin parks and thickets of some cities. For example,in the city of Santander (Cantabria) SEO/BirdLifeis currently running a project to investigate its dis-tribution and organise a nest-box scheme.

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Short-toed TreecreeperCerthia brachydactylaAgateador europeo

27 | woodland

Lesser SpottedWoodpecker

Dendrocopos minorPico menor

Rock BuntingEmberiza cia

Escribano montesino

Spain’s smallest woodpecker, not much largerthan a sparrow, it’s insistent ‘kii-kii-kii’ call is es-pecially heard in spring and autumn in broadle-aved woodland, parks and plantations, where itnests in small holes in dead trunks. The plumageis mainly black and white, with flecks and stri-pes on the wings, back and tail, and a pale brownunderside, and the top of the head a rich red inthe male (white in the female). It is more frequentlyfound in the north and west mainland than theMediterranean, but is absent from the islands.Not easily seen, Navarre is one of its strongholds,where ancient carnival rituals take place in thevillage streets and country roads between late Ja-nuary and Easter.

This attractive bunting has a rusty brown back,orange-brown underparts and grey head and neckadorned with black and white stripes. It breedsin open land, often rocky, or woodland clearingson hills of middling altitude and usually dropsdown to lower ground in winter. Its range takesin the whole of Spain, numbers peaking in theopen countryside of the northern meseta, suchas the province of Burgos. This land is known asthe birthplace of El Cid and also for its castles,its cathedral and some of its typical dishes likeMorcilla de Burgos (black pudding made frompig’s blood and rice).

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White StorkCiconia ciconiaCigüeña blanca

A very common sight in many towns and villageswhere it often nests on man-made structures likechurch belltowers and roofs of buildings. Incre-asingly overwintering in Spain nowadays, inste-ad of migrating to Africa. There are breedingrooftop colonies in some of Spain’s World Heri-tage cities like Cáceres or Alcalá de Henares, thelatter only 30 minutes from Madrid. The churchcalled Colegiata de Alfaro in La Rioja boasts theworld’s biggest breeding colony on one building,while there is a fine “natural” rock-breeding co-lony in Los Barruecos at Malpartida de Cáceres,Extremadura.

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Lesser KestrelFalco naumanniCernícalo primilla

This small raptor frequents open countryside offarmfields and pasture. The males have a blue-grey head, red-brown unspotted back and nofacial moustache; told apart from the CommonKestrel by its smaller size, paler plumage and,close up, its white claws. It is very gregarious,breeding in colonies, often in old buildings likecastles and cathedrals, with good invertebra-te-rich hunting grounds nearby. The World-He-ritage city of Cáceres boasts nearly 300 pairs,making it one of the world’s biggest urban bre-eding colonies and without any doubt one of thebest places to see them.

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29 | towns and parks

Spotless StarlingSturnus unicolorEstornino negro

Spanish SparrowPasser hispaniolensis

Gorrión moruno

One of Spain’s commonest birds, living and bre-eding in nearly any village, town or city. Aglossy purplish black in spring, it is in fact, des-pite its name, speckled with white spots in win-ter. Similar in its habits to the Common Starling,often forming garrulous flocks; it walks rather thanhops along the ground in search of food. Abun-dant in Madrid’s Botanical Gardens, Jardín Bo-tánico de Madrid, next door to the world-famousPrado Museum, boasting one of the world’s mostimportant holdings of paintings.

Similar to the House Sparrow but has a rich red-brown crown, black bib and breast and white eyes-tripe. It sometimes nests in buildings alongside manbut, unlike the House Sparrow, also breeds in moreopen countryside of tall scrub and riverside thic-kets. It often forms huge flocks, the biggest in themiddle reaches of the Tagus and Guadiana rivers,where colonies of up to 30,000 nests have beenfound. It is associated above all with the villagesand countryside of south-west Spain.

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Black StorkCiconia nigraCigüeña negra

Much less abundant than the White Stork and shunshuman beings. It nests on cliffs or large trees inwooded areas of western and central Spain, fis-hing in nearby streams and ponds; a few overwinter.One area with a healthy breeding population is theParque Natural de la Sierra de Aracena y Picos deAroche in Huelva, an area also famous for its fa-mous Jabugo ham, produced from free-range,mast-feeding pigs, and its pottery craftsmanship.Castles, fortresses and mosques like the Castillode Cortegana are all living legacies of the past. Le-gend has it that Zufre Town Hall was once head-quarters of the Spanish Inquisition.

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Black-winged KiteElanus caeruleusElanio común

A small, striking raptor with a dove-like appea-rance and large head. It breeds in trees in theopen grazing woodland known as dehesas or infields and pastureland with scattered trees. Alt-hough not yet common, its numbers are incre-asing and it is now spreading outwards from itshabitual range in the centre and west of Spain.Single birds or pairs are often seen perched onroadside telegraph poles or other prominent lo-okout points. Close up, its red eye is particularlystriking. One of the “banker sites” for this birdis Las Vegas del Río Guadiana, the meadowlandaround River Guadiana in the province of Bada-joz (Extremadura).

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Short-Toed Snake EagleCircaetus gallicusCulebrera europea

31 | mediterranean woodland and scrub

Cinereous VultureAegypius monachus

Buitre negro

This species, also sometimes called Monk Vul-ture and Black Vulture, has the biggest wingspanin Spain, sometimes verging on 3 metres. Its plu-mage, unlike the Griffon, is uniformly dark and itstail is slightly wedge shaped. It nests on moun-tain cliffs or tall trees on hillsides and dehesas.There is a small colony in Mallorca but its site parexcellence is the Parque Nacional de Monfragüein Extremadura, a paradise for raptors in gene-ral and the Cinereous Vulture in particular. TheSierra de Guadarrama (Madrid-Castilla y León) hasan important colony near Madrid (Rascafría)and another near sightseeing musts like the Pa-lace and Gardens of La Granja and the city of Se-govia (World Heritage).

