Hi a belated post from our mid October visit to the Island.
Fantastic endless sunshine for the whole stay was not expected so late into the year and the island still very busy tourist wise was also a surprise.
Not a full on birding holiday and more of a laid back poolside job with all my birding done early morning and the odd mooch locally of an evening.
Stayed in a Villa along by the Saint Jordi stream which did mean plenty of biting insects for our stay but well worth it i thought.
Birding from the gardens alone was fantastic with an amazing raptor count of eight which were Black Vulture,Eleonora's Falcon,Red Kite,Osprey,Kestrel,Booted Eagle,Peregrine Falcon and Marsh Harrier.
My morning alarm clock was the call of Stone Curlews which were very vocal for the whole stay at dusk and dawn.
Birds also seen from garden and in garden were Stonechat,Sardinian Warbler,Willow Warbler,Cettis Warbler,Hoopoe,Serin,Redstart with flyover Flamingo,Stone Curlew,Night Heron,Little and Great Egret ,Grey Heron and various wildfowl.
The field next door held about 8-10 feeding Cattle Egret most evenings too.
A Wryneck was calling close by most days but frustratingly i never did manage to steal a look at it.
It was great to eventually meet up with Pere & Emma (mallorcanaturaltours) and spend the best part of the day in the spectacular Ternelles Valley,a great days birding was had with great company and plenty of good craic along the way,top views of Vultures with supporting cast of Redstarts,Wheatears,Cirl Buntings,Booted Eagles and Cross-bill to name a few.
We had plenty of evening visits from Preying Mantis which were attracted by the outside lighting but sadly the local cat population picked them off one by one with some pretty impressive standing leaps to catch them mid air.
Had about four early morning visits to S'Albufera ,big numbers of wildfowl present but water levels a tad high for the waders,Osprey present on all of my visits plus Glossy Ibis and my best views to date of Moustached Warbler with a family group seen on two of my visits there.
An early morning look along the Sillot track to check out the pools there gave great views of a massive Starling murmeration but as i watched it overhead birds started dropping at my feet due to them flying into the power lines which run the length of the track there,i counted 10 dead birds on my walk back in better light.
We eventually made our first visit to Dragonara Island mainly to get some views of the Eleonoras Falcon and they did not disappoint,some very nice views of both adult and young birds plus the odd migrant thrown in.The only downside being the Monday Morning rush hour traffic around Palma to get to Sant Elm for the first boat out there ,plus the long hot drive back but needless to say i shall hopefully be back for more in the years to come.
Next visit out to Mallorca will be in April for my 60th birthday bash so looking forward to that.
In the meantime Seasons Greetings To All and i hope the Biting Mozzies calm down soon.
Cheers
Bob
