Images of the Monegros
Category Archives: Birds of Spain
Cattle egret eating a frog
Cattle egret taking its time to swallow a yummy Iberian green frog in front of the spider monkey enclosure in Barcelona zoo. Several hundred grey herons, and cattle and common egrets live wild in the trees of the zoo. Whole thing took about 10 minutes.
Peregrine falcons in Sagrada Familia
Peregrine falcon behind Gaudí’s trencadís 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.
Heron in Barcelona
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.
A blackbird in Barcelona
I met this friendly blackbird this morning in Barcelona’s Santa Catarina neighbourhood. Mirlo in Spanish, Merla in Catalan.
A heron in Barcelona zoo
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.