Mallorca 2024 (16 Viewers)

[H Johnsson]

I do not know if it of interest for Mallorca birders but in report from Swedish Bird Lifes Taxonomic committee they have put Puffinus mauretanicus and P. yelkouan together - one species.

Report below with Google translation

Balearic lira and Mediterranean lira a species Ferrer Obiol et al. convincingly shows in three papers (2021, 2022 and especially 2023) that the Balearic plover Puffinus mauretanicus and the Mediterranean plover P. yelkouan should not constitute two separate species. Careful genetic clustering and species delimitation analyzes did not yield two distinct groups, phylogenetic analyzes did not obtain reciprocal monophyly between the two taxa, and so-called coalescent-based divergence time estimation showed that the two taxa did not diverge. These clear results, together with the lyres forming a gradient of phenotypes, with partially overlapping non-breeding distributions, nearly identical calls, and a lack of individual-level concordance between phenotypic characters, stable isotope, microsatellite, and mitochondrial DNA analyzes strengthen the merger into a species. Further evidence against two species is frequent interbreeding and the existence of a considerable number of mixed colonies. The merged species becomes P. yelkouan (Mediterranean Shearwater).

 

[H Johnsson]

I went to Es Carnatge lovely weather and some nice observations

I will excuse for some photos but I always use my binocular first for identification and if I got the opportunity to take photos I do so.

There was one Whimbrel, four Turnstone, two Audouins Gull, one Sandwich Tern, Yellow legged Gull and one Little Egret .
In the surrounding Black redstart, Stonechat, Sardinian warbler etc.

 

[Ian Pollença]

I do not know if it of interest for Mallorca birders but in report from Swedish Bird Lifes Taxonomic committee they have put Puffinus mauretanicus and P. yelkouan together - one species.

Report below with Google translation

Balearic lira and Mediterranean lira a species Ferrer Obiol et al. convincingly shows in three papers (2021, 2022 and especially 2023) that the Balearic plover Puffinus mauretanicus and the Mediterranean plover P. yelkouan should not constitute two separate species. Careful genetic clustering and species delimitation analyzes did not yield two distinct groups, phylogenetic analyzes did not obtain reciprocal monophyly between the two taxa, and so-called coalescent-based divergence time estimation showed that the two taxa did not diverge. These clear results, together with the lyres forming a gradient of phenotypes, with partially overlapping non-breeding distributions, nearly identical calls, and a lack of individual-level concordance between phenotypic characters, stable isotope, microsatellite, and mitochondrial DNA analyzes strengthen the merger into a species. Further evidence against two species is frequent interbreeding and the existence of a considerable number of mixed colonies. The merged species becomes P. yelkouan (Mediterranean Shearwater).

This is very interesting news Håkan. Thanks for posting. Surely all birders who live in or visit Mallorca will be interested in this article? i.e That Balearic Shearwater and Yelkouan Shearwater become one species in Sweden. I wonder if any other countries will follow suit in the future? I'm eagerly awaiting feedback and comments.

 

[Scridifer]

This is very interesting news Håkan. Thanks for posting. Surely all birders who live in or visit Mallorca will be interested in this article? i.e That Balearic Shearwater and Yelkouan Shearwater become one species in Sweden. I wonder if any other countries will follow suit in the future? I'm eagerly awaiting feedback and comments.

Highly likely I understand.

Chris

 

[Phil Akers]

I began yesterday at the tower at Albercutx, I needed a Balearic Warbler for my year list. I was not disappointed, I found one singing away after about half an hour. It flitted from bush to dwarf palm, on the move all the time, very difficult to get a photo. A Blue Rock Thrush made a brief appearance, lovely to see. There were also a few Sardinian Warblers, a couple of Crag Martins and 2 Ravens. Not much else but a good start to the day.

Next on my list was Can Cuarassa, I went to the usual house where the Spotless Starlings sometimes make an appearance. After half an hour or so 6 Starlings flew in and circled around the house and landed in the trees beyond the house. I`m sure they were Spotless, black and shiny but not quite sure enough for a tick. Maybe I`ll get a good view of one perched on the house roof next time.

Albufereta next. I had a Kingfisher in a bush at the back of the pond at Port Bleu and a Gt White Egret, just as I was about to move on an Osprey flew over complete with fish, I watched it disappear behind the hotel. I gave the rest of the Albufereta a miss and went on to the Albufera.

