My local birding reached a new level in 2025. I connected with 276 species in Comunitat Valenciana including unexpected rarities, highlights of different seasons and countless hours shared in the field with friends.

April in Spain calls for the steppe. Little and great bustards are busy with their spectacular displays, a must-see show which ensures views of larks, shrikes or orchids in awesome green-and-red landscapes.

A morning visit to Lake Kerkini looking for lesser white-fronted geese and tundra swans resulted in three Greek rarities: a Siberian chiffchaff, three little bustards, and an Oriental turtle dove.