Walking along the bed of the river Llobregat we found this lovely nest. We could not see its tenant, a penduline tit (Remiz pendulinus) or pájaro moscón in Spanish. This bird builds an elaborate hanging nest, used in Central Europe as children’s slippers in the past. To build its nests uses thin branches, spider webs, animal or vegetal fibers, spider webs, seeds, etc.
We very much enjoyed taking part in the release of two young ravens in Ciutadella park by the wildlife group Galanthus last August. These juvenile ravens, of unknown precedence, had been captured in the streets of Barcelona and taken to a wildlife recovery centre. A few weeks ago they were still flying over the zoo, where they have taken up residence. On the left with the raven-proof gloves Eduard Durany. On the right, Albert with the smile. More here
Video recorded from our living room in Poble Sec.
Last year, 2014, the pair of blackbirds raised a quite remarkable 4 broods of chicks. It was normally the male in charge of feeding them on our balcony, and sometimes he even came with the four chicks at the same time – we never had the camera handy though.
We know now that you should remove the plastic net from the food balls, which they devour by the way.
A parakeet nest abandoned for the winter in a Plane tree on a Barcelona street. Some of these nests are huge, tottering perilously over the streets weighing more than a tonne, though this one is much smaller.
A Peregrine Falcon chick in the Sagrada Familia a couple of years back. The bird has been breeding in the building since 2004 after it was re-introduced thanks to the work by Eduard Durany. Photo by Laurent Geslin / Wild Wonders of Europe
A stunning photograph by Laurent Godel showing the flight path of a grey heron over Barcelona, perhaps making its way to the huge roost in the trees of the zoo, perhaps the biggest urban heronry in Europe, and home to more than 250 (wild) herons.