Walking along the canal side lane I found just 4 Night Herons in the bushes. At the Sa Roca hides there were plenty of Teal, Shoveller, BW Stilts, Shelduck, a few Marbled Ducks, Purple Swamphen. At the Ses Pardes hide there were still around 20 Wigeon, 4 young Tufted Ducks and a few Gadwall.
Over to the 2 Es Cibollar hides. About 120 Cormorants, plenty of BW Stilts, 60 or so Avocets, some of whom were mating. 3 large flocks of Kentish plovers flew in, about 150 in total, most of them landed at the back of the 2nd hide.

I finished the day with a brief visit to Maristany on my way home. There was a pair of Tufted ducks, nice to see and also a GT Crested Grebe which was a year tick. Lots of BH Gulls and YL Gulls, Com Pochards.

Great day out
Cheers Phil A.

 

[Mcnswiss2]

Peter S and I almost followed Phils route above.
We heard that 3 Godwits were seen at S’Albufera and headed straight to the Cibollar Hides.
Of course we dipped but had a great day out (to follow).
we had some interesting discussions on the possibility of subspecies Sinensis of the Great Cormorants here in Mallorca. Its a perfect time to see the birds in Breeding colours etc.
We would be grateful for any clarification on the occurance on the sub specie Sinensis!

 

[Mcnswiss2]

As mentioned earlier Peter S.and I visited S’ Albufera, Screen at S’Albuferata and Maristany today.
Weather was amazing …23C and blue Skies!
Number of birds was surprisingly low, however number of Species high.
Some 60 Species seen or heard.
Highlights included Ospreys, Marsh Harriers, Great Crested Grebes, Tufted Ducks, Pintails, Glossy Ibis, Avocets and Booted Eagles.
Thanks Peter S.

 

[StewB]

Peter S and I almost followed Phils route above.
We heard that 3 Godwits were seen at S’Albufera and headed straight to the Cibollar Hides.
Of course we dipped but had a great day out (to follow).
we had some interesting discussions on the possibility of subspecies Sinensis of the Great Cormorants here in Mallorca. Its a perfect time to see the birds in Breeding colours etc.
We would be grateful for any clarification on the occurance on the sub specie Sinensis!

Hi Mike,

I found some interesting information on this link:

sinensis cormorant - Google Search

Hopefully the link will work. Based on this, it looks like your cormorant is indeed sinensis ( although I’m happy to be corrected).

Stew

 

[Josep Manchado]

We would be grateful for any clarification on the occurance on the sub specie Sinensis!

Hello,
Yes, it is a P. carbo sinensis, but as far as I know, p.c. sinensis is the commom and normal in the Mediterranean. Of course during the winter there are a lot of P. carbo carbo from the Atlantic and the north, to stay winter in Mallorca, but sinensis is not scarce or rare.

 

[H Johnsson]

This is very interesting news Håkan. Thanks for posting. Surely all birders who live in or visit Mallorca will be interested in this article? i.e That Balearic Shearwater and Yelkouan Shearwater become one species in Sweden. I wonder if any other countries will follow suit in the future? I'm eagerly awaiting feedback and comments.

It will at least make my birder life easier when I am at Mallorca but still have to struggle with Manx shearwater which sees every year in Sweden vs extremely rare a Balearic. shearwater

 

[Mike Montier]

On my regular seawatch, I normally see 2 or 3 Yelkouan shearwaters in with the balearic shearwaters.. There are probably more but I fail to identify some.
I believe 7 were recorded recently on the east coast.
With practice, it is possible to pick them out amongst the hundreds of Balearic shearwaters.
Even if the two are lumped, it will still be fun to identify the Yelkouan.
I have only ever seen one possible Manx a couple of years back. I saw it 3 times going south in the evenings. It was a very striking bird, very black and white and it really stood out.
However, Balearic shearwaters are notoriously varied so I can’t be 100%.
I’m very much looking forward to returning to my evening seawatch when I get back.
Numbers will have increased substantially and other species will begin to appear, like Scopoli’s and Great skuas.
Mike

 

[H Johnsson]

I hope I will get the opportunity to go north this weekend before my wife return to Palma.

I know that Spotless starling can be seen at Can Cuarassa, at a special house Is it possible that someone can give me more exact where.

 

[Josep Manchado]

I hope I will get the opportunity to go north this weekend before my wife return to Palma.

I know that Spotless starling can be seen at Can Cuarassa, at a special house Is it possible that someone can give me more exact where.

