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

Mallorca 2020 (1 Viewer)

Figures for today at the Cap with acknowledgement to Adolfo, who was there nearly all day, and members of GORA.

56 Honey Buzzard
1 Black Kite.
46 Common Kestrel
6 Hobby
22 Eleonora’s falcon
17 Marsh Harrier.
I am going tomorrow ahead of a big storm due Friday.
I hope I see even a small proportion of the recent totals, they have been very impressive.
Mike
 
Another good morning at the Cap, numbers to follow.
In the meantime, a photo of a lovely light Honey Buzzard.
Mike
 

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Good to be back

Arrived back in Mallorca on Monday and had my first birding outing this morning - down to the Salobar. At first, I thought nothing was going on but was happy to find and later identify one of the bar-tailed godwits there. I take this as a good omen for further trips! And I pushed back the frontiers of my ignorance a little further too.
 

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Hi Durban and welcome back to Mallorca.
That’s a very good photo of this smart and very scarce visitor to these Islands.
Well done.
Mike
 
21 Honey Buzzard today, I saw most of them.
They begin passing through quite early. Between 10am and 11.30am seems to be the peak time.
Three groups of Bee-eaters totaling 69 birds left the Island.
8 Marsh harriers and 1 Montagu’s Harrier kept us on our toes.
Common Kestrel and Eleonora’s falcon began passing through but they tend to migrate later in the day. They were still streaming through when I left at around 1pm.
51 Common Kestrel and 41 Eleonora’s falcon were the totals.
My thanks to Patrick and Adolfo for their excellent company and for fighting a lost cause in helping with camera settings yet again.
Mike
 
A group of birders are spending a few days on Cabrera.
It’s a rarity hot-spot in the autumn so I hope they find some great birds.
A Common rosefinch has already been logged and I’m sure there are more goodies to come.
A storm is due this afternoon so that may well influence the outcome, we will see, but I wish them luck and look forward to hearing all about their findings.
Mike
 
Mike Montier said:
A group of birders are spending a few days on Cabrera.
It’s a rarity hot-spot in the autumn so I hope they find some great birds.
A Common rosefinch has already been logged and I’m sure there are more goodies to come.
A storm is due this afternoon so that may well influence the outcome, we will see, but I wish them luck and look forward to hearing all about their findings.
Mike
Click to expand...

Hello! photos following this link
https://rareresesornibalears.blogspot.com/2020/09/passerell-carminat-carpodacus.html

Regards
Cristina :)
 
Spent the day at Depuradora and Albufera yesterday with Phil A. We didn’t see another birder all day and all of the hides were empty. We had bluethroat, moustached, reed and sedge warbler at Depuradora together with nightingale, yellow wagtail and plenty of sandpipers. At Albufera we could only find 1 night heron on the canal side roost but many cattle and little egret and glossy ibis. Water levels were high on all of the ponds so not ideal for small waders. We did however see turnstone, dunlin and curlew sandpiper along with dozens of both spotted redshank and greenshank. We had excellent close up views of a Squacco heron which seems to have taken up residence in a channel just off the main bridge. We saw it 4 times at different times during the day. All in all another good day out.
 
Very strong north-westerly winds at the moment but I’m not sure what effect that will have on raptor migration.
It will be interesting to see.
The birders on Cabrera can hardly stand up apparently so that’s a big disappointment for them and our man at the Cap gave up too.
Mike
 
A windswept Mallorca woke up with a few trees down in the high winds and a very serious fire around the s’amarador area with a few houses destroyed.
I was at passage 5 just after first light and soon saw a few Rock sparrows. They are very vocal which helps. Lots of finches were around and a large raptor flew south.
I was soon joined by fellow Brits Geordie David and Kevin.
The profusion of jokes made up for the lack of birds as it was very quiet on the raptor front following the storm.
The sea was quite lively with four Grey herons over the water and a couple of Shearwaters. David Spotted a possible Storm petrel but I didn’t get on it sadly. The day after a big storm is normally great news for seawatchers.
A few Booted eagles were seen flying high towards Cabrera before moving on to Africa.
Also seen was a fine Sparrowhawk and a Hobby.
It was a fun day but it didn’t match up to the extraordinary days of late.
Howay the lads.
Mike
 
Thanks Cristina for the link to Rare Birds of the Balearics.
It’s an excellent site to keep up-to-date with the latest rarities in the Balearics.
It’s run by Steve and includes location maps and photos when available.
It’s worth keeping an eye on.
Mike
 
Fire at s'Albufera

Two amphibious planes from the Ministry for the Ecological Transition are incorporated from the Peninsula to the operation of the fire in Albufera. In total, there are nine airways and about 35 land working on it.

