Wednesday 4th
Arrived in Palma late morning and after finally picking the car up from OK
car hire we decided to take the mountain route post Sollar. Now it was mid day
and very hot so birds were few and far between and I had to watch the windy
narrow roads. I did pick up Spotted Flycatcher, Kestrel, Booted Eagle Crossbill
and a few Pallid Swift. We checked into our hotel at Lago Park Playa du Muro
then moved onto Depuradora at S'Albufera Marsh. Here birds were Green Sand, Juv
Little Stint, Hoopoe, Redstart, Marsh Harrier, Common Starlings x25, (one of the
few places in Majorca you find em),Stonechat, Whinchat, Black Winged Stilt and
finally Gadwall.
Black winged stilt
Spotted Flycatcher
Little Stint
Thursday 5th
Woke up early and observation from my balcony were 25 Ravens came out of a
Roost, Spot fly, Sardinian Warbler, Zitter, Cettis Warbler, both Little and
Cattle Egret and a few Pallid Swift.
Today it was touristy stuff by travelling the east coves looking at the
lovely harbors and small bays such as Cala Dor and Cala Mallor etc but from the
car and in the bays I managed to see Red Kite, Theckla Lark, Yellow Legged Gull,
Sardinian Warbler, Cettis Warblers, Firecrest, Kestrel and Woodchat
Shrike.Finished back at Depuradora S'Albufera where the new stuff were Yellow Wagtail, 2 Woodchat Shrike, a Wood Sandpiper, 8 Whinchat, Mallard, Great Tit and more Pallid Swift.
Spotted flycatcher
Woodchat Shrike
Whinchat
Theckla Lark
Friday 6th
Today was sort of a birding day up at Formentor Lighthouse still found this
an amazing place with double figure Eleonora's Falcon, 4 Balearic Warbler always
hard to find, Pied Fly, Blue Rock Thrush, Yellow Wagtail, Willow Warbler, an
amazing Melodious Warbler proves birds were moving and Audouin's gull and Yellow
Legged Gulls flew over.
Blue Rock Thrush
Melodious Warbler
Balearic Warbler
Pied Flycatcher
Back down the Valley, Firecrest showed well as did the Crossbill and our
first Black Vulture. Crag Martin was a nice surprise.
Common Crossbill
We Stopped unexpectedly at the Boquar Valley, surprisingly a first for us
with plenty of birdlife such as Serin 4 more Eleonora's, 3 Booted Eagle, Blue
Rock Thrush and another Balearic Warbler.
Serin
Again finished at Depuradora for a night time watch hoping for Scops Owl
but failing, did get Nightjar and Barn Owl, 60+ Cattle Egret and 15 Common Sand
came to roost.
Saturday 7th
Started on my patch behind the Hotel but it was very disappointing and I
only got eatern alive by Mosquitoes and saw no birds so I wont be bothering with
that again.
Sightseeing/birding at Cubar Res another good spot I like, good birds such
as 5 Black Vulture, 8 Griffon Vulture, 3 Tawny Pipit, 2 Short Toed Lark. 2 Showy
Woodchat Shrike, a nice Peregrine, 2 Redstart, 3 Pied Fly, 2 Common Sand 2
surprise Garden Warbler, a couple more Booted Eagle and 4 Blackcap together
again a sign of birds moving. Best bird of the day flew over but didn't sit for
photos a male Cirl Bunting.
Common Kestrel
Tawny Pipit
Tawny Pipit
Woodchat Shrike
Back home from the balcony Audouin's gull, Yellow Legged Gull, Kestrel,
Mallard and Gadwall.
Sunday 8th
PROPER Birding today at S'Albufera, amazing amazing place best place on
island first birds were the usual Night Herons, then nice views of a Little
Bittern and Purple Heron. A Moustache Warbler showed a few times and is usually
a tough bird to connect with but the Egrets showed well as did the waders.
Kentish Plover, Spotted Redshank, Little Stint, Curlew Sandpiper and Ruff showed
really well. An Osprey showed well as it sat in a old tree and Red knobbled Coot
were plentyful from the bridge, another Purple Heron flew past and a nice Great
White Egret flew past distantly.
