Mallorca 2023 (6 Viewers)

[Geordie Dave]

Sorry for going off the topic of birds but I have a Mate In Wallsend,who calls Newcastle Brown; "A Bottle Of Dog".No Idea why

When a bloke wanted to sneak off to the pub for a sly pint he would tell his missus he was taking the dog for a walk. Bottle of Dog became the name for Broon Ale. The name sticks to this day among those of a certain age.

 

[Paul Freestone]

I’ll be in Majorca again at end of May so hope to be able to contribute some sightings to the thread then, but can someone kindly share a location pin for the Depuradora platform that’s mentioned a lot please? Is it south down the long track through S’Albufera? Thanks Chris.

It is down the long track through Ses Puntas. You can't officially go through the gate at the bottom any more, but just climb over it! The go past the water works on your right and take the right hand track to the platform.

 

[Paul Freestone]

I’ll be in Majorca again at end of May so hope to be able to contribute some sightings to the thread then, but can someone kindly share a location pin for the Depuradora platform that’s mentioned a lot please? Is it south down the long track through S’Albufera? Thanks Chris.

 

[Geordie Dave]

I made my first visit to Son Real of this trip today. When I arrived on a bright 26° sunny morning I had 2 target birds for my Mallorca year list in mind. I headed off down the blue route 4 to walk the estate through the woods then down to the beach, continuing along the coast then returning on route 2. On the walk to the hide at the little pond I was accompanied all the way by calling hoopoe. On one side of the hide the grass screen has fallen over and on the other side it has disappeared all together. The element of surprise for approaching birders has now gone and there was nothing unusual to see. Further along at the small pond off the left of track there were at least 12 serin, 2 woodchat shrike, several linnet, a pair of crossbills, blackcaps, spotted flycatchers and numerous goldfinch and greenfinch. Turning right to head down to the sea I saw turtle dove, wryneck and a wren. Part way down this track I disturbed a quail off the path only 10 metres in front of me. I stood and watched as it flew across the scrub, my best ever view of this bird on the island. At the coast I turned north briefly and cut into the scrub land behind the coast walk. Here I had 2 Balearic warblers and this is becoming a regular spot for me to see them. Walking down to the sea I found target bird No 1 with a turnstone feeding with ringed and Kentish plover. I then walked back past the necropolis and found target bird No 2 with 2 tawny pipit feeding in the short grass. On my walk back to the visitor centre I had another 2 turtle dove calling, several hoopoe and a Wheatear. I arrived back at the car 4 hours after setting off to explore this wonderful area. Enroute to Port de Pollenca I decided to make a quick stop at the Depuradora. There was an absence of bee eaters on the Son Bosch but I was delighted to find a temmincks stint on the ponds. Having added 4 more to my Mallorca year list and at the risk of being thought to have a drink problem it was now time to head to the pub. Tomorrow Albufera!!

 

[Ian Bell]

When a bloke wanted to sneak off to the pub for a sly pint he would tell his missus he was taking the dog for a walk. Bottle of Dog became the name for Broon Ale. The name sticks to this day among those of a certain age.

Brilliant........and now I understand

 

[JohnMankelow]

Savis Warbler singing at S'Albufera opposite 1st woodpile from Bridge along Mirador des Gran Canal

 

[JohnMankelow]

Thanks Chaps for that northern cultural history. its always amazing what you can learn from.other birders.
our first day on the island today . overslept but managed a quick look around Albufereta. Nothing unusual but very nice nightingale serenaded us and we did get a good peek at it.
3 Stone Curlew at the screen until local lad with 3 foot lens turned up and stood in front of it for a better view. Font you just love em!
Its good to see lots of stilt babies too!
Now sitting on Hotel terrace looking down over Porto Pollensa.
Big thermal of hirundines 100+.
are these locals or passing through?
Happy days.

 

[Roger Baddley]

Seen today at Albufera.
Great Reed Warbler at the pond near the mound.
Several winchats on the way round the full circuit.
Several purple herons in flight.
Stunning wood sandpiper showing at es colombars hide.

 

[Geordie Dave]

A slight change of plans today and instead of going to Albufera I headed to the central plains with Peter Shaw. We began at Maria de la Salut and almost immediately on arriving had a group of 6 vultures that grew to 12 or more within a few minutes; a combination of both black and griffon. We spent the next 2 hours wandering the lanes, never meeting another person. A farmer was cutting grass and this attracted up to 12 red kites low to the ground and giving spectacular views. There was the constant call of corn buntings, the occasional hoopoe and a quail. As expected we saw dozens of kestrels and managed 1 positive ID of an adult male lesser. The others were often either too distant or too active for us be sure. We did see another distant raptor which I thought may have been a honey buzzard but close examination of some poor photos suggests that it was a booted eagle. We moved on to Villafranca and spent a largely birdless but enjoyable hour walking the tracks near to the “southern grey shrike” fig trees. Other than more corn buntings and numerous serin we saw little else. Our final stop on our way back to Port de Pollenca was the back lanes near to the Caves at Campanet. Here we walked for another hour among the orange and fig trees once again seeing no one and no birds either. My personal trainer Peter told me we had now walked 14,000 steps in the day and were therefore deserving of a trip to Aries Bar for a drink or more , which is exactly what we did. A wonderful day in the beautiful central plains with the crops and wild flowers on show. Not too many species seen today but hugely enjoyable. Thank you Peter S.

