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Peregrine falcon behind GaudÃ’s trencadÃs mosiac and chicks May 2026 in the Sagrada Familia. Kindly sent to me by Eduard Durany of Galanthus Natura. A total of 318 chicks have hatched in the Barcelona metropolitan area since Eduard started the reintroduction programme with the council in 2003.
We watched this grey heron (Spanish “garza real”; Catalan “bernat pescaire”) having a good old preen in the trees above Barcelona zoo. More than 100 wild pairs breed in the zoo every year, the largest urban heronry in Europe. They share their tree roosts with dozens of egrets.
I met this friendly blackbird this morning in Barcelona’s Santa Catarina neighbourhood. Mirlo in Spanish, Merla in Catalan.
This grey heron perched on top of the otter enclosure at Barcelona zoo yesterday, I assume waiting for a fish after the nutrias have finished. More than 100 pairs of herons nest wild in the zoo’s trees. Photo by my 8-year-old daughter Iona.
