GOT International

2011-10-09T00:14:00.014+02:00

Winging off for warmer climes

Lone raptor soaring above the city of Barcelona -- Picture: Assumpta Bosch (Click twice on picture for a full-screen blow-up)

Bird’s-eye Barcelona basking in the glare of an early Autumn morning sun was a stirring sight, viewed 430 metres (1,410 feet) up the Turó de Magarola, one of the peaks of the Collserola mountain range running smack within the heart of a city of 3 million. But it was not what we had come to see. The sight that held the collective attention of birders and ornithologists on the hilltop watchsite was that speck in the southern sky, on the upper right corner of the picture above. It was a European Honey Buzzard (Pernis apivorus) spiralling leisurely upwards. Minutes later it had disappeared overland on the first leg of its long flight to central Africa for the winter.

The committed & the curious watching out for the Broadwing flypast on the Magarola peak watchsite - Picture Abul Fazil

The Honey Buzzard was one of more than 1,300 birds of prey that have abandoned their summer roosts in Catalonia and migrated south for the warmth of the Sub-Saharan plains. Over the last two weeks of September the skies over Barcelona have been full of them, providing an annual spectacle that has caught the imagination of bird-lovers and the simply curious alike.

Portside Barcelona with the Collserola mountain range straddling the length of the city - Photo courtesy of Wikipedia
(Click on picture for an enlargement)

The Turó de Magarola is one of the five peaks of the Collserola, an 84 sq kilometre mountain range that that has been designated a national park and which forms part of the coastal ranges separating the city from the valleys to the north and the plains to south. The Collserola’s tallest peak and highest point of the city is the 512m Tibidabo peak, location of the century-old amusement park with the same name. The Collserola mountain lies just below one of the major flyways for broad-winged migrants. Flyways are long-distance avian flight paths which span continents and oceans and where the phenomenon of hundreds and even thousands of birds flying in formation is observed. GOT members were out of luck however; no significant flypast materialised during the long September 25 morning we were on Magarola peak. All we saw – before the searing midday sun sent us scuttling downhill -- were isolated individuals and pairs circling around, waiting for the right weather conditions to start them off on their long hauls. Birders from local clubs affiliated to the Catalan Ornithological Institute (Institut Català d'Ornitologia, ICO) have been painstakingly recording the species and their numbers using the Barcelona flyway since the migration began at the onset of autumn on September 3. And their findings have brought some surprises. Honey Buzzards, for one thing, turned out to be the largest group migrating from Catalonia, followed by Marsh Harriers (Circus aeruginosus) and Common Kestrels (Falco tinnunculus). In all, a total of 19 species of birds of prey flew past the Magarola peak over a period of four weeks. Among them --- spotted for the first time in 17 years -- was the Short-eared Owl (Asio flammeus), one of the very few nocturnal birds of prey that migrate south for the winter.

European Honey Buzzard (Pernis apivorus) –Picture by ornithologist Roger Sanmarti, courtesy of Photologistics

ICO chart showing the flight route of the European Honey Buzzard

Common Kestrel (Falco tinnunculus)-- Picture by ornithologist Roger Sanmarti, courtesy of Photologistics

The principal broadwings using the Collserola flyway between September 3 and October 2 this autumn were the:

Black Kite, Milvus migrans, Milano Negro, Milà Negre, Schwarzmilan, Milan Noir.

Booted Eagle, Hieraaetus pennatus, Aguililla Calzada, Àguila calçada, Zwergadler, Aigle botté

Common Buzzard, Buteo buteo, Busardo Ratonero, Aligot comú, Mäusebussard, Buse variable

Common Kestrel, Falco tinnunculus, Cernícalo Vulgar, Xoriguer comú, Turmfalke, Faucon crécerelle

Eurasian Sparrowhawk, Accipiter nisus, Gavilán Común, Esparver vulgar, Sperber, Épervier d'Europe

European Honey Buzzard, Pernis apivorus, Abejero Europeo, Aligot vesper, Wespenbussard, Bondrée apivore

Eurasian Hobby, Falco subbuteo, Alcotán Europeo, Falcó mostatxut, Baumfalke, Faucon hobereau

Marsh Harrier, Circus aeruginosus, Aguilucho Lagunero Occidental, Arpella vulgar, Rohrweihe, Busard des roseaux

Merlin, Falco columbarius, Esmerejón, Esmerla, Merlin, Faucon émerillon,

Montagu's Harrier, Circus pygargus, Aguilucho Cenizo, Esparver cendrós, Wiesenweihe, Busard cendré

Northern Goshawk, Accipiter gentilis, Azor Común, Astor, Habicht, Autour des palombes

Northern (Hen) Harrier, Circus cyaneus, Aguilucho Pálido, Arpella pàl·lida, Kornweihe, Busard Saint-Martin

Osprey, Pandion haliaetus, Águila Pescadora, Àguila pescadora, Fischadler, Balbuzard pêcheur

Peregrine Falcon, Falco peregrinus, Halcón Peregrino, Falcó pelegrí, Wanderfalke, Faucon pèlerin

Red Kite, Milvus milvus, Milano Real, Milà reial, Rotmilan, Milan Royal.

Short-toed Eagle, Circaetus gallicus, Culebrera Europea, Àguila marcenca, Schlangenadler, Circaète Jean-le-Blanc

Eleonora's Falcon, Falco eleonorae, Halcón de Eleonora, Falcó de la reina, Eleonorenfalke, Faucon d'Éléonore

Griffon Vulture, Gyps fulvus, Buitre Leonado, Voltor comú, Gänsegeier, vautour fauve

Black Stork, Ciconia nigra, Cigüeña Negra, Cigonya Negra, Schwarzstorch, Cigogne noire

White Stork, Ciconia ciconia, Cigüeña Blanca, Cigonya blanca, Weißstorch, Cigogne blanche

On September 25, GOT member and ICO collaborator, Ferran Pascual, who stayed on at the watchsite, totted up 30 Honey Buzzards, 10 Eurasian Sparrowhawks, 6 Marsh Harriers, 3 Northern Goshawks, 2 Short-toed Eagles, a Peregrine Falcon and a Great Cormorant (Phalacrocorax carbo ).

ICO checklist of daily movements of broadwings leaving via the Collserola Corridor

Broadwings weren’t the only ones migrating via the Collserola fly-path. Ferran counted 10 Barn Swallows (Hirundo rustica), 10 House Martins (Delichon urbcum), 2 Alpine Swifts (Apus melba), and even 2 Grey Wagtails (Motacilla cinerea), something not so normal, as these passerines use flyways free of raptors to head south.

Chart designed by ICO ornithologist Anna Dalmau for GOT’s 2011 World Bird Day celebrations October 2.
For example, Barn Swallows (picture A) use the flight routes shown in chart A.

(Click on picture for an enlargement. Clicking again on the enlargement gives a full-screen blow-up)

Easy picking for this falcon

The reason why birds migrate can be guessed at. Warmer weather is a strong inducement, but the primary motivation for migration appears to be food. While the long northern summer is ideal for breeding birds to feed their young, as days shorten in autumn, it is in the south where available food supplies varies little with the season. How migrant birds know when or where to travel is, however, one of the greatest mysteries of nature. Yet their epic flights over continents and oceans are as predictable as the seasons, and have been extensively charted. From Catalonia, for example, the flights of little songbirds like the robin have been just as gruelling as any undertaken by broadwinged birds of prey. While the risks are enormous for both big and small, the latter face an extra hazard – predation. Passerine birds flying south, for instance, are easy picking for the Eleonora’s Falcon, which breeds on Mediterranean islands, and feed their young with captured migrants. Death takes a heavy toll on all travellers however, and it is estimated that half of all migrants heading south for the winter will not return to breed in the spring. Apart from predation and bad weather, high stress and `physical exertion, man-made dangers also raise the migrant mortality rate. Birds crash full tilt into the glass panes of skyscrapers by the thousands, mistaking the reflection of the sky in a window for the real sky, get caught in wind farms, killed by power lines, and trapped or shot down by hunters. But all these dangers pale before that of potentially the greatest threat of all – the loss of stopover habitat. Most birds have to break journey to rest, stock up on food, and shelter from predators and inclement weather. Rapid urbanisation, deforestation and modern agricultural practices however have meant the disappearance of many stopover sites. And without them, many migrants will not make it.

Unpowered flight

Most migrations begin with the birds starting off in a broad front, that is, starting from different parts of the region. This front generally narrows into one or more flyways. While small birds can depend on pure wing-power to propel their light bodies, the heavier land-bound broadwings need favourable weather conditions such as rising air currents to stay aloft. On long hauls, birds of prey such as eagles, falcons, vultures, buzzards and kites wait for warm columns of air called thermals to help them out.

This WIKIMEDIA COMMONS graphic illustrates what a thermal column between the ground and the cumulus cloud (A) looks like. The sun increases the temperature of the ground which will then warm the air above it (1). The bubble of hot air starts to rise (2) until a certain point where it will cool down. Due to its lower temperature, the mass expands and moves downward (3). Thermal columns are completely invisible phenomena. They are onland phenomena and cannot form over water. Chart courtesy of:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Thermal_column.svg

Master gliders

Raptors detect these thermals and simply hop on them. As the thermals form beneath their outstretched wings, they circle slowly and effortlessly higher and higher with the rising warm air until they reach the top of the column, generally around one and a half kilometres (about one mile) above ground.

Thermal hopping and long-haul gliding on flatland -- illustration on a Magarola peak information board

When the thermal fizzles out, the birds break out of the column, draw in their wings, fold their tails and begin their long glide – an energy-conserving unpowered flight with wings fixed in place and no flapping. As they glide and lose altitude they look for another rising thermal to ride and regain altitude for the next glide. It is a continuous process and a vital means of long-haul transportation for broadwings.

Thermal hopping and long-haul gliding over mountainous terrain -- Courtesy of Collserola Park Information Centre

Indeed, few bird species can better the broadwings at gliding. Once atop a thermal they can glide almost 18 km (11 miles) before they sink to the ground. Tailwinds -- winds that blow in the direction of travel – provide added impetus. With a strong tailwind to boot, broadwings can cover hundreds of kilometers in a few hours. -- Report by ABUL FAZIL

2011-09-20T20:24:00.008+02:00

THE UNLOVABLES

The Mountain Long-Eared Bat, wings tucked in like folding umbrellas–picture by Dr. CARLES FLAQUER (biologist & Coordinator of the Area of Investigation of Chiropteras at the Natural Science Museu of Granollers)

OME of nature’s creatures are simply incapable of inspiring love or affection, and high on that list must come the bats. Yet that didn’t put a damper on the 2011 European Bat Night celebrated in Catalonia last week. The event, held in 42 townships to draw public awareness to our menaced bat populations, attracted several thousand ecologically interested people, families, and children, a turnout just large enough to raise the spirits of anxious Bat Night organisers.

In the tiny town of Riells de Fai alone, some 150 people, mainly children, turned up to get an insight into the bizarre world of bats at an evening jointly hosted by the Town Hall, the Natural Science Museum of county-capital Granollers, and GOT. And what they learnt during an hour-long talk by museum director Toni Arrizabalaga, not just fascinated them, but got one and all raring to go on the programmed bat-hunt after that.


