Spain, Winter 2026: Belchite, Lleida and the Pyrenees

 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.