A large, striking raptor that, from a distance, lo-oks all white below with a dark head. Its favou-red habitat is mountains and hills within theMediterranean-climate belt, where it nests in alltypes of woods and copses. Often seen hoveringwith rippling wings over scrub and forest clearingsready to drop on its prey, mainly snakes – hen-ce its name in Spanish of “snake-eating eagle”.In September it crosses the Strait of Gibraltar tospend the winter in Africa, forming part of one ofthe most spellbinding migration showcases of thewhole Mediterranean area. The same wind thatsets up these spectacles of migrating raptors andother soaring birds has also made Tarifa’s bea-ches a world-famous kite-surfing site.

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Rufous-tailed Bush RobinCercotrichas galactotesAlzacola rojizo

Easily recognised by its long reddish tail, whichit often fans out, waves up and down or holds erectover its back, showing off the black and whitepoints at the tip. Scarce and scattered in the sout-hern third of Spain (from Alicante or Murcia in theeast, right round the whole of Andalusia to Ba-dajoz in the west). A late trans-Saharan migrantthat takes to dry open areas with bushes, hed-gerows, drought-hardy trees or prickly pears.

Spanish Imperial EagleAquila adalbertiÁguila imperial ibérica

The flagship species of Mediterranean woodlandand scrub. It lives only in the Iberian Peninsula, fa-vouring forests and scrubland of the centre andsouth of Spain, where the climax woodland is madeup of the characteristic evergreen oaks of Spain.Slightly smaller than the Golden Eagle, its plumageis even darker, and the striking white shoulder pat-ches of adult birds are a tell-tale feature. Like theIberian Lynx, another Iberian Peninsula endemic,it is heavily dependent on the rabbit as its mainprey species. Rabbit populations, suffering fromtwo infectious diseases, have plummeted in re-cent decades, putting both lynx and eagle underpressure. The Imperial Eagle was once teeteringon the verge of extinction but its numbers are nowslowly but surely increasing on the strength of va-rious conservation schemes. SEO/BirdLife has setup a webcam in the Parque Nacional de Cabañerosshowing the daily life of the pair on the nest.www.aguilaimperial.org/webcamcabaneros.php


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Common CraneGrus grus

Grulla común

Great Spotted CuckooClamator glandarius

Críalo europeo

A winter visitor to the Iberian Peninsula, mainlyin Extremadura and bordering provinces like Ávi-la, Toledo, Ciudad Real and Córdoba. The brac-kish lake of Gallocanta in Teruel (Aragón) attractsvast pre-migratory flocks before their flightsback to their breeding grounds in northern Europe.It typically flies in large V-shaped skeins. The cra-ne is one of the flagship species of Extremadu-ra’s dehesas, where it shares habitat and the acornfood store not only with wintering Wood Pigeonflocks but also the free-range, acorn-grazing herdsof Iberian pigs, source of the famous Iberian hamand other delicious charcuterie and serving as afine example of the sustainable management ofnatural resources.

Slightly bigger than the Cuckoo and found in Me-diterranean type countryside with scattered cop-ses. Like the Cuckoo it is a nest parasite, layingits eggs in other birds’ nests, especially Magpiesbut also sometimes other crow species. The big-gest populations live in pinewoods and dehesasin the centre and south of the country. A goodexample is Guadix in Granada. Roman in origin,this is one of the Iberian Peninsula’s oldest set-tlements, lying between the stunning nature parksof Sierra de Baza, Sierra de Huetor and Sierra Ne-vada. Guadix is famous for its cave houses hewnout of solid rock and still lived in today.

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Tourism websitesfor the AutonomousCommunitiesand Autonomous Cities

Andalusia/Andalucíawww.andalucia.org/es

Aragónwww.turismodearagon.com

Balearic Islands/Islas Baleareswww.illesbalears.es

Basque Country/País Vascowww.turismo.euskadi.net

Canary Islands/Islas Canariaswww.turismodecanarias.com

Cantabriawww.turismodecantabria.com

Castilla-La Manchawww.turismocastillalamancha.com

Castilla y Leónwww.turismocastillayleon.com

Catalonia/Cataluñawww.catalunya.com

Comunidad de Madridwww.turismomadrid.es

Comunidad Valencianawww.comunitatvalenciana.com

Extremadurawww.turismoextremadura.com

Galiciawww.turgalicia.es

La Riojawww.lariojaturismo.com

Navarre/Navarrawww.turismo.navarra.es

Principado de Asturiaswww.turismoasturias.org

Región de Murciawww.murciaturistica.es

Ceutawww.ceutaturistica.com

Melillawww.melillaturismo.com

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Other websites of interestInstitute of Tourism of Spain (Turespaña):www.spain.info / www.tourespain.es

Agriculture and Environment Ministry:www.magrama.gob.es

Tourism Ministry:www.minetur.gob.es

National Parks network:www.magrama.gob.es/es/red-parques-nacionales/default.aspx

SEO/BirdLife:www.seo.org

‘Iberaves’ tourism initiative:www.seo.org/iberaves

Spanish cities declared as World Heritage Sites by UNESCO:www.ciudadespatrimonio.org

Paradors (national luxury hotels):www.parador.es/es

Red-necked NightjarCaprimulgus ruficollisChotacabras cuellirrojo

A crepuscular and nocturnal, insect-hawking spe-cies with long wings and tail. It spends the dayperched on a branch or on the ground, whereits camouflaged plumage makes it almost im-possible to see; at night it often lands on pathsand roads and is frequently run over by cars.Slightly larger than the European Nightjar withwarmer tones and a ruddy neck, cheeks and th-roat. It breeds in open Mediterranean woodlandor even in wasteland. A good spot to see it is thecountryside of flat plains and farmland aroundSeville known as Campiña Sevillana. Here aregrown many of the products that make up theMediterranean diet, one of the healthiest in theworld; the area is also famous for its outstan-ding desserts and sweetmeats.


