Field notes
Stories of conservation biology, visits to natural areas, science, and all sorts of wildlife encounters
Trip reports
Itineraries, travel tips, and checklists of species seen on adventures looking for birds home and abroad.
Gallery
A wide selection of pictures of birds, mammals, reptiles, and amphibian species by the site’s author.
about
‘Fui por el mundo buscando la vida:
pájaro a pájaro conocí la tierra’
‘I’ve wandered the world in search of life:
bird by bird I’ve come to know the earth‘
With these lines translated to English by Jack Schmitt, Chilean poet Pablo Neruda says goodbye to the birds.
I am Adrián Colino Barea, a young wildlife researcher from Alcoy (Spain), a Mediterranean town lying in a valley near Alicante surrounded by vultures and holm oak forests and flanked by two Natural Parks.
My passion for nature started early in my childhood. Birds have been an important part of it, and I have been a birdwatcher ever since. This passion solidified into a career as a biologist, studying between Alicante and Helsinki.
My experiences with birds have expanded greatly during these last years, as I managed to visit countries in different ecoregions and get to know their biodiversity.
On a short trip to Morocco in 2018, I noticed how easy it was to contact with a bird absent in my region — the house bunting (Escribano sahariano, ‘Saharan writer’ in my mother tongue Spanish). Foraging on the streets of Marrakech, efortless, daily encounters with this species changed my perspective about birding while traveling, and inspired the creation of this site.
Currently, I am a doctoral researcher at Universidad Miguel Hernández (Elche, Spain), unraveling the role of scavengers in the transfer of nutrients across ecosystems. On my free time, I mostly go outdoors and watch birds, both home and abroad.
In this context, Neruda’s words resonate in my mind as I get to know new people, cultures, places, and ideas by looking for birds across different countries.
As my experiences often build up on tips from other nature enthusiasts, I here share my own adventures in the field as a small contribution to help connect nature and people.
FIELD NOTEBOOK
Fresh from the field!
A space to share stories of conservation biology, visits and reviews from natural areas, experiences during field work and research, and all sorts of wildlife encounters.
The morning of three diamonds
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.
Winter birds in Aitana and Penyagolosa
Hiking paid off lately with montane winter specialties. Aitana provided goldcrest, ring ouzel, fieldfare, and redwing. Penyagolosa with friends resulted in white-winged snowfinch, citril finch, and alpine accentor.
Sunsets in l’Albufera
Two days birding l’Albufera finished with terrific sunsets. Highlights included a mega greater yellowlegs, wintering jack snipes, a common scoter, the local sacred ibis, and numerous waders and waterfowl.
GLOBAL BIRDWATCHING
Trip reports
Chronicles and adventures looking for birds on different trips, both nature and work-oriented. Content on itineraries, checklists of species contacted, pictures, travel tips, and much more.
Greece 2024
Two biologists visited Lake Kerkini in the border between Greece and Bulgaria in the winter to connect with some eastern specialties. Geese, swans, woodpeckers, and several surprises are the highlights of this scenic short trip.
Lapland 2024
Five Spanish birders and nature enthusiasts traveled in a van beyond the Arctic Circle through the Finnish and Norwegian Lapland to connect with the wildlife of the tundra and taiga, camping under the midnight sun and surrounded by reindeer herds.
Kenya 2024 Human-Wildlife Conflict
Memorable wildlife encounters happened during a 2-week University of Helsinki course to interview peoples of different tribes on their interactions, experiences, and perspectives with big mammals and birds in central Kenya, with a final extension to coastal Watamu area.
