A planned weeks camping in north west Scotland was abandoned when, towards the end of May, the road from Tomintoul to Braemar was closed with snow – some guaranteed sunshine was called for. A week in Port d'Alcudia was quickly arranged.
We arrived in the early hours of Monday, 10th June and left in the early hours of Monday 17th June. We did not hire a car thinking that bus and foot would get us around to the extent that we planned. Looking back, we should have hired bikes as that would have meant all the sites around Alcudia were (more) easily accessible – Boquer Valley, Pollensa “back lanes”, Albufereta, Tucan marsh, Albufera, the depuradora and Son Real. As it turned out we didn't visit the depuradora, Son Real, or La Gola.
The buses were a bit of a disappointment as there do not appear to be any which pass through Port d'Alcudia before 8:15am. In fact, on the morning we went to the Boquer the first bus going to Pollensa didn't turn up until half nine. Also, I had hoped that visiting the Cuber Reservoir and Lluc would have been possible in a day but as the bus only runs to Soller in the morning and back in the afternoon that was not possible so we did not visit Lluc – a bit of a disappointment as we missed out on Firecrest and Wryneck.
Our week consisted of a visit to Albufera on the Monday afternoon and the Tuesday. On Wednesday we spent the day in the Boquer Valley with Thursday taken up with a trip to the Cuber Reservoir on public transport. Friday and Saturday were lazy days with visits only to the Tucan Marsh while the trip was rounded off with most of Sunday at Albufereta and the Pollensa “back Lanes”.
We saw 78 different species of which 11 were lifers.
Unfortunately we missed Moustached Warbler at Albufera, Balearic Warbler in the Boquer Valley and both Spectacled and Moltoni's Warblers at Cuber. Aside from those species and Thekla Lark we saw most of what we expected/wanted – excepting Wryneck and Firecerest, as already mentioned.
Rather than provide a detailed write-up, as I don't think there's much to say that would be new I'll just add a few comments regarding what I felt was notable from my perspective – in no particular order of merit.
Firstly, I was completely taken aback by the numbers of Nightingales especially as they were, more often then not, in the “wrong” habitat. For example at the Cuber Reservoir. None of the birds we heard were in “full” song and I wondered if they were the young of the year starting to practice and learn their song in readiness for next year – maybe someone can help me out with that. Also at Cuber the area was alive with singing Chaffinches.
Cuber also provided great vulture viewing – 6 Eurasian Griffons in the scope at one time and, just before we left whilst waiting on the bus, we had 1 Eurasian Griffon and 3 Black Vultures sitting on the ridge which would be to the west of the entrance. We had a group of 3 Buzzards here too along with Red Kites and Booted Eagles.
I notice that on the Mallorca 2013 thread the question of “eastern type” Stonechat has been raised. I too was surprised to see Stonechats at Albufera and in the Boquer Valley that, at first glance, looked like some Stonechats I've seen in India during our winter months. They both had very limited and bright orange patches on the breast and relatively large white collars. However, I did not see the rumps and thought nothing more of it other than it must be normal plumage variation as I later saw a “normal” rubicola at the Cuber Resevoir. There are photographs on bird guides of Stonechats from Spain which show these characteristics.
I was pleased to find an Audouin's Gull appear on Tucan Marsh shortly before a Little Bittern flew across. Also, 2 Audouin's Gulls came to bread at the cove at the end of the Boquer Valley.
We got to the Boquer quite late in the morning so it was beginning to get very hot and we weren't hopeful of finding Balearic, or much else come to that. We spend several hours basking at the cove hoping that there would be a better chance of finding the warblers when it cooled down a bit. While basking we had a Blue Rock Thrush show on a number of occasions and 2 Ospreys came in off the sea and made their way inland along the valley. Despite it being cooler as we worked our way back we were unable to pin down Balearic Warbler although we suspected we caught a couple of snatches of song. To make up for that though Sardinian Warblers were relatively easy to locate and there was quite a showy singing male Cirl bunting. And the Booted Eagles and Ravens also showed well over the ridge.
I don't think its necessary to say anything about Albufera as its probably all been said before but we were relieved to see the Marbled Ducks even if it was only 2 birds in flight twice (dipped the Moustached Warblers though).
Also notable, to me at least, were the numbers of Great Reed Warblers - like Nightingales they seemed to be everywhere and there were Fan-tailed Warblers aplenty - especially along the Ses Puntes track in Albufera.