European Bee-eaterMerops apiasterAbejaruco europeo

One of Spain’s most vividly coloured birds, takingto a great variety of open habitat. Usually seen insociable flocks and breeding colonies, which tun-nel out their nests in sand or earth embankments,often along rivers. It perches on dry twigs or onoverhead cables from where it swoops out to catchinsects in flight (especially hymenoptera like bees,etc.). We recommend a stroll through the ParqueNatural de la Sierra de Andújar in Jaen, whereBee-eaters are a common sight along the banksof the River Jandula together with dozens of rap-tors and mammals of interest like Otter and thebeautiful and enigmatic Iberian Lynx. Once in thearea you could also drop into the shrine called San-tuario de la Virgen de la Cabeza, where Andalu-sia’s oldest religious ceremony is held.

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Golden EagleAquila chrysaetos

Águila real

Western Orphean WarblerSylvia hortensisCurruca mirlona

A mighty tree- and cliff-nesting raptor with almostuniformly dark plumage as an adult but white wingand tail patches when immature. It haunts moun-tainous or hilly countryside of varying altitude. Itis a versatile hunter that can soar high to look forprey over a wider area or quarter low over theground for surprise attacks on rabbits, hares, birds,reptiles, carrion, etc. It is present throughout ne-arly the whole of Spain, with particularly high num-bers in the mountain zones and riverside cliffs ofLa Rioja, whose vineyards produce the world-re-nowned “La Rioja” wine, covered by its own Pro-tected Designation of Origin scheme.

The biggest of the Sylvia scrub warblers; the ma-les have a black hood and white eye ring. It breedsin open woodland of Holm Oak, olive groves andriparian woodland or areas of tall scrub, often onsunny slopes. Population densities are particularlyhigh in the Juniper and Savin woods of the provinceof Soria, such as the Sabinar de Calatañazor, anupland area with an extreme continental climateand many dense conifer woods.

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Sardinian WarblerSylvia melanocephalaCurruca cabecinegra

The males have a black hood, in this case ex-tending to below the eye, which has a distinc-tive bright-red eye-ring. The female’s hood isbrown. It readily shows itself, unlike some of themore secretive scrub warblers and feeds on in-sects and small fruits, and breeds in varied scru-bland, hedgerows and other areas with thickvegetation. It takes readily to parks and gardensin some big cities, like Parque Güell in Barcelo-na. This park, together with the Sagrada Fami-lia cathedral and other famous buildings ofBarcelona, is part of the indelible legacy left bythe world-famous architect Antoni Gaudí.


Little OwlAthene noctuaMochuelo

A chunky, broad-headed, earless owl with big ye-llow eyes that lives in hollow trees, tiled roofs,ruins and rocks, feeding on small rodents, lizardsand invertebrates. Its call, heard by day and bynight, can be confused with a mewing cat. A fa-voured habitat is the olive groves that produce oneof Spanish cuisine’s hallmark products, its ex-quisite virgin olive oil.

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Woodchat ShrikeLanius senatorAlcaudón común

Azure-winged MagpieCyanopica cookiiRabilargo ibérico

With a black and white body with a rufous cap,this Shrike breeds in open wooded areas or farm-land with scattered trees. Despite its small sizeit is a fearful predator, waiting immobile on its fa-vourite perch before pouncing on insects, lizards,small birds and rodents. It famously keeps “lar-ders”, pinning its captures to thorns or barbed wirefences to eat them at leisure later.

Slightly smaller than a magpie with a black hood,brown back and blue wings and tail. It is restlessand inquisitive, often seen hopping over theground, sometimes in family groups. One of itsfavoured habitats is the dehesas of Mediterraneanwoodland and scrub, where it shares habitat withthe famous Spanish fighting bulls. How it got toSpain is controversial. Apart from Spain and Por-tugal, its world range otherwise is restricted to theFar East (Japan and Korea). It has therefore longbeen thought that it was introduced into Iberia bySpanish and Portuguese sailors from the fifteenthcentury onwards. Recent studies, however, haveseparated the eastern and western populationsinto two different species.

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Citril FinchCarduelis citrinellaVerderón serrano

Breeding in mountain woods, mainly conifers, abo-ve 1000 m, often on the edge of Alpine meadows,with greenish yellow plumage with pale grey si-des of neck and nape. It is yellow wing flashesdistinguish it from the Serin and the unmarkedtail from Greenfinch and Siskin. Its Spanish ran-ge takes in the mountains of central Spain, likethe recently declared Parque Nacional de las Cum-bres de Guadarrama in Madrid and Segovia, plusthe lovely mixed fir-and-beech woods on the sout-hern slopes of the Pyrenees, the Sistema Ibéri-co (Iberian System) and a small population in SierraMorena (Andalusia).

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Alpine AccentorPrunella collarisAcentor alpino

Spain is the EU’s second most mountainouscountry and this bird breeds on its highest pe-aks, some dropping down to lower levels in win-ter. Discrete in behaviour but often quite tame,it shares its breeding grounds with the free-ran-ge cattle that summer on the high alpine pas-tures. It often exploits the easy pickings aroundski resorts and mountain refuges, making it ea-sier to see in these places. One good exampleis the cable-car station of Fuente De in Picos deEuropa (Cantabria).

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41 | high mountains

Common Rock ThrushMonticola saxatilis

Roquero rojo

WallcreeperTichodroma muraria

Treparriscos

It breeds on dry, steep rocky slopes and alpine me-adows, at higher altitudes than the Blue Rock Th-rush, usually above 1500m. The male is a strikingbird in summer with bright orange breast and pas-tel blue back. In the green Asturian mountains, whe-re it is abundant, it is known as El Roxu or “TheRed One”. There it shares habitat with other spe-cies of the Cantabrian cordillera like the Brown Bearand Capercaillie. One of the best spots: Parque Na-tural de Somiedo in Asturias.