Don't know if this link will work:
https://www.facebook.com/albuferade...cptALKB6xTIWfwb2REOYccNwP9PFM&fref=nf&__xts__[0]=68.ARCdVUTjA3pTrPFxLH0Iw6gTiIBz9uyjIJM5IbwtPSfrTQfWTdZXnAfaRU90OrZbxstl2bUpVv56uxsH1eco6rOA_JEQfFGFvkDGKf0joo0h9hLqve-jLAnqUx-mNCdKmlLRzI6akHzqBuJiVTjeRdcu1mF1svz22K9GHwgvWgb6zJnwJt2PIaRmN1sQVPnJwLU4m87qFv2dlXYCTq6WBq7daav_JmniRMHkkX9QBsAOYRe8tfzx1LLS0ex-k0jh8Qm3VkwndrAFkhzsucaamQjHKJCrQyYLjg2UqYbquNSKTJy-0mozf0FBczV4EKmnMCQ3aX5U_xuR9EmOKt_1twGnjw
 
I could have sworn that a Carrion crow just flew past my balcony, very close.
Much smaller than the Ravens that I’m used to seeing nearly every day at the Cap.
Hmm, not very likely but pretty convincing.
Mike
 
Lalo has taken two weeks holiday from today to be at the Cap for the passage of migrants leaving for Africa.
His campaign has got off the a flying (!) start with a splendid Black stork early this morning.
Let’s hope this is just the start of more to come.
I will join him as much as I can.
Mike
 
Now Lalo has bagged second prize with a fine Short-toed snake Eagle past the Cap.
Two of the three most wanted birds at this site in a single morning.
The third is Lesser Spotted Eagle. Tomorrow may bring him the hat-trick.
Lucky fella, one of the few mornings I have not been there. Ouch.
Mike
 
Spent yesterday on the edges of the Albufera at Depuradora, cami des Polls, Maristany and Albufereta. The main park was closed after the fires on Friday. Most of the damage seems to be in the area around S’Amarador. I read in Mallorca Daily Bulletin that around 25% of the reed areas have been burned out. The damage at Depuradora was apparent with the grass under the platform burned black and extensive burnt out areas up the the edges of the first pond. There was still plenty to see and it is hoped that the damaged areas recover quickly. I live in the north of England where extensive heather burning is common to promote new growth, perhaps the same will happen here. Back to Newcastle tomorrow after another excellent 2 weeks visit. Looking forward to the next time whenever that might be
 
Safe trip home David, see you and Kevin soon I hope. Hopefully, Mike S. will make it here too and we can have another Brits day out.
Good numbers of Plain Tiger butterflies are being seen again this autumn.
On my trips around the south yesterday, I saw at least 10, probably more.
A few have been seen leaving the Island to the south.
It’s the most numerous butterfly around in some areas at the moment.
Mike
 
Lalo got his hat-trick but not with a Lesser Spotted Eagle, a Short-eared owl flew by, a scarce bird to see in Mallorca.
I’m going Thursday so I hope this run of great birds continues until then.
Mike
 
I got to the Cap fairly early as usual. I saw several Blackcaps and one Rock sparrow at passage 5.
I went to the lighthouse and sat on a rock feeling pretty miserable as I was reflecting on all the great birds I’ve missed this week.
Lalo and Miguel joined me so I perked up a bit.
The sea was quite lively with good numbers of Scopoli’s shearwaters but nothing else.
Then the raptors came.
An endless stream of Common kestrel, Eleonora’s falcon and Marsh Harrier came through. There was an Osprey and a Honey Buzzard, joined by a Hobby.
We were watching a Common Kestrel going out to sea when up popped a Caspian Tern, first called by Lalo. We were then transfixed by this national rarity when along came another one.
They put on a great show until they departed to the west.
I will give numbers later as they were still coming through when I left just before 1pm.
A storm is due tomorrow.
Mike
 
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