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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Peewit" data-source="post: 1497918" data-attributes="member: 57492">Report at Cala Tirant – 16th May 2009 Part 1 of 2Report at Cala Tirant – 16th May 2009 Part 1 of 2I had an afternoon off sailing, and decided to for a walk on my own around Cala Tirant, which is an area of houses, next to Ses Salines.  So, after lunch, I packed my Rucksack with my juice, my binoculars and my ID books in hand.  My OH enjoyed himself sailing once more.This was another short walk from our chalet to the main road leading to Fornells.  I crossed the main road, over the other side of the road, and headed towards the Cala Tirant A well laid path with a rustic fence lead to the area, and well sign-posted area of Cala Tirant.  I passed under the large circular sign post, and started to walk up the road towards the buildings. There is an avenue of various trees, and the air was filled with bird song.  The heat has built up once more and lots of grass hoppers where singing in the hazy tall grasses in the open field nearby.  Lots of birds where moving back and forth between trees on opposite sides of the road.  I walked very slowly while listening intently for any interesting birds nearby.I had my binoculars around my neck.  I could hear some tinkling and looked up to see a couple of Goldfinches sitting on the spindly branches up above my head.  It was great to see these birds where resident to the area.  I was told by the locals that Goldfinches are sought after as cage birds by people who live in Mainland Spain.  There is also some cross-breeding that goes on between Canaries and Goldfinches to produce a hybrid. This is very sad to me as they are wild birds and should be respected as that.  The Goldfinches beautiful songs are their downfall and hopefully this whole issue will be stopped one day forever.  Anyway, the main thing is they are around.  I could hear them everywhere on the island including one or two sitting in the tree right above our chalet.  So I continued up along side the avenue of trees, and past a field full of cows.  Lots of lovely rustic fences and gates gave the feeling of old world charm. The roadway was built on an embankment, and this made it easier to see down into the woods below.  Any sightings of birds would be a lot easier on the eye.   Lots of wildflowers and butterflies everywhere and it was a joy to be given a chance to be able to look up all wildlife associated with the area.A few cars past by, and I had to make sure that I remembers which way the cars headed as it is the opposite way to what we have in Britain.  There was a sandy pavement I could retreat to for safety purposes.The avenues of trees boasted all types of birds, and I noticed the abundance of Nightingales in song from nearly every Tree.  Their fluty rich song was unmistakeable. I felt like I was walking around a Tropical park far away elsewhere.A couple of scuffles occurred in the nearby Fig Tree, and two birds where having a dispute.  They moved about from branch to branch.  I looked through my binoculars.  I could see the birds in question where had very bright yellow, and black colouration in their plumage.  I had another look, and the first bird that came to my mind of an Oriole for some reason.    I had a look at my bird book and yes, it was a group of  Golden Orioles which where sighted on this day.  As a matter of fact there was a large group of them flitting about the nearby Fig Trees.  I had a look at the birds habits in the bird book, and they are migrants, are only around April/May in the year. So I was honoured to have seen them.  What a treat, and there where plenty of them living happily in the avenue of trees.  So there where a few more sightings of them as I continued towards the buildings in the distance.A huge ‘gold’ Yellow butterfly fluttered past me and it was going to fast to observe.  I understand that Brimstones are quite abundant for this time of year and had a lot of sightings of thee.  I have a picture or two to fall back on too.  Lots of wildflowers where growing along the road edge and I could ID quite a few of them using the local flower book of the species in the area (that will another thread in itself).  I pass by an evergreen pine tree, and I could see a woven nest perched on top it.  It was too far away to reach, so I was not sure whether it was a genuine bird nest, or one which had been placed on the tree to attract birds of some type.  It remained me of a Weaver bird nest like the ones you see in South Africa.  My own understanding is that Weavers are not native to Menorca in any way.  So what bird could build a nest like this nest.So I continued past another singing Nightingale in a tree.  I stopped to listen to it as it was very close and right above my head.  I still could not see it, and very soon, I knew it had slunk of to the next tree without me knowing it had.   Hey they are such difficult birds to see.I continued walking up a slight hill, towards the small housing complex. I arrive, and have a look at the area information board, but did not find it all that useful for my needs.  So I walked on up to the nearest one shop.The houses/chalets in his area have been built for holiday homes, and an assortment of other homes for various reasons.  It is no where near some of the holiday/hotel complexes you get in many countries.  It was a world apart from that, and that is a good thing for the good of the area.I pass by the one shop, and a restaurant.  Most of the houses are built around the lower area of a mountain.  The remaining upper area of the hill was given as an area to walk around.  I could see a Booted Eagle flying in the thermals close by on the top of the wilderness area of the same mountain.  Now, the Booted Eagle was being mobbed by a couple of Yellow Legged Gulls.  The same bird was not perturbed from flying in its normal manner. It glided gently over to the other side of the mountain and out of view.I head towards the beach area, to see what was around.  The midday sun was not there anymore, but not to say the heat was still blistering.  I have a look over the shore front, across the blue Mediterranean sea, and the view beyond   I could see a few gulls flying over the water, and they flashed by only to disappear and then reappear once more.  An Auduin’s Gull sat on the nearby rock looking on, and was not bothered by my presence so close to the bird.  The area was very rocky, weather beaten, and the sea had changed the shape of the rocks, which made the area look very craggy.  It was hard to walk about, so I made my way back towards the houses. I was interested in finding my way over the beach so I could walk on the track on the furtherist side.  I was trying to find the best route there.  Then I could see a wooden stairway which would take me away from the rocks and over to the other area of beach.  This is where I wanted to go, and see what was around the area.  Now I had found where I wanted to go, but never made it to the track (as planned) as I was diverted elsewhere as we all are at times. So I walked up, along, and down the wooden stairs, and looked at the beach ahead.  It was quite barren of people.  The people that where there where lying in the sun or splashing about in the water. Lots of screams from a little girl to show her delight at getting wet.</blockquote>

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