While I had ‘got back’ one of the misses from the 2025 trip in Moustached Warbler, I still needed to catch up with Eurasian Eagle-owl and Dupont’s Lark. The eagle-owl was a lower priority as I had seen and heard one in Germany relatively recently about eight years ago. In addition, it was found throughout Europe so I might well catch up with it somewhere else. In contrast, I had only ever seen Dupont’s once – Morocco in 1988. I was unlikely to return to Spain again just to see this one bird, so I needed to score now.
Although the weather was forecast to be overcast with
occasional light rain the final two mornings, there was critically no wind. I
was optimistic I could find the bird despite having spent some time researching
advice on-line on how to find them, which was replete with horror stories of
birders finally lucking into one after multiple days of searching. One
interesting piece of information was that the larks would quite often perch up
on small rocks to sing from. I planned to check any such rocks for singing
birds during my efforts. In Morocco, I had eventually found one by simply
walking around long enough and scanning and that was an obvious tactic to
replicate here. Finally, there was playback. Although the tips I read stated
that playback did not work in seeing the species, I had found a paper on-line
that did a study on Dupont’s Larks responding to playback. This indicated that the
species would, in fact, often run towards the playback while calling. It
further stated that this response was most frequent in areas with a high
density of birds and during the peak singing period, both of which applied to
my situation. Thus, it appeared that playback could in fact work, as it almost
always does in the right circumstances.
Since it was clear that simply wandering around while
playing the song was not an effective way to see a Dupont’s, I settled on the
following strategy. I would walk around listening for vocalizing birds, while
often using playback to encourage such behavior. While doing so, I would
regularly scan ahead to look for birds running around or on small rocks.
Thirdly, when I did hear one within a reasonable range, I would sit down in a
semi-concealed location in taller grass or low rocks adjacent to areas with shorter,
more open vegetation. From there, I would use playback in the hope a lark might
show up.
I chose to bird at La Lomaza rather than El Planeron, which
is the more popular location, for three reasons: La Lomaza has extensive
unbroken habitat, whereas the habitat at EL Planeron is frequently dissected by
agricultural fields; I was concerned that the recent rains might create access
issues on the dirt roads into El Planeron; Finally, given how popular El Planeron
is for birders looking for Dupont’s, I was concerned that the birds there might
have gotten wise to playback and not be responsive at all. A negative was the
background noise emanating from the presence of a nearby quarry and a fairly
busy road. I was visiting on a Sunday morning and correctly predicted that the
quarry would not be active that day. I was planning on walking up to two or
three kilometers into the reserve, which would eliminate the traffic noise.
I arrived at La Lomaza around sunrise and immediately heard a
Dupont’s or two vocalizing. However, these vocalizations were intermittent and
distant. I eventually decided that one was coming from the general vicinity of
some low rocky outcrops a couple hundred of yards away. After carefully
scanning the area as I approached, I sat down in front of the outcrop after
placing my speaker on a nearby rock and began the playback. I didn’t hear any
birds sing back but after a while I heard an unfamiliar ‘cheryut’ call coming
from immediately behind me. I wondered if this might be a Dupont’s but upon
getting up to look behind me, there was no sign of anything.
I walked further into the reserve and eventually had a bird
vocalizing relatively close by. I sat down in some grass tussocks and tried the
playback but had no response whatsoever. I kept on heading further into the
reserve. It was now past 9 AM and Dupont’s sing mostly around sunrise. However,
given the season, I felt I would still hear some birds, especially as I was
using playback.
I eventually heard another fairly close bird. Scanning the
general area revealed nothing and I again sat down in some grass tussocks by a
more open area after placing the speaker a little distance away. I hadn’t been
using the playback long when I saw a bird scurrying towards me giving the
‘cheryut’ call I had heard earlier – a Dupont’s Lark! The bird performed well
but ran at high speed and made only short two or three second stops. I had
great looks but didn’t regret not having my camera.