An alpine bird that nests high up in crannies ofinaccessible crags from 1000 to 3000 m, thoughit does drop down to lower levels in winter whenit might be seen in other rocky areas or even onbuildings or in quarries. (For example it winterson the huge rocky massif called Montaña de Mont-serrat, one of the most visited sites in Cataloniadue to its eyecatching crags and the famous mo-nastery of the “Moreneta”, the Virgin Mary ofMontserrat.) The bird looks dowdy grey overall un-til it suddenly flashes its vivid red shoulder pat-ches in its butterfly-like flight or while it movesover the rock face, continually twitching and fle-xing its wings. Good sites to look for it are Focesde Arbayún and Lumbier in Navarre, deep li-mestone river gorges, or in Picos de Europa.

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Alpine ChoughPyrrhocorax graculusChova piquigualda

It breeds at a height of 1500 m plus in steep rockycrags of the Pyrenees and Cantabrian Cordille-ra. Gregarious, often seen in big flocks. Aroundhigh-mountain restaurants, ski resorts andmountain refuges it has learned to search bra-zenly for scraps of food left by humans. Its cou-sin, the Red-Billed Chough, is abundant in rockyareas of the rest of the country and even in somecities like Segovia, where it might be seen flyingalongside the Roman aqueduct.

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White-winged SnowfinchMontifringilla nivalisGorrión alpino

A high-mountain bird breeding on Pyrenean andCantabrian peaks, some dropping to lower altitudesin winter and often looking for easy pickings roundski resorts. Striking black and white wings in flight.The best site for this bird is the Parque Nacionalde Picos de Europa, Spain’s first declared natio-nal park (the highest protection level) back in 1918.This park straddles Asturias, Cantabria and Cas-tilla y León, a district that produces the delicious,cave-matured cheeses called “Cabrales”, madefrom goat, sheep and cows’ milk.

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Bearded VultureGypaetus barbatus

Quebrantahuesos

A striking vulture with handsome brown pluma-ge flushing to orange on the underparts, a wed-ge-shaped tail and a wispy “beard” near the beakthat gives the bird its alternative name of “Bear-ded Vulture”. Usually solitary, haunting the highmountains of the Pyrenees where it breeds on themost inaccessible cliffs, though it might often beseen patrolling surrounding open areas in searchof the animal bones it feeds on. Reintroductionschemes are currently underway in the ParqueNatural de las Sierras de Cazorla, Segura y LasVillas (Andalusia), Spain’s biggest protected sitewith 214,000 hectares, and in Picos de Europa(Asturias-Cantabria-Castilla y León), Spain’s firstlisted Parque Nacional (National Park) in 1918 andnow the second most visited after El Teide in theCanary Islands.

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Egyptian VultureNeophron percnopterusAlimoche común

The smallest of Spain’s four vultures with blackand white wings and a wedge-shaped tail in flight.The untidy ruff around its bald yellow face givesit a rather peculiar “unkempt” look. An opportu-nistic scavenger, seeking out corpses and carrionto descend on with other vultures and also fee-ding on rubbish dumps. A cliff nester like the ot-her vultures, it soars effortlessly in search ofcarrion; usually solitary. Abundant throughout theprovince of Huesca, both in the verdant moun-tains of the Pyrenees and in the contrasting butnearby arid knolls of Los Monegros. An endemicsubspecies in the Canary Islands.

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EurasianEagle-OwlBubo buboBúho real

Unmistakable, the biggest of Spain’s nocturnal rap-tors with two big “ear” tufts standing up from itshead. Close up views in flight show its impres-sive wing span, especially the female’s which isbigger than the male. Its hoot, audible up to 4 kmsaway, is deep and resounding (ooh-hoo), the se-cond note falling in pitch. Nocturnal and cre-puscular; absent from many areas in the north.One good spot for seeing it is the gullies aroundCastrejón Reservoir in the Province of Toledo, intypical countryside of central Spain.

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Bonelli’s EagleAquila fasciataÁguila perdicera

One of Spain’s scarcest and most threatened ea-gles. It breeds on cliffs in hilly and mountainousareas within dry, Mediterranean-climate regions.Feeding on medium-sized birds like partridges andpigeons and also rabbits, in recent decades itsnumbers have fallen worryingly due to adult mor-tality. Its main threats are direct persecution (sho-oting and poisoning), power-line collisions andelectrocution and the loss of suitable habitat forits prey species. One of the healthiest populationsis hanging on in the rugged hills of Serranía deRonda (Málaga). Ronda, one of the finest exam-ples of Andalusia’s “pueblos blancos” (white vi-llages), is famously perched atop a steep cliff calledTajo de Ronda, home also to other interesting rock-nesting birds. Some of its most famous sights arethe Arab baths and Mudejar courtyards; it is alsowell-known for its “tapas” or bar snacks if you getpeckish after sightseeing walks.

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Griffon VultureGyps fulvusBuitre leonado

Its vast 2.5-metre wingspan make this vulture anunmistakable sight in many of Spain’s limesto-ne areas, which together are home to the world’sbiggest population of 25,500 breeding pairs. Bre-eds on mountain- and river-cliffs in fairly densecolonies from where it spreads out, often in flocks,to soar for hours over open land in search of ca-rrion, sometimes straying hundreds of kilometresfrom the nest site. A “must visit” is the medie-val city of Sepúlveda (Segovia), also famous forits roasts, and the nearby gorge of the River Du-ratón (Ermita de San Frutos), to see Spain’s big-gest breeding colony of 500 pairs in a stunningsetting. Other good sites are the gorges of Arlanza(400 pairs) or of the Ebro and Rudrón (Castilla yLeón), Foz de Arbayún (Navarre) or Parque Na-cional de Monfragüe (Extremadura).


