Pyrenees Guide

Whether you call it birding or bird watching, there's no doubt that the Pyrenees of Spain is one of the best places to do it in the whole of Europe. Even the casual observer can't escape the lure of the Lammergeier. A kind of vulture, it's a unique to the region whose name translates as bone-breaker after its enigmatic habit of dropping bones onto rocks from a great height and feeding on the shards, splinters and marrow.

It can be seen close-to at the various raptor feeding stations set up across the Pyrenees Mountains but it's not so difficult to feel the weight of its 2.75 metres wingspan soaring overhead as it marshals the comings and goings of the wide range of species brought into its domain with the changing seasons.

Rock Thrush, Egyptian Vulture, Honey-buzzard and Red-backed Shrike, like many of us, visit the Pyrenees only during the summer months but, as the cold approaches and the skiers begin to descend, so to do many high-altitude birds and highly sought-after species such as Wallcreeper, Snowfinch and Alpine Accentor vertically migrate downwards to escape nature's extremes and become much easier to see in winter. Many Pyrenean species are under threat, officially given ‘unfavourable conservation status’ on a local or global level and such birds include Red Kite, Ptarmigan and Dotterel.

Catalonia Birding - This Itinerary delivers the very best of birding in the Pyrenees visiting seven premiere locations in Catalonia covering a terrific range of habitat types that are offered in such proximity nowhere else in Spain, and perhaps even Europe. As the mountains and forests of the Pyrenees descend east to ...

Aragon Birding - The region of Aragon covers an area of some 30,000 square miles and consists of three provinces, Huesca, Zaragoza and Teruel. Each with its own unique physical characteristics, fauna, flora and climate which provides birdwatchers with an opportunity to see many different species of birds within ...