The trip went very well despite coming threateningly close to being cancelled mere hours after arriving in Barcelona.
Numbers:
34 lifers +/- 1
97 species total +/- 2
Not too bad, I saw most species that I expected to see. Some misses of course, but I was expecting that because I was only spending about 24 hours in each location/habitat.
I'll do a day by day series of posts over the next while to give the trip the coverage it deserves! But for now, some pictures - not meant to be the best from the trip though ;)
Little Egrets were common at the Ebro Delta:
Along the beach is where I saw all of the interesting gulls:
Mediterranean Gull (adult Winter):
The Lleide Steppes weren't as successful as I had hoped but still fun:
The bird of the trip and one of the main reasons I wanted to go on this trip: Lammergeier (aka Bearded Vulture) in the Spanish Pyrenees!!! I saw no less than 3 from the mountain tops.
One of these beauties actually became curious in me and circled within 5 meters of my head. With a wingspan of over 2.5 meters it was difficult to fit the bird in my binoculars. Naked eye views were stunning and hearing the air rush past its wings was absolutely exhilarating!
My hawk watch spot from the mountain tops (more like a vulture watch really...)
I camped out on the roadside every night so I've had some sleepless nights... time to catch up on that
