Mallorca 2021 (2 Viewers)

[Phil Akers]

I`ve had a blue tit showing occasionally in my garden for the last few days or so but hadn't been able to get a decent photo until yesterday, when it came to one of my bird baths. You may be thinking that it's nothing out of the ordinary. Well actually it is; the Blue Tits here in Mallorca are fairly abundant in the mountains but are rarely seen elsewhere. The one I photographed yesterday is only the fourth one I`ve seen in the Colonia valley since I moved over here 6 years ago.
Just out of interest, the birdbath in the photos is one that I made from an old stainless steel frying pan. I removed the handle, drilled 3 holes in the rim to hang it from a tree. It works a treat, it's definitely the most regularly used one out of the 5 birdbaths in the garden. Of course it may all be down to the location that makes it popular, but it's recycling

 

[derban]

This is not strictly a Mallorcan post but I thought it might be of interest. I had a great day trip to the wetlands by the Eider estuary on the North Sea coast here near Hamburg, and was delighted to see a selection of favourites from the Salobrar - Dunlin, black-tailed godwit, ruff, common tern to name but a few as well as what I think was a whimbrel - too small for a curlew, right? It is just a good feeling that many of these birds will soon be passing through Mallorca as migration gets going, or staying over winter there soon. And I am looking forward immensely to getting back soon myself!

 

[honeym]

I`ve had a blue tit showing occasionally in my garden for the last few days or so but hadn't been able to get a decent photo until yesterday, when it came to one of my bird baths. You may be thinking that it's nothing out of the ordinary. Well actually it is; the Blue Tits here in Mallorca are fairly abundant in the mountains but are rarely seen elsewhere. The one I photographed yesterday is only the fourth one I`ve seen in the Colonia valley since I moved over here 6 years ago.
Just out of interest, the birdbath in the photos is one that I made from an old stainless steel frying pan. I removed the handle, drilled 3 holes in the rim to hang it from a tree. It works a treat, it's definitely the most regularly used one out of the 5 birdbaths in the garden. Of course it may all be down to the location that makes it popular, but it's recycling

Hi Phil
We once had Blue Tits visiting olive trees in the garden next to a holiday villa that we had hired many years ago on the outskirts of Pollensa. They were extracting moth larvae fom the terminal shoots of Olive trees, much as they do in the UK with other tree species. I've always reckoned that they are more frequent than is known, given how hard they are to spot.
Martin

 

[honeym]

Hello, yes, they released 8 white ducks on october 2020, and the ducks were seen during several days, maybe 8 o 10 days at Es Forcadet lagoon and 1 was seen also at the Depuradora...
... Then never more were seen any one of the 8 White-headed duck; all them dissapeared the same days, in a kind of mistery.

Exactly the same (I believe) as with previous releases, including in or around 2009 and before. Here's a comment I made in an earlier post about this species: On 29 May 2006 a female with 5 ducklings were observed in s'Albufera. At about the same time there are observations of 6 adults in the park. Since then just 1 male seen, which also eventually disapearred (often frequenting the grand canal in s'Albufera.

 

[Mike Montier]

A Caspian Tern has been seen by Toni at Albufereta so at long last, there is some news.
It can only get better now, it has been deadly quiet.
I begin to go to the lighthouse at Cap de Ses Salines from the end of this month and I have had some great days there in early August. Black kite are the most common raptor at that time but there are a few other species coming through. I saw a very early Montagu’s Harrier last year.
I have booked to return to the U.K. on the 28th for just a week but it remains to be seen if we actually go. Things seem to change daily.
I will be back for most of the action though. After this long lull, I can’t wait.
Mike

 

[Geordie Dave]

Arrived back in Mallorca yesterday on a full flight from Newcastle. It took an hour to come through Border Control but other than that it was all straightforward. A word of caution: car hire is expensive and I’m being charged more than double the rate I paid when I was here 4 weeks ago. Had a leisurely day birding along pollenca bay today. Started at Albufereta then onto the scrape behind Pollentia Club Resort Hotel, Can Cuarassa and finally the fields around Llenaire. It is extremely quiet and other than a wood sandpiper there seems to be an absence of waders other than Kentish plover. I’m here for 3 weeks and hoping things start to pick up. It’s good to be back

 

[Geordie Dave]

An early morning walk in a largely birdless Boquer valley today. 2 hours produced several Sardinian warblers, 2 Eleonoras falcons at the seaward end and nothing else. Good to see that they’ve added extra stone and levelled off the car park at the entrance. No sign of any work ongoing at the finca and apparently no progress since I was there about a year ago. Despite the lack of birds there remains something magical about the valley especially early in the morning. I can highly recommend it and the chance to connect with the great outdoors

 

[Ian Bell]

An early morning walk in a largely birdless Boquer valley today. 2 hours produced several Sardinian warblers, 2 Eleonoras falcons at the seaward end and nothing else. Good to see that they’ve added extra stone and levelled off the car park at the entrance. No sign of any work ongoing at the finca and apparently no progress since I was there about a year ago. Despite the lack of birds there remains something magical about the valley especially early in the morning. I can highly recommend it and the chance to connect with the great outdoors

Like yourself Dave,I love an early (first light) walk In the Boquer.Makes the mind think I am In a wild west movie !! However,with a supporting cast of Balearic Warbler,Blue Rock Thrush,Crag Martins,Instead of Red Indians

 

[Geordie Dave]

Continuing the theme of birdless days I met Mike Montier at Depuradora this morning. Common sandpiper, ringed plover, yellow wagtail, 3 glossy ibis, 2 hoopoe and a couple of marsh harriers in well over an hour made us move on to Albufera main reserve. Water levels are very low with no waders other than Kentish plover from Sa Roca. We moved on to Cibollar which again was very quiet. No other birders about and no one else in the hides gave us the chance to talk and gave a few laughs at over lamb and peas pies!!. On to Maristany where, other than red crested pochard and reed warbler, there was nothing of note. Today taught me once again that birding is not just about birds but the friendships, the craic and the laughs that go with it. A great day out with hardly any birds; there’s always tomorrow!!