Museum director Toni Arrizabalada, sporting a LED headlamp and equipped with a Heterodyne Pettersson D240x bat detector to record and replay bat calls and cries, leads the pack on a Bat Night field expedition through the narrow streets and surrounding woods of Riells del Fai. For the uninitiated, which includes most of us, bats are strange creatures that look like a mouse with wings, fly around only at night, sleep hanging upside down, and conjure up images of blood-sucking vampires. Toni Arrizabalaga did a great job setting the records straight, and went behind the scenes to reveal that bats have a complex lifestyle, a rich social life and a sixth sense that is almost beyond our comprehension. First and foremost, he stated, bats are mammals, meaning that the females give birth to their young, which are then weaned on mother’s milk. In fact, of the world’s 4,800 species of mammals, an astonishing 1,100 are bat species! And they vary in size from tiny creatures no bigger than butterflies, to huge animals with wingspans of almost two metres. A little-known fact is that bats, whose forelimbs are webbed and developed as wings, are the only mammals which can actually fly like birds. Depending on the species, bats by and large feed on either insects or fruits, but some species live on nectar, others on frogs, a few on fish, still others on small mammals and birds, and one particular species, aptly called the Vampire Bats, feed entirely on blood – the only mammals that do so. The 30 species of bats found in Catalonia, though, are all insect eaters, called insectivores. Fruit Bats, called frugivores, among them the flying foxes, live exclusively in tropical regions, while Vampire Bats are found only in South America. Bats are indispensable to the ecosystem. In particular, Insect-eaters, which make up 75 per cent of the world’s bat population, are primary predators of the vast swarms of mosquitoes, flies and other insects that emerge at night, especially those that plague forests and farms, causing millions of euros in crop losses annually. Each bat can gobble up an average of 600 insects a night, almost a third of its weight. That’s equivalent to a man weighing 60 kg swallowing 20 kg of meat everyday. The frugivores, which make up most of the rest of the bat species, also perform vital ecological roles such as pollinating flowers and dispersing fruit seeds. In fact, many tropical plant species depend entirely on bats for the distribution of their seeds. BLIND AS A BAT? This popular expression notwithstanding, all bats can see, some very well indeed. The problem is that we humans hardly ever see them, let alone hear them. At twilight time we may be lucky enough to see a few feeding on insects, but as darkness falls we usually don't even know they are there. Bats however have no problem with darkness, even total darkness – they “see” with sound, using what is called echo location, a system by which they give out high-pitched calls and then instantaneously interpret the echoes to locate, identify and capture the tiniest insect. Echolocation turns them into excellent aerial navigators. Unlike birds, bats never fly into glass panes or get entangled in your hair. Pinpointing a prey with echolocation—ultrasonic squeaks out, echos in. Picture courtesy of the Granollers Natural Science Museum The human ear, however, can’t detect most bat calls. Children hear sound up to about 20 kHz (20,000 Hz or cycles per second), but most adults are unable to hear anything above 16 kHz. Bats emit calls at typically 2, 3 or even 4 times higher pitch than we can hear. Sounds beyond human hearing are called ultrasonic. Not all bat species operate at ultrasonic levels. Some like the Molossidae or Free-Tailed bat species echolocate at as low as 9-15 kHz, and can be quite audible to us. So: hearing range for humans. Ultraso: ultrasonic (high-pitched) sound inaudible to the human ear. Picture courtesy of the Granollers Natural Science Museum. Resting comfortably on the tip of a finger, Catalonia’s smallest bat, the Common Pipistrelle– Picture by Carles Flaquer. Compared to the fruit bats, which are the veritable giants of the bat world, insect-eating bats are relatively small. The smallest found in Catalonia is the Soprano Pipistrelle (Pipistrellus pygmaeus), a 3.5cm long pygmy with a wingspan of 19cm and covered in brown fur. Sopranos echolocate at 55 kHz, and are common in wetland, woodland and farmland but also found in towns, where they roost in lofts and buildings. The largest insectivore found here is the Greater Noctule bat (Nyctalus lasiopterus), one of the rarest European bat, with a body length of about 16cm and wingspan of up to 46 cm. It also happens to be one of the few bat species that feed on little birds, preying extensively on night-migrating songbirds on the wing. It has an echolocation frequency of above 20 kHz -- beyond the hearing range of birds. The Greater Horseshoe (Rhinolophus ferrumequinum) -– Picture by Carles Flaquer Catalonia is also home to the Greater Horseshoe Bat (Rhinolophus ferrumequinum), which can live for up to 40 years -- the oldest recorded age for any European bat. The Greater Horseshoe bat is the largest bat in Europe and has a distinctive noseleaf -- a thin, broad, membranous fold of skin on the nose -- which has a pointed upper part and a horseshoe shaped lower part that gives it its name. The bat’s horseshoe noseleaf is an important adaptation -- it helps to focus the 82 kHz echolocation frequency calls the animal uses to 'see'. The Greater Horseshoe bat is between 5.7 and 7.1 cm long and has a 35–40 cm wingspan. The Barbastelle, a European bat with a short nose, small eyes and wide ears – Picture by Carles Flaquer Two other favourites of bat-lovers here are the Barbastelle (barbastellus barbastellus) and the Parti-coloured Bat or Rearmouse (Vespertilio murinus). The Barbastelle, a European bat with a short nose, small eyes and wide ears, roost in damaged or dead trees and move between the roosts with great frequency. Its echolocation frequency is around 40 kHz. The Parti-coloured bats, which have a call similar to a twittering bird call, hunt for prey such as mosquitoes, flies and moths using ultrasonic cries of around 27 kHz. Its name comes from its two-coloured red to dark brown fur, and silver-white-frosted hair. The Parti-coloured Bat with a bird-like call –Picture by Carles Flaquer Bat-Hunting Via Ultrasonic Mike The throng that trailed Toni Arrizabalaga down the narrow streets of Riells del Fai on Bat Night didn’t actually see any bats. But they did learn a lot about the Heterodyne Bat Detector he was brandishing. Nobody had ever seen one before. Toni explained that it was a gadget with an ultrasonic microphone that converted undetectable bat calls into sounds audible to the human ear – a sort of bat radio. The electronics is complex, but whenever a bat flew over the crowd, the detector gave out a series of clicks that got everyone excited and focussed on the electronic box rather than the skies above. The sounds were not exactly meaningful, except to the expert user. They didn’t give us any real idea of the calls themselves, but they did tell that a bat was around, what species it belonged to, and why it was making those sounds. Different sounds “reveal” to the expert different bat activity: normal navigational calls to identify and avoid hitting some obstacle; calls of bats on the hunt for prey; calls indicating an attack sequence as the bat locates its prey and homes in on it; social calls and even calls revealing movement between roosts. *Click* to ‘hear’ a Kuhl´s pipistrelle (Pipistrellus kuhlii) making a social call. Sound waves on a bat detector and revealing what the creature is up to –picture courtesy of Granollers Natural Science Museum An upside down world Apart from echolocation, another fascinating feature of bats is their ability to roost upside down, virtually from dawn to dusk. To get into position, all a bat has to do is find a surface it can grip on to with its claws. With the surface held, the bat lets its body relax, an action with causes the weight of the upper body to pull down on the tendons connected to the claws, causing them to clench vicelike. The claws then close-in, and the animal’s weight keep them locked. To unlock the grip, the bat has to exert energy and flex muscles that pull the claws open. Since the claws remain locked when the bat is relaxed, a bat that dies while roosting will continue to hang upside down until something shakes it loose.Sleeping upside down enables them to launch into flight in an instant, especially when danger threatens. The other alternative is to slowly crawl up to a high vantage point and then hurl themselves off into flight. Roosting wrong side up in a bat cave -- Picture: Granollers Natural Science Museum While Heterodyne bat detectors have opened up the secret world of bats, public awareness of the vital role they play in the environment in which they live is still poor. Most people find the creatures repulsive –they are ugly, grotesque, and there’s something sinister about the fact that they roost suspended upside down. The European Bat Night, involving more than 30 countries throughout Europe, has gone a long way, however, in breaking down some of the barriers between humans and bats by passing on information about the way bats live and their habitats. One myth that has certainly been buried is the belief that bats are rabies-carriers.They aren't. Report: Abul Fazil

2011-06-28T13:28:00.141+02:00

Looking Down On The High Flyers.....

Vivid red brightening up the greenery: a Linnet basking away—Close-up by Assumpta Bosch
(Click on picture for an enlargement. Clicking again on the enlargement gives a full-screen blow-up)

It’s not something that happens often – getting a bird’s eye view of avian activity in all its frenzy and intensity, and its moments of calm and repose. And the Pla de La Calma (Plain of Tranquillity) is probably one of the few Catalonian nature reserves where this is possible.

The La Calma nature reserve -- a sprawling area of grassland and scrubland with some interspersed woodland of Holm oaks and poplars on gently undulating terrain between 1000 and 1250 metres up the western flank of the Montseny Mountain range -- was where GOT birders came upon this rare sight of a male Linnet, resplendent in breeding plumage.

The Linnet (arrowed) in true perspective, perched prominently atop a bramble bush on the slopes below us. Picture: Abul Fazil

A small passerine in the finch family Fringillidae, Linnets thrive in the protected ecosystem of La Calma which abounds with its favourite food – seeds of dandelions, thistle, flax and hawthorn. The Linnet derives its English name from its partiality for seeds of flax, from which linen is made, and its scientific name, Carduelis cannabina, from its fondness for hemp. The male in breeding plumage has crimson patches on either side of the breast and a crimson patch on the crown, but the most distinctive feature is its fast and pleasant warbling song. Open land with thick bushes is favoured for breeding, and there is plenty of that on La Calma.

A male Red-backed Shrike on a thistle plant looks out for potential prey –Picture by Assumpta Bosch

The butcher birds

Three members of the Shrike family, all wearing their distinctive black masks, were also in evidence on La Calma: the Red-backed (Lanius collurio), the Woodchat (Lanius senator), and the Southern Grey (Lanius meridionalis). Unlike the vegan Linnet, Shrikes are carnivorous passerines with a penchant for impaling captured prey on a thorn or the fork of a bush or tree. This cache or "larder" is designed to hold the victim while it is being eaten, to store prey for later consumption, or to attract mates. The official name Lanius is derived from the Latin word for "butcher" and this, together with its unusual feeding habit, has earned the genus its “butcher bird” tag. Medium-sized and migratory, Shrikes hunt from prominent perches and prey on large insects, frogs, rodents, lizards and even small birds like finches.

A female (left) and another male (right) Red-backed Shrike–Pictures by Assumpta Bosch

The Red-backed male has generally reddish upper parts, a grey crown and rump and the black stripe through the eye. The underparts are tinged pink, and the tail has a black and white pattern. The female has brown upperparts adorned with wavy lines.

Another butcher bird, a Woodchat Shrike –picture by Assumpta Bosch

The male Woodchat shrike is a striking bird with black and white plumage and a reddish crown and nape. It is also the only shrike member with pale rumps and a plain face that gives it a gentler expression than other shrikes. Like the female Red-backed, the female Woodchat too has a buff and vermiculated underpart.
The La Calma reserve is probably the closest one can get to a perfect sanctuary for avian wildlife and wild flora. Human presence is scarce, apart from the few weekend hikers, who stick to the single dirt track that cuts across the whole length of the terrain, park rangers on their bicycles or four-wheel drive vehicles, and the occasional organised group of ecotourists. A steep, narrow, very winding, asphalt road takes you from Tagamanent, one of the numerous small towns nestling at the foot of the Montseny, to La Calma’s only carpark, obligatory stop for all private vehicles, a thousand metres up. Not for the faint-hearted is the 30 minute crawl up or roll down, especially on a wet day.

The western flank of the Montseny range, some 15 kilometres in the distance. The black arrow marks Tagamanent peak and the ruins of the Church of Santa Maria. The saddle (red arrow) is La Calma itself. Picture by Abul Fazil

On foot, the trek from Tagamanent to the carpark would take at least three arduous hours. Excursions on La Calma kick off at the carpark for most visitors.Others simply make a beeline for nearby El Bellver, an abandoned 18th century farmhouse recently converted into a traditional Catalan-fare restaurant from where one can take in breathtaking views of the mountain landscape and contemplate the ruins of the 10th century church of Santa Maria atop the 1155-metre ASL Turó de Tagamanent (Tagamanent Hill). La Calma’s plateau serves as a buttress for three of the Montseny’s great peaks, the 1,706m Turó de l’Home, the 1,703m Les Agudes and the 1,697m Matagalls.

Deep in La Calma: tranquil, certainly, but far from flat. In the background lies the Montseny’s most iconic peak, the Matagalls (1697m) --Picture by Abul Fazil

Some 74 nesting species have been recorded on La Calma, although GOT birders spotted only 29 species during the three hours we were up there. Most numerous were Common Swifts (Apus apus) and Alpine Swifts (Apus Melba). Flocks of more than 50 each time kept swooping down on grassland around us in feeding frenzies. Alpine Swifts are readily distinguished from the Common Swifts by their larger size, white belly and throat, short forked tail and very long swept-back wings that resemble a crescent. The Common Swifts look entirely black during flight, and move much faster than their Alpine counterparts. Both are migratory and fly off to Africa for the winter.

An African Stonechat (Saxicola torquatus) in repose, one of the 74 species in La Calma—pictur by Assumpta Bosch

Picture on the left shows GOT birders taking a short break amidst some mountain ferns under the shade of a Holm oak, and contemplating the breathtaking sweep of the Cingles del Berti (Cliffs of Berti) in the distant background. The picture on the right shows the group striking out along Sender 5 de Gran Recorregut (Long-Distance Trail 5), 1250m ASL on La Calma. Referred to simply as GR5, the path links one end of La Calma to the other, and is a well-trodden stretch of the network of long-distance mountain trails, trekking routes and footpaths -- each over 50km in length -- that crisscross the entire country and form part of the larger European-wide network of long-distance footpaths. In Catalunya alone, the GR network covers almost 4500 km. The trails are blazed with characteristic marks -- a white stripe above a red stripe -- which appear regularly along the route, especially at places like forks or crossroads.

List of birds seen on La Calma, compiled by Ferran Pasqual:

1. African Stonechats, Saxicola torquatus, Tarabilla Común, Bitxac comú, Afrikanische, Schwarzkehlchen, Tarier d'Afrique

2. Alpine Swift, Apus melba, Vencejo Real, Ballester, Alpensegler, Martinet à ventre blanc

3. Blackbird, Turdus merula, Mirlo Común, Merla,Amsel, Merle noir

4. Blackcap, Sylvia atricapilla, Curruca Capirotada, Tallarol de casquet, Bergeronnette grise,Fauvette à tête noire

5. Cirl Bunting, Emberiza cirlus, Escribano Soteño, Gratapalles, Zaunammer, Bruant zizi

6. Common Chaffinch, Fringilla coelebs, Pinzón Vulgar, Pinsà comú, Buchfink, Pinson des arbres

7. Common Cuckoo, Cuculus canorus, Cuco Común, Cucut, Kuckuck, Coucou gris

8. Common Raven, Corvus corax, Cuervo, Corb, Kolkrabe, grand corbeau

9. Common Swift, Apus apus, Vencejo Común, Falciot negre

10. Common Whitethroat, Sylvia communis, Curruca Zarcera, Tallareta vulgar, Dorngrasmücke, Fauvette grisette

11. Common Woodpigeon, Columba palumbus, Paloma Torcaz, Tudó, Ringeltaube, Pigeon ramier

12. Corn Bunting, Emberiza calandra, Triguero, Cruixidell, Grauammer, Bruant proyerc

13. Dartford Warbler, Sylvia undata, Curruca Rabilarga, Tallareta cuallarga, Provencegrasmücke, Fauvette pitchou

14. Dunnock (hedge sparrow), Prunella modularis,Acentor Común, Pardal de bardissa, Heckenbraunelle, Accenteur mouchet

15. European Robin, Erithacus rubecula, Petirrojo Europeo, Pit-roig, Rotkehlchen, Rougegorge

16. Garden Warbler, Sylvia borin, Curruca Mosquitera, Tallarol gros, Gartengrasmücke, Fauvette des jardins

17. Hoopoe, Upupa epops, Abubilla, Puput, Wiedehopf, Huppe fasciée

18. Linnet, Carduelis cannabina, Pardillo Común, Passerell, Bluthänfling, Linotte mélodieuse

19. Mistle Thrush, Turdus viscivorus, Zorzal Charlo, Griva, Misteldrossel, Grive draine

20. Red-backed Shrike, Lanius collurio, Alcaudón Dorsirrojo, Escorxador, Neuntöter, Pie-grièche écorcheur

21. Red-legged Partridge, Alectoris rufa, Perdiz Roja, Perdiu roja, Rothuhn, Perdrix rouge

22. Rock Bunting, Emberiza cia, Escribano Montesino, Sit negre, Zippammer, Bruant fou

23. Sardinian Warbler, Sylvia melanocephala, Curruca Cabecinegra, Tallarol capnegre, Samtkopfgrasmücke, Fauvette mélanocéphale

24. Skylark, Alauda arvensis, Alondra Común, Alosa vulgar, Feldlerche, Alouett des champs

25. Southern Grey Shrike, Lanius meridionalis, Alcaudón Real, Botxí meridional, Südliche Raubwürger, Pie-grièche méridionale

26. Subalpine Warbler, Sylvia cantillans, Curruca Carrasqueña, Tallarol de garriga, Weißbartgrasmücke, Fauvette passerinette

27. White Wagtail, Motacilla alba, Lavandera Blanca, Cuereta blanca, Bachstelze, Bergeronnette grise

28. Wood Lark, Lullula arborea, Alondra Totovía, Cotoliu, Heidelerche, Alouette lulu

29. Woodchat Shrike, Lanius senator, Alcaudón Común, Capsigrany, Rotkopfwürger, Pie-grièche à tête rousse

Words: Abul Fazil

2011-06-14T11:39:00.062+02:00

Basking Bee-eater

High up -- a European Bee-eater soaking in the spring morning sun from its an electricity cable perch-- pictures by Assumpta Bosch

(Click on picture for an enlargement. Clicking again on the enlargement gives a full-screen blow-up)

Sunshine and safe haven at last for this new arrival to Catalonia, far from its wintering grounds in sub-Saharan Africa where members of its species are regarded as pests by bee-keepers who spare no effort in getting rid of them in unspeakable ways.

