Among the issues raised by the BSE – ‘mad cow disease’ – crisis in its day was the creation of scavenger bird feeding stations that would allow food to be made available to scavenger birds, which were suffering from a reduction in their usual food source, as farmers were no longer permitted to leave their dead animals in the open owing to health risks. This led to what would become the Aragonese Network of Scavenger Bird Feeding Stations (RACAN), a network that is spread throughout Aragon, two of which are found in the Lower Aragon region. There are scavenger bird feeding stations in the municipality of La Mata de los Olmos and in the municipality of Alcañiz.
Scavenger bird feeding station route
There are two feeding stations for scavenger birds in the regions, one in Alcañiz and the other in La Mata de los Olmos. Both are stocked with whole animal carcasses received from farms, and with waste from abattoirs. This makes them appealing both for vultures, which prefer whole carcasses, and other birds such as the black and red varieties of kite, and corvine species such as jackdaws, crows and magpies.
Download information from the guide Aves y Territorio. Un recorrido ornitológico por el Bajo Aragón (Birds and Region. A birdwatching visit to the Lower Aragon region).