DELTA LLOBREGAT
SPAIN
CATALONIA (Barcelona; El Prat Airport)
00o00´/00o00´ 600ha 0-10m, dunes, wetlands, reedbeds and marshes, riverside, shore and ocean, pine copses
Anytime ()
Birding Site Guide
This reserve is popular as it is so close to Barcelona. The reserve lies 15km to the south-west of Barcelona, The reserve is well equipped with hides and an observation tower near the sea. Unfortunately the area around the reserve and the main rivers are under development pressure and the water is also heavily polluted.
Regular birds of passage include Osprey, Booted Eagle, Great White Egret, Glossy Ibis, Ferruginous Duck, White-winged Black Tern and Little Gull but the area is most noted for the invasion of thousands upon thousands of hirundines, when all five European species including Red-rumped Swallow and Crag Martin, can be seen everywhere.
For comprehensive selection of tours try Catalan Bird Tours
The list gives only the main species to look for here there are many commoner species not included. In fact over 350 species are recorded annually.
Red-throated Diver, Black-throated Diver, Black-necked Grebe, Cory’s Shearwater, Balearic Shearwater, Bittern, Little Bittern, Night Heron, Cattle Egret, Great White Egret, Purple Heron, Glossy Ibis, Spoonbill, Greater Flamingo, Red-crested Pochard, Garganey, Ferruginous Duck, Short-toed Eagle, Booted Eagle, Osprey, Water Rail, Spotted Crake, Baillon's Crake, Purple Gallinule, Crested (Red-knobbed) Coot, Collared Pratincole, Black-winged Stilt, Kentish Plover, Temminck's Stint, Curlew Sandpiper, Marsh Sandpiper, Great Skua, Arctic Skua, Slender-billed Gull, Mediterranean Gull, Little Gull, Audoun's Gull, Yellow-legged Gull, Whiskered Tern, Gull-billed Tern, Caspian Tern, Black Tern, White-winged Black Tern, Razorbill, Great Spotted Cuckoo, Red-necked Nightjar, Alpine Swift, Bee-eater, Hoopoe, Short-toed Lark, Crested Lark, Crag Martin, Red-rumped Swallow, Water Pipit, Spanish Wagtail, White Wagtail, Nightingale, Bluethroat, Black Redstart, Redstart, Cetti's Warbler, Fan-tailed Warbler, Savi's Warbler, Moustached Warbler, Great Reed Warbler, Sardinian Warbler, Firecrest, Pied Flycatcher, Penduline Tit, Crested Tit, Short-toed Treecreeper, Woodchat Shrike, Spotless Starling, Common Waxbill.
Introduced Californian Turtles are found here.
Author: BSG
www.birdingsiteguide.com