Very similar to the Common Swift; the subtle dif-ferences in hue are visible only in very good light.Breeds above all on cliffs and buildings of coas-tal cities, towns and villages but also on bridgesand buildings inland. One of the best colonies li-ves around the famous fleamarket called El Ras-tro and the district called Barrio de La Latina rightin the middle of Madrid, where it shares habitatwith the Common Swift. After visiting the nearbyroyal palace, the Palacio Real, you might like torest up in a pavement café and try to pick themout among the circling swifts while enjoying anal fresco bar snack.

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Pallid SwiftApus pallidusVencejo pálido


Alpine SwiftApus melbaVencejo real

Eurasian Crag MartinPtyonoprogne rupestris

Avión roquero

The biggest of Spain’s swifts and similar in sha-pe to the rest but easily told apart by its white bre-ast and throat divided by a brown chest band. Itslong piercing cry in the sky is one of Spain’s har-bingers of spring along with the early swallowsand the first snatch of nightingale song. It bre-eds in colonies on cliff faces and often on buil-dings, so it can often be spotted in some of Spain’stowns and cities. If you fancy combining Alpine-Swift sightings with a good football match, Fut-bol Club Barcelona’s Nou Camp stadium has oneof Catalonia’s biggest nesting colonies.

Brown with no breast band; its lightly forked tailhas two prominent white spots at the tip. It livesand breeds on coastal cliffs, mountain crags or ri-ver cuttings, incessantly hawking for insects likethe other hirundine species. Its nest is similar tothe swallow’s. This martin is resident all year thoughinland birds often winter on the coast. One of thecities where this agile flier might be seen flittingoverhead is Santiago de Compostela, near its stri-king cathedral, destination point for hundreds ofthousands of pilgrims who come to this city fromall over the world, walking along pathways that havebeen traditional since medieval times.

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Red-Rumped SwallowCecropis dauricaGolondrina dáurica

More of a country dweller than the Barn Swallowand easily distinguished by its pinkish rump, lackof any breast band and whitish face. Its bottle-shaped mud nests are stuck to the roof of cavesand abandoned structures like bridges. Fairly com-mon throughout the southwest. One of the bestplaces for seeing it is the rugged mountain lands-cape of Sierra Morena in Andalusia.


Black WheatearOenanthe leucuraCollalba negra

Black all over except for the white rump and ou-ter tail feathers. Unmistakable, as the only blackcoloured wheatear occurring in Spain. It breedson steep dry slopes with rocky outcrops and bareground with few bushes and shuns flat ground andthick woods. One of the best viewing spots for thisspecies is the Parque Natural de la Sierra de Gata-Níjar in Almería, where you can also enjoy someof Spain’s last virgin beaches surrounded by de-sert-like and volcanic scenery.

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Blue Rock ThrushMonticola solitarius

Roquero solitario

Rock SparrowPetronia petronia

Gorrión chillón

The male is a lovely steely blue colour. Its rat-her chunky, short-tailed shape is often sil-houetted at the top of its breeding cliffs or rockson coasts, gorges, scree slopes or even on su-rrogate habitat such as castles, ruins andbridges, etc. Certainly one of the most eye-catching sites for seeing this bird is Granada’sfamous Alhambra, palace and fortress of the Is-lamic Kingdom of Granada, the last Muslim re-doubt in Spain until 1492.

A sparrow of dry, open areas, similar to a fema-le House Sparrow but with pale stripes above theeye and along the crown. The yellow throat patchis often very hard to see. Non-breeding birds formlarge noisy flocks with a constant cacophony ofsquealing chirps. As the name suggests it oftennests in rocks, cliffs, quarries and ruins. Nestingcolonies can in fact be seen in some of Spain’shistorical walled cities, such as Ávila, Segovia orZamora, a city well known for its Easter (Sema-na Santa) celebrations.

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Black KiteMilvus migransMilano negro

A fork-tailed raptor with versatile feeding habits,catching young rabbits, fish and amphibians andalso scavenging for carrion and edible remainson rubbish dumps. A very common tree nester inany sort of wooded countryside; gregarious andoften seen in daytime flocks or huge roosts. Num-bers dwindle on the Mediterranean coast and peakin Extremadura. Often seen, for example, plyingthe skies in Parque Natural de Cornalvo, a natu-re reserve conserving a huge Roman reservoir andlying only a few kilometres from the historical WorldHeritage city of Mérida.

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Little BustardTetrax tetraxSisón común

Similar in shape but smaller in size than the GreatBustard, it breeds in extensively farmed cropfieldswith fallow land and hedgerows, where males setup leks for their breeding display of short hops inthe air and far-carrying snorting calls. Females,more camouflaged, blend into the long grass whe-re they seclude and protect both nest and chicks.Loosely scattered in the breeding season, the birdsflock together in winter (the southern meseta has60% of the population at this time). The pasturesand grassland of La Serena or La Siberia in Ba-dajoz (Extremadura) are good places to seethem. Here they rub shoulders with the sheep who-se milk produces the famous creamy cheeses ca-lled “tortas” of Serena or Casar.

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51 | plains and grassland

Red-leggedPartridge

Alectoris rufaPerdiz roja

Common throughout almost the whole of Spain,preferring open Mediterranean countryside ofpatchwork farmland with good cover (hedgerows,scrub, vineyards...). It flees by running rather thanflying, breaking into a whirring and gliding flightclose to the ground only as a last resort. Feeds ongrass seeds and insects; in good breeding yearsfemales might be seen with rows of up to ten chicksfollowing in single file behind. Spain’s mainsmall-game species, its numbers are particularlyhigh in hunting grounds in rural areas of Toledo,southeast of Ciudad Real or southwest of Albacete(Castilla-La Mancha), where it also forms part ofthe area’s traditional cuisine. Miguel Delibes, oneof Spain’s great twentieth-century novelists, hasoften written about partridge hunting and country-side life, a paean to the conservation of the ruralworld, its traditions and natural values.

