Ebro Delta Birding is a family run enterprise led by Al Henderson, providing private multi-day guided bird watching tours and also private birding day trips of the Ebro delta and surrounding area.
Al, originally from Ilkley in the UK, has been an avid bird watching fanatic since childhood and has been living in the Ebro Delta region since 2000. In this time many hours have been spent observing the birds of the region and learning where to find even the most elusive of them at different times of the year. In early 2018, Ebro Delta Birding was founded with the intention of passing on this local knowledge and expertise to fellow birders of all levels of knowledge and experience.
We offer a range of guided bird watching options to suit our clients needs. If you are looking for a complete multi-day bird watching holiday we have itineraries of different duration to suit your requirements, fully inclusive of accommodation at our private villa and airport transfers. Our longer tours also visit great bird watching sites nearby, with trips to some of Catalonia's other outstanding habitats of mountains and Steppe lands.
Alternatively we are also able to cater for customers who may be in the area and looking for just a single day birding trip, or people staying in Barcelona who wish to experience the magic of the Ebro delta on a day tour.
Our tours are provided with a personalized touch, and all the excursions that we offer are run solely by Al. Our mission at Ebro Delta Birding is to provide memorable bird watching experiences for clients of all knowledge levels at affordable prices.
Al Henderson leading a guided bird watching tour on the Ebro Delta.
The Ebro Delta is one of the most famous river deltas in Europe and is situated in North Eastern Spain on the Mediterranean coastline, approximately midway between the cities of Barcelona and Valencia.
It is primarily a wetland location containing 320 square kilometers of Natural Park with a wide variety of aquatic environments. Different habitats include river, lagoons, sand dunes, salt marshes, beaches, woodland and agricultural zones. These diverse locations provide micro habitats for a huge abundance and variety of bird-life, and it is a key breeding site for many rare species of birds. For people planning their bird watching holidays, the Ebro Delta is an area that demands your attention!
The most recent survey carried out by the Natural Park research team has revealed over 360 recorded species of birds that are either resident or migratory to the Ebro Delta.
Around the coastline we have a wonderful selection of gulls and terns, including around 80% of the world's population of Audouin's Gull. Shallow bays provide a perfect feeding ground for a plethora of waders such as Black-winged Stilt and Avocet. The marshlands are alive with birds ranging from tiny warblers through to mighty herons. Raptors soar over the delta in search of prey and we can see many spectacular varieties. With superb accessibility to all the key sites available throughout the year, it's no wonder that it is considered Spain's number 1 for bird watching holidays , and among the foremost destinations in Europe.
We aim to provide maximum flexibility with our guided bird watching options, and are happy to cater for bird watchers of all experience levels. We provide fully guided private multi day itineraries which include airport transfer service along with private villa accommodation for people who are looking for a complete birding holiday.
Alternatively we can provide any of our guided bird watching tours of the area on a day trip basis for visitors to the area. We can also cater for birding day tours for people visiting Barcelona or Valencia. All of our tours can be adapted to suit the needs of our clients, and as such are very well suited to elderly visitors who are not capable of long, strenuous walks.
At Ebro Delta Birding we feel that you will be arriving to one of the safest possible environments in terms of minimizing the risk of contact with infected people. The ‘Terres de l’Ebre’ region where we are located has suffered relatively few cases of Corona virus. The Ebro Delta Natural Park is a huge area of around 320 kms², and is a sparsely populated rural zone; it’s unlikely that guests would come into contact with other people and if they do, it’s easy to maintain a safe distance.
Two of our multi-day bird watching tours; the Ebro Delta Express and Ebro Delta Experience, are based solely in this area and offer exclusive use of our privately owned Guesthouse in the countryside. Guests are met at the airport on arrival and transferred privately and directly to their accommodation.
Lunches during birding trips can either be at restaurants (following the strict safety guidelines set by the Spanish government), or to ease any fears, packed lunches can be provided and eaten at fresh air picnic areas during the tour. If we enter any hides during the birding tour, face masks will be worn, hand sanitizer will be available and hides are operating at a maximum capacity of 5 people to ensure that social distancing is maintained.
One of the positives of the prolonged lock-down here is that the birds have had much more habitat to themselves and have been undisturbed for weeks. This has led to record-breaking numbers of breeding Flamingos, and many varieties of birds are being spotted in areas closer to human habitation than where they have previously been observed.
