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ZEISS DTI thermal imaging cameras. For more discoveries at night, and during the day.

Mallorca 2020 (1 Viewer)

I was evicted from the bedroom at 4.30am for an unacceptable amount of fidgeting. I told my wife I had indigestion but she said, “it’s that bird, isn’t it?”
It was. Knowing a Roller was only ten minutes away, I had to go.
I was on site before six but it didn’t show in the two hours I spent there.
After a coffee and a pie I was revived and so I had another go, this time with success.
Few birds are as striking as the European Roller, it’s a real beauty.
I just hope nothing else turns up, I need some sleep.
Mike

Well Done Mike and Sandra can 100% relate to Jane's plight :t:
 
39 Honey Buzzard through the tower at Albercutx today.
Also 2 Black Kite, thanks to Mallorca Raptor count.
A second White-winged tern has just turned (!) up at the depuradora, Albufera.
It looks like a different bird from the Sant Jordi individual, not quite in full summer plumage yet.
The Roller near Calonge is still present this evening thanks to Steve.
The plover seen at Salobrar was indeed a Pacific Golden Plover. Salobrar has been well watched recently so if it was hanging around, it would surely have been relocated. Photos I have seen of UK sightings all seem to be posing out in the open so I assume they are not a reclusive species. I hope it shows again, preferably when I’m there.
Mike
 
For members interested in dragonflies and damselflies, a new field guide “Europe’s Dragonflies” by Andy Swash and Dave Smallshire has just been published. It’s pretty lavishly illustrated in the composite photo-style of others in the Wild Guide series. There’s loads of detail, including comparison photos and ID information included in arrowed boxes on the illustrations themselves. My only beef is that, as is the trend for other guides, the familiar common names have been abandoned in favour of “new” english names (hugely frustrating). Never the less, it’s still a cracking guide.

I bought mine for an introductory price of £17.99 +p&p from Wildsounds.

Stew
 

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Jaeger at Portocolom

This evening I have been 2 hours with Maties at Portocolom, it is strange because there are very few pass of scopolis and Balearics shearwater (maybe they are going to other better places to feed than north of Majorca) so they dont use this route along the east coast to return Cabrera as usual...

But our big surprise has been one Jaeger (Pomarine skua) flying not far from the coast, we both have seen it very well and clearly, then the jaeger has turned more than 100º to the sea side and we have lost it; we think he landed on the water, but didnt foung again.

I am sure than Mike will be almost as much happy as us with this observation; a great bird for Majorca.
 
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What is the status of Red-necked Nightjar in the Balearics? I was watching the Netflix show 'White Lines', which was predominantly filmed in Mallorca and Ibiza, and during one scene a Red-necked Nightjar is clearly audible in the background.

Is very scarce during migration, maybe less scarce in Ibiza, there are very few data about it.
Can you say us the episode and the minute?
Thank you

Episode 5, around 30 minutes. Mike is probably right that it's just a generic ambient noise effect inserted afterwards.

Just after the above posts were made a work colleague of mine asked me, purely by coincidence, if I had heard of the Netflix series "White Lines". So I told him why I had - I did not know about it before reading this thread - and as he knows I am birder mentioned the Nightjar and the interest in the call on the soundtrack as the reason why.

He said that his sister had a relative or friend who worked as a cameraman on the series in the Balearics and he would see if he could find anything else out about it.

I heard this evening that he has been told that the calls in this episode are real and were live at the time of filming. He believes that the filming took place this year, i.e. just before lock-down presumably.

Perhaps Josep or his colleagues could speak to the production company or their local fixers to find out when and where the sequence was filmed to get more detail on the occurrence.

I hope this is of use.
 
Thank you Pete. That’s very exciting. I have been waiting for an appearance of a Red-necked nightjar for many years.
I wonder if the record would ever be accepted by a recording alone.
I reckon it would!
Thank you for going to the trouble of finding out.
Mike
 
I havent seen the scene, but a lot of scenes of this serie have been filmed in Majorca, alcudia, porto colom, cap blanc, so maybe some scenes are out of Majorca.
 
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Stew, how does it compare to the classic Field guide and those fantastic drawings of Lewington.?

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Field-Guide-Dragonflies-Britain-Europe/dp/0953139948

Mike, I think that it complements the Lewington guide. There is much more detail in the new guide which will be useful in the field - specific/ID features and comparison photos for example. This might be a mixed blessing, as there is a lot to wade through, especially if a species is unfamiliar. To be fair, that’s an assumption on my part - the real test will be using it in the field.

If I was forced to choose, I’d probably take the new guide into the field and have Lewington waiting at home for reference. I’m still struggling with the concept of all the new names (which Lewington uses too), but it’s brought the Latin classification back to the fore, so it’s not all bad..

I’m going to wade through and see if any of the (tiny) distribution maps potentially add anything to the list!

