Birding day trip Aude river plain May 2024

Lesser kestrels galore!

For today’s Global Birding big day – we spent most of the day around the Aude river plain where the mixed habitat of river, riparian forest, vineyard and uncultivated fields is host to a wide variety of birds. We finished the day on the coast near the Pissevaches lagoon and the filtration ponds, reaching a total number of 68 species seen or heard.
The morning started with a superb view of  a striking male Woodchat shrike which landed on a pine tree  just next to the cars. As we continued our walk around the Aude river flood plain, we were thrilled with the number of Lesser kestrels hunting the area…

Read more or download the trip report with a full bird list here.

Birding day trip Béziers-Lespignan April 2024

A fabulous day’s birdwatching!

The day started at Béziers airport with Little bustard, Stone curlew and Great spotted cuckoo! Then on down to the wetland area, where Collared pratincole and Purple swamphen were welcome additions to the list.

And the afternoon at Lespignan provided fabulous views of Lesser kestrel males bringing delicious giant centipedes as offerings before mating!

A great day’s birding with a stunning total of 74 species – including some top rated ones 🙂

You can read or download the trip report with bird list here.

Birding day trip La Palme-Sainte Lucie April 2024

Merlin & Red-footed falcon on migration

We spent the morning enjoying open garrigue where a pair of Woodchat shrike gave us a great display! Stonechat taking food to an unseen nest and some good raptors on migration, most of which we thought were Merlin, but it turned out that on checking photos later, at least two were in fact Red-footed falcon. Some better sheltered woodland added wonderful views of Pied-flycatcher and a particularly brightly coloured male Common redstart.
The day continued down on the old salt pans checking out the migrating Yellow wagtails – some iberiae sbsp and some flava!
We ended up at the recently built nesting islands that are now occupied by a colony of Common tern. 

You can read or download the trip report with bird list here.

Birding day trip Salses – La Salanque April 2024

A male Ferruginous duck was today’s highlight!

The day started with the group exploring the edge of the Salses lagoon with salt marsh, some filtration ponds (always good for birding) and the reed beds. A range of waders were found and a splendid male Ferruginous was the morning’s highlight and a lifer for some in the group.

Then a complete change for some steppe habitat just inland, which added Greater short-toed lark, Crested lark and Corn bunting to the list. The day finished with an area where we were hoping to see the first Roller and Little owl – but we dipped on both…  A group of migrating White stork, Black kite, Red kite and two Stone curlews saved the day!

 

You can read or download the trip report with bird list here.

Birding day trip Les Coussoules & La Palme March 2024

More Great spotted cuckoos!

Today’s day trip was somewhat of a challenge with the high water levels reducing the muddy margins at La Franqui to a point where not many waders were feeding. On our walk along the Coussoules area of low dunes between the lagoon and the sea, we did however manage to find a group of three or four noisy Great spotted cuckoos. All the group managed to get good views. Some were also interested in the Mediterranean tree frog sunning itself on the branch of a bush (not something you expect an amphibian to do – but then they are called “tree frogs”! On our way back to the cars Karline found us a beautiful Edwards’ sand racer that cooperated for the photographers.
We had a rather breezy picnic overlooking the lagoon at La Franqui and a cup of coffee before heading off to the salt pans at La Palme. We enjoyed looking at the Kentish plovers, Little stint and Avocets and Slender-billed gulls. Migration was slow but we did see a pair of Short-toed eagles and an Osprey before finishing the day looking for the Blue rock thrush at the old quarry. The male had already been seen in the distance from the salt pans, and the female was added to the list.

You can read or download the trip report here.

Sign up for news from Birding Languedoc

You have Successfully Subscribed!

Sign up for news from Birding Languedoc

Join our mailing list to receive occasional news and updates from our team.

Thank you for subscribing :-)