Allen S. Moore
Well-known member
I spent 10 days in eastern Spain in April, the first 3 being in Barcelona. I was a bit surprised to observe 47 species of birds, which must be the most ever in my 10 visits to the city. I even saw 11 species from the bus on the way in to the centre of the city on the morning of the 6th, including swallows, that I also saw around the airport just after getting off the Easyjet. The other species seen from the bus were kestrel, yellow-legged gulls, woodpigeon, feral pigeons, alpine swift, house martin, white wagtail, jackdaw, magpies and house sparrows. In a small park near my hotel there were monk parakeets, an escaped species that is seen and heard all over Barcelona. I enjoy strolling around Barcelona, seeing the sights and sampling the food. I headed out and in the evening I had a meal at cafe by Església de Santa Maria del Mar, seeing a little egret fly past.
Easter Saturday, the 7th, was the fifth anniversary of my credit card being stolen by a trio of so-called "tourist police," so with valuables safely locked away I headed off along the street (great tit singing in a tree) to a favourite open space, Parc de la Ciutadella. The monk parakeets were joined by the larger blue-crowned parakeets. The park is a great place for birds, as far as my experience of big cities goes. Around the entrance from Passeig de Lluís Companys I saw another kestrel, common swift, goldfinch, robin, blackbird, blue tit and common starling. Just inside the Park I was pleasantly surprised to see a woodchat shrike, although I had also seen one there a few years ago, and there were 3 willow warblers singing, a new species for my holidays in SW Europe. Two grey wagtails were flying about by the Cascade, where there were also mallards and a moorhen. Other birds in the park included collared dove, spotless starling, goldcrest, crested tit, coal tit (heard), blackcap, common chiffchaff and serin. Larger birds flying over the park included a grey heron and, much more surprisingly, a cormorant.
Leaving Parc de la Ciutadella, I walked along to Port Vell, where I saw black-headed gulls, another mallard and a sandwich tern. Later in the day I stopped to watch a group of musicians outside the famous Bar Zurich in Plaça de Catalunya. Standing with my back to La Rambla, I glanced up and saw the distinctive flight of a hoopoe. Flying overhead, it disappearing over the rooftops by La Rambla.
A few days before I went on holiday I saw on the Rare Birds Spain website that there had been a marmora's warbler and the black-headed subspecies of the yellow wagtail at the mouth of Riu Besòs in the NE of the city, so I decided to see if I could get to the river mouth (Riu in Catalan translates to river in English). I had bought the Michelin Barcelona street plan and, thus armed, on the morning of the 8th I set off on the Metro to Maresme Fòrum and then began walking. The road was leading towards an area where a lot of building was going on, so I took a left and then a right turn to try to avoid that. However, there were a lot of fences for more building work along that road, as well as a rather poor residential area, including a building housing the gypsy cultural centre. It had been an inauspicious start to a birdwatching trip and I began to wonder whether I should be there at all, but I kept walking. Dipping through an underpass beneath a motorway, a road on the right looked on the map as if it was leading to a bridge over the the river, so I followed that for a short distance. The road was little more than a dirt track and led towards some more building sites, "en obras" on the map. I decided to turn left at the next junction through a small residential area that looked as if it was a country village that had been surrounded by the city. As well as the small houses and some trees, there were a few birds - a swallow perched on roadside wires, a greenfinch sang as it flew and a song thrush lived up to its name.
The perseverance worked, and I reached a bridge over the Riu Besòs. There were new looking cycle tracks along each grassy bank, so I went down to the track along the south bank and walked towards the sea. I was pleasantly surprised to see a number of wetland birds in and along the river - 4 cetti's warblers, a common sandpiper, 3 common redshanks, 2 black-winged stilts and a few mallards and black-headed gulls. At the next bridge, the last before the sea, there was a sign prohibiting access from the river bank, so I walked up a ramp and eventually reached the road crossing the bridge, passing an overgrown shrubby area where there was a woodchat shrike and a blackcap. Looking downstream there were more water birds, including a cormorant, moorhen and kentish plover. A man cycled over the bridge with his poodle dog on his back, its front legs on his shoulders and the back legs balanced on his money bag on the base of his back. The dog did not seem bothered at all. I had never seen the likes before, but my camera was in my rucksack! Once over the bridge I followed the north bank of the river a short distance to the beach. By a pool just in from the sea was a little-ringed plover, and 2 swallows and a house martin headed up the river. There was very little open ground except for the river bank and beach, the area being squeezed between a chemical or petroleum works (lots of pipes, anyway) on the south side and a power station just north. Various common birds flew over the river, like magpie and collared dove, and there were 2 white wagtails on the beach. Deciding that it was time to head back in to the city, I crossed a small park, where I saw another woodchat shrike, and caught the tram back into the city centre where, after a fairly warm walk, I was in time to watch the Sardana danced in front of the Cathedral. Nine jackdaws flew over, which must be the largest flock of the species that I have ever seen in Barcelona!
