Valencia Birding - Guided Bird Watching in Spain Valencia Birding Blog

An early spring morning in the mountains of Valencia

Early spring is an exciting time – migration is underway so summer visitors are arriving on a daily basis. Some of the region’s winter visitors are still here, and as the Valencia region is located right on a major migration flyway, passage migrants are regular occurences too. The weekend prior to my trip to the mountains saw big numbers of Short Toed Eagles passing over Valencia, so this was a bird I was on the look-out for. I had only just left the outskirts of the city when I saw a raptor from the car, flying low over orange fields. It was indeed a Short Toed Eagle! My first of the spring. After little under an hour’s drive from Valencia, I was parking beside a river with pine woods and high crags on either side. Upon leaving the car I immediately heard Chaffinches and Serins in full song, and a few Long-tailed Tits were flitting between trees next to me. I quickly scanned the crags, whose shapes and profiles are long since familiar to me. That’s why I instantly noticed a different shape on the skyline – a magnificent Griffon…

Sometimes you just have to look under your nose!

Earlier in the week, I had a couple of hours free one morning. That didn´t give me the time to drive to my local wetland or to get to the mountains, but it did give me the time to take another look at a canal that flows past the nearby agricultural town of Alboraya into the Mediterranean. The surroundings are not particularly attractive, one side is bordered by an industrial estate, but the other side is farmland, largely vegetable fields. At the end of the canal, one reaches the beach, where a tiny estuary is formed. So, within the distance of only a few kilometres, the habitat changes dramatically, and all his right next to the city of Valencia. Traditional farmland on the northern city limits of Valencia I began my walk along the footpath, which was busy with walkers and cyclists, all of them oblivious to the fact the only a few metres away from them was a pair of Purple Swamphens, indeed with a chick which one of the parents was feeding. It was almost a surreal moment to see this incredible creature successfully breeding practically next door…

An unusually misty morning in Valencia

When sea mist and grey mornings are rare events, they take on a whole new level of attraction. That´s exactly what happened on Monday, after a sudden change in wind direction, the clear blue skies that had been with us all weekend were replaced with a light grey cloud cover and the coastal wetland that I visited was lightly cloaked in mist that was rolling in off the suddenly stormy Mediterranean. Audouin´s Gull The first bird that I saw was an Audouin´s Gull, standing on top of a pile of pebbles, looking out to sea, seemingly also surprised by the sudden change in weather! A few Cormorants were braving the waves and diving for fish and in the bushes behind the dunes, Chiffchaffs and Sardinian Warblers were moving around, feeding on insects. A Cetti´s Warbler briefly came into the open, singing its explosive song and giving unusually good views. The light mist gave a sense of peace, and the large gatherings of Shovelers and Teals gently floated across a lagoon, snoozing on the still water. A Pintail flew by, and a Marsh Harrier glided low over the reeds. Before I…

Swallows and House Martins Desperately Need Our Help

What are Swallows and House Martins? Swallows and House Martins are long-distance migrants which generally spend the winter months in Africa before returning to Europe each year to breed. The distance these birds cover on their migration is truly incredible – often more than 25,000km per year! Once they arrive in Europe in the early Spring, they have a race against the clock to raise their young before they have to make the momentous journey back to Africa in the autumn. These beautiful little creatures form part of the very fabric of our summers, and have lived right beside us in our towns and villages for centuries. Not only do they delight us with their chattering and aerobatic flight, swooping in the air as they feed on insects and spiders, dashing low over lakes to take a drink, they actually help us by controlling potential plagues of insects, upon which they feed. It is estimated that a single Swallow will eat over 800 insects per day!! Think about that for a minute! A Barn Swallow collecting mud for nest building Where do they nest? These tiny birds who have such…

Storm Filomena and its effects on birding in Valencia

The first days of the new year here in Spain brought disruption, destruction and tragically death, all due to Storm Filomena. The entire country was affected – the south was hammered by gale force winds, huge waves and 20% of the usual annual rainfall in a single day. With the exception of the coastal areas, almost all of the nation was blanketed in snow. Up to 50cm fell in Madrid, resulting in hundreds of blocked roads, as well as the closure of the airport and the cancellation of rail services. In the Picos de Europa mountains in the north of Spain, records were broken for the coldest recorded temperature, with a weather station logging a nightime low of -35.6 degrees C! All of this brought huge impacts to all aspects of daily life for millions of people, much of which has been written about elsewhere. But what effects did it have on birdlife? Here in the Valencia Region we witnessed some very interesting results… Much of the coastal region of the Comunidad Valenciana is well protected by the mountain ranges to the west. Much of the region has a flat…

A little patience brings great views of Alpine Accentors

During the last few days of 2020, I had to dedicate some time to getting in the olive harvest. Usually we invite a few friends around to help and it turns into a social event, but this time, because of Covid, we had to do it on our own. This meant that the usual 2 day task turned into a 4 day task, which limited my available days for birding. So, it was even greater enthusiasm that I headed to the mountains not so far from our house in the highland interior of Alicante with my friend Bea. She had never managed to get a view of Alpine Accentor, so this was our obvious target for the day. This tough yet very pretty little bird is one of my favourite winter visitors to our region, so for me, it´s always a delight to see them. I somehow find a special attachment to these birds, probably having spent a great deal of my life in the mountains, and each winter I await their return with anticipation. The highland interior of rural Alicante The previous days had been very cold in this…