Cheers!

Stew
 
Final counts for today thanks to Lalo and members of G.O.R.A.
75 Honey Buzzard
4 Booted Eagle
4 Red Kite
3 Black Kite
1 Marsh Harrier.
Must have been a great sight seeing so many of those glorious raptors.
One and a half hours seawatching tonight produced very little, just twenty Scopoli’s shearwater and one Balearic.
A couple of Dolphins breaching was a fine sight as always. I find them very entertaining.
Mike
 
My car has been out of action for the last couple of days, which has sadly prevented me from being able to get to Albercuix to see the incredible numbers of Honey Buzzards there today and yesterday. It has however allowed me to spend time watching from the garden again, and finally two Honey Buzzards passed over here this morning!

Also Bonelli’s Eagle, Black Vulture, Eleonora’s and Peregrine Falcons here today.

I saw quite a number of Alpine Swifts around the cliffs at Puig de Garrafa yesterday, so there is surely a colony there, I’ll go and have a look tomorrow probably.

Congratulations on the Pomarine Skua Mike and Josep, I’m quite keen to try for Yelkouan Shearwater si I’ll be heading over to Porto Colum as soon as my car is fixed! Another Pomarine would be nice ;)
 
164 Honey Buzzard through Albercutx tower today, a high number and very late in the year.
Honey Buzzard will doubtless be the most common migrant raptor this spring, totals will be available soon.
Just 36 Scopoli’s shearwaters and 6 Balearic shearwaters from my local lighthouse this evening but I did have to leave early.
Mike
 
Following a sighting of a Pacific Golden Plover in flight at Salobrar de Campos, I went in search of said bird.
Starting at the salt pans at Colonia Sant Jordi, I followed the coastal path, taking in all the rocky outcrops along the way.
No joy there so off to Sa Barrala where I scanned all the fields including the polo pitch.
Then I finished the search at a Salobrar de Campos going down the Centre path towards Sa Barrala and the road to Es trenc beach as well. Not there sadly, what a terrific bird it looked. I’ve never seen one anywhere so it would be good to catch up with it.
Mike
 
What a shame that the Pacific Golden Plover hasn’t reappeared, though I’ve been lucky to thousands of them in Australia, I’m yet to see one in their magnificent breeding plumage.

In Australia and New Zealand I’ve seen them almost exclusively at the beach, rather in contrast to the European species which seems to prefer grasslands, so if it is still here I suspect coastal wader flocks would be the best place to look.

A quiet day here, but 3 Black Kites (rather unexpectedly heading south) were a pleasant surprise. I have had multiple sightings since the enormous flock came through, so I do wonder if some of the birds may be stragglers from that group that have decided to stay in the area a little longer.
 
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Following a sighting of a Pacific Golden Plover in flight at Salobrar de Campos, I went in search of said bird.
Starting at the salt pans at Colonia Sant Jordi, I followed the coastal path, taking in all the rocky outcrops along the way.
No joy there so off to Sa Barrala where I scanned all the fields including the polo pitch.
Then I finished the search at a Salobrar de Campos going down the Centre path towards Sa Barrala and the road to Es trenc beach as well. Not there sadly, what a terrific bird it looked. I’ve never seen one anywhere so it would be good to catch up with it.
Mike

This is the photo of the Pacific GP from the Rare Birds in Spain Twitter feed (sorry, can’t credit the photographer as no name given).

Stew
 

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A fairly quiet day around s’Albufera and Albufereta today, I wish I’d gone to Albercuix instead! The highlight at Albufereta was a Honey Buzzard low over the marsh (rather in contrast to the 325 at Albercuix ;) ), along with some Eleonora’s Falcons and a great view of a Black-crowned Night Heron. Next was s’Albufera, where the hides and many of the paths are still closed, but it was amazing to see how birds have totally taken over the reserve in the absence of human visitors, there were nesting birds everywhere! Nothing particularly exciting seen, but plenty of Glossy Ibises were around, they seem to have bred alongside the Cattle Egrets. I also saw my first Great Reed Warbler outside of Africa! Finally Depuradora, where I was hoping for a rare tern, but 10 Common Terns and a Shoveler were the highlights. What a treat Albercuix must have been for those who were there today!
 
What a great day at the tower of Albercuix!!!

Continous pass of groups of Honey buzzards, until a total of 325 birds, but also 5 red kites, 5 black kites, 1 marsh harrier, 2 booted eagle (all these migrants).

The local highlight was the Egyptian vulture, but it was also very interesting a lot of black vultures, several griffons and the local pair of peregrine falcon with the baby doing his firsts flights.

One of the bests days ever in the last 12 years at the tower, and tomorrow maybe the spectacle goes on, we have the hope to arrive the 1000 honey's, which are numbers of a great migration station.
 

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