All in all a very enjoyable week in the sun with some relaxing birding – Hoopoes and Spotted Flycatchers at the front of the hotel with Eleonora's Falcons overhead of an evening, Western Orphean Warblers and Serins in surrounding gardens, and good to see plenty of House Sparrows and Greenfinches. We didn't bump into many other birders but those that we did meet were having similar luck to ourselves as far as connecting with the various warbler species. So, no real disappointment then given the time of year and as always it means there's always a good reason to return. This was our first time in Mallorca and I have a feeling it won't be the last.
cheers
Gordon
We arrived in the early hours of Monday, 10th June and left in the early hours of Monday 17th June. We did not hire a car thinking that bus and foot would get us around to the extent that we planned. Looking back, we should have hired bikes as that would have meant all the sites around Alcudia were (more) easily accessible – Boquer Valley, Pollensa “back lanes”, Albufereta, Tucan marsh, Albufera, the depuradora and Son Real. As it turned out we didn't visit the depuradora, Son Real, or La Gola.
The buses were a bit of a disappointment as there do not appear to be any which pass through Port d'Alcudia before 8:15am. In fact, on the morning we went to the Boquer the first bus going to Pollensa didn't turn up until half nine. Also, I had hoped that visiting the Cuber Reservoir and Lluc would have been possible in a day but as the bus only runs to Soller in the morning and back in the afternoon that was not possible so we did not visit Lluc – a bit of a disappointment as we missed out on Firecrest and Wryneck.
Our week consisted of a visit to Albufera on the Monday afternoon and the Tuesday. On Wednesday we spent the day in the Boquer Valley with Thursday taken up with a trip to the Cuber Reservoir on public transport. Friday and Saturday were lazy days with visits only to the Tucan Marsh while the trip was rounded off with most of Sunday at Albufereta and the Pollensa “back Lanes”.
We saw 78 different species of which 11 were lifers.
Unfortunately we missed Moustached Warbler at Albufera, Balearic Warbler in the Boquer Valley and both Spectacled and Moltoni's Warblers at Cuber. Aside from those species and Thekla Lark we saw most of what we expected/wanted – excepting Wryneck and Firecerest, as already mentioned.
Rather than provide a detailed write-up, as I don't think there's much to say that would be new I'll just add a few comments regarding what I felt was notable from my perspective – in no particular order of merit.
Firstly, I was completely taken aback by the numbers of Nightingales especially as they were, more often then not, in the “wrong” habitat. For example at the Cuber Reservoir. None of the birds we heard were in “full” song and I wondered if they were the young of the year starting to practice and learn their song in readiness for next year – maybe someone can help me out with that. Also at Cuber the area was alive with singing Chaffinches.
Cuber also provided great vulture viewing – 6 Eurasian Griffons in the scope at one time and, just before we left whilst waiting on the bus, we had 1 Eurasian Griffon and 3 Black Vultures sitting on the ridge which would be to the west of the entrance. We had a group of 3 Buzzards here too along with Red Kites and Booted Eagles.
I notice that on the Mallorca 2013 thread the question of “eastern type” Stonechat has been raised. I too was surprised to see Stonechats at Albufera and in the Boquer Valley that, at first glance, looked like some Stonechats I've seen in India during our winter months. They both had very limited and bright orange patches on the breast and relatively large white collars. However, I did not see the rumps and thought nothing more of it other than it must be normal plumage variation as I later saw a “normal” rubicola at the Cuber Resevoir. There are photographs on bird guides of Stonechats from Spain which show these characteristics.
I was pleased to find an Audouin's Gull appear on Tucan Marsh shortly before a Little Bittern flew across. Also, 2 Audouin's Gulls came to bread at the cove at the end of the Boquer Valley.
We got to the Boquer quite late in the morning so it was beginning to get very hot and we weren't hopeful of finding Balearic, or much else come to that. We spend several hours basking at the cove hoping that there would be a better chance of finding the warblers when it cooled down a bit. While basking we had a Blue Rock Thrush show on a number of occasions and 2 Ospreys came in off the sea and made their way inland along the valley. Despite it being cooler as we worked our way back we were unable to pin down Balearic Warbler although we suspected we caught a couple of snatches of song. To make up for that though Sardinian Warblers were relatively easy to locate and there was quite a showy singing male Cirl bunting. And the Booted Eagles and Ravens also showed well over the ridge.
I don't think its necessary to say anything about Albufera as its probably all been said before but we were relieved to see the Marbled Ducks even if it was only 2 birds in flight twice (dipped the Moustached Warblers though).
Also notable, to me at least, were the numbers of Great Reed Warblers - like Nightingales they seemed to be everywhere and there were Fan-tailed Warblers aplenty - especially along the Ses Puntes track in Albufera.
All in all a very enjoyable week in the sun with some relaxing birding – Hoopoes and Spotted Flycatchers at the front of the hotel with Eleonora's Falcons overhead of an evening, Western Orphean Warblers and Serins in surrounding gardens, and good to see plenty of House Sparrows and Greenfinches. We didn't bump into many other birders but those that we did meet were having similar luck to ourselves as far as connecting with the various warbler species. So, no real disappointment then given the time of year and as always it means there's always a good reason to return. This was our first time in Mallorca and I have a feeling it won't be the last.
cheers
Gordon
