I recently started collaborating in teaching at university during field courses. We visited Murcia region and monitored Barbary sheep, Greek tortoise and griffon vultures with students on the way.

Exceptional days in Santa Pola — four different Caspian gulls hit the regional record of the species. Kittiwake, razorbill, eider, dolphins and hundreds of shearwaters have also been noted in the area lately.

The mythical wallcreeper is Spain’s 2025 Bird of the Year. One has shown up for almost a month near a recreational area, giving us great views of this special bird close to home.

Arabuko Sokoke is the largest remnant of East African coastal forest. Walking its trails produced endemic Sokoke scops-owl, Amani sunbird and golden-rumped sengi and a close encounter with an elephant!

What started as a joke ended up as a quest. Through living between Finland and Spain and travelling across Africa and Asia, I managed to find 1,000 bird species in 2024.

A quick stopover in Kuwait provided WP specialties using public transport: white-tailed and spur-winged lapwings, isabelline and masked shrikes, white-throated kingfisher, clamorous reed warbler and more.

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.

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.

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.

Firecrests are working hard to defend their territories during my morning walk in El Romeral urban park in Alcoi today. A female hawfinch returns to this wintering hub for the species.

A trip to visit friends in Réunion Island years ago included a hike to Roche-Écrite as the birdwatching highlight. While looking for the extremely rare Réunion cuckooshrike, I encounter most of the island endemics.

Two common eiders showed up in south Alicante after the deadliest storm of the century casted over Valencia. Looking at the sea seems promising this incoming winter, with jaeger, gannets, and shearwaters seen too.

A Siberian migrant next to home: Birdwatching rarely gets as exciting as this! Only the 4th record of the species in Font Roja, the only inland place in the region where the species has been recorded.

Different seabirds seek shelter in the rocky shore of Cabo Cervera during a stormy day . Audouin’s and Mediterranean gulls, ruddy turnstones, sanderling and black-bellied plover are seen at close range.

An intense full day watching birds in Alicante delivers a great final count for our party of three. Different migrant birds seen include four different Eurasian hobbies, definitely the top species of the day.