Birding the day away !!

Bearded Vulture Photography ~ Photo-logistics Hide ~ 10th Aug '25

Sunday, 24 August 2025

Bearded Vulture Photography

Having spent 2 mornings in Belchite near Zaragoza, Spain photographing Sandgrouse it was then a 3 hour drive to Salsona where I stayed for the night of the 9th at Hotel Salsona Centre.

The morning of the 10th August and my meeting point was Cap Del Pla only a 15 minute drive from the hotel, from here I was taken to the hides roughly 10 minutes, down the mountain side and back up to a plateau which overlooks the valley to the opposite mountain which gave a nice photographic backdrop.

These hides are from Photo-Logistics ...

I set myself up in the hide closest to car this one seemed to give better backgrounds, both were side-lite ..

This hide has 3 Benro Gimbal heads, Office chairs, power banks, fans and a toilet, the whole hide complete with astroturf under foot. Whilst I was setting up the guide was baiting the plateau area, I sat back and watched ..

Before He had even got back to his car roughly 80 Griffon Vultures came in, it was absolute carnage to get to the food, so much going on at one time, mass fighting, birds landing on top of other birds and still more vultures were coming in, great to watch but not a chance to get an isolated photo.

The feeding mayhem literally lasted 30 seconds probably less, then it was more fighting before nearly all the Griffons went to sleep !! A couple of Egyptian Vulture kept coming in and one Bearded tried but was soon seen off by the Griffon Vultures.

It took about an hour before the Griffon started to disperse and as the numbers dropped away with fewer birds meant more space to get an isolated shot ...

And it wasn't long before the first Bearded Vulture came in ..

The magnificent Lammergeier ...

The name Lammergeier is a combination of two German words:

Lamm, the German word for "lamb"

Geier, the German word for "Vulture"

The name Lamb Vulture is based off the mistaken belief that the bird preyed on lambs ..

While Lammergeier is the German name, the other bird's names come from Latin & Greek ..

Ossifrage ... An old English name meaning "bone-breaker" referring to the habit of dropping bones from height to break them allowing access to the marrow ..

Gypaetus ... Ancient Greek, combining gup "vulture" and aetos "eagle"

barbatus ... Is Latin for "bearded"

Scientific name .... Gypaetus barbatus

I had from 07:30 till 15:00 in the hide and for my session photography didn't start till 09:00 once the numbers had dropped and was over 13:00 the last two hours with no birds in front of the hide ..

If you book for this hide the two most important things to have .!

Plenty of water ..

Zoom Lens ..

If you can cover 200mm to 800mm in focal length then all images should be possible ..

I've got the 150-400 which meant with the 4/3 body I had 300mm as my short end and on a few occasions wing clipped some good images unfortunately.

As the Gimbal Heads are provided you could shoot multiple lenses like 500/4 plus 1.4 on the gimbal and say a 200 handheld for flight shots if you don't have a zoom lens.

Over the time when I had birds to aim at the Bearded Vultures probably only gave 5 or 6 attempts especially at flight shots with a bit more time available when on the ground but once they had a bone in the bill they generally flew off ..

The session is normally till 16:00 but I had a flight to get straight from the hide so arranged a 15:00 to allow me the 2 hour drive to Barcelona Airport ..

Considering the amount of Griffon Vultures I had far fewer images just due to the sheer number of birds and not being able to get a clear shot of an isolated bird ..

I made the airport with time to spare, had a couple of beers and booked another two days for October in the hide for Owls ..

Photo-Logistics Eagle Owl

Sandgrouse Photography ~ Photo Logistics Hide ~ Belchite, Spain ~ 8th - 9th Aug '25

Sunday, 17 August 2025

My wall calendar had a massive void with nothing booked for August, an email was sent and the reply was rapidly sent back confirming they had the dates available for me, 3 days in Belchite for Sandgrouse and 1 day in Solsona for Lammergeier.

Next was to see if I could get decent flights, booking with British Airways a Flight & Car deal, I had an early flight out of Heathrow on Thursday 7th and late evening return from Barcelona on Sunday the 10th ..

With the early flight from Heathrow I booked the Thistle Hotel at T5 as I normally do which is then only the 423 bus to the terminal couldn't be any easier.

I then confirmed my places in the hides with Photo_Logistics who booked Me in for two mornings Friday 8th & Saturday 9th in the Sandgrouse Hide and also another hide for the morning of the 10th but more about that later ..

Once I had landed at BCN Airport it took Me two hours before I would be driving off and on my way, passport control took over an hour with crazy queues for 'Other Passports' and the EU Passport scanning booths literally empty and then more waiting at Avis/Budget car hire with people in front just taking ages to be processed.

It was a little over three hours drive to El Planeron my afternoon recce site with the hope of locating a Dupont's Lark, driving the tracks with the air-con on was nice and comfortable I got out a few times but 40 degree heat was unbearable but scanning from a lovely chilled car was pleasant enough..

My hotel was in Belchite which was a 10 minute drive to the meeting point in Coda, then another 10 minutes to the hide. The farmer who I met spoke little English and is to be paid directly, He set the hide ready for my session, showed Me where to park and to be gone by Midday due to excessive heat.

Once I was on my own, I rearranged the hide chairs for use as tables placing all my water, food and binoculars on, set up the tripod and camera then the wait was on ......

Only had to wait an hour before the first flock of Pin-tailed Sandgrouse flew in, they landed way out in the ploughed field and ever so slowly walked in, they're extremely nervous birds to the extent that when one of the first birds in had drank, just taking off was enough to spook another to take off without drinking ..

During the morning session 16 Pin-tailed Sandgrouse came in to the drinking pool, with only a pair of Black-bellied Sandgrouse coming in to drink ..

What a great morning it had been and as it approached 11:30 it was beginning to be unbearable around 40 degrees outside, I had drank nearly 3 litres of water and sweated most of it back out again.
Other birds that either came in or flew past were Red-billed Chough, Montagu's Harrier, Calandra Lark & Green Sandpiper are the notable birds ..
As per instructions no birds had been seen for 15 minutes so I left the hide, closed the shutter & door and walked all my gear in one go back to the car for minimal disturbance, best of all I get to do it all again tomorrow ..

The morning of Saturday 9th, by 06:45 I'm in the hide all set-up and the wait is back on again, just over an hour later and the first flock came in, scattering across the ploughed field, slowly walking in towards the drinking pool ..

Small flocks came in throughout the morning with a total of 41 Pin-tailed Sandgrouse coming to drink, unfortunately no Black-bellied were sighted ..

I did try for some take-off shots but all were going away with the wrong head turns ..
Far too quickly my time was up in the hide, it was now all about packing up with a 3 hour drive to Solsona ..

Tips for you when in the hide ....

1# .. Take plenty of water 4L minimum ..
2# .. Tripod & Gimbal type head is a must ..
3# .. Preferred focal length 800 to 1000mm ..

Then all that's needed is to book it !!

Photo_Logistics