Common BulbulPycnonotus barbatus

Bulbul naranjero

Widespread in Africa, this species only occurs inSpain in the autonomous cities of Ceuta and Me-lilla, two enclaves bordering the Mediterranean co-ast of Morocco. The common bulbul is active andnoisy, about the size of a blackbird, found in pairsor small groups in the streamside scrub, parks andgardens of both cities, often emitting a loud andmelodious ‘doctor-quick doctor-quick be-quick be-quick’ call from a bushtop perch. The male andfemale are similar in colour: mostly greyish-brownabove and whitish-brown below, with a dark cres-ted head and dark chin. The underparts are grey-brown with a white or yellow patch around the vent.A lively bird for the lively cities of Ceuta and Me-lilla, both full of the sights, smells and sounds ofSpain mixed with North Africa, with Morocco justa few kilometres away.

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EurasianStone-curlewBurhinus oedicnemusAlcaraván común

A ground-hugging bird with excellent camoufla-ge, which normally flees by walking or running(with horizontal body and retracted neck) ratherthan flying. Close up, its huge yellow eye is stri-king. Mainly active from dusk to dawn though day-time calling is not uncommon. Found in more orless open countryside with low vegetation. Welldistributed in the south and centre of Spain, ba-rring the mountainous areas.


Black-belliedSandgrousePterocles orientalisGanga Ortega

A pigeon-like, seed-eating ground bird with longwings and excellent camouflage, it nests on theground in dry, wide-open plans and extensive dry-farming areas. Numbers are dwindling; the mainthreats are changes in farming practices (disap-pearance of fallow land, intensification of crop-farming, change from dryfarming to irrigation insome areas...), reforestation of farming land, scat-tered populations, etc. Some of the biggest po-pulations live in the province of Zaragoza, a cityknown for its cathedral called El Pilar and its can-died fruit, among other local delicacies.

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Pin-tailed SandgrousePterocles alchata

Ganga ibérica

European RollerCoracias garrulus

Carraca europea

Scarcer with more scattered populations than thesimilar Black-Bellied Sandgrouse and equally wellcamouflaged on the ground, where it tends tospend most of its time. Often seen in largishflocks, it breeds in dry, open plains and rarelymoves elsewhere in winter. The population trendis downward and the species faces much thesame problems as the other birds that breed inSpain’s grassland plains. Some of the healthiestpopulations are holding on in the grasslands ofAragón, for example in the nature reserve ca-lled Reserva Ornitológica de El Planeron run bySEO/BirdLife in Belchite.

Close up, this is a staggeringly beautiful bird withmyriad hues of blue, wich breeds in dry, warmareas of open land with scattered trees, whe-re it feeds on large insects caught on the groundand in flight. Its raucous call is very similar tothe sound made by one of those old-fashionedfootball rattles or wooden ratchets; this gives itits name of carraca in Spanish. A typically Afri-can bird in essence and, as such, a tell-tale signof Spain’s closeness to the old continent. Thesame goes for Europe’s only palm wood calledPalmeral de Elche, listed as a UNESCO WorldHeritage Site, around which the Roller itself canbe seen along with Mediterranean scrub warblersand Hoopoes, etc.

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HoopoeUpupa epopsAbubilla

Absolutely unmistakable, not only because of itsshape and colours but also its characteristic, low-pitched, far-carrying and onomatopoeic call of“hoop-oo-oo”. It spends much of its time on theground catching insects and grubs, and lives infarming areas and open land dotted with bushesand copses, etc, breeding in holes in trees, sto-ne walls and ruins. Common in nearly the who-le of Spain except the wetter northern parts andin mountainous areas. It increasingly overwintershere and even turns up in green areas of the bigcities like the Casa de Campo on the edge of Ma-drid. Historically the Casa de Campo was crownproperty and a royal hunting ground but today itis Madrid’s biggest public park and a very agre-eable place to escape the noise and bustle of thebig city.


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Calandra LarkMelanocorypha calandraCalandria común

A robust lark with a thick beak, black patcheson each side of the neck and distinctive dark un-derwings in flight. A fine mimic of other bird-songs, it is one of the most typical birds of theflat dryfarming and cereal-growing land ofcentral Spain. Numbers are highest in Castillay León, a region of spectacular Medieval cas-tles like Castillo de Coca (Segovia), Castillo deZamora or Castillo de La Mota in Medina delCampo (Valladolid).


Dupont’s LarkChersophilus duponti

Alondra ricotí

Great BustardOtis tarda

Avutarda común

Very rare and listed as in danger of extinction, theDupont's is similar to a Crested Lark but slimmerwith a long curved beak. Difficult to see but oftenbetrays its presence by an easily recognisable flutycall, onomatopoeically rendered as “ricoti” in itsSpanish name. Ground hugging, rarely taking tothe air, it frequents flat, stony or chalky terrain withsparse low vegetation such as thyme or broom.The SEO/BirdLife-owned reserve called Reservadel Planerón in Belchite (Zaragoza) is one of its lastredoubts. In the surrounding fields are grown thecereals from which the organic pasta of Riet Vellis made: www.rietvell.com.

Europe’s heaviest flying bird, with males weighingin at between 8-16 kilos and almost matching thehabitat-sharing sheep for size. It breeds onopen plains in Spain’s dryland crops, mainly in thecentre of the country, shunning human habita-tions and busy roads. A gregarious species; themales put on spectacular female-wooing displaysin communal leks. Its main threat is the loss ofsuitable habitat although numbers are holding ste-ady in Spain, which boasts the world’s biggest po-pulation with 27,500-30,000 birds). One of theiconic spots for watching them is the Parque Na-tural de las Lagunas de Villafáfila in Zamora (Cas-tilla y León), although it is also quite easy to seethem only a few kilometres from Madrid and insome spots of Castilla-La Mancha.

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Greater Short-toed LarkCalandrella brachydactylaTerrera común

A small gregarious lark with sandy, largely uns-treaked plumage and dark patches on each sideof the neck like the Calandra Lark. Its flight isundulating and agile with sudden swoops and itfeeds on both seeds and insects and lives in flat,dry and open countryside. A good spot for se-eing it is the district known as Bajo Martín in thenorth of Soria province, one of the areas with thelowest population density in Spain.