Juv Night Heron
Juv Curlew Sandpiper
Juv Kentish Plover
Purple Swamphen
Little Stint
Ruff
Ruff
Black Winged Stilt
Squacco Heron
Red Knobbled Coot
We moved onto Son Real for the afternoon where we were able to spot 4
Wryneck and yet another Balearic Warbler. Audouin's gull showed well from
here too. Also a cracking looking Spider female Argiope lobata
Wryneck
Audouin's gull
female Argiope lobata
female Argiope lobata
Monday 9th.
Monday morning we started off walking around Alcudia tourist stuff but
after this we nipped into S'Albufereta another new reserve, small with not a
great deal here but a few Swallowtail butterfly's.
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Swallowtail Butterfly
On the main reserve the Great
White Egret was showing distantly, not sure how to get close to this pool
without traipsing through peoples fields but maybe that's what you do, we
decided to scope from the road anyway.
We Moved onto Campanet Caves a lovely spot to have lunch with more
Swallowtails and amazing I picked up the calls of distant Bee eaters
whilst eating lunch then 30-40 flew over our heads showing really well but they
never did sit.
Swallowtail
Bee Eater
After some more tourist stuff I nipped to Depuradora again for the night still hoping for Scops Owl but still nothing. Nightjar again and the usual Egrets and Stone Curlews calling. Usual Stuff here too.
Squacco
Hoopoe
Hoopoe
Stone Curlew
Cattle Egret
Little Ringed Plover
Kentish Plover
Woodchat Shrike
Night Heron
Curlew Sandpiper
Little egret
Cattle Egret
Tuesday 10th
Tourist stuff in the morning so I was able to nip back to S'Albufera which
was brrrrrilliant again, my first bird walking down the track was a Great Reed
Warbler, another Purple Heron flew over and then after that the usual but really
good stuff. Extra good birds though were a single Glossy Ibis, I found this on
the furthest part of the reserve and it was into the sun but I could still see
it was a Glossy Ibis. On the walk back it was quite late now I spotted a Great
White Egret drop into an area in front of the Bishop 2 hide so legged it back
to that hide and on the way spotting a very confiding Juv Woodchat Shrike, so
took a couple of shots and carried on. Hot and Sweaty I reached the hide and
slowly opened the flap there was the Great White Egret showing really well
brilliant. Then I spotted my next quarry a Marbled Duck. Last bird of the day
in the darkness of the path a really showy Nightingale, hopping around my feet.
I had to keep moving away from it to try digiscope it, unsuccessfully
though.
Little Stint
Purple Swamphen
Black winged Stilt
Cattle Egret
Little Egret
Osprey
Marble Duck
Spotted Redshank
Great White Egret
Nightingale
Wednesday 11th
Last day booo but as our flight wasn't till 9pm we had all day on the
Island. So started back on Formentor Lighthouse. Willow Warblers were everywhere
for a short while as were Pied Fly and a few Chiffchaff. Eleonora's put on a
good show again and the Pallid Swift showed much better. The Balearic Warblers
were still present as was the Blue Rock Thrush.
Managed to do a bit of a Seawatch and spotted 6 Balearic Shearwaters to
start then 30+ Scopoli’s Shearwaters and a Dolphin lifted its tail out the water
and was probably feeding on the same stuff the Shearwaters were eating. I then
spotted the bird of the day a Juv Greater Flamingo flew past the point how weird.
Dolphin and Scopoli's Shearwater
Scopoli's Shearwater
From here we moved RIGGGHT down south to Ses Salines where there were a
good mixture of waders, Curlew Sand, loads Little Stint adult and juvs, Grey
Plover, Avocet and 234 Greater Flamingo.
Greater Flamingo
Onto Cap De Salines where we had lunch and sat watching the
Scopoli’s Shearwaters at much closer range as they followed the fishing boats, at
the same time listening to more Bee eaters flying over. Travelling to the
airport we stopped at some cliffs and watched another Eleonora's falcon then
last bird of the day in Palma a Peregrine chasing the feral pigeons. All in all
a bloody great holiday with a good mix of birding and tourist stuff, Just hope I
can afford to go again next year. Remember to click pics to enlarge.
Finished on 121 species. Full List Here http://craigshawsbirdingblog.blogspot.co.uk/2013/09/majorca-year-list-for-2013-seo.html
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