SPANISH PYRENEES

Meet and welcome at Madrid airport after which we head to the nearby Henares river to stretch our legs and enjoy the first birding in Spain. Here we try to locate Eurasian Eagle Owl, Western Marsh Harrier, Eurasian Tree Sparrow, Red-billed Chough, Iberian Green Woodpecker and Eurasian Penduline Tit amongst others. After our lunch in a local restaurant en route we will drive straight to the Pyrenees, first crossing Zaragoza and the famous Ebro river and then Huesca, the most important town close to the mountains. We will arrive in the evening at our base in the Hecho Valley. 

Dinner and accommodation at Hecho Valley.  

* The visit to the Henares river might be replaced by a couple of hours birding in another location if the day is not too hot.

We start with an early morning walk in the surroundings of our hotel before breakfast, and then we will head to the famous and dramatic spot of Boca del Infierno where a Wallcreeper used to breed in the past, however an encounter with this winged treasure will be a pure luck. The spectacular ravines and deep gorges of this site will also provide us with the chance to see Egyptian Vulture, White-throated Dipper, Crag Martin, Grey Wagtail and Red-billed Chough. After the visit to the Boca we will drive up towards the well known Gabardito refuge, and in the surroundings we will look for Citril Finch, Marsh Tit, Black Woodpecker, Firecrest and Garden Warbler. From the refuge we will walk into another traditional and more likely place for nesting Wallcreepers, where we might also spot Red-billed and Alpine Choughs, Lammergeier, Black Redstart, Rock Bunting and Alpine Swift. After a morning full of excitment we will return to the Hecho Valley and then visit the Selva de Oza forest where Lammergeier, Black Woodpecker, Citril Finch and Yellowhammer are all present. Chances also exist for seeing Rufous-tailed Rock Thrush, Water Pipit, Northern Wheatear, Lammergeier and two of the most representative mammals of the region, Pyrenean Chamois and Alpine Marmot. Dinner and accommodation at Hecho Valley.

Today we will concentrate in the most western of the valleys that we will explore on our trip, the Roncal Valley, where a very popular sheep’s milk cheese is made and where the last Brown Bears of the Pyrenees still survive in a very low number. In the mixed woodland areas of ancient firs and beeches of the Rincon de Belagua Natural Reserve still survive some of the rarest birds in the Spanish Pyrenees such as Boreal Owl, Capercaille and White-backed Woodpecker, all three very tough, rare, and hard to find species, so we will mostly concentrate to see some other more realiable targets such as Citril Finch, Eurasian Bullfinch, Alpine Accentor and Ring Ouzel... besides we will cross the border into France! In the nearby Zuriza Valley we might see Golden Eagle, Lammergeier, Eurasian Griffon and Egyptian Vultures, Short-toed Eagle and European Honey Buzzard. Dinner and accommodation in the Hecho Valley.

Driving further South today and in lower terrain we will dedicate time to explore the Scotch Pine forest of San Juan de la Peña. Our first stop in the morning will be near an old monastery excavated in the rock dating from the 10th century, where Black Woodpeckers have been nesting in the last few years. After this we will travel further East arriving to our hotel near Ordesa National Park in the early evening... Dinner and accommodation near Ordesa N.P.

Today we will drive up to 1,800 m.a.s.l. using one of the official vehicles of the National Park. We will dedicade a half journey to explore the high plateaus surrounded by breathtaking landscapes. Amongst the species we will look for here are White-winged Snowfinch, Wallcreeper, Alpine Accentor, Rufous-tailed Rock Thrush and Lammergeir. Dinner and accommodation near Ordesa N.P.

The program for our last full day of the tour will be fairly intensive since we will visit a feeding station which usually provide some of the best views of Lammergeiers (sometimes several individuals at the same time), to travel South in the afternoon to El Planerón Reserve near Belchite, where we will look for in the evening Stone Curlew (Eurasian Thick-knee), Black-eared Wheatear, Greater Short-toed, Lesser (Mediterranean) Short-toed, Calandra, Crested and Thekla Larks, Black-bellied and Pin-tailed Sandgrouse, plus of course the enigmatic Dupont’s Lark. Dinner and accommodation near Belchite.

Early start for some more local birding near Belchite trying to get the species that we had missed the previous evening and then start our journey back to Madrid airport where the tour ends in the evening.

This itinerary might change according weather conditions or at discretion of our guide