Crested LarkGalerida cristataCogujada común

Sandy coloured like the Calandra Lark but sma-ller with a characteristic crest, it favours dryfar-ming land, the outskirts of towns and roadsidepaths and ditches. Much more accustomed toman than other larks, it is often the commonestbird of dryfarming areas. This sort of habitat haschanged radically in recent years because of thepopulation drift to the towns and the increasedintensification of farming methods; recent stu-dies show that such regions are now losing muchof their birdlife.

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Thekla LarkGalerida theklae

Cogujada montesina

Black-eared WheatearOenanthe hispanica

Collalba rubia

Very similar to the closely-related Crested Lark buttold apart by its shorter, straighter beak, lower-lying crest and thicker breast streaks. It often singsfrom high perches, unlike the more aerial Cres-ted Lark. It lives in wasteland and is frequent inrocky areas, and is very common on the Balea-ric Islands, where there are no Crested Larks.

The male’s plumage varies from ochre to light cre-am; the tail is black with noticeable white outer-tail feathers. It breeds in open land with bushes,trees and scattered rocks, singing from songpostsor in flight. The open countryside of La Manchais a good place to see them, living today in muchthe same landscape as described in Miguel deCervantes’s Quixote, one of the enduring gemsof Spanish literature.

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This species lives in drier and more open terrainthan the Great Grey Shrike, which it resembles clo-sely, though the Southern has a thin white line abo-ve the black eyestripe and a pink flush to the lightgrey breast. Wintering birds congregate above allin the centre and west of the country. Shrikes areone of the bird families that have suffered the ste-epest declines in recent decades.


Trumpeter FinchBucanetes githagineusCamachuelo trompetero

A small chunky bird with a pinkish breast,brownish back and grey head with a short thickbill. It is abundant in North Africa, and prospersin the very arid, almost desert-like terrain of theeasternmost Canary Islands (especially Lanzaroteand Fuerteventura), where it is easy to see mo-ving around in small busy flocks. It also lives inthe southeast part of Spain from where it is co-lonising new territories, the Desierto de Tabernasin Almería is a good site to see it.

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Southern GreyShrikeLanius meridionalisAlcaudón real

59 | Canary Islands

Bolle’s PigeonColumba bolliiPaloma turqué

White-TailedLaurel PigeonColumba junoniae

Paloma rabiche

A dark pigeon, the same size as the Wood Pigeon,with wine-coloured breast and dark tail tip. It isa sedentary, endemic and threatened species nes-ting in Laurel forests of Tenerife, Gomera, La Pal-ma and El Hierro. It feeds on the fruits of the Laurelspecies Persea indica and other trees. The bestviewing spot is Parque Nacional de Garajonay onthe island of Gomera. This island boasts a valuableremnant of the subtropical Laurel woods that clo-aked the Mediterranean area several million ye-ars ago in the Tertiary period.

This pigeon has a dark chestnut breast and a cha-racteristic white tail tip. It nests in rocky gorgesand steep Laurel forests of Tenerife, Gomera andLa Palma. A sedentary, endemic and threatenedspecies whose healthiest populations are foundin La Palma’s Biosphere Reserve called Bosquede los Tilos, the site also of singular trees like theCanary Islands Dragon Tree or “Drago” (Draca-ena drago).

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Canary Islands StonechatSaxicola dacotiaeTarabilla canaria

Similar to the Common Stonechat but with a whi-te eyestripe, throat and rump. The orange of thechest fades out towards the belly. It haunts gor-ges and arid zones with spiny scrub on the Islandof Fuerteventura, the closest to Africa of the Ca-nary Islands and the most desert-like due to theabsence of the balmy trade winds that cooldown the rest of the archipelago. Sedentary andthreatened, the healthiest population lives on Pe-nínsula de Jandía in Fuerteventura, the remainsof an old volcanic crater famous today for its vir-gin beaches of white sand.

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Blue ChaffinchFringilla teydeaPinzón azul

Sedentary and endemic to the Canaries, it is di-vided into two subspecies, one more abundantin Tenerife and another duller-plumaged bird inGran Canaria. Males are blue-grey in colour, brigh-test on the head and mantle; females are dullbrown. The best place to see them is the CanaryIsland Pine woods growing round the volcanic rockof Parque Nacional de las Cañadas del Teide inTenerife. The pines themselves are singular in thatthey sprout anew after fires, and the volcano, at3718 metres, is the highest peak in the wholeSpanish territory. Its summit, snow-covered in win-ter, is visible from the island’s beaches.

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61 | Canary Islands

Atlantic CanarySerinus canaria

Serín canario

One of the commonest birds in the Canary Islands,except for Lanzarote and Fuerteventura. It is sma-ller than the Common Chiffchaff with morerounded wings. An endemic species living in fo-rest edges, gardens and urban parks and very fre-quent in the islands’ market gardens, wheregrapes and potatoes are grown to make the de-licious “Malvasía” wines and such famous dishesas “papas arrugadas con mojo picón” (wrinkly po-tatoes with spicy sauce). It was precisely in theCanary Islands that the potato gained its first fo-othold in European territory after being shippedin from the Americas.

The wild forerunner of the canary cagebird, en-demic to Macaronesia (Canaries, Madeira andAzores), and bigger but slimmer than a Serin.The male is less streaked than the female andwith much more yellow on the belly and flanks.It is present on all islands of the archipelago andregarded as one of the symbols of the islandstogether with the Canary Palm or the famouscentenarian Canary Islands Dragon Tree. It livesin market gardens and open wooded land.

