For all those who don’t know so much about. The Bird Race or Big Day is a kind of competition where different teams of birdwatchers try to spot as much species as possible whitin 24 hours. This kind of competition is very popular in Catalonia, involving several teams, some of them including excellent, long experienced birdwatchers. The course is organized by the Catalan office of the SEO (Spanish RSPB equivalent), deciding the dates to participate (normally you can choose among two different week ends) as well as managing the datas.

The past 2nd May Carles Oliver, main birding guide in Barcelona Birding Point, participated in this race along with Victor Sanz and Eva Galofré. We all were the members of the Cames Llargues Team (Cames Llargues is the Catalan name of the Black-winged Stilt).

We scored 175 species of birds and got 4th position in Spain, 3rd in Catalonia! This is the resume of a wonderful birding day:

Far before the raising all the members of the team met in Barcelona. Right beside the city we had our first spot in an area of open land and pine woods. Here we had our first birds of the trip: Tawny Owl, Scops Owl, European Nightjar, Nightingale and Cetti’s Warbler.

After this short first stop we drove up to the Pyrenees. Until about 8:00am we visited some spots in a  shire called Cerdanya. Here the landscape of open farm lands and small woodlands allowed us to spot a long list of birds including Wryneck, Iberian Green Woodpecker, Southern Iberian Shrike, Tree Pipit, Western Bonelli’s Warbler, Skylark, Dunnock, Woodlark, Quail, Blackcap, Little Grebe, Cirl Bunting, Mistle Thrush, White Wagtail, Iberian Yellow Wagtail, Northern Wheatear, Great Tit, Blue Tit, Short-toed Treecreeper, Rock Sparrow, Egyptian Vulture, Black Redstart, Red Kite and Griffon Vulture among other.

We were really early morning but still had to look for a long list of species up in the mountains. We drove by a small lane leading us to the grass lands in the top of the mountains, over 2000 metres. Here we could add several species to our list including Golden Eagle, Alpine & Red-billed Choughs, Citril Finch, Raven, Common Rock Thrush, Firecrest, Goldcrest, Tawny Pipit, Water Pipit, Rock Bunting, Common Crossbill, Common Treecreeper, Chiffchaff, Dipper, Subalpine Warbler, Crag Martin, Crested Tit, Coal Tit and Stonechat among other species.

About 10:00am we started to move towards Ebro Delta. In the way down from the mountains we still could spot Alpine Swift, Monk Parakeet and Turtle Dove. We arrived to Ebro Delta about 12:20. Our first stop was to spot a Purple Sandpiper that has been wintering inside a town from December (not a regular bird at all in Catalonia). Then, we drove inside the wetlands to spot several waders including Collared Pratincole, Kentish Plover, Great Ringed Plover, Black-winged Stilt, Greenshank, Redshank, Dunlin, Little Stint, Curlew Sandpiper, Turnstone, Bar-tailed Godwit and Grey Plover. Squacco Heron, Grey Heron, Great Cormorant, Red-crested Pochard, Gadwall, Greater Flamingo, Glossy Ibis and Red-throated Pipit were also easily added to our list along with Little, Sandwich, Gull-billed, Common & Whiskered Terns. Audouin’s, Slender-billed, Black-headed & Mediterranean Gulls also appeared! A good stop in l’Alfacada provided us with Pied Avocet, Great Reed Warbler, Sedge Warbler, Purple Swamphen, Garden Warbler, Zitting Cisticola, Willow Warbler and Moussier’s Redstart!! Moussier’s Redstart is a rarity in Catalonia. This individual (a male) was the second record for the country and was found three days before for a birding trip from the USA.

We were quite satisfied with our visit to Ebro Delta. Still, we would like to be longer as we were missing some birds but the timing was hard and we had to leave to Los Monegros steppe land. At 17:20 we were arriving there and soon we got some birds to add to our list. Little Ringed Plover, Honey Buzzard, Stock Dove, Black Kite and Melodious Warbler. In the plains, a selection of stops allowed us to spot Blue Rock Thrush, Black Wheatear, Little Owl, Western Orphean Warbler, Spectacled Warbler, Dartford Warbler, Lesser Kestrel, Short-toed Lark, Lesser Short-toed Lark, Calandra Lark, Thekla Lark, Crested Lark and Dupont’s Lark. Great Spotted Cuckoo, Pin-tailed Sandgrouse, Bee-eater, Hoopoe, Black-eared Wheatear, Short-toed Eagle and Montagu’s Harrier were added in a final stop in the steppes. We were leaving the steppes about 20:00pm.

Afterthat we drove the short distance until Candasnos lagoon. Here we could add some more birds such as Purple Heron, Little Bittern, Great Crested Grebe and Common Pochard. Still, we were disapointed about this location as we were expecting to find some Black-necked Grebe…

It was also the moment to eat something and to take energy for the very final spot. We drove for 30 minutes until Zaidín, a small village in the Catalan border. It was already dark and we were really tired. Still, only 5 minutes were necesssary to add Red-necked Nightjar, Barn Owl and Long-eared Owl to our day account!

It was the moment to come back to Barcelona. We were arriving to the city at 00:20, absolutely tired but really satisfied for the amount of species we had along the day. 175 species is a wonderful success. We are already thinking how to improve the 2016 issue!

Some of the species we have to work to add them in next years include: Nuthatch, Lammergeier (appearing in 2014), Red-backed Shrike, Yellowhammer (appearing in 2014), Common Waxbill, Peregrine Falcon, Hooby, Black Woodpecker, Mute Swan, Bullfinch, Night Heron & Penduline Tit among other.

Next year, more information about this awesome bird race!!