Vitoria-Gasteiz, Álava, Spain.

A morning of "What If's", which thankfully didn't matter by mid-afternoon. 

Ebird List for the Morning.

Ebird List for the Afternoon.

 

The Alarm went off, after a not so good night and not feeling great when I woke, I rolled over (What If I hadn't No1) and had an extra hour. 

I eventually started the drive down to Vitoria-Gasteiz where for the last few days there had been a small flock of 4x Lesser Redpoll (Pardillo norteño / Acanthis flammea) which would be a Spanish Lifer for me, the drive around Bilbao was, well S**t is the only way I can put it and I took a wrong turn which added quite a while to the drive (What If I hadn't No2).

Once I was around Bilbao I went up over a hill and at the top there was a bar, so I stopped and had a coffee and some breakfast (What If I hadn't No3). 

Anyway after some time I arrived at the spot and could see 4 birders all with their bins and camera's pointing up into a largish Silver Birch (Betula pendula) type tree, unfortunately I had to do a loop of the block to find a parking spot (What If I hadn't No4) and then walk up to the Guys who told Pep and I, who had also arrived at the same time as me that they had just flown off strongly 30 seconds earlier.

Well to say I was a tad peeeeeeeeeeeeed off was a massive understatement but being positive about it, Pep and I both stayed in the area and checked out nearby areas of trees thinking they may come back, whilst we did this I did see White Stork (Ciguena Blanca / Ciconia ciconia), Common Woodpigeon (Paloma Torcaz / Columba palumbus), Eurasian Collared Dove (Tórtola Turca / Streptopelia decaocto), Eurasian Magpie (Urraca Común / Pica pica), Long-tailed (Mito Común / Aegithalos caudatus), Eurasian Blue (Herrerillo Común / Cyanistes caeruleus) and Great Tit (Carbonera Común / Parus major), Common Chiffchaff (Mosquitero Común / Phylloscopus collybita), Common Firecrest (Reyezuelo Listado / Regulus ignicapilla), Eurasian Wren (Chochin paleártico / Troglodytes troglodytes), Spotless Starling (Estornino Negro / Sturnus unicolor), Common Blackbird (Mirlo Común / Turdus merula), House Sparrow (Gorrión Común / Passer domesticus), Common Linnet (Pardillo Común / Linaria cannabina), European Goldfinch (Jilguero Europeo / Carduelis carduelis), a flyover group of 4 Eurasian Siskin (Jilguero Lúgano / Carduelis spinus) and a single Clouded Yellow (Colias croceus).

After a while we were joined by two more local birders but nothing turned up, partly I think due to the noise from the football match going on next to the trees, by 13:15 Pep and the other couple had left, Pep was going to trying to see a couple of other species up by the coast and the other couple just went home, at around 13:30 I packed in for a while and went to a supermarket where I got some stuff for some lunch.

I returned to the spot and sat on a bench where I made up a sandwich and waited for the football to finish, during this time I chatted with a very nice young Spanish girl who saw my camera and asked what I was looking for, after I explained to her, she sat down and showed me a nice video on her phone of a Starling murmuration she had seen from her window at home.

Lesser Redpoll (Pardillo norteño / Acanthis flammea).

Lesser Redpoll (Pardillo norteño / Acanthis flammea).

Lesser Redpoll (Pardillo norteño / Acanthis flammea).

After a while she continued her walk, I took the food bag back to the car and returned to the row of trees, after a few minutes found that 2 of the Lesser Redpolls were feeding on the Birch seeds, so all the stress from this morning melted away instantly.

Lesser Redpoll (Pardillo norteño / Acanthis flammea).

Lesser Redpoll (Pardillo norteño / Acanthis flammea).

Lesser Redpoll (Pardillo norteño / Acanthis flammea).

As I watch them I found a 3rd bird, the 4th one remained hidden, I am sure it was probably there but out of sight, they feed happily for the next 20 minutes or so and were still there when I decided to head back to Argoños, after finding the drive to the spot this morning so stressful I picked a slightly longer route back which apart from around 5km was on minor roads and enjoyed much more.

On the way back, I recorded Western Cattle Egret (Garcilla Bueyera / Bubulcus ibis), Griffon Vulture (Bultre Leonado / Gyps fulvus), Western Marsh Harrier (Aguilucho Lagunero Occidental / Circus aeruginosus), Common Kestrel (Cernicalo Vulgar / Falco tinnunculus), Northern Raven (Cuervo grande / Corvus corax) and Common Starling (Estornino Pinto / Sturnus vulgaris).