No such fate awaits them here. For European Bee-eaters (merops apiaster), their summer sojourn in Spain is a much-anticipated event, and GOT members were rewarded for their patience during an early Monday morning ramble across farmland in the country town of Lliça d’Amunt this week.

With wild flowers in full bloom and heavy with nectar, and bees, wasps and flying insects in abundance, the bee-eaters in the neighbourhood had a field day. As the name suggests, this beautiful creature, one of Europe’s most colourful birds, feeds on bees. But they are far from averse to wasps, flies and all sorts of small flying insects.

Way down, flanking a country road --raised ground pitted with Bee-eater nesting burrows (left), and closeup of one(right)--Picture: Abul Fazil
The bee-eater -- merops is Greek for bee-eater, and apiaster is Latin for the same thing, just to reinforce the bird's piece de resistance – is here not merely to seek the sun, but also to breed. And that brings us to yet another surprising aspect of these remarkable birds – bee-eaters don’t build nests, nor do they nest in trees. Incredible as it may seem, they lay their eggs in burrows in earth banks, sand banks, level ground and cliffs -- burrows which the breeding couple painstakingly dig with beaks and claws over periods of as long as 20 days. The burrow can be as deep as a metre in length, with the nesting chamber lying at the end of it. A clutch could consist of up to six eggs. The uninitiated country visitor who spots these holes, most of which are about 10cm in diameter, invariably assumes that they were made by small mammals such as moles and field mice. It would never ever occur to them that a bird had dug the hole. Breeding bee-eaters rarely return to their burrows come the following summer for one obvious reason –once abandoned, the holes are taken over by squatters like insects, small animals, bats and snakes which do not take kindly to enforced eviction.

Aerial hunters of prey, the Bee-eater forages for its favourite food from vantage points on trees, telephone wires or electricity cables, making precision forays after a passing bee or wasp, seizing it after a short chase, and bringing it back to the perch to bash its head and remove the sting before swallowing it. Where bees and wasps are scarce, the bee-eaters will pursue any flying morsel including flies, beetles and ants which it catches and eats almost invariably on the wing. When raising their young, bee-eaters have a lot of eating to do – each requires more than 200 bees a day to sustain themselves and their brood.

Close-up of a Bee-eater taken at a recent ringing session – pictures by Ferran Pascual

There’s no mistaking a bee-eater as it swoops swallow-like above the canopy looking like streaks of stunning yellow, deep blue and bright green. Merops apiaster is a near passerine bird with rainbow-coloured plumage, slender bodies and long tail feathers. It has a bright yellow throat and rump, a chestnut body and head, and iridescent blue-green patches on the wings, tail, and breast. Males sport a black gorget (a band on the throat). Females tend to be less green and less flaxen, but it is difficult to tell the genders apart. Both have bills which are curved, long and end in a sharp point. The tip of the bill is used as a pair of forceps with which to snatch insects on the wing and crush smaller ones. ---words: Abul Fazil
European Bee-eater, Merops apiaster, Abejaruco Europeo, Abellerol, Bienenfresser, Guêpier d'Europe

2011-06-04T12:13:00.278+02:00

STUNNERS IN THE WILD

The ultimate in seduction, and running wild on the Plain of Tranquillity, 1000 metres up the Montseny mountain

(Click on picture for an enlargement. Clicking again on the enlargement gives a full-screen blow-up)

This is probably one of the most amazing wild flowers to be seen anywhere. It’s the Orphrys catalaunica, belonging to the genus Ophrys, a large group of terrestrial orchids popularly known as bee orchids. And for good reason too – they look like bees, feel like bees and even smell like sexually receptive bees when they bloom. They are probably the ultimate in seduction, and run quite wild in highland meadows and grassland in late spring.

GOT birders took time off last Saturday to scour terra firma, rather than treetops and skies, in search of these marvels of nature, joining a large group of orchid-lovers led by Antoni Arrizabalaga, botanist and Director of the Granollers Museum of Natural Sciences, and biologists and orchid experts Meritxell Maymó and Miquel Ranea, who served as guides.

All set to hit the wild orchid trail from La Calma's carpark (altitude 900m), with museum director Antoni Arrizabalaga

(in red beret) and orchid experts Miquel Ranea (left ) and Meritxell Maymó (right) leading the way.

The scene was the Pla de La Calma (Plain of Tranquillity) , an extensive plateau 1,000-odd metres up the Montseny mountain range, a vast Catalonian nature reserve. A narrow asphalt road took us from Figaro, a small town at the foot of the Montseny and just an hour’s train ride from Barcelona, to La Calma’s carpark – obligatory stop for all vehicles – in less than 15 minutes. From there it was rucksacks and mountain boots.

Making its mark in Catalonia, the Ophrys catalaunica, also known as the Abellera catalana (Catalonian beekeeper)

A variant of the Catalonian beekeeper, with white petals and sepals instead of the usual purple.

Late April and May are when these fabulous, chimerical blooms, with their velvet bodies and sculpted pink wings, abound, and Catalonia boasts of nearly 80 orchid species, of which 50 are found in the Montseny mountain range alone. Easily among the more sought-after native species are the bee orchids, the most charismatic being the Ophrys catalaunica, discovered here in 1968 by German botanists Othmar and Eleltraud Danesch, according to Meritxell Maymo in her book Les Orquídies del Montseny (The Orchids of Montseny). According to the author, eight other beelike orchids species thrive in the Montseny: the apifera, fusca, insectifera, lutea, passionis, scolopax,sphegodes and subinsectifera.

Better-known in this country as the Abellera catalana (Catalonian beekeeper), the Ophrys catalaunica come in a variety of colours, natural hybrids within a species still in the process of evolution. Their great sexual deception works very well indeed for the genus. The visual lure of the labellum (the often enlarged petal or lip of the flower), the release of the seductive perfume identical to that secreted by female bees, and the furry, velvety beckoning surface combine to bamboozle male bumblebees and wasps into attempting to mate with it. As the male struggles enthusiastically and passionately with the lip, pollen from the flower become attached to some part of the insect, usually the head or abdomen, and the pollinator inadvertently carries and transfers this pollen to another bee orchid when it is once again enticed into another mating frenzy.

Ophrys lutea, drenched in the morning mountain dew -- the inflorescence (left) and detail (right)

Another Ophrys with a striking presence in La Calma is the Ophrys lutea or European Yellow Ophrys. Native to the Mediterranean region, this stunner adjusts its bag of tricks to attract only male Andrena bees, one of most abundant of all bee genera. The labellum of the yellow ophrys is modified to enable the pollinating bees to sit on it facing away from the pollinia, where the pollen is stored, instead of facing towards it, and thus collect the pollen with their abdomen.

From deep purple to white, the Orchis picta unveils its range of colours in the thicket and grassland of La Calma

The genus Orchis are characterised by their deep purple, helmet-shaped flowers that grow in a bunch at the top of a single stalk, but the inflorescence may often display colours ranging from white, through pink and yellow, to deep purple.The genus are also identified by the prominent green, and occasionally purple, veins which extend laterally like wings on the flower. The Orchis picta is a subspecies of, and looks remarkablly like, the Orchis morio or Green-veined orchid, but is more slender and more graceful than the latter, with a centre that is more whitish. Like the Ophrys, pollination is carried out by bumblebees and other insects. Orchis plants are more abundant than Ophrys and prosper in wasteland, moorland, meadows and thickets.

In full inflorescence, the Orchis ustaleta (left) and the Orchis olbiensis (right)

The Orchis Ustulata is a delightful little grassland orchid, one of the most common orchids found in the mountains of Europe. Better known as the Burnt orchid, on account of the dark colouration of the hood of its inflorescence, it is a widespread orchid with a range that takes it from the Mediterranean right up to Sweden and across to western Siberia. Pollinating the Burnt orchids also happens to be the preserve of one particular species of fly.

The Orchis olbiensis or Southern Early Purple orchid is a small orchid, often found in clusters of purple, pink and white. The stem sometimes appears flushed with purple. It can be easily mistaken for a light-coloured Orchis mascula, but is distinguished by a strongly upturned spur, a tubular extension protruding behind the flower, often from the labellum or lip. On some wild orchids, though not on the olbiensis, the spur contains nectar.

Standing tall, the Orchis anthropophora (left) and the elusive Orchis intacta (right)

There is no mistaking the orchis anthropophora, the Man orchid -- its flowers resemble the human figure, with the head formed by the petals and sepals, and the suspended torso and limbs by the lobes of the labellum or lip. The Catalan name is even more colourful: Flor de l’home penjat (flower of the hanging man). The orchid’s inflorescence is characterised by a relatively thick flower spike bearing up to fifty small, stemless flowers varying in colour from greenish, with a yellow-green labellum, to green, streaked and marked with purple.

Looking like the Man orchid is the Orchis intacta, whose flowers resemble the human form somewhat. The intacta is also called the Dense Flowered orchid – the inflorescence is indeed densely packed with pinkish flowers which exude a faint vanilla scent. It grows in very rough grassland and, as a consequence, is very difficult to spot. You have to really hunt for it if you want to see one.

Pink and purple Orchis mascula (left) and white Orchis provincialis(right)

Not very common in the Montseny is the Orchis mascula or Early Purple orchid (not to be confused with the South Early Purple mentioned earlier). Its inflorescence is a spike of typically purplish or pinkish flowers which gives off a smell that is rather unpleasant. It is also claimed to have medicinal as well as culinary properties.

Another rarity in the Montseny is the Orchis provincialis or Provence orchid. Provincialis is Latin for Provence, a region in the south of France, where the species was first detected.

The elegant Planthera bifolia, distinguished by the parallel shape of its pollinia, the agglutinated body of pollen grains...

...and the almost identical Platanthera chlorantha, identified by the shape of its pollinia, which is triangular in shape

Only two members of the genus Platanthera, close relative of the genus Orchis, are found in the Montseny – the Platanthera bifolia and the Platanthera chlorantha. Both the Platantheras (Greek for broad anthers, the pollen bearing parts of the stamen) are commonly referred to as Butterfly orchids. The species bifolia (meaning ‘two leaves’) is the Lesser Butterfly-orchid, while the species chlorantha (meaning green-flowered) is the Greater Butterfly-orchid. The flowers look very much alike and it’s quite difficult for a non-expert to tell them apart.

The flowers of both Platantheras are night-scented, and attract certain types of moths with night-vision good enough to see pick out the white flowers in the dark. The scent of the Lesser Butterfly-orchid however is different from that of Greater Butterfly-orchid, which attracts different pollinators

Coeloglossum viride (left) and Serapias lingua (right)

The Coeloglossum viride, commonly known as the Long-Bracted Green Orchid, is a rather inconspicuous plant. You’d walk right past it and not realize it’s an orchid. That’s because the flowers are green and the plant tends to merge with the background vegetation and become part of it. Often, however, the flowers are tinged with purple or red-brown. This is one orchid that produces nectar and thus enjoys the services of a very large number of pollinators including bees, wasps, ants, beetles, flies and even nocturnal moths.

Quite a different orchid is the Serapias lingua, commonly known as the Tongue Orchid, whose flowers form a sort of tube used by insects to seek shelter. The orchid gets its name from the similarity of the labellum to a stuck-out tongue. It is a slender orchid with a sparse inflorescence made up of whitish to deep purple flowers with embossed dark veins running over them.

The Cephalanthera longifolia (left) and an Anacamptis piramidalis in full bud (right)

This is the Cephalanthera longifolia or Sword-leaved Helleborine, and is common in Spain and southern France, but endangered elsewhere in north Europe. The long, narrow tapering leaves give the plant its common name. It is a white-flowered orchid with an orange spot on lower petal when in bloom.

And finally, a young Anacamptis pyramidalis or Pyramidal Orchid spotted by a sharp-eyed enthusiast at La Calma. When the flowers appear, they are arranged in a distinctive pyramidal shape which gives the orchid is common name. The colour varies from pink to purple.

Written by Abul Fazil Orchid photos by Quico Fernàndez Espinàs & Abul Fazil

2011-05-25T21:53:00.015+02:00

A RING FOR

A GOLDEN GIRL

Ornithologist Carles Furquet struck gold at a routine bird-ringing session last weekend. Into one of his mist nets flew this rarely seen summer migrant: a female European Golden Oriole, an extremely shy and secretive bird which rarely ventures out of its woodland canopy habitat except for feeding forays with other members of the species.

The Golden Oriole (Oriolus oriolus) is the only member of the oriole family of passerine birds breeding in the temperate regions of the northern hemisphere. It spends the winter in the tropics. This bird was trapped and captured for ringing in cropland lying between the Catalonian towns of Molins de Rei and Papiol. “They’re really beautiful birds,” says Carles, “and the females often resemble the males. They’re back again and preparing to bring out new broods. This migratory bird appears only briefly in our territory and returns to its winter quarters in Africa in the middle of September when the breeding period ends.”

According to Carles, Golden Orioles nest high up Plane trees (Platanus hybrida and Platanus hispanica) which grow close to rivers and streams in wooded areas.The nest is a kind of basket which the

Golden Oriole (Oriolus oriolus) – Pictures by Carles Furquet

bird weaves between tree forks. “It’s a very gregarious bird, especially after the breeding season, and you can often see groups of six to eight of these yellow streaks continuously pursuing each other in flight. The song is often melodious, with strong fluty tones.” Golden Orioles feed on fruits, cherries and figs which are abundant at this time of the year.
Mystery parakeet at Sparrow Pond

A week earlier, Carles had another stroke of luck. Out birding at Sparrow Pond (Bassa de Pardaler) in Lliça d’Amunt with GOT veteran Ferran Pascual, the indefatigable nature lovers made a sighting worthy of the record books – a Brown-throated Parakeet (Aratinga pertinax), also known as the Caribbean or St. Thomas Parakeet (Sp: Cotorra del Caribe). A species of parrot in the Psittacidae family, the small South American bird is considered something of a mystery and, according the blog PunctuatedEquilibrium, hosted by The Guardian, is “unusual among the Aratinga because in the wild, it typically nests in a termite mound located in a tree. It will also nest in rock crevices and will burrow in banks when an arboreal termitarium is not available.”

