birding guides - Valencia Birding - Guided Bird Watching in Spain

A Birding Break from Valencia.

I recently provided a 2-day trip for Gordon and Heather from the UK. They are very experienced birders who we met at the British Bird Fair last year. They had planned a trip in their motorhome and wanted to include two days of birding with us when they were in the Valencia region. We agreed on a day in the mountains and a day on the steppe. First, to the mountains… After I collected them at their campsite beside the beach we made the relaxed drive to our first stop in a quarry surrounded by natural crags too. Our targets were Blue Rock Thrush, Black Wheater, Rock Sparrow and Bonelli’s Eagle. We did succeed with most of them except for the eagle. We decided to keep going and try again on the way back. Then, after a drive up to a high peak, followed by a short walk, we arrived on the summit of a 1,000m mountain. Here, our goal was Alpine Accentor. Sadly, they were nowhere to be seen, so we continued with our planned route, agreeing to return to the peak in the afternoon. When we did, they…

2 Day guided birding break from Valencia

A few days ago I had the pleasure to provide a 2 day guided birding trip for Norman from the UK and Urszula from Poland. Last year, Norman had visited the Valencia Region Stand at Rutland Bird Fair and after that he contacted us to book a trip. During the Bird Show we had the opportunity to talk about the different habitats and bird species , so it was easy to send him a proposal for the areas and species he was looking for. We planned to do Albufera de Valencia and the Steppe and Inland lagoons, but unfortunately they had a flight delay due to the storms that were affecting most of northern Europe. Therefore I collected them from the airport and we headed directly to Albufera! We were determined to have a fantastic day with many lifers… and that’s what we did!! First stop was in the main reserve area of the Natural Park where we enjoyed amazing views of Flamingos, Glossy Ibis and two stunning Booted Eagles Next stop was in an observatory tower which looks over the lake and to a small reserve area. After a…

A birding trip to the steppe

A few days ago, I enjoyed a great trip with Greg (Dalí) and Katherine from Australia. They have been living in Sidney all their life and when they retired from work, had decided to experience two years living in Spain. A part of visiting many cities and great places all over Spain, they are keen on discover all the birds life around Valencia where they are based. They were particularly keen to see Great Bustard as they´d never seen them before. We also added Flamingoes to the list of target species as Katherine suggested. After a comfortable drive from Valencia, we all agreed to have a coffee before we began our birding! We did so and then started by making a couple of stops to scan the vast fields. Our first stop gave good views of Crested Lark and the target of the day… Great Bustards, not far from a flock of Black-bellied Sandgrouse – another lifer for them! We continued driving and we had to stop 3 times to enjoy more flocks of Great Bustards, as this was the key species of the day, I was hopeful of getting better…

A exciting find on one of the hottest days of the year in Valencia, Spain – Terek Sandpiper!

It was one of the hottest days for 150 years in Valencia. I was booked to provide a guided birding trip to the huge wetland site of Albufera de Valencia but a few days before the trip, the clients contacted us to ask if we should move the date. As the forecast for the duration of their stay was more or less constant, I suggested that we stick with the original day but take sensible precautions. It was over 30 degrees C when I collected the clients from the city centre in Valencia – that was at 7:30am! After a short journey we arrived at Albufera Natural Park, one of Spain´s most important wetlands. Located on one of the major migration flyways of the Western Paleartic, Albufera de Valencia is an extensive wetland which is immediately south of the city of Valencia, right on the Mediterranean coast and in 1990 was designated as a Ramsar site. It was declared a Natural Park in 1986 and holds an huge variety of ecosystems. It was originally formed by sediment that was deposited by the region´s two principal rivers, the Jucar and the Turia, both of which…

Guided bird watching trip to Albufera of Valencia

A few months ago I was delighted to provide a guided bird watching trip to Albufera of Valencia for Rene from Denmark. He was on a business trip to Spain and he had a day off so wanted to spend it birding in one of the Valencian wetlands. He is an experienced birder who wanted to discover the diversity and ecosystems of Albufera Natural Park. After I collected him from a meeting point agreed in advance in Valencia city, we drove straight to the natural park. First stop was in the main pier of the Albufera Lake to enjoy good views of Sandwich Terns and Marsh Harrier. Next stop was in the main reserve area of the park, after a short visit to the visitor centre we headed into forest. Immediately we were stopped by the call of a Sardinian Warbler, after a few minutes trying to have a clean view we succeeded, it was a beautiful male. Also Cetti’s Warbler – a tricky bird to see in the open was happy to show up. Once we arrived to the restricted area, we spent a long time scanning with the…

Birding and field photography trip to Albufera de Valencia

A few weeks ago, I had the pleasure to design a special trip for a couple from Belgium. Both are enthusiastic birders and Anne also is a photographer, who wanted a day of birding and field photography. Albufera de Valencia was the best choice to combine birding with bird photography. At this time of the year most of the rice paddies are being ploughed which provides the perfect scenery with plenty of Glossy Ibis, Egrets, Herons, Gulls and Waders feeding in the fields. After I collected them from a meeting point in Valencia City, we made a short journey to Albufera Natural Park where we stopped in the main pier of Albufera lake to photograph and enjoy great views of Sandwich Terns, Yellow-legged Gulls, Black-headed Gulls and Lesser Black-backed Gulls. Our next stop was at the main reserve of the park, we headed to the observatories looking onto the brackish lagoons with plenty of Black-winged Stilt, Black-tailed Godwit and other waterfowl. We were enjoying fantastic views of all these birds when we witnessed the highlight of the day… a Booted Eagle´s failed attempt to take a Black-winged Stilt. The eagle…