 

[Mike Montier]

Totally agree David. When there are few birds about, it’s great to relate stories of other birding adventures and previous twitches.
Nostalgia is always fun.
I was so impressed with your story about the Soft plumage petrel. How the bird was tracked going up the coast by groups of seawatchers, how the news was immediately disseminated and how many lucky birders were able to connect with a probable once-in-a-lifetime bird.
That one will go down in the annals of birding folklore. So glad you got it.
Mike

 

[Geordie Dave]

I’ve been saying all week that there are no birds about. Today Phil A and I took a different tack and headed in land to the “White Plains” at Maria de la Salut. We had a quiet start but saw lots of kestrels, up to 12 together at one point, always distant on the wires and in a growing heat haze. After moving closer to get a better vantage point and to get the sun light in the right place we got closer to more kestrels and tried to identify lesser from common without ever being certain. I said to Phil, we need an adult Male in full plumage in the haze to be certain. 5 minutes later we got exactly that. A stunning bird showing all the text book ID features. Fantastic views through our scopes but more difficult to photograph. As we were watching I looked over my shoulder to find a female montagus harrier low to the ground gliding through which I got Phil on to. To avoid any doubt she turned her head and looked directly at us with those magnificent face markings. I’ve always said when you are out birding, you are only 1 bird away from a memorable day. Today we had 2 in just a few minutes!!

 

[Geordie Dave]

 

[Geordie Dave]

Our visit to the plains produced common and lesser kestrel, black and red kite, marsh and montagus harrier, hobby and booted eagle. Who says there’s no birds about!!

 

[Geordie Dave]

Our the plains we went on to depuradora, son bosc and Maristany. Adding bee eaters, stone curlew, purple heron, yellow wagtail, Little ringed plover, Osprey, common and red crested pochard, gc grebe, gadwall and reed warbler. I’m reliably informed by our official counter we had 42 birds in the day. As always great to be back, thanks Phil

 

[Geordie Dave]

A slight digression from the raptors we’ve seen today but isn’t this fan tailed warbler a beautifully stunning bird. Seen by Mike M and me earlier in the week.

 

[derban]

A slight digression from the raptors we’ve seen today but isn’t this fan tailed warbler a beautifully stunning bird. Seen by Mike M and me earlier in the week.

Lovely shots!

 

[Geordie Dave]

A late evening trip to the Depuradora and to the Son Bosc side of S’Illot tonight with Kevin. Within 10 minutes we were rewarded with a churring nightjar, shortly followed by a wing clap and then a close by flyover before it landed in a nearby tree giving good views. After a moment or two it then flew off. Further in we had 2 more birds churring from separate bushes at the same time, followed by a calling Scops owl and several stone curlew. With the light rapidly fading we retraced our steps to hear another nightjar and finally a flight call. A successful evening all round.

 

[Mike Montier]

It’s that time of the year when I get very twitchy as the return passage of birds is just around the corner.
Cap de Ses Salines is the place to be and being an impatient sort of geezer, I went yesterday.
Very premature of course but I was rewarded with two Black kite going east. It’s hard to tell if they were migrants as this species is often seen there but it was a good taste of what’s to come.
Bee-eaters can be seen in large groups, hirundines and swift are seen in big numbers too but the migration of raptors is the star attraction.
The post-breeding dispersal of passerines is also noted with the bonus of seeing Rock sparrow at Passage 5. I have seen up to 20 which is quite a sight, lovely little birds they are.
I will be going as much as possible, which is usually too many times, but being so close to my home, it’s hard to stay away.
I will be reporting of course and I really feel we are due a rarity or two. A Lesser Spotted Eagle would be nice but I will settle for a Short-toed snake eagle.
Mike

 

[Geordie Dave]

A return visit to the central plains today starting from Maria de la Salut and touring the back roads. Plenty of red kite about, meadow pipit, fan tailed and Cetti’s warblers. Up to 12 kestrel species at a time on the wires of which we had 2 male lesser. It was hot, up to 37°, so we retired to the sports club for a well earned cana. As someone famously said...... these are the days!!

 

[Geordie Dave]

I haven’t been out birding for a couple of days so after an early morning run to drop her ladyship off at the airport, before I stay on for another week, I was keen to get out. Starting at Albufereta where a single great white was with 30+ little egret. There were at least 5 purple and 1 grey heron on the main ponds. At Sa Barcassa hide there were another 3 purple herons, 2 grey herons, 3 common terns, some adult Kentish plover with chicks but little else. Still keen to be out I moved on to Cala San Vicenc and in the heat of the midday sun tackled the fishermen’s walk. A group of common kestrel and 2 Eleonoras falcons made to trip to the top worthwhile. I can recommend a visit for those that haven’t been. Particularly in spring and autumn. The woods at the bottom are good for warblers, flycatchers, crossbills, dunnock and wren. The land either side of the fishermen’s walk has Balearic warbler, blue rock thrush, raven, vultures, common kestrel and Eleonoras and peregrine falcon. The panoramic views are stunning.