The parrot is identified by its long pointed tail, powerful hooked bill that is blackish grey in colour and primarily green plumage. The head has variable amounts of brown or orange, and the eye-ring and forehead colours are also variable. Both Carles and Ferran speculate that the parrot, a popular cage bird, must either have escaped from captivity or been set free by its owner. In any case, according to the Exotic Birds Group of SEO/Birdlife, this was only the second confirmed sighting of the parrot in the wild in the Iberian Peninsula. The first sighting was made in Mallorca in 2009.

Monk parakeet – Picture by Carles Furquet

Carles and Ferran also spotted two other parrot species at Sparrow Park – a Monk Parakeet (Myiopsitta monachus), and a Rose-ringed Parakeet (Psittacula krameri). The orange-billed Monk Parakeet is native to Argentina and the surrounding South American countries. Popular as pets, it has bright green upperparts, pale grey forehead and breast, and light green to yellow on the rest of the underparts. The remiges are dark blue, and the tail is long and tapering. Like most parrots, it is noisy, with a loud and throaty call and sharp screeches.

Rose-ringed parakeet –pictures by Carles Furquet

A non-migrating, gregarious tropical bird, the Rose-ringed parakeet, so-called because of its characteristic pink nape-band, is very popular as a pet. It is one of few parrot species that have successfully withstood the onslaught of urbanisation and deforestation and, in the wild, is very noisy with its unmistakable squawking call. Its scientific name commemorates the Austrian naturalist Wilhelm Heinrich Kramer. --Words: Abul Fazil

Bird species seen:
Golden Oriole, Oriolus oriolus, Oropéndola,Oriol, Pirol, Loriot

Brown-throated Parakeet, Aratinga pertinax, Cotorra del Caribe, Cotorra del Caribe(Ca), Conure cuivrée (Fr.)

Rose-ringed Parakeet, Psittacula, krameri, Cotorra de Kramer, Cotorra de Kramer, Halsbandsittich, Perruche à collier

Monk Parakeet, Myiopsitta monachus, Cotorra Argentina, Cotorreta de pit gris, Mönchssittich, Conure veuve

2011-05-17T20:09:00.014+02:00

Vicarious Trills

Tranquillity at the torre Marimon government agricultural research grounds, a summer stopover for migratory birds

If you plan to do some birding by ear, it would be a very good idea to bring along – hire if you have to – an expert, preferably an ornithlogist, to lead the way. For a less than completely initiated birder, i.e. someone who hasn’t been at it for at least three years with a regularity, constancy and a passion bordering on the obsessive, trying to identify all but a very few birds from their songs or calls can be a an extremely frustrating experience indeed.

That was the main lesson for GOT birders during a mid-spring morning stroll down the fields and woods of Torre Marimon, a sprawling 115-hectare Catalonian government land employed in agricultural research and situated on the outskirts of the township of Caldes de Montbui.

Heading the group was Josep Ribas, ornithologist and author of an extensive research work on Valles Oriental (Eastern Valley) birds, without whose presence frustration would have been the order of the day, as it would have been almost impossible for the untrained ear to sort out the continuous symphony of avian sounds, songs and calls that rose from the fields, copses and woods.

Birders (from left) Lluis Gascon, Ferran Pascual, Josep Ribas, Irma Fuentes, Assumpta Bosch & Virginia Calvet at Torre Marimon

The first song that greeted us as we hit the dirt road that cut through a barley field was a brief fluty warble that could have come from either a Nightingale, a Blackcap or a Robin hidden in a copse of Holm oaks and thicket nearby. This brought an immediate response from another part of the thicket, a sharp short whistle, which could equally well have come from either a Nightingale, a Blackcap or a Robin. It was difficult to tell. Josep Ribas to the rescue: the first was a Robin (Erithacus rubecula), and the second a Rufous Nightingale (Luscinia megarhynchos), both passerines.

It was not an auspicious start to the day for the rest of us. Josep acknowledged however that a Robin’s song is often confused with that of a Blackcap (Sylvia atricapilla), and the Nightingale misleads the untrained ear if it did not explode with its full-throated rhapsody on cue as in the numerous recordings we have on CD and on the Internet.

The Robin and the Nightingale kept up their banter for a while, but it still required the instant identification skills of Josep (“that’s a Robin...that’s a Nightingale...the Robin...the Nightingale”) to help us sort them out.

A few strides on, and we were regaled with a rich burst of melodious chirps and twitters from the nearest bush. No doubt about it for most of us: that must be a Nightingale! Alas, no. It was that notorious sound-alike, the Cetti’s warbler (Cettia cetti), which the Spanish has aptly named Ruisoñor Bastardo (Bastard Nightingale) and the Catalonians, Rossinyol Bord, a small nondescript skulking bird virtually impossible to get even a glimpse of but which makes its presence felt everywhere with its call and song.

More walking; then, emanating somewhere from within an alfalfa (Medicago sativa) field, a loud “ko-oor-koc” call of some meadow bird. “A Red-legged Partridge!” someone yelled. “No,” came Josep’s rejoinder, “It’s a Common Pheasant,” demonstrating yet again the wide gap between being close and being right.

A Montagu's Harrier (left) and a Cuckoo provide visual relief to a morning heavy on the ears (Photo: Assumpta Bosch)

Things began to look up a bit with the sighting of a Little Owl (Athene noctua) and a Common Cuckoo (Cuculus canorus) atop a barn roof, though ascertaining their identity again called for the expertise of our guide. Our 8x40 pairs of binoculars and guidebooks were put to good use too. And then the “unmistakable” chirps of a sparrow, but even that had to be drawn to our attention. As we moved more into open countryside a familiar spring migrant, a Montagu's Harrier (Circus pygargu) flew low and gracefully into view, its powerful, elegant wingbeats gving a remarkable impression of buoyancy and ease as it swooped low searching for prey. Close by, high on an electricity cable, perched an unfazed male Common Cuckoo, a fellow-migrant, openly declaring its presence with its characteristic ‘goo-ko’ call.

By this time however the songs and calls from birds all hidden from view were coming in thick and fast. Without Josep’s keen ear, nurtured over 30 years of dedicated birdwatching and listening, we would have been at quite a loss. As he called them out one by one, we ticked off mentally the songs and sounds of Blackcaps, Sardinian warblers, Wrens, Crows, Magpies, Great Tits, Jays, Robins, Tree-creepers, Serins, Green Woodpeckers, Woodpigeons, Crested larks and even a Zitting Cisticola.

Waiting for their next feed up a treetop perch - a Woodchat Shrike (left) and a Corn Bunting (photos:Aassumpta Bosch)

Two Yellow Wagtails and a Corn Bunting (black arrow) : Photo: Assumpta Bosch

Two Yellow Wagtails, a Corn Bunting (black arrow) and a couple of Tawny Pipits (white arrows): Photo: Assumpta Bosch

A relatively rare treat was in store for us as we cut across a field lying fallow - two male Yellow Wagtails feeding in the distance. No one except Josep had seen any before. An insectivores passerine, the breeding male is olive above and bright yellow below, and is the shortest tailed of the European wagtails. A mid-spring visitor, it spends most of its time walking or running on the ground and, as the name implies, wags its tail as it moves. Keeping the pair company was a Corn Bunting and a pair of Tawny pipits, barely discernible in the telephoto shot above. We

didn’t venture too close. High in the sky above, a formidable predator, the Common Buzzard, circled in search of rabbits and small mammals, its favourite prey.

Slightly ahead, a Woodchat Shrike and a Corn Bunting obligingly allowed us to take a long good look at them as the perched on the highest branches of a couple of oak trees. Josep identified the Shrike; he should know – a pair of Woodchat Shrikes grace the front cover of his book (left), Els Ocells dels Valles Oriental (The Birds of the Eastern Valley), written in Catalan.

Our route finally took us into the woods of Torre Marimon, where, once again, Josep was in his element. The excitement he felt was manifest and rubbed off on us as he picked off one songbird after another without hesitation. We basked in his experience even as we came to the rueful conclusion that birding was one thing, but birding purely by ear was quite another. Here's what someone who must know how I feel has to say:
“Learning bird songs takes patience, perseverance, and persistence, along with a good ear, a good tutor, and a good deal of practice. The best method is to bravely venture out with a patient teacher who never tires of endlessly telling you, 'that's a Carolina Wren; that's a Carolina Wren, that's a Carolina Wren, that's a Carolina Wren.’ And just when you think it's safe, this same saintly person will devilishly throw out, ‘that's a Carolina Wren's aggressive chip note, but the one before that was its contact trill note’ so on and so on as the bird goes through its repertoire of 700 million noises.”
Quote by Georgann Schmalz of Birding Adventures, Inc taken from http://www.birdjam.com/howto.

Nothing like a visual to clinch it: Ornithologist Josep Ribas (baseball -apped) and GOT birders in the woods at Torre Marimon

Words & Photos: ABUL FAZIL
List compiled by GOT veteran Ferran Pascual of the 43 bird species seen or heard.
(Numbers refer to total of each species identified):

7 Barn Swallows, Hirundo rustica, Golondrina Común, Oreneta vulgar

1 Blue Tit, Cyanistes caeruleus, Herrerillo Común, Mallerenga blava, Blaumeise, Mésange bleue

2 Cattle Egrets, Bubulcus ibis, Garcilla Bueyera, Esplugabous

7 Cetti's Warblers, Cettia cetti, Ruiseñor Bastardo, Rossinyol bord, Seidensänger, Bouscarle de Cetti

2 Cirl Buntings, Emberiza cirlus, Escribano Soteño, Gratapalles, Zaunammer, Bruant zizi

9 Blackbirds, Turdus merula, Mirlo Común, Merla,Amsel, Merle noir

2 Common Buzzards, Buteo buteo, Ratonero común, aligot comú, Bussarde,Buse variable

1 Common Chiffchaff, Phylloscopus collybita, Mosquitero Común, Mosquiter comú, Zilpzalp, pouillot véloce

2 Common Cuckoo, Cuculus canorus, Cuco Común, Cucut

3 House Martin, Delichon urbicum, Avión Común, Oreneta cuablanca

4 Rufous Nightingale, Luscinia megarhynchos, Ruiseñor Común, Rossinyol

2 Common Pheasants, Phasianus colchicus, Faisán Vulgar, Faisà

6 Common Starlings, Sturnus vulgaris,Estornino Pinto, Estornell vulgar,Star,Étourneau sansonnet

7 Common Swifts, Apus apus, Vencejo Común, Falciot negre

1 Common Woodpigeon, Columba palumbus, Paloma Torcaz, Tudó, Ringeltaube, Pigeon ramier

1 Corn Bunting, Emberiza calandra, Triguero, Cruixidell, Grauammer, Bruant proyerc

>15 Crested Larks, Galerida cristata, Cogujada Común, Cogullada vulgar, Haubenlerche, Cochevis huppé

7 Blackcaps, Sylvia atricapilla, Curruca Capirotada, Tallarol de casquet, Bergeronnette grise,Fauvette à tête noire

6 Eurasian Collared Doves,Streptopelia decaocto,Tórtola Turca, Tórtora turca,Elster,Pie bavarde

3 Eurasian Jays, Garrulus glandarius, Arrendajo, Gaig, Eichelhäher, Geai des chênes

8 Magpies, Pica pica, Urraca, Garsa, Blauelster, Pie bleue

7 Eurasian Goldfinchs, Carduelis carduelis, Jilguero Cadernera, Stieglitz, Chardonneret élégant

3 European Green Woodpeckers, Picus viridis, Pito Real, Picot verd,Grünspecht, Pic vert

3 European Greenfinchs, Carduelis chloris, Verderón Común, Verdum, Grünling, verdier d'Europe

5 European Robins, Erithacus rubecula, Petirrojo Europeo, Pit-roig, Rotkehlchen, Rougegorge

>25 European Serins, Serinus serinus, Verdecillo, Gafarró, Girlitz, Serin cini

4 Great Tits, Parus major, Carbonero Común, Mallerenga carbonera, Kohlmeise, Mésange charbonnière

2 Grey Herons, Ardea cinerea, garza real, Bernat pescaire, Graureiher, Héron Cendré

5 House Sparrows, Passer domesticus, Gorrión Común, Pardal comú, Haussperling, Moineau domestique

1 Little Owl, Athene noctua, Mochuelo Europeo, Mussol comú, Steinkauz, Chevêche d'Athéna

2 Mallards, Anas platyrhynchos, Ánade Azulón, Ànec collverd, Stockente, Canard colvert

1 Montagu's Harrier, Circus pygargus, Aguilucho Cenizo, Esparver cendrós

1 Red-legged Partridge Alectoris rufa Perdiz Roja Perdiu roja, Rothuhn, Perdrix rouge

5 Sardinian Warblers, Sylvia melanocephala, Curruca Cabecinegra, Tallarol capnegre, Samtkopfgrasmücke, Fauvette mélanocéphale

2 Short-toed Treecreepers, Certhia brachydactyla, Agateador Común, Raspinell comú

1 Tawny Pipit, Anthus campestris, Bisbita Campestre, Trobat

1 Tree Pipit, Anthus trivialis, Bisbita Arbóreo, Piula dels arbres

1 Western Bonelli's Warbler Phylloscopus bonelli, Mosquitero Papialbo, Mosquiter pàl·lid

3 Western Yellow Wagtails, Motacilla flava, Lavandera Boyera, Cuereta groga

2 White Wagtails, Motacilla alba, Lavandera Blanca, Cuereta blanca, Bachstelze, Bergeronnette grise

3 Wrens, Troglodytes troglodytes, Chochín Común, Cargolet, Zaunkönige, Troglodyte mignon

2 Woodchat Shrikes, Lanius senator, Alcaudón Común, Capsigrany

1 Zitting Cisticola, Cisticola juncidis, Buitrón, Trist

2011-04-10T23:06:00.036+02:00

Birding Biometrics

Inside the arcane world of the bird-ringer

A study in concentration as bird-ringer Carles patiently extricates a Great Tit from the mist net P952

Meet Carles Furquet, ornithologist and certified bird-ringer, who probably handles more birds at a single weekend than many of us spot in a whole year. Last week Carles lifted the curtain a little more on the esoteric world of bird-ringing and birding biometrics at the Bassa de Pardaler (Sparrow Pond) woodland in the Catalan town of Lliça d'Amunt.