 

[Schneppe]

Hi everybody
Just came back home to Sweden from my first visit to Mallorca and I most certainly will come back. Had a very good time with the birds and my camera. Was recommended this thread by a nice guy I met at Depuradora and all your knowledge and experience about birds and Mallorca was very helpful to me. I thank you all for that. I´m sure I met some of you during my stay.
I wish you all good luck in your birding and add a couple of photos from my trip.
Stefan

Hej, I think we met close to Vall de Bóquer. Great pictures!

 

[Eliter7]

Very helpful thanks Paul.

 

[derban]

Hi everybody
Just came back home to Sweden from my first visit to Mallorca and I most certainly will come back. Had a very good time with the birds and my camera. Was recommended this thread by a nice guy I met at Depuradora and all your knowledge and experience about birds and Mallorca was very helpful to me. I thank you all for that. I´m sure I met some of you during my stay.
I wish you all good luck in your birding and add a couple of photos from my trip.
Stefan

Glad you enjoyed your trip Stelun – and congratulations on the fabulous photos!

 

[JohnMankelow]

A slight change of plans today and instead of going to Albufera I headed to the central plains with Peter Shaw. We began at Maria de la Salut and almost immediately on arriving had a group of 6 vultures that grew to 12 or more within a few minutes; a combination of both black and griffon. We spent the next 2 hours wandering the lanes, never meeting another person. A farmer was cutting grass and this attracted up to 12 red kites low to the ground and giving spectacular views. There was the constant call of corn buntings, the occasional hoopoe and a quail. As expected we saw dozens of kestrels and managed 1 positive ID of an adult male lesser. The others were often either too distant or too active for us be sure. We did see another distant raptor which I thought may have been a honey buzzard but close examination of some poor photos suggests that it was a booted eagle. We moved on to Villafranca and spent a largely birdless but enjoyable hour walking the tracks near to the “southern grey shrike” fig trees. Other than more corn buntings and numerous serin we saw little else. Our final stop on our way back to Port de Pollenca was the back lanes near to the Caves at Campanet. Here we walked for another hour among the orange and fig trees once again seeing no one and no birds either. My personal trainer Peter told me we had now walked 14,000 steps in the day and were therefore deserving of a trip to Aries Bar for a drink or more , which is exactly what we did. A wonderful day in the beautiful central plains with the crops and wild flowers on show. Not too many species seen today but hugely enjoyable. Thank you Peter S.

 

[JohnMankelow]

Hi Geordie Dave.
sounds like a very nice day out just enjoying the countryside.
Similar for us today.
went off to locate Depuradora. started on the MA3431 from Can Pucaforte and took the first unmade track to the right.
this ends about 1km up by some metal gates.
However lady luck came to the rescue as there was a party of 30 bee eaters in the field plus a couple of hoopoe.
what a nice start to the day.

 

[southernsteve]

Hi all, back out again next week for 2 weeks, September seems a life ago, please can I have better luck this visit. Unfortunately this will be a family holiday so birding will be a bit hit and miss, but will try and keep an eye on the land by the sea at the end of Palma airport for the first week, and staying up near Pollenca the second, so hopefully a bit more will get done with a hire car. Quick question is I may, what is the situation with driving down to the viewing tower at Depuradora? Last I read they'd stopped cars going down, is this still the case? Many thanks, hopefully I'll bump into some of you at some point.

 

[Josep Manchado]

Hi all, back out again next week for 2 weeks, September seems a life ago, please can I have better luck this visit. Unfortunately this will be a family holiday so birding will be a bit hit and miss, but will try and keep an eye on the land by the sea at the end of Palma airport for the first week, and staying up near Pollenca the second, so hopefully a bit more will get done with a hire car. Quick question is I may, what is the situation with driving down to the viewing tower at Depuradora? Last I read they'd stopped cars going down, is this still the case? Many thanks, hopefully I'll bump into some of you at some point.

Yes, it is locked, but it is 350 m walking, so no long.

 

[stelun]

Glad you enjoyed your trip Stelun – and congratulations on the fabulous photos!

Thanks derban!

 

[stelun]

Hej, I think we met close to Vall de Bóquer. Great pictures!

Thanks Schneppe!

 

[mike mayall]

Hi , myself and a friend had a great few days birding in majorca 23 to 28th April. 119 species and dipped on a few usual suspects. Couple of questions
We saw an Egyptian vulture in the Boquar valley on the 26th. What is the status of this species in majorca?
Is there a recent list of the status of all species in majorca? I only have a book with a list from 2002 that seems to be quite dated.
Thanks for any help

 

[stelun]

Hi , myself and a friend had a great few days birding in majorca 23 to 28th April. 119 species and dipped on a few usual suspects. Couple of questions
We saw an Egyptian vulture in the Boquar valley on the 26th. What is the status of this species in majorca?
Is there a recent list of the status of all species in majorca? I only have a book with a list from 2002 that seems to be quite dated.
Thanks for any help

Hi
I used this one at my latest visit.

Mallorca bird checklist - Avibase - Bird Checklists of the World

avibase.bsc-eoc.org

Best regards
stelun