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Canary Islands ChiffchaffPhylloscopus canariensis

Mosquitero canario

Berthelot’s PipitAnthus berthelotiiBisbita caminero

A pipit with a greyish back and whitish, heavilystreaked breast and belly, with frequents aridfarmland on all the islands. Common on higherground such as the iconic crag called Roque delos Muchachos in Parque Nacional de la Cal-dera de Taburiente (2396 m). This site is alsohome to one of the world’s most complete as-tronomical observatories. A drive up from thebeach takes you through all the island’secosystems one after the other.

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Cream-ColouredCourserCursorius cursorCorredor sahariano

A slim, sandy-coloured, long-legged plover fre-quenting desert-like areas of Fuerteventura and,to much a lesser extent, Lanzarote. Formerly pre-sent too in the island of Gran Canaria but it be-came extinct there. It feeds on insects and otherinvertebrates.

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Houbara BustardChlamydotis undulata

Avutarda hubara

Bulwer’s PetrelBulweria bulwerii

Petrel de Bulwer

A medium-sized bustard, very quick, agile and gra-ceful over the ground. Sandy brown in colour witha characteristic black line running down the sideof the neck. It lives in desert-like areas of Fuer-teventura and Lanzarote, feeding on insectsand plants, but it is in danger of extinction dueto habitat destruction. SEO/BirdLife runs its ownreserve where this species lives: Cercado de ElJarde in Fuerteventura.

A large, very dark, shearwater-like petrel with longwings and tail. It is an agile flier which breeds onislets and steep cliffs of practically all the islands.One of the biggest populations breeds on the cliffsof Parque Nacional de Timanfaya, a national parkwith over 25 volcanoes. Some of these volcano-es are still active today, reaching temperaturesof 600ºC only thirteen metres down. The park lieson the island of Lanzarote, listed as a Biosphe-re Reserve.

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Much more than sun and beaches

Every year 50 million tourists come to Spain, attracted mainly by its beaches, sunny cli-mate and cultural heritage. Quite apart from all these well-known attractions, howev-er, its biodiversity and varied landscapes make it a unique destination for observing andenjoying an exceptional flora and fauna, all too often overlooked by hasty tourists withother sights on their minds.

Spain boasts a host of different ecosystems, with a botanical diversity and wealth of fau-na that are practically unique in Europe. These range from a sizeable collection of en-demic invertebrates to large mammals like the bear, wolf and lynx, as well as a quitespectacular birdlife.

No other European country can match Spain’s biodiversity. Fifty per cent of the conti-nent’s vertebrates live in Spain and 30% of the territory is included in the EU’s Natura2000 Network on the strength of the singular and well-conserved habitats and species.

Several factors account for Spain’s wealth of wildlife, such as its geographical position,its hilly and mountainous terrain, climatic diversity and traditional land uses. Lying be-tween two continents and straddling two seas, the Mediterranean and the Atlantic, theIberian Peninsula has served as a crossroads for animal movements for millions of years.Many cold-climate species took up residence here during the glaciations and now takerefuge on the highest mountain tops; other sub-tropical species have hung on here sincethe hot humid times of the Tertiary period; yet others, acclimatised to colder and driertimes, have also found their niche.

Spain’s nature, its exclusive species and ecosystems, are therefore unmatched else-where. This is especially true of the plant world, though the fauna too has many endemics,especially among the invertebrates, continental fish species and, to a lesser extent, am-phibians, reptiles and mammals. The same does not go for its birds, nearly all of whichare shared with other countries, especially European ones, barring some especially rareor restricted-range one-offs.

Nonetheless, Spain is one of Europe’s best birdwatching countries. According to the lat-est official list drawn up by SEO/BirdLife in 2012, 569 species of birds have now beenrecorded in Spain, including migrants and rarities. Many of them are scarce or difficultto see in the rest of Europe; others are basically African species existing here on thenorthern edge of their range; others still are exclusive to Spanish territory. Endemic birdsare few however, restricted to Spanish Imperial Eagle and Iberian Chiffchaff on the main-land, Balearic Shearwater and Balearic Warbler on the Balearic Islands and Bolle’s Pi-geon, White-Tailed Laurel Pigeon, Blue Chaffinch, Canary Islands Stonechat and CanaryIslands Chiffchaff on the Canaries.

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Spain is therefore home to northern species on the southern edge of their range, sub-Saharan species on the northern edge of their range and a whole host of birds that haveevolved in all the infinitely varied habitats in between.

Spain is Europe’s second most mountainous country after Switzerland, with various peaksthrusting up to 3000 metres or more. This is an essential factor for understanding its wealthof ecosystems today. These mountains range from the Alpine ecosystem of the Pyrenees,in the north, to the idiosyncratic Sierra Nevada, a lone snowy peak in the hot south.

The spectacular mass migration across the Strait of Gibraltar is another hallmark fea-ture of Spain’s birdlife. With only 14 kms of sea separating Europe and Africa, this areafunnels in millions of migrating birds every year. Especially striking and eyecatching isthe autumn passage of large soaring birds. These are heavily dependent on wind con-ditions to be able to make the crossing, and when the wind is unfavourable wait in theirthousands on dry land until the weather allows them to cross the Strait safely.

Spain’s traditional farming practices have also favoured its birdlife over time. Time-ho-noured crop-farming systems and extensive livestock rearing with seasonal movementsto higher and lower ground (transhumance) have generated a land-use system in whichwildlife and human activity have been able to coexist harmoniously for thousands of years.The classic example of this is the typical open grazing woodland called dehesa, a patch-work landscape in which Holm Oaks and Cork Oaks alternate with pastureland and cropfields. The dehesa and the surrounding thickly scrubbed hills are home to flagship specieslike the Imperial Eagle and Iberian Lynx, the only endemics of this type of terrain. In theseenvironments both have evolved in close relationship with a basic food source, also na-tive to the Iberian Peninsula: the wild rabbit. Such is the importance of this lagomorphas a prey species that it would have to be rated alongside bear, vulture, eagle or wolfas one of Spain’s key wildlife components.

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Notes

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100 birds - Ecoturismo en Lanzarote

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