On the return walk, I made another stop near some low rock
outcrops to try some playback. I had no apparent response and I continued
walking back to the car, only to realize a few minutes later I had left my hat
back at the playback location. As I approached the area again, I had a Dupont’s
Lark run across the track, giving the ‘cheryut’ call. I was able to track it though
the vegetation for a minute or so and get a couple of half decent looks. It
seems very likely the bird was responding to the earlier playback incident but,
as is often the case, the response can be delayed.
After finishing at the lark spot, where I also saw Calandra
and Mediterranean Short-toed Larks, I decided to see the one remaining
woodpecker in Spain I was yet to see – Lesser Spotted Woodpecker. I found that
there were regular records from the riparian woodland strip along the Ebro just
west of Zaragoza. It took me about 45 minutes to reach the area. After parking,
I began by checking a couple of small sections of woodland to the east but just
found the commoner finches and tits. Heading back west, the quality of the
woodland immediately improved and I quickly found myself have excellent looks
at a drumming male Lesser Spotted Woodpecker. I had seen this species in the UK
the previous year, but the bird had stayed high up in the trees and given
decent rather than great looks. This species, at least in the UK, tends to be
quite elusive and during my lifetime I have perhaps seen it only about twice as
many times as White-backed Woodpecker.
I then began the drive to Lleida, where I would be searching
for Eurasian Eagle-Owl in the evening. It was a major relief to have got the
lark that morning because otherwise I would have had to drive the hour and half
back from Lleida to Belchite to look for it again. En route, I took a short
detour to check a couple of lakes where there had been a wintering Ring-necked
Duck. I was unable to find it but did see a couple of Eurasian Wigeon and a
Tufted Duck in with the Mallard, Shoveler, Teal and Pochards.
After checking into my hotel south of Lleida, I got ready to
drive to the owl site. Just as I was about to drive off, I remembered I had
left my flashlight back in the room. Although I was hoping the owl would appear
before dark, I decided I needed it for insurance. Arriving at the site, there
was no sight or sound of the owl until well into dusk and it was nearly
completely dark before it started to consistently call. I could just about make
out a lump on top of the canyon lip and using the flashlight was able to decent
views of the top half of the bird. Things went silent for a while and I
relocated to the other side of the canyon in the hope that the bird would
appear in a bare treetop there or on a ruined building. I heard the bird
calling further up the hillside by the ruin. Moving up there, I located it on
wall and saw the bird briefly but well in the flashlight. Further attempts to
see it were unsuccessful and I was left with yet “quite well seen eagle-owl
experience” but not the killer views I am hoping for one day.
Getting back to the hotel, I checked the weather forecast
for the next and it indicated that the clouds would be somewhat clearing up in
the mountains. Since I had no remaining unseen target species, I decided to
make a second attempt to see Lammergeier well. I had found a location called
Buseu where they had a feeding station with photographic hides for vultures and
wolves. Some of the photos looked incredible.
The next morning saw me driving north from Lleida into the
mountains. I eventually got on to the one-track road up to Buseu but was held
up for about 10 minutes while some roadside logging activities were completed.
On arrival there, I was the only vehicle present and there was no one around.
Since it was a Monday, I was not really surprised by this. In the open meadows
surrounding the few buildings, Woodlarks gave their beautiful song and Cirl
Buntings and Chaffinches were hanging out near a birdfeeder. I had timed my
arrival perfectly and Eurasian Griffons were already rising up in the thermals
nearby. I almost immediately had a tagged Lammergeier patrol low overhead and
over the next hour I had about six different individuals. The views were
exceptional and I could easily see the pale eye and the “beard”. Unfortunately,
the birds were only seen in flight and my camera is hopeless at focusing on
flying birds.
I was hoping for one more ‘tick’. Andorra is a tiny country
nestled in the Pyrenees between France and Spain. Its main claim to fame seems
to be losing football matches by large margins in World Cup and Euro qualifying
games. It was only about 25 km as the Lammergeier flies, but a check on Google
Maps showed that it was still a two-hour drive, too long for me to risk with a
flight to catch.
I made my way back to Barcelona, where I spent a couple of
hours checking out the Llobregat Delta prior to returning my car to the airport
and checking in for my flight. I felt the use of Bristol Airport had worked out
very well and it is something that I will be looking at again on future visits
to the UK.
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