Steppes of Lleida (Lerida)(Catalonia) - BirdForum Opus

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Birds

Notable Species

Sandgrouse, bustards, raptors, Stone-curlew, Lesser Grey Shrike, Lesser Kestrel

Check-list

Birds you can see here include:

"to do"

External Links

Iberian Nature

Content and images originally posted by Stephen C

Reviews

Stephen C's review

With the light already fading and arriving at an uncertain location given to me by an even more uncertain local, on my first visit to the Lleida Steppes, I didn't really know what to expect.

But two and a half hours later I tore myself away from the pitch black having seen seven species I'd never seen before, including Bonelli's Eagle and Little Bustard, and had the best birding experience of my life.

This is easy I thought!

As soon as I had arrived my attention was grabbed by a racket coming from a nearby copse. I recognised the distress calls of the local magpies but soon also counted thirty-two Great Spotted Cuckoo amongst them.

Then, after watching a male Marsh Harrier skimming for supper and revelling in the chinkling of dozens of Calandra Lark, I finally spotted two Stone-Curlew in the field right next to me.

My worries that the local shepherd, who was approaching with his flock, would scare them away disappeared when I saw about fifty Spanish Yellow Wagtail skipping in and out of their footsteps. Closer examination revealed races from Britain, central europe, and an extremely rare and beautiful black-headed form from Russia, superciliaris.

As I was leaving a female Montagu's Harrier, immediately joined by a hauntingly grey male, decided to float around my head for a while. I was hypnotised.

The problem is, as anyone who's ever visited the huge area around Lleida knows, that its rarely this easy, with frustratingly small populations of birds like Lesser Kestrel, Lesser Grey Shrike, Dupont's Lark and Pin-tailed and Black-bellied Sandgrouse. So, if you want to track down migrating Dotterel, tick off the complete list of Larks, or work your way through Golden Oriole, Southern Grey Shrike, Penduline Tit and Red-billed Chough, there's no option but to get to know how the birds move and live on a transient land that, over the course of many seasons, changes from fallow to plough to crop to stubble and back again.

For further info:

email me at s.c[email protected] or check out www.catalanbirdtours.com

You will really need to go prepared for this trip; the area is so big and the species so spread out (unless you're lucky) that you'll need to get on the internet, research and plan your whole route.

Don't let this put you off though, although you're unlikely to get everything you want, you'll see plenty and, as is the magic of Catalunya, this area too is unique and offers species that can't be seen elsewhere.

Pros

• many of europe's rarer species

Cons

• a big area with small
• transient populations