Biometrics is the measurement of the physical characteristics of birds and carried out at regular intervals at bird ringing sessions. Statistical information gathered during the sessions help determine the state of health, breeding habits, migration routes and life expectancy of the avian population, and is a vital research tool for the Catalan Ornithological Institute (Institut Català d'Ornitologia, ICO), a statutory body to which Carles and other bird-ringers have to be accredited before they are allowed to handle birds in the wild. In spite of the fact that ringers have to undergo a stringent personally-financed ICO training programme and pass a series of gruelling tests before getting their licence to operate, bird-ringing is a completely voluntary activity. For ringers like Carles, it is a labour of love, inspired and driven by their passion for birds in the wild.

Hoisting an 18-metre long, 3-metre deep, mist net into position on the north bank of the Sparrow Pond

PUTTING UP THE NETS
The birding session at the weekend began at dawn with the setting up of mist nets, using lightweight telescopic aluminium poles which extend up to 8 metres, a task Carles could handle single-handedly. Two 18-metre long nets and three 12-metre long ones were put up at strategic points around the lake and in the woods to intercept low-flying birds.

One of the first to fly into a net – a Great Tit

Carles needs all his skills and a great deal of patience to remove these trapped birds

One of the hardest to extricate -- a Green Woodpecker.

REMOVING TRAPPED BIRDS
Perhaps the part that requires the greatest skill is the extraction of birds caught in nets. The nets set up by Carles trapped 23 birds from 13 species in two hours:
a Wren, 2 Serins, a Great Tit, 2 Long-tailed Tits, 3 Blackbirds, 4 Chiffchaffs, a Tree Sparrow, a Green Woodpecker, 3 Cetti's Warbler, 4 Sardinian Warblers and a Willow Warbler.
Trapped birds have to be removed as speedily and as safely as possible. On hitting a mist net, birds become enclosed in a pocket of netting which folds around it. Left too long, they fall foul of biting winds, freeezing rain and predatory birds. Once extracted, birds are placed in bird bags -- light opaque cloth bags, one for each bird -- and taken to the ringing area.

Measuring the wingspan of the Green Woodpecker and then snapping a ring on it.

Ringed and not liking it one bit, this Green Woodpecker makes its annoyance felt with loud alarm calls
BIRD BIO and THE SHY PICUS VIRIDIS...
Before fixing rings on the birds, Carles notes down data relevant to his current project on the birds is Sparrow Pond: wing span measurement, weight, molt status, and age. All the information and personal comments are fed into the Catalan Ornithological Institute's database and a available to researchers.
The surprise catch last week was the male Green Woodpecker (Picus viridis) above. With its bright green rump, red crown and red-centred moustachial stripe (black in colour on females), it cut a truly striking figure. And at 180g in weight and a wingspan of 161.5 mm, it was indeed the largest bird handled by Carles that early-Spring morning.

The Green Woodpecker is somewhat different from the other members of the Picidae woodpecker family in one sense -- it rarely ever drums on trees. If fact it is rather shy and wary of people and, when climbing up a tree trunk or telephone pole, will move around to be on the side away from anyone watching. It has a short tail and a strong long bill.

Not a sound from this wren as it patiently subjects itself to ringing and then gets ready to take off

FROM LITTLE WRENS TO LARGE SWANS..
The Wren was the smallest bird caught in the net. One of the tiniest of the Passerines, it tipped the Pesola balance, designed for weighing birds, at a a mere 10g and had a wingspan of 47mm. The ring fitted to it happens to be the smallest in the range too -- just 2mm in diameter and weighing a mere 0.04 grammes. In contrast, the largest rings, which are fitted on anseriformes such as ducks, geese and swans, can weigh up to 4.5g and have a diameter of 26mm.

A Pesola balance with a Serin in a plastic bag being weighed (left), and rings with indentification numbers issued by ICO (right)
THE RINGS

Generally made of a lightweight magnesium-aluminium alloy, each ring carries a unique, internationally-identifiable reference number. Rings come in a whole range of sizes, up to 16 in most countries. The smallest are for birds like Wrens, Long-tailed Tits and Goldcrests. The next size up – the 2.3mm diameter, 0.05g ring – is used on nearly every other small bird – all the other members of the Tit family, Robins and Dunnocks, for example. Slightly bigger rings – between 2.5 and 3.3mm, and weighing between 0.06 and 0.07g -- are fitted on Swifts, Sparrows, Nuthatches and Greenfinches. Bigger rings are used on progressively bigger and bigger birds.

Ringers in Catalunya and the rest of Spain use ICONA and Ministry of th Environment- approved rings. ICONA is the acronym for Instituto para la Conservacion de la Naturaleza (Nature Reserve Institute) and is the administrative entity established in order to preserve and research the natural environment.

Features of Spanish rings:

Model Section Material Diameter Height Thickness Examples

(mm) (mm) (mm)

0 Circular Aluminium 2,0 5,0 0,3 Chiffchaff,Wwren,Wwillow Warbler

L Circular Aluminium 2,5 5,0 0,5 Nightingale, Blackcap

N Circular Aluminium 2,5 6,0 0,3 Great Tit

2 Circular Aluminium 2,8 5,7 0,5 Crested Lark, Nuthatch

T Circular Stainless steel 2,8 5,0 0,5 Ringed Plover, Kentish Plover

K Circular Aluminium 3,0 3,5 0,6 Kingfisher

V Circular Reinforced Alum. 3,5 4,5 0,6 Bee-eater, Song Thrush, Shrike

1V Circular Stainless steel 3,5 5,0 0,5 Hawfinch,Green Sandpiper

A* Circular Reinforced alum. 4,0 5,0 0,3 ---

3 Circular Reinforced Alum. 4,2 7,5 0,7 Blackbird, Great Spotted Woodpecker

3M Circular Stainless steel 4,2 6,5 0,7 Turnstone, Bulwer’s Petrel

4 Circular Stainless steel 5,5 5,5 0,7 Green Woodpecker, Magpie, Quail, Scops Owl

Y* Circular Alpaca 5,5 6,3 0,1 ----

5 Circular Stainless steel 7,0 10,5 1,2 Little Owl, Collared Dove

F* Circular Reinforced Alum. 8,0 9,0 0,7 ----

E* Circular Alpaca 8,5 8,5 0,3 ----

6 Circular Stainless steel 9,0 10,0 1,0 Partridge, Woodpigeon, pheasant

B* Circ/flap Reinforced Alum. 10,5 10,0 0,9 ----

7 Circular Stainless steel 11,0 10,0 1,0 Cattle Egret, Purple Swamphen

D* Triangular Alpaca 11,5 9,0 0,7 ----

8 Circular Reinforced Alum. 13,0 10,0 1,5 Northern Goshawk

G* Circ./flap Reinforced Alum. 14,0 15,0 1,3 ----

9 Circular Stainless steel 16,0 12,5 1,8 Shag, Black Stork

10 Circular Stainless steel 19,0 12,0 1,2 Eagle Owl, Great Cormorant

C* Circ./flap Aluminium 19,5 14,0 1,3 ----

11 Circ./rivet Stainless steel 26,0 12,0 1,2 Griffon Vulture

12 Circ./rivet Anodized Alum. 27,0 35,0 1,6 Lammergeier

*Models used exclusively by the Spanish Centre for Habitat Rehabilitation (Centre de Recuperació de Fauna)

The listing is currently being used by the Spanish Office of Migratory Species (OEM) and four accredited organisations, namely the Catalan Ornithological Society (Institut Català D'ornitologia, ICO), the Spanish Ornithological Society (SEO/BIRDLIFE: Sociedad Española de Ornitologia), the Doñana Biological Station (EBD:Estación Biológica De Doñana/CSIC), and the Balearic Group of Ornithology and Defence of Nature (Grup d'Ornitologia i Defensa De La Naturalesa Balear, GOB).

Part of Carles Furquet's repertoire of rings provided by the authorities to licenced ringers only.

Rings used in Spain are designed based on the morphology of the bird and the size of its foot (tarsus or tibia), on feedback from the ringers, and on the habits of each bird itself. The tiny Chiffchaff, for example, would not be fitted with a stainless steel ring for obvious reasons, nor would a raptor with a soft aluminum ring. Neither would a bird that is always in the water be ringed with an alloy that could easily erode. Butting operation also varies among species -- some rings may need a screw bolt or lock bolt because they are made of a strong alloy which could not be butted in the conventional manner, while others, particularly very large birds, are fitted with split rings made up of two halves and then bolted at both ends.

Cradling a Great Tit the right way.
Measuring the wingspan of of the Great Tit above is a simple enough exercise.What's not so easy is holding the bird in place while the job is done-- that, say the ringers, is the tricky bit and a major part of the training programme deals with it. A lot of practice is required to ensure that birds are neither physically hurt nor psychologically stressed during biometric sessions.

It's Springtime for the Willow Warbler, close kin of the Chiffchaff
Another passerine that turned up for the first time in the mist nets of Sparrow Pond was this Willow Warbler, a sure sign that Spring had arrived in Catalonia. The Willow Warbler and the closely-related Chiffchaff, both strongly migratory, are among the first to return from their winter habitat in sub-Saharan Africa. The Willow Warbler is greenish brown above and off-white below, and sport plain greenish brown wings. At a distance it is almost impossible to distinguish it from the Chiffchaff.

THE MAKING OF AN AVIAN SANCTUARY

Sparrow Pond, located slightly further inland from the coastal regions has became recognised both as a stopover point as well as a nesting site for many species of birds both native and migrant. It is already being used as roosting haven for many species including the Ardeidae, a family of wading birds such as the herons, egrets, night herons, and bitterns, and the Corvidae family, of which the most prominent species here is the magpie. There is also an abundance of Green Woodpeckers that have made their presence felt.

Carles has put into place a continuous and long-term programme to obtain more accurate data that should establish the importance of Sparrow Pond as an avian sanctuary, and to make it a point of reference within the framework of inland wetlands.

Words & Pictures by Abul Fazil

Species observed or heard at Sparrow Pond on Saturday 26 March 2011

(English, Latin, Spanish, Catalan, German, French)

In red, species that made themselves heard but not seen (in brackets, the number of birds seen or heard)

1. Black Redstart, Phoenicurus ochruros, Colirrojo Tizón, Cotxa fumada, Hausrotschwanz, Rougequeue noir (2)

2. Blackbird, Turdus merula, Mirlo Común, Merla,Amsel, Merle noir (6 - a roosting site)

3. Blue Tit, Cyanistes caeruleus, Herrerillo Común, Mallerenga blava, Blaumeise, Mésange bleue (6)

4. Cattle Egret, Bubulcus ibis, Garcilla Bueyera, Esplugabous, Kuhreiher, Héron garde-bœufs (more than 20 - a roosting site)

5. Cetti's Warbler, Cettia cetti, Ruiseñor Bastardo,Rossinyol bord,Seidensänger, Bouscarle de Cetti (7)

6. Common Chiffchaff, Phylloscopus collybita, Mosquitero Común, Mosquiter comú, Zilpzalp, pouillot véloce (2)

7. Common Pheasant, Phasianus colchicus, Faisán Vulgar, Faisà,Fasan, Faisan de Colchid (4)

8. Common Starling, Sturnus vulgaris, Estornino Pinto, Estornell vulgar, Star, Étourneau sansonnet (2)

9. Common Woodpigeon, Columba palumbus, Paloma Torcaz, Tudó, Ringeltaube, Pigeon ramier (4)

10. Crested Lark, Galerida cristata, Cogujada Común, Cogullada vulgar, Haubenlerche, Cochevis huppé (7)

11. Eurasian Collared Dove, Streptopelia decaocto, Tórtola Turca, Tórtora turca, Elster, Pie bavarde (10)

12. European Serin, Serinus serinus, Verdecillo, Gafarró, Girlitz, Serin cini (8)

13. Great Cormorant, Phalacrocorax carbo, Cormorán Grande, Corb marí gros, Kormoran, Grand cormoran (2)

14. Great Tit, Parus major, Carbonero Común, Mallerenga carbonera, Kohlmeise, Mésange charbonnière (2)

15. Green Sandpiper, Tringa ochropus, Andarríos Grande, Xivita, Waldwasserläufer, Chevalier cul-blanc (1)

16. Green Woodpecker, Picus viridis, Pito Real, Picot Verd, Grünspecht, Pic Verd (4)

17. Greenfinch, Carduelis chloris, Verderón Común, Verdum, Grünling, Verdier d'Europe (8)

18. Grey Heron, Ardea cinerea, Garza Real, Bernat Pescaire, Graureiher, Héron Cendré (6)

19. Iberian Chiffchaff, Phylloscopus ibericus, Mosquitero Ibérico, Mosquiter Ibèric, Iberienzilpzalp, Pouillot Ibérique (3)

20. Little Owl, Athene noctua, Mochuelo Europeo, Mussol comú, Steinkauz, Chevêche d'Athéna (1,at noon)

21. Long-tailed Tit, Aegithalos caudatus, Mito, Mallerenga Cuallarga, Schwanzmeise, Mésange à longue queue (6)

22. Magpie, Pica pica, Urraca, Garsa, Blauelster, Pie bleue (20–roosting site)

23. Mallard, Anas platyrhynchos, Ánade Azulón, Ànec Collverd, Stockente, Canard Colvert (2)

24. Moorhen, Gallinula chloropus, Gallineta común, Polla d'aigua, Teichrallen, Gallinule poule d'eau (6)

25. Night Heron, Nycticorax nycticorax, Martinete Común, Martinet de Nit, Nachtreiher, Héron bihoreau (a pair)

26. Red-legged Partridge, Alectoris rufa, Perdiz Roja, Perdiu Roja, Rothuhn, Perdrix Rouge (5)

27. Robin, Erithacus rubecula, Petirrojo Europeo, Pit-roig, Rotkehlchen, Rougegorge (1)

28. Sardinian Warbler, Sylvia melanocephala, Curruca Cabecinegra, Tallarol Capnegre, (6)

29. Song Thrush, Turdus philomelos, Zorzal común, Tord comú, Singdrossel, Griv musicienne (6)

30. Swallow, Hirundu Rustica, Golondrina Común, Oreneta Vulgar, Rauchschwalbe, Hirondelle decheminée (2)

31. Tree Sparrow, Passer montanus, Gorrión Molinero, Pardal Xarrec, Feldsperling, Moineau Friquet (2)

32. Willow Warbler, Phylloscopus trochilus, Mosquitero Musical, Mosquiter de Passa, Fitis, Pouillet Fitis (1)

33. Wren, Troglodytes troglodytes, Chochín Común, Cargolet, Zaunkönige, Troglodyte mignon (1)

2011-02-20T22:25:00.014+01:00

Sparrow Pond Serendipity

Appeased somewhat after its violent attack on the fingers of Furquet, our catch glares at the camera - Picture: Abul Fazil

was a serendipitous discovery, no less. We were on the lookout for Robins, Tits, Blackcaps, Goldfinches and such like. The last thing we expected to find was a Hawfinch (Coccothraustes coccothraustes) – and the mist nets of GOT’s Carles Furquet threw up two of them. The venue: Bassa de Pardaler (Sparrow Pond), a five-hectare expanse of farmland with a large grove of mainly poplars, Holm oak and walnut trees around a little lake, in the urbanised municipality of Lliça d’Amunt (pop. 13,500). The mist-net haul of the Hawfinches and seven other species kicked off a busy morning of bird-ringing, nestbox construction and their ceremonial hoisting high up strategically selected trees in the grove. About 40 parents and their children defied the freezing temperatures on Sunday (February 13) to participate in Project Nestbox, a study of avian activity carried out under GOT auspices by ornithologist and veteran ringer Forquet.