My last birds of the day were around Gaudi's mighty church, La Sagrada Familia, which I visited at dusk - yellow-legged gulls, robin, blackbird, serin and 6 common swifts. It was not quite dark, but several bats flew around. These seemed to be of 2 species, as one bat was a bit bigger than the others.
I was pleased to have seen 47 species of birds in Barcelona in the 3 days, including 36 on the 7th. At least some of the wading birds at the river mouth were migrants, and many of the passerine species certainly were on passage. Spring migration is obviously a good time for someone interested in birds to visit Barcelona!
Easter Saturday, the 7th, was the fifth anniversary of my credit card being stolen by a trio of so-called "tourist police," so with valuables safely locked away I headed off along the street (great tit singing in a tree) to a favourite open space, Parc de la Ciutadella. The monk parakeets were joined by the larger blue-crowned parakeets. The park is a great place for birds, as far as my experience of big cities goes. Around the entrance from Passeig de Lluís Companys I saw another kestrel, common swift, goldfinch, robin, blackbird, blue tit and common starling. Just inside the Park I was pleasantly surprised to see a woodchat shrike, although I had also seen one there a few years ago, and there were 3 willow warblers singing, a new species for my holidays in SW Europe. Two grey wagtails were flying about by the Cascade, where there were also mallards and a moorhen. Other birds in the park included collared dove, spotless starling, goldcrest, crested tit, coal tit (heard), blackcap, common chiffchaff and serin. Larger birds flying over the park included a grey heron and, much more surprisingly, a cormorant.
Leaving Parc de la Ciutadella, I walked along to Port Vell, where I saw black-headed gulls, another mallard and a sandwich tern. Later in the day I stopped to watch a group of musicians outside the famous Bar Zurich in Plaça de Catalunya. Standing with my back to La Rambla, I glanced up and saw the distinctive flight of a hoopoe. Flying overhead, it disappearing over the rooftops by La Rambla.
A few days before I went on holiday I saw on the Rare Birds Spain website that there had been a marmora's warbler and the black-headed subspecies of the yellow wagtail at the mouth of Riu Besòs in the NE of the city, so I decided to see if I could get to the river mouth (Riu in Catalan translates to river in English). I had bought the Michelin Barcelona street plan and, thus armed, on the morning of the 8th I set off on the Metro to Maresme Fòrum and then began walking. The road was leading towards an area where a lot of building was going on, so I took a left and then a right turn to try to avoid that. However, there were a lot of fences for more building work along that road, as well as a rather poor residential area, including a building housing the gypsy cultural centre. It had been an inauspicious start to a birdwatching trip and I began to wonder whether I should be there at all, but I kept walking. Dipping through an underpass beneath a motorway, a road on the right looked on the map as if it was leading to a bridge over the the river, so I followed that for a short distance. The road was little more than a dirt track and led towards some more building sites, "en obras" on the map. I decided to turn left at the next junction through a small residential area that looked as if it was a country village that had been surrounded by the city. As well as the small houses and some trees, there were a few birds - a swallow perched on roadside wires, a greenfinch sang as it flew and a song thrush lived up to its name.
The perseverance worked, and I reached a bridge over the Riu Besòs. There were new looking cycle tracks along each grassy bank, so I went down to the track along the south bank and walked towards the sea. I was pleasantly surprised to see a number of wetland birds in and along the river - 4 cetti's warblers, a common sandpiper, 3 common redshanks, 2 black-winged stilts and a few mallards and black-headed gulls. At the next bridge, the last before the sea, there was a sign prohibiting access from the river bank, so I walked up a ramp and eventually reached the road crossing the bridge, passing an overgrown shrubby area where there was a woodchat shrike and a blackcap. Looking downstream there were more water birds, including a cormorant, moorhen and kentish plover. A man cycled over the bridge with his poodle dog on his back, its front legs on his shoulders and the back legs balanced on his money bag on the base of his back. The dog did not seem bothered at all. I had never seen the likes before, but my camera was in my rucksack! Once over the bridge I followed the north bank of the river a short distance to the beach. By a pool just in from the sea was a little-ringed plover, and 2 swallows and a house martin headed up the river. There was very little open ground except for the river bank and beach, the area being squeezed between a chemical or petroleum works (lots of pipes, anyway) on the south side and a power station just north. Various common birds flew over the river, like magpie and collared dove, and there were 2 white wagtails on the beach. Deciding that it was time to head back in to the city, I crossed a small park, where I saw another woodchat shrike, and caught the tram back into the city centre where, after a fairly warm walk, I was in time to watch the Sardana danced in front of the Cathedral. Nine jackdaws flew over, which must be the largest flock of the species that I have ever seen in Barcelona!
My last birds of the day were around Gaudi's mighty church, La Sagrada Familia, which I visited at dusk - yellow-legged gulls, robin, blackbird, serin and 6 common swifts. It was not quite dark, but several bats flew around. These seemed to be of 2 species, as one bat was a bit bigger than the others.
I was pleased to have seen 47 species of birds in Barcelona in the 3 days, including 36 on the 7th. At least some of the wading birds at the river mouth were migrants, and many of the passerine species certainly were on passage. Spring migration is obviously a good time for someone interested in birds to visit Barcelona!
