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Catalunya by Marti Rodriguez

Martí Rodriguez lives in Vic in the northwest of Spain. The following beautiful sketchbook is from Catalunya. What is, perhaps, most remarkable is that Martí is only 14 years old!

"I began painting seriously, at least, two years ago, but when I didn't begin doing sketchbooks until September 2000. When I go bird watching, I always do sketches, especially about birds, but, for example, I also draw mammals and flowers, too. I do my elaborate paintings at home, using my sketches, photographs and, sometimes, other paintings as reference.

I did these sketches during April and May in "els Aiguamolls de l'Empordà" and "la Timoneda d'Alfés", two of the best birding places in Catalunya (Catalonia is in NE Spain)."

La Timoneda d'Alfés is the only place in Catalunya where you can see the Dupont's Lark, it's a good place to see Lesser Grey Shrike, Pin-Tailed Sandgrouse, Great Spotted Cuckoo, Lesser Kestrel, Stone Curlew, Montagu's Harrier, Little Bustard , Short-toed Lark and, of course, the Calandra Lark. I went there with other Birdwatchers looking for these species and other scarce birds. In "la Timoneda d'Alfés", Calandra Lark is one of the most common birds, and it's very easy to see them singing on the scrub and imitating birds like Lesser Kestrel, Bee-eater and Swifts.
calandra lark

During April and May, I've been several times to Aiguamolls, where in a few hours, you can see more than 70 species like Black-throated Diver, Little Bittern, Squacco Heron, Glossy Ibis, Spoonbill, Stone Curlew, Whiskered and Caspian Tern, Roller... caspian tern

...and the very common Black-winged Stilt.

black-winged stilt