Few passerines could arouse as much excitement among birders as the enigmatic Hawfinch, at 17cm in length and 55g in weight one of the largest members of the finch family. With its bulky bull-head and a massive bill powerful enough to crush an olive seed in one go, it is awesome at close quarters. The head is a magnificent metallic brown with a black eye stripe and a bib. It is extremely difficult to spot, and its numbers appear to have declined over the years. Hawfinches perch high in trees, but also feed on the ground inconspicuously among the foliage. Neither of the two hawfinches caught in the net took too kindly to their entrapment, and both furiously tried to sink their beaks into Furquet’s fingers as he extricated them. The violent attacks left painful contusions on the fingers, but the ringer took it all in his stride as he carefully ringed and quickly released them.

Harbinger of spring drops by

Also caught in the nets were a Cirl Bunting (Emberiza cirlus), Cetti's Warbler (Cettia cetti), Song Thrush (Turdus philomelos), Robin (Erithacus rubecula), a pair of Blackcaps (Sylvia atricapilla) and a Goldfinch (Carduelis carduelsi). The Song Thrush, a harbinger of spring, was another unexpected visitor -- the bird is generally associated with mature and well-wooded landscape and Sparrow Pond is not considered a mature habitat. Indeed, one reason why Project Nestbox was launched is to find out whether such environments could support a stable avian population.

The Cetti’s warbler (pronounced /ˈtʃɛti/ ) was also a rare sight. A rather nondescript, sulking bird, it is always heard but hardly ever seen as it hides out among reed beds – its favourite haunt. In Catalonia it is known as Rossinyol bord (Bastard Nightingale) because its song – which rings out in loud bursts – is frequently mistaken for that of a Rufous Nightingale (Luscinia megarhynchos).

After the ringing, the business of building nestboxes -- always a high point of GOT's Mornings with Nature -- began in earnest. This time, however, the boxes would end up on the trees around -- the first stage of Project Nestbox.

Left: Carles Furquet explains to Jan,6, why a bat nestbox looks so different. Right: Lluis leads the way to the nestbox sites.

Eight boxes were put up and over the next couple of months they are expected to be occupied by a variety of nesting birds. Furquet expects to see results as early as the middle of March.

A birding session rounded up the morning, with Carles and bird-ringing assistant Ferran Pasqual identifying the sightings. Twelve species apart from those caught in the mist nets were seen, a modest but encouraging total for a highly urbanised zone.

The List, compiled by Ferran Pascual, includes the ringed species in red:

[English, Latin, Spanish, Catalan,German, french]

Blackcap, Sylvia atricapilla, Curruca Capirotada, Tallarol de casquet, Bergeronnette grise,Fauvette à tête noire

Cetti's Warbler, Cettia cetti, Ruiseñor Bastardo, Rossinyol bord, Seidensänger, Bouscarle de Cetti

Cirl Bunting, Emberiza cirlus, Escribano Soteño, Gratapalles, Zaunammer, Bruant zizi

Common Chaffinch, Fringilla coelebs, Pinzón Vulgar, Pinsà comú, Buchfink, Pinson des arbres

Common Starling, Sturnus vulgaris, Estornino Pinto, Estornell vulgar, Star, Étourneau sansonnet

Common Woodpigeon, Columba palumbus, Paloma Torcaz, Tudó, Ringeltaube, Pigeon ramier

Crested Lark, Galerida cristata, Cogujada Común, Cogullada vulgar, Haubenlerche, Cochevis huppé

Goldfinch, Carduelis carduelis, Jilguero, Cadernera, Stieglitz, Chardonneret élégant

Great Tit, Parus major, Carbonero Común, Mallerenga carbonera, Kohlmeise, Mésange charbonnière

Green Woodpecker, Picus viridis, Pito Real, Picot verd, Grünspecht, Pic verd

Greenfinch, Carduelis chloris, Verderón Común, Verdum, Grünling, verdier d'Europe

Grey Heron, Ardea cinerea, Garza Real, Bernat pescaire, Graureiher, Héron cendré

Hawfinch, Coccothraustes coccothraustes, Picogordo, Durbec, Kernbeisser, Gros-bec

Magpie, Pica pica, Urraca, Garsa, Blauelster, Pie bleue

Moorhen, Gallinula chloropus, Gallineta Común, Polla d'aigua, Teichrallen,Gallinule poule d'eau

Robin, Erithacus rubecula, Petirrojo Europeo, Pit-roig, Rotkehlchen, Rougegorge

Rock Dove, Columba livia, Paloma Bravía, Colom roquer, Felsentaube, Pigeon biset

Short-toed Eagle, Circaetus gallicu,s Culebrera Europea, Àguila marcenca, Schlangenadler, Circaète Jean-le-blanc

Siskin, Carduelis spinus, Lúgano, Lluer, Erlenzeisig, Tarin des aulnes

Song Thrush, Turdus philomelos, Zorzal Común, Tord comú, Singdrossel, Griv musicienne

What we didn't find was a single sparrow! Words & Pictures: Abul Fazil

2011-02-11T10:46:00.020+01:00

Birding At Five Below

Braving the bitter cold with good cheer, GOT birdwatchers get set for the Gallecs experience. From right: Albert,Virginia, Ferran, Lluis,and (front row): Irma, Roger and Roser, (back row): ornithologist & guide Josep Ribas, Assumpta, Marta and Arnau.

The temperature outside at 9 a.m.

It was as fine a morning as any to go bird-watching – except that the temperature was a numbing minus 5 degrees. The Gallecs nature reserve was basking in glorious sunshine though, even if it brought little warmth. And there was virtually no others around, which meant that our well-insulated GOT dozen had the whole place to ourselves when we got there on a January Sunday two weeks ago.

Oblivious to our presence, these European Serins wait, silent and still, for the day to warm up-Picture by Albert Blazquez

The first sight that greeted us was this astonishing spectacle of hundreds of seemingly frozen Serins neatly arrayed on the bare branches of a row of poplars. Neither a twitch nor a twitter marked our presence as we stood gazing at them.

What the Serins look like close-up, a male (left) and female: Picture courtesy of Catalan bird-ringing group PARUS

Generally an active and often conspicuous bird, the Serin is the smallest European species of the family of finches (Fringillidae) and closely related to the canary. It is a familiar Mediterranean bird, largely resident and feeds on buds and seeds.

Long shadows of a mid-winter morning sun trail GOT birders down the Path of the Bandits

Gallecs is a circular expanse of flatland spanning 700 hectares and completely surrounded by seven highly-urbanised municipalities in the county of Valles Oriental. A protected zone five times the size of London’s Hyde Park, it has become a sanctuary for nesting meadow birds, a haven for foraging wetland birds, and a vital stopover site for southbound migrants, particularly the Dotterel (Charadrius morinellus). More than 12 kilometres of well-signposted and quaintly-named footpaths and bicycle tracks criss-cross fields of fodder plants, mainly alfalfa (lucerne), much loved by most of the avian foragers.

Three streams, the Caldes, the Caganell and the Seca, flow through small groves of plane trees lining some segments at the peripheries of the flatland, creating a mini-habitat for wetland birds and woodpeckers. Other segments, also at the edges of the Gallecs, have been given to small-scale farming of vegetables for local consumption.

Winter in fact is an ideal time to go birdwatching; the birds are more visible and less timid as they search for food or simply perch on branches clear of foliage to take in the sun. A good pair of field glasses is indispensable, of course.

A flock of grazing Grey Partridges

A little way up the lead footpath called Cami dels Bandolers (Path of the Bandits), and we came across a large flock of Grey Partridges, Perdix perdix, serenely grazing on an alfalfa field. According to our guide, Josep Ribas, Catalan ornithologist and author of the book Els Ocells del Vallès Oriental (Birds of the Eastern Valley), the Gallecs is an ideal place to watch partridges. Hunting is not allowed, food in abundance, and the fields make perfect breeding grounds for these non-migratory birds. Even the appearance of a Kestrel (Falco tinnunculus) didn’t seem to ruffle feathers among either the partridges or the many other passerines pecking away in the fields. Although the Common Kestrels feeds almost exclusively on mouse-sized mammals such as voles, shrews and mice, they sometimes do prey on passerines, but only during a few weeks each summer when inexperienced fledglings abound.

Left: a Kestrel on a treetop, topright: a Cirl Bunting perched on a barbed wire, and a Robin foraging in the alfalfa

By 11 it was time to call it a day. The temperature had moved above zero and the Sunday crowds were already beginning to trickle in with their bicycles and their barking dogs, all set to shatter the peace and quiet. We had covered a good 5 kilometres of ground totted up no fewer than 36 species -- a gratifying number for one short morning’s excursion. Words: Abul Fazil Pictures: Albert Blazquez
List of birds seen at Gallecs (January 2011), compiled by Ferran Pascual:
(English, Latin, Spanish, Catalan,German, French)

1. Black Redstart, Phoenicurus ochruros, Colirrojo Tizón, Cotxa fumada, Hausrotschwanz, Rougequeue noir

2. Blackbird, Turdus merula, Mirlo Común, Merla,Amsel, Merle noir

3. Cirl Bunting, Emberiza cirlus, Escribano Soteño, Gratapalles, Zaunammer, Bruant zizi

4. Common Buzzard, Buteo buteo, Ratonero común, aligot comú, Bussarde,Buse variable

5. Common Chaffinch, Fringilla coelebs, Pinzón Vulgar, Pinsà comú, Buchfink , Pinson des arbres

6. Common Chiffchaff, Phylloscopus collybita, Mosquitero Común, Mosquiter comú, Zilpzalp, pouillot véloce

7. Common Starling, Sturnus vulgaris,Estornino Pinto, Estornell vulgar,Star,Étourneau sansonnet

8. Common Stonechat, Saxicola torquatus, Tarabilla Común, Bitxac comú, Tarier d'Afrique

9. Common Woodpigeon, Columba palumbus, Paloma Torcaz, Tudó, Ringeltaube, Pigeon ramier

10. Corn Bunting, Emberiza calandra, Triguero, Cruixidell, Grauammer, Bruant proyerc

11. Crested Lark, Galerida cristata, Cogujada Común, Cogullada vulgar, Haubenlerche, Cochevis huppé

12. Dunnock(hedge sparrow),Prunella modularis,Acentor Común, Pardal de bardissa, Heckenbraunelle, Accenteur mouchet

13. Eurasian Collared Dove,Streptopelia decaocto,Tórtola Turca, Tórtora turca,Elster,Pie bavarde

14. Eurasian Treecreeper, Certhia familiaris, Agateador Norteño, Raspinell, Baumläufer, Grimpereau des bois

15. European Roller, Coracias garrulus, Carraca Europea, Gaig blau, Blauracke, Rollier d’Europe

16. European Serin, Serinus serinus, Verdecillo, Gafarró, Girlitz, Serin cini

17. Goldfinch, Carduelis carduelis, Jilguero Cadernera, Stieglitz, Chardonneret élégant

18. Great Tit, Parus major, Carbonero Común, Mallerenga carbonera,Kohlmeise, Mésange charbonnière

19. Green Woodpecker, Picus viridis, Pito Real, Picot verd,Grünspecht, Pic vert

20. Greenfinch, Carduelis chloris, Verderón Común, Verdum, Grünling, Verdier d’Europe

21. Grey Heron, Ardea cinerea, garza real, Bernat pescaire, Graureiher, Héron Cendré

22. Grey Partridge, Perdix perdix, Perdiz Pardilla, Perdiu xerra, Rebhuhn, Perdrix grise

23. House Sparrow, Passer domesticus, Gorrión Común, Pardal comú, Haussperling, Moineau domestique

24. Lesser Kestrel, Falco naumanni, Cernícalo PrimillaXoriguer petit, Rötelfalke, Faucon crécerellette

25. Little Owl, Athene noctua, Mochuelo Europeo, Mussol comú, Steinkauz, Chevêche d'Athéna

26. Magpie, Pica pica, Urraca, Garsa, Blauelster, Pie bleue

27. Meadow pipit, Anthus pratensis, Bisbita Pratense, Titella, Wiesenpieper, Pipit farlouse

28. Moorhen, Gallinula chloropus, Gallineta Común, Polla d'aigua, Teichrallen, Gallinule poule d'eau

29. Red-legged Partridge Alectoris rufa Perdiz Roja Perdiu roja, Rothuhn, Perdrix rouge

30. Robin, Erithacus rubecula, Petirrojo Europeo, Pit-roig, Rotkehlchen, Rougegorge

31. Sardinian Warbler, Sylvia melanocephala, Curruca Cabecinegra, Tallarol capnegre, Samtkopfgrasmücke, Fauvette mélanocéphale

32. Skylark, Alauda arvensis, Alondra Común, Alosa vulgar, Feldlerche, Alouette des champs

33. Tree Sparrow, Passer montanus, Gorrión Molinero, Pardal xarrec, Feldsperling, Moineau friquet.

34. White Wagtail, Motacilla alba, Lavandera Blanca, Cuereta blanca, Bachstelze, Bergeronnette grise

35. Wren, Troglodytes troglodytes, Chochín Común, Cargolet, Zaunkönige, Troglodyte mignon

36. Yellow-legged Gull, Larus michahellis, Gaviota Patiamarilla , Gavià argentat, Weisskopfmöwe Goéland, leucophée

2011-01-18T21:57:00.003+01:00

DEATH ON THE WING

Bonelli's Eagle, Latin: Aquila fasciata, Sp: Águila Perdicera, Cat: Àliga Cuabarrada, Ger: Habichtsadler,
Fr: Aigle de Bonelli
KILLED FOR KICKS: This body of a Bonelli’s Eagle provides grim evidence of the impunity with which game hunters defy the law, and the perversity of a blood sport that thrives on public apathy. Forest rangers found the male raptor’s body on 30th December, five days after it was brought down while flying over the woodland-bound suburbs of Torrelles de Llobregat, a municipality in the province of Barcelona. The body had been riddled with 12 shotgun pellets.

