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I have photographed the gray heron in the cloister of the Pedralbes monastery in Barcelona for La Vanguardia’s Readers’ Photos. He was resting on the roof peacefully and, before leaving, he scratched his feathers, as you can see in the pictures.
These birds, for years, have usually visited this enclosure from time to time while passing through on their migratory route. It seems that here they take a short break and, if they can, a snack of the fish in the pond. But, not all of them leave, since in reality the largest urban colony of gray herons in Europe is precisely in Barcelona, ??according to the City Council.
In ancient Egypt, the gray heron was associated with the deity Bennu who, in turn, was linked to the sun and symbolized creation and rebirth.
The love affair of this elegant bird with Barcelona has history. And, in fact, it is a beautiful story of stories. We have to go back to 1972. At that time, a pair of gray herons (Ardea cinerea), which were part of the zoo’s animal collection and could not fly because their wings were clipped, raised eight chicks.
The Zoo workers released two and the surprise was total when, two years later, the two chicks returned as adults and decided to breed in the trees of the Ciutadella zoo.
This first nest became a pole of attraction for other wild specimens that flew over the city (on the migratory route), so that a colony was soon created.
Over time, it became the largest urban colony in Europe, with a fluctuating number of nests that exceeds one hundred, according to the City Council.
And, not only that, but from Barcelona “colonization took place as a breeding species throughout Catalonia (until 1992 there was no record of any other breeding point in the entire Catalan territory).
In Catalonia today there are stable colonies in Barcelona, ??the Llobregat delta, the Pont de Vilomara, Cellers, Sant Llorenç de Montgai, the Utxesa marsh and the Ebro delta.
The proximity of the wetlands of the Llobregat delta and the mouth of the Llobregat and Besòs rivers and their final stretches “served so that the city of Barcelona was flown over daily by a huge number of these birds.”
But, the gray herons are no longer limited to going to the Ciutadella park or the two Barcelona rivers, but “they also fish in the few naturalized ponds that there are in the city, such as in the Diagonal Mar park, in Turó Park or even in small ponds in private gardens or at some school. This is also the case of the cloister of the Pedralbes monastery.