Hi Håkan, normally the spotless starlings are on the roof (sometimes they are on garden or around) or around a big house called Pins-16, just on the path cross the small water channel, in this place

39°52'36.0"N 3°04'21.3"E

maps.app.goo.gl

 

[H Johnsson]

Hi Håkan, normally the spotless starlings are on the roof (sometimes they are on garden or around) or around a big house called Pins-16, just on the path cross the small water channel, in this place

39°52'36.0"N 3°04'21.3"E

maps.app.goo.gl

Thanks Pep lets see if I am lucky // Håkan

 

[Phil Akers]

Mike S , Susan and I made for Randa yesterday in the hope that the Ring Ouzels might still be around. We were beginning to think it was a wasted journey but after about 45mins we managed to latch onto 2 birds. They were very skittish, on the move all the time. They landed in the trees overlooking the white pond and we managed to get a couple of photos. No doubt they were waiting for an opportunity to drop down for a drink, but maybe our presence made them hold back.
We left them in peace and headed for The Cap lighthouse. We had to wait for a while to find Balearic Shearwaters but eventually we came across about 40 birds skimming over the waves, lifting up and dropping gracefully back down. The weather was quite warm so we had lunch and hung around for a while in the hope that we might find a Gannet. No such luck. On the drive back up the lane toward Ses Salines we stopped off at` Passage 5,` a favourite spot for Rock Sparrows. We had half an hour scanning the fields and the fig trees but to no avail.
The next port of call was the Es Trenc lane beside the ponds. We were desperate to find small waders. Several recent visits to the Albufera had only turned up Kentish Plovers and an occasional Little R Plover. The usual ponds that we tried here were devoid of birds and we made our way back . But as we came closer to the bigger Salines ponds we found lots of Dunlins and a couple of Little Stints. So a result.
So overall, few photo opportunities but a good day out with friends and a few year ticks.

Cheers Phil A.

 

[Josep Manchado]

Today at the cap de ses Salines, i found this Audouin gull, very, very confident, so i could read the numbers in its metal ring, because she (I guess she is a female, because it was with the her couple and was sensibly smaller) has lost the long distance read-rinng.
This year, this gull will celebrate its 24th birthday, was born in Illa Plana at Cabrera in the spring of 2000, so in a couple of months will be 24 years old, quite years for a bird who does these long migrating travels to Africa.

 

[Josep Manchado]

By the way, very early in the morning there was an small flock of 6 Rock sparrow at Passatge 5 on the road to the cap de ses Salines.
I guess to see them it is better to go very early, later with the cars and noises they go further inside the fields, away from the road.

 

[H Johnsson]

Took a trip up to north Pollensa area. Thank you Pep Spotless starling exact where you mentioned. Continued with a walk in Boquer valley and direct after parked the car a Bonnellis was seen above the cliff interesting start.Many Black redstart first part of the walk and later on I saw 2 Black vulture with 2 Red kite and about same time another Bonellis but could have been same as I saw earlier.

A female Blue rock thrush was seen. On the way back a Kestrel and close to parking place a singing Serin.


Unfortunately I got an accident with my tube binocular or more correct the stand.T herefore I changed my plans which was from beginning to do some seabird watching,
Next stop was Albufereta including the shore with Kentish plover and little Egret and in the marshland nothing particular a Marsh harrier patrolled the area and some Great Egret.

Drive to the ponds near Lidl, Port Alcudia there was many swallows dominated by Crag Martin but saw 2 Barn swallow and 1 Sand Martin could possibly have been more but... In bushes close to the pond 2 Willow warbler it must be early for them or? there was also some Chiffchaff. Unfortunately they were all silent. In the pond wasa pair of Gadwall and over the ponds flew one Kestrel and one Booted eagle.


I drove to Albufera but realised that my knees was suffer from all walking (arthritis) and decided to go back to Palma


Finally is there anyone here that knows a shop or service technician that can repair my stand for tube binocular because I probably have tools to do it by myself.

The brand of my stand is Velbon.

 

[Mcnswiss2]

Hi Håkan
Thanks for Great reports
Seems as you say early for Willow warblers..but as Mike mentioned anything is possible( Maties had Roller earlier this year!)
Is the problem with your scope or stand? Unfortunately I do not know of a shop for repairs..maybe goggle camera shops in Palma
Cheers

 

[H Johnsson]

Hi Håkan
Thanks for Great reports
Seems as you say early for Willow warblers..but as Mike mentioned anything is possible( Maties had Roller earlier this year!)
Is the problem with your scope or stand? Unfortunately I do not know of a shop for repairs..maybe goggle camera shops in Palma
Cheers

I have tried to find right english word maybe tripod is better