The woodland trail where the body was first seen. © Photographs: Júlia Olivella & Rosa Simón. Courtesy of VIST AVUI

A rambler found the bird lying dead on a trail in the woods shortly after it had been shot. Forest rangers were alerted, but when they arrived at the spot, the bird had vanished. After a five-day search the body was found, dumped in the thick of the forest.

Residents aware of the presence of the eagle said that only a few weeks earlier its mate had been shot and killed in the same area. However, a few days before the male met the same fate, another female had turned up, and the two paired up. The fate of the solitary female is not known but fears for its safety have been raised by Catalan ornithologists and bird lovers.

A magnificent example of a male Bonelli's Eagle: Photo by SAM MUGRABY, Courtesy of Photos8.com

The Bonelli’s Eagle is an endangered species and its population has been declining throughout Europe. Only about 1000 pairs survive on the continent, of which around 750 are in Spain. Once widespread in Catalonia, its numbers here have been reduced to just around 66 pairs. It is a protected species. Yet, although the killing of birds of prey has been outlawed for years in Spain, it has not stopped the country’s blood sport aficionados.

For many birds of prey, flying over woodland has become quite hazardous: apart from the threat of being shot down by hunters, they are likely to be electrocuted on power lines, lose their habitat to urban development, and be poisoned by the pesticides and insecticides increasingly being used in farming. -- Words: ABUL FAZIL

2011-01-07T14:22:00.071+01:00

Spectacle in Silhouette

Thick mist & morning freeze fail to dampen spirits

     Shades of the Aquila, the Roman Imperial Gold Eagle Standard – the view from one of the hides: a Great Cormorant
     Phalacrocorax carbo, wings fully spread out, perches stoically atop a pole on a reedbed in the middle of Lake Sils to
   await the morning sun. As it turned out, the wait wasa long one
IT’S the onset of winter and at L’Estany de Sils (Lake Sils), in the small town of Sils in the north of Catalonia, the once resplendent poplars are now mere skeletons. And the oaks, ashes and pines that played host to more than 200 bird species in spring and summer have fallen silent as the last of the autumn visitors retreat south in search of warmer climes.

Not everyone had gone though. Some wetland birds and -- here and there -- a few solitary woodlanders were still around to greet the dozen or so GOT birders braving the morning freeze to visit the lake on Sunday.

Not the ideal start to a birdwatching experience – but these GOT members refused to be put off by the
subzero temperature and dismal panorama as they cross into a poplar plantation and head for the lake nearby.

Quite unexpected...
What took us by complete surprise was the mist that hung heavy for almost two hours and kept temperatures below zero for most of the morning. Far from dampening spirits, however, the mist added a touch of the uncommon to our birding experience – an avian ensemble in silhouette against a blanket of grey.
Picture above shows a number of Great Cormorants, Grey Herons, and what appeared to be Little Egrets, on one of the lake’s islets as the mist thickened. In the picture on the right a Grey Heron was spotted perching on a rock near a reedbed while a pair of Common Teals swim towards it.

Among the bare poplar trees surrounding the lake, avian activity was scarce and very silent. About a score of woodland birds were spotted flying individually. Easily identifiable were a Black Redstart, Yellow-legged gull, Chaffinch, Blackbird, three members of the Tit family, Sardinian Warbler, Blackcap and a Rock dove. During the latter part of the morning we spied a Magpie, Collared Dove, Woodpecker, Raven, Crow, Common starling, White wagtail, Woodpigeon and even a Sparrow. A couple of veteran birders not belonging to our group managed to see and capture on camera a Great Bitten, a rare sighting indeed for this part of the country. GOT members weren’t that lucky. Towards the end of the walk around the lake we heard but couldn’t see a Robin, Cetti’s Warbler and Chiffchaff hidden among the reedbeds.

Great Cormorants phalacrocorax carbo and Little Egrets egretta garceta bask in the sun on a reedbed in the middle of
Lake Sils, unperturbed by the Barcelona-bound train gliding past.
The panorama changed dramatically when the sun finally broke through and the mist lifted. Like hitting Play on a frozen movie frame, the whole scene jumped to life, to the delight of a motley crowd of waiting birdwatchers huddled for warmth within the lakeside hides. The wonder of it all was that the scene that unfolded before us didn’t exist a decade ago. Then there was no lake, no wetland flora, no habitat for birds.

Yellow-legged gull Larus michachellis

ONCE UPON A TIME...

A long time ago, over seven square kilometres of the Sils municipality was wetland supporting a great lagoon called Estany de Sils. Then, in the middle of the last century the lagoon was dried out and the wetlands desiccated and turned into farmland, grassland and meadows for grazing, and poplar plantations for timber, almost causing the total disappearance of the wildlife that existed.

Half a century later, plans to re-establish a natural environment and recover the lost biodiversity were set in motion by the Sils Town Hall with the assistance of the Catalonian Government and Natura2000, a European Community network designed to promote and protect natural open spaces where wildlife could thrive. The recovery work began in 2004 and is still going on, but the result so far has been impressive.

Apart from the new lake, which is continuously being topped up with treated wastewater from the region’s wastewater treatment plants, the Sils Natural Open Space includes an extensive area of grassland, swath meadows, and oak, ash, poplar and pine groves which are now home to scores of wetland and woodland birds. On our Sunday visit we spotted 10 waterbirds, including Mallards, Common Coots, Northern Shovelers, Little Grebes, Wood Sandpipers and Great White Egrets, and a total of 22 woodland species, including a Long-tailed Tit, Cetti’s Warbler, Woodpigeon and White wagtail -- not bad for an untypical, almost uninviting, freezing and mist-shrouded wintry morning.
Click here for the list of birds observed at Lake Sils on Sunday 2nd January 2011

Closups of a Long-tailed Tit (left), Robin (above right) & Blackbird taken at a bird-ringing session – pictures by FERRAN PASCUAL
Click on pictures to get a full-screen image

AND ON A PERFECT
DAY IN EARLY AUTUMN...

Els Estanys de Sils from Albert Blanch on Vimeo.
Birds in the video: [00:29] Little Egret feeding ; [00:33] Grey Heron & Mallards; [00:38] Litle Egret inflight;

[00:46] Grey Herons; [00:58]Mallards; [01:08] Grey Heron inflight; [01:15] Mallards again; [01:47] Grey Heron

This video was shot on an early October morning by Albert Blanch, producer of creative audiovisuals, who hosts his own artistic website at www.albertblanch.com. The video gives a magnificent sweep of Lake Sils, its wetland birds, and the richness of the surroundings of swath meadows, grassland, cattail and reed beds and poplar groves.

Words: ABUL FAZIL. Pictures: ALBERT BLAZQUEZ & ABUL FAZIL

2010-12-23T18:17:00.016+01:00

Birding by Ear

GOT members listen intently to final advice from the experts before setting off into the forest on an early morning birdwatching expedition in the Miranda nature reserve in the town of L'Ametlla.

It was birding with a difference at GOT’s year-end Sunday morning with nature at the Miranda Park in the highland town of L’Ametlla on the southern slopes of the Cingles del Berti mountain range.

The birds -- 17 species all told -- were there all right; their calls could be heard clearly enough. But the thick undergrowth, dense woodland and the incessant chatter of scores of adults and children filing up a narrow trail near the edge of a deep gorge, made it virtually impossible to get even a glimpse of a single one.

Nonetheless, the two-hour climb wasn’t all in vain. It helped drive home the message that birding has just as much to do with the ear as with the eye. For bird lovers in search of forest and woodland birds, listening skills are indispensable. In fact, many bird species are more readily detected and identified by ear than by eye.

Bird calls and songs are truly amazing phenomena. Birdsong is one of the wonders of the natural world, and for bird-lovers there’s nothing more enchanting than listening to a dawn chorus while watching the sunrise -- as most urban dwellers whose homes play host to song birds will testify.

Bird calls vs bird songs

Birds however do not sing to entertain us. Singing is simply a means of communicating with their avian kith and kin. Ornithologists also distinguish between a bird call and a bird song.

Not all birds sing and not all the sounds birds make are called songs. In fact only Passeriformes, or perching birds, are true songbirds, which mean that nearly half the global avian population do not sing. These birds use short and unmusical vocalizations, what birders describe as bird calls, to communicate within their species.

How do Birds make Noises?

According to ornithologists, birds do not have a larynx like humans do. Instead they have an organ called a syrinx, a sort of double instrument that sits deep in a bird's chest at the point where the trachea or windpipe divides into two bronchi or branches. One half of the syrinx rests in each bronchi and each of these halves is capable of making sound, giving the bird the ability to sing two different notes at the same time, and even sing a duet with itself. Thrushes (Monticola solitarius), for example, are capable of singing a rising note with one side and a falling note with the other. None, however, can compare with the amazing Australian Lyre bird for the variety of sounds it is able to produce.

Heard but not seen

At the Miranda Park bird trip, few apart from our guides, Albert Petit and Anton Montsant , could identify with certainty all the birds whose calls told us they were there among the Holm oak, poplar, elm, chestnut and ash trees and in the undergrowth of shrub, small plants and ferns

The most frequent calls came from these birds (clicking on name takes you to sound files) :

Robin ( Erithacus rubecula); Petirrojo Europeo; Pit-roig

Wren (Troglodytes troglodytes); Chochín Común; Cargolet

Common Chaffinch (Fringilla coelebs); Pinzón Vulgar; Pinsà comú

Goldfinch (Carduelis carduelis); Jilguero; Cadernera

Great Tit (Parus major);Carbonero Común ; Mallerenga carbonera

Siskin (Carduelis spinus ); Lúgano; Lluer

Common Chiffchaff (Phylloscopus collybita); Mosquitero Común; Mosquiter comú

Spotless Starling (Sturnus unicolor );Estornino Negro; Estornell negre

Blackbird (Turdus merula ); Mirlo Común; Merla, and

Blackcap (Sylvia atricapilla); Curruca Capirotada; Tallarol de casquet.

More difficult to make out were the:

Dunnock (Prunella modularis); Acentor Común; Pardal de bardissa, and the

Short-toed Treecreeper (Certhia brachydactyla); Agateador Común; Raspinell comú

And making their presence felt too were the:

Green woodpecker (Picus viridis) , Pito real; Picot verd

Great Spotted Woodpecker (Dendrocopos major); Pico Picapinos; Picot garser gros

Common Woodpigeon (Columba palumbus); Paloma Torcaz ; Tudó

Eurasian Collared Dove (Streptopelia decaocto); Tórtola Turca; Tórtora turca, and the

Eurasian Jay (Garrulus glandarius); Arrendajo; Gaig

(List compiled by GOT veteran Ferran Pascual who caught all the sounds!)

A rare insight...

It wasn’t a totally bird-free morning, however, for the 100 or so people who had turned up. The day began with a ringing session conducted by ornithologists Roger Sanmartí and Anna Dalmau.

Mist nets put up at dawn had trapped a total of seven robins, one blackcap and a chaffinch, which were then weighed, measured, checked for injuries and then ringed before being set free again. For the onlookers, it was an insight into the birding world rarely seen by non-ornithologists, and formed an integral part of GOT’s programme to bring the birding experience to the general public.

The highlight of the morning came with the flight to freedom of a young female sparrowhawk (Accipiter nisus) that was badly injured when it crashed into the glass pane of a highrise building about a month ago. The bird of prey was sent to Torreferrussa Wild Fauna Rehabilitation Centre where it was treated and then handed over to GOT to be released into the wild.

Countdown to freedom - Eurasian Sparrowhawk (Accipiter nisus) Gavilán Común, Esparver vulgar, Sperber,

Autour des palombes. Below: Video by Virginia Cavet shows Roger Sanmartí setting the bird free.

A bit of habitat-building was next on the agenda -- six Black Poplar (Populus Nigra) saplings were ceremoniously planted near the lower reaches of the Torrent del Verder, the mountain stream running down the gorge. The tree planting was part of a fluvial rejuvenation project of the Town Hall, and the Mayor herself, Ms Angels Cabello, was present to talk about its importance to the biodiversity of natural environment

Top left: Anton Montsant replanting a 6-year-old poplar. Top Right: Jordi Puig, the
Town Hall's environment expert, steadies a 2-year-old poplar sapling. In the picture
below Jordi Puig shows what a fully grown 40-year-old poplar tree looks like.

The project involved the planting of no fewer than 55 trees over a period of several weeks in the vicinity of the park. The Black poplar, a favourite with ground feeding birds and mammals, is ideal as ground stabilizers at river banks.

Rounding off the day’s activities was the DIY nest box building workshop, hallmark of GOT’s Mornings with Nature,during which participants knocked into shape their own nest boxes under the tutelage of GOT veteran Albert Blazquez. All the necessary material –‘prefab’ boards, nails, hinges and hammers – were, as always, provided free by GOT. All that the participants had to do was put knock their boxes into shape and take it home.

GOT veteran Albert Blazquez (left) helping parents and their children build nest boxes from scratch.

Words & pictures by Abul Fazil

Bringing life back to the rivers

2010-12-08T15:11:00.006+01:00

The Big Clean-up
A sewage treatment plant isn’t exactly a venue for bird watching. But that was where a small band of GOT birders gathered one freezing Sunday morning in November. Not to spot birds, but to find out more about how our rivers and streams – critical habitat for hundreds of bird species -- are being fouled up, and the unceasing battle to save them.

At the forefront of this battle is the Consortium for the Defence of the Besos River Basin, an organisation which operates wastewater treatment plants on behalf of some 50 Catalan municipalities which lie within the watershed of the Besos and its five major tributaries, the Mogent, Congost, Tenes, Riera de Caldes, and Ripoll rivers.

The Besos at Santa Coloma -- a truly spectacular transformation in one generation

The Consortium was created in 1988, when it became evident that the management of the watershed, a vast area of 1038 sq km covering a 530km waterway network, had to be a collective, unified effort. That decision has paid off spectacularly: during the 1970s and 80s the Besos held the dubious honour of being the most contaminated river in Europe. Less than a generation later it has been transformed into one of the cleanest and best managed in the country.

The proper treatment of household sewage and wastewater from baths, showers, kitchens and sinks has played a principal role in this transformation, especially during the population boom and rapid urbanization of recent decades. Together with industrial and agricultural effluence, sewage pumped into the rivers became the scourge of river ecosystems and waterways. Within the Mediterranean region, it is one of the most critical environmental problems of the 21st century.

GOT members had a detailed insight into the situation during the tour of the Consortium’s wastewater treatment plant in Granollers, capital of the Valles Oriental County. The plants are called EDAR’s, acronym for Estacions Depuradores d’Aigües Residuals. Catalonia, with a population of over 7,000,000 has 387 wastewater treatment plants, 16 of which, serving some 360,000 inhabitants, are operated by the Consortium.

At EDAR Granollers: Manel Isnard (4th from right) explaining how it all works

Our guide was Mr. Manel Isnard i Blanchar, the Consortium’s head of Fluvial Environment, who gave us some surprising statistics

· EDAR Granollers caters for 94,200 people living in three municipalities: Les Franqueses, Canovelles and Granollers.

· Construction of the plant, established in 1992, cost €20.1 million, and it has a current annual operating expenditure of €1.1 million.

· The plant also handles wastewater from 1,052 business establishments and factories.

· There are 22,175 metres of sewers draining into the treatment plant.

· EDAR Granollers has been producing an astonishing 8 million cubic metres of fully treated non-potable water annually in recent years. That represents an average of 21,917 cu. metres of ‘cleaned’ water each day, or 254 litres a second – and a large part of this water is released into the rivers to replenish the waterways and revitalise the ecosystem. Treated water has today become the lifeblood of the rivers.

· Apart from treated water, EDAR Granollers annually produces about 6,399,000 kg of solid waste or sludge, which may be reused as fertilizer, and some 472,000 kg of oils, greases, gravel and sand, much of which end up in landfills.

How does the dirty water you flush down your toilet get cleaned before it’s pumped back into the rivers?

Manel Isnard explained that wastewater treatment is a relatively straightforward process designed to remove physical, biological and chemical contaminants present in raw sewage and effluent, a term which includes liquid waste from homes, industry and commercial activity. The objective: to produce environmentally-safe but non-potable water, and sludge which can be easily disposed of or reused.

What goes in: untreated waste water...

Wastewater carried by sewers first enters the plant through steel-bar screens which trap and remove large objects like rags, wood, branches, plastic and all the big stuff that get into the wastewater stream.

It then hits the grit chambers which allow smaller solids such as sand, grit and gravel to drop to the bottom. This is the preliminary treatment stage.

The filtered water is next channelled into huge circular sedimentation or settling tanks where it gets its primary treatment. These tanks hold the water for several hours allowing solids that are suspended in the water to settle to the bottom. At the same time, surface skimmers remove lighter stuff like oils and grease which rise to the surface.

After this, secondary treatment begins. This involves a bit of biology – and a bunch of very tiny but very hungry creatures called microorganisms which love dining on dissolved solids.

As these microscopic megamunchers -- bacteria, fungi, algae, or protozoa -- eat away all day, everyday, ceaselessly, they bring about what is called biological conversion: transforming the dissolved solids into suspended solids, which can then be removed.

Some of the organisms are carnivorous, i.e. meat eaters; others are herbivores i.e. they’re strict vegans, while the in-betweens – the omnivores – go for either. They’re very small but very smart, and they know what they want, declared Manel Isnard with a grin.

A further step in secondary treatment involves adding oxygen into the wastewater and microorganism combination, which makes the microorganisms multiply and the process accelerated. The mixture then goes to a secondary sedimentation tank where the microorganisms and the now suspended solids are allowed to settle to the bottom before being removed.

...and what comes out: ‘cleaned’ water

Chlorine is added at this stage to disinfect the water by killing off dangerous microorganisms. Finally, because chlorine is toxic to aquatic life, the water is dechlorinated, and we obtain treated effluent which is pumped back into the environment.

What happens to the solids that have been removed?

The sludge or ‘biosolids’ at the very end of
the process. It is used either as fertilizer
or ends up in a landfill

Well, the trash and the sand, grit and gravel collected at the initial stages are sent to a landfill. The sludge or “biosolids” that settles to the bottom during the primary and secondary treatments undergoes various processes to squeeze out every drop of water it may contain. The final, dry product is either turned into fertilizer or sent to a landfill.

Manel Isnard assured us that every stage of the process called for careful monitoring, testing and control to make sure that what goes in comes out in a form that doesn’t upset the environmental balance.

End of story for EDAR Granollers? Not quite. One of the Consortium’s jobs is to educate both industry and the public on the dire consequences of river pollution, whether unconscious or intentional. It sponsors educational programmes at schools, sports and recreational clubs, civic centres and commercial and industrial institutions through talks, seminars, visits like the one made by GOT members, and technical workshops for universities and colleges.

Just as vital is its role as defender of the fluvial environment, drawing up plans and launching projects to improve the environment and protect the freshwater ecosystem.

One of its most ambitious projects is its collaboration in the restoration of the Can Cabanyes fluvial ecosystem. Can Cabanyes is an 80,000sq metre nature reserve through which the Congost River runs. EDAR Granollers lies just adjacent the nature reserve, on the east bank of the river.

The Can Cabanyes park seen from the operations room of EDAR Granollers. In the background, surrounded a a thick row of trees, are the upper stands of the Formula One Circuit of Catalunya.

For sometime now, the treatment plant has been diverting some of its treated water from the river to previously polluted lakes and wetlands in Can Cabanyes, and studying how much the biological impact of natural plant microorganisms in the wetlands would enhance the quality of the water and promote the growth of freshwater biodiversity. The results have been encouraging, paving the way for similar projects elsewhere.

Manel Isnard made a clear distinction between the non-potable water which treatment plants produce, and potable water obtained from ‘purifying’ water from reservoirs.

At the moment we have two extremes, he noted: ‘pure’ water for drinking, and high quality treated water to be pumped back into the natural environment. In the future, he said, wastewater treatment may have to conform to a set of criteria different from what has been imposed upon treatment plants today. This would allow for the production of multiple-level quality non-potable water to cater for the different needs of the community, industry and agriculture.

In a world where the threat of water shortages looms large, it doesn’t seem to make sense, he added, that we’re still using the purest water i.e. drinking water to flush our toilets.
Words & Pictures: Abul Fazil

The Llobregat Experience

2010-11-29T00:49:00.081+01:00

All concentration in the Sabogal observation hut

Virtually every three minutes an international airliner bore down on us as it prepared for the touchdown at Barcelona’s El Prat airport a few hundred metres away. The birds were obviously used to the planes flying overhead, even if we weren’t. It is, after all, their natural habitat, occupying 90 hectares of the Llobregat River delta nature reserve between the south bank of the river and the Cal Tet and Ca l’Arana Lagoons. Just beyond the lagoons lie the runways of El Prat.

Taking the continuous roar of the jets in their stride are these Great Cormorants basking on a reed sandbank in the Cal Tet lagoon. Barely visible among the reeds on the right is a Grey Heron.

For an ardent bird-lover, nothing could be more gratifying than the Llobregat experience. With none of the hassle of woodland trekking to contend with, the Llobregat Delta is a veritable birding hotspot, where some 360 species, including migrants, seek sanctuary at different periods all year round. Herons, waders, shorebirds and passerines often make daily flights across the airport to their feeding, roosting and nesting in the river, the lagoons, marshes, beaches and pine groves of the reserve.

On any specific half-day trip, however, you’d probably chalk up no more than 30 sightings. That was the tally for GOT birders who spent a gloriously sunny mid-November Saturday morning there.
The delta is no more than a half hour’s drive from bustling Barcelona, and covers an extensive area. Our group had time only for a visit to the wetland between the Llobregat River and the Cal Tet and Ca l’Arana lagoons.

Another jet about to touchdown while Mallards and Red-crested Pochards frolic in the water by the reed-lined bank in the background. In the foreground: Great Cormorants and a Grey Heron (among the reeds on the right) bask in the morning sun.

From an observation hut at another end of the Cal Tet lagoon: Great Cormorants, common Gulls and, on the left, a Herring Gull

Apart from the lagoons, the landscape took in marshland filled with rushes, meadows with grazing horses, pine groves with nest boxes on many trunks, and the wide sandy Ca l’Arana beach. Well-signposted itineraries covering up to 5 km of discovery trails took us from one bird observatory and watch tower to another. And along the route the experienced eye of our guide Pedro Bescós pointed out birds hidden among the reeds that we might not have spotted on our own.

Left: Penduline Tit (Remiz pendulinus, Spanish: Pájaro Moscón, Catalan: Teixidor). Right: Entrance to the reserve.

Left: One of the watch-towers. Right: GOT birders on the trail

Veteran GOT birder Ferran Pascual drew up this list of birds, all except one, seen by everyone on that Saturday morning. Only Ferran and our guide Pedro managed to make out the elusive Great Bittern among the tall grass, but their excitement and sheer joy more than made up for the disappoint the rest of us felt.

(English, Latin, Spanish, Catalan)

American flamingo; Phoenicopterus ruber; Flamenco del caribe; Flamenc del carib

Black Redstart; Phoenicurus ochruros; Colirrojo Tizón; Cotxa fumada

Black-headed Gull; Larus ridibundus; Gaviota Reidora; Gavina vulgar

Cattle Egret; Bubulcus ibis; Garcilla Bueyera; Esplugabous

Common Chiffchaff; Phylloscopus collybita; Mosquitero Común; Mosquiter comú

Common Coot; Fulica atra; Focha Común; Fotja vulgar

Common Sandpiper; Actitis hypoleucos; Andarríos Chico; Xivitona

Common Starling; Sturnus vulgaris; Estornino Pinto; Estornell vulgar

Common Teal; Anas crecca; Cerceta Común; Xarxet comú

Crested Lark; Galerida cristata; Cogujada Común; Cogullada vulgar

Dunlin; Calidris alpina; Correlimos Común; Territ variant

Gadwall; Anas strepera; Ánade Friso; Ànec griset

Great Bittern; Botaurus stellaris; Avetoro Común; Bitó comú

Great Cormorant; Phalacrocorax carbo; Cormorán Grande; Corb marí gros

Great Crested Grebe; Podiceps cristatus; Somormujo Lavanco; Cabusó emplomallat

Grey Heron; Ardea cinerea; Garza Real; Bernat pescaire

Grey Plover; Pluvialis squatarola; Chorlito Gris; Pigre gris

Greylag Goose; Anser anser; Ánsar Común; Oca vulgar

Hoopoe; Upupa epops; Abubilla; Puput

House Sparrow; Passer domesticus; Gorrión Común; Pardal comú

Little Egret; Egretta garzetta; Garceta Común; Martinet blanc

Little Grebe; Tachybaptus ruficollis; Zampullín Común; Cabusset

Magpie; Pica pica; Urraca; Garsa

Mallard; Anas platyrhynchos; Ánade Azulón; Ànec collverd

Monk Parakeet; Myiopsitta monachus; Cotorra Argentina; Cotorreta de pit gris

Moorhen; Gallinula chloropus; Gallineta Común; Polla d'aigua

Purple Swamp-hen; Porphyrio porphyrio; Calamón Común; Polla blava

Red-crested Pochard; Netta rufina; Pato Colorado; Xibec

Sociable Lapwing; Vanellus gregarius; Avefría Sociable; Fredeluga

White Wagtail; Motacilla alba; Lavandera Blanca; Cuereta blanca

The amount of avian activity throughout the year, however, means that no two visits would provide the same birding experience. We shall return soon.

2010-11-24T23:59:00.009+01:00

The Lleida Farmer and his Unwelcome Guests

Proud and proprietorial, the male surveys the
scene atop his new home, daubed in green
paint and hung high up, compliments of GOT.

GOT MAKES THE

PEACE – AND

A EUROPEAN ROLLER

PAIR GET THEIR CHICKS

European Roller (Coracias garrulus);Catalan:Gaig (/gʌtʃ /) Blau; Spanish: Carraca Europea; German: Blauracke; French: Rollier d’Europe

In the wheat fields of Utxesa (/ʊˈtʃesə/) near the Catalan town of Lleida (/ˈljei.da:/), some 150 km from Barcelona, lives a farmer who has reason to be pretty pleased with himself. He’s got rid of a score of pesky migrant birds that had been invading his farmhouse every summer – and done his bit towards the conservation of a habitat for one of Europe’s most prized birds.

The story began in summer last year when he decided that he’d had enough of the birds – among whom was a pair of near-threatened European Rollers -- which had been nesting in numerous air vents in the walls of the farmhouse for years. He didn’t really mind them during the day. But with eventide came his nightmare. As the outdoor temperature hit the high 40s, the birds crawled through the holes and moved into his house. Perching wherever they could, they struck up their ear-splitting evening chorus that shattered not just his nerves and his peace of mind but his patience as well. At the end of summer 2009 the farmer decided he’d had enough. When the last of the birds flew off to their winter retreats, he blocked up every hole in his walls. That would have been the end of the story – and a new brood of European Rollers, had Barcelona birding professional Roger Sanmartí not got wind of it. Roger managed to track down the farmer at the end of April this year and obtained his consent to put up a nest box on the farmhouse wall. The farmer also allowed him to erect a portable bird hide within shooting – photo-shooting --distance.

All set for the return of the Rollers – Roger Sanmartí checks out his portable bird hide after putting up the nest box. A perching branch marks the hole – now cemented up – that used to be home for the Rollers. Picture by Photo-Logistics

Right on schedule in mid-May this year the Roller pair turned up, flew round the house looking for their home-in-the wall, and settled on the branch which marked the spot. It didn’t take the female long to make up her mind and, without much ado, she popped into the inviting nest box to survey the interior. Soon after, she laid three eggs and eight days later the chicks emerged.

Making themselves at home --the view from the bird hide. The male is indistinguishable from the female. Staking out for these memorable shots were long-time GOT collaborator Roger, and Photo-Logistics birding guides Anna Dalmau and Carles Santana.

Resplendent in its vivid plumage, the European roller (subspecies--garrulus Linnaeus) is the only member of the roller family to breed in Europe. Its brilliant blue and orange brown back is in stark contrast to its black flight feathers, making it one of the most beautiful birds to behold. The Roller’s midflight display is a spectacular series of twist and turns that givse the species it's English name. A creature of warm, dry, open country, it is a long-distance migrant, wintering in southern Africa in the region covering Senegal, Cameroon, Ethiopia, the Congo, and South Africa.

Roller chicks fledge fast, and within a month Utxesa’s Roller family were flapping their wings for the 6000km flight to their wintering grounds. They will be back next May, together with some 150 other pairs which fly into Catalonia to breed.

Words: Abul Fazil

Pictures by the Photo-Logistics team ( roger@photo-logistics.com)