Mallorca 2023 (15 Viewers)

[Phil Akers]

Well everyone, Happy new year, I`ve managed to post on the new 2023 thread now instead of my last week`s post on the old thread. 😣

Samarador was my first port of call yesterday. I parked up and walked down the lane toward the viewing tower. It was a beautiful crisp sunny morning, but chilly, and as I was halfway to the tower, 6 Marsh Harriers appeared, including 2 very handsome males. They were quartering the reed beds and I was looking forward to getting a few good pics of them when I reached the tower. But of course, by the time I got there, they had moved on, heyho.
I was hoping to find a few new tics for my year list and I wasn't disappointed. The Mute Swan was there and so were about 6 pairs of Red Crested Pochard. And shortly afterward 3 Glossy Ibis flew in, all tickable, and my luck was still in when a Little Bittern flew low over the water and into the reeds.
Walking back to the car I disturbed a Red Legged Partridge which completed the first part of my birding day.

I moved on another 10 minute drive to the Depuradora at Son Bosc. As I approached the viewing tower I was very aware of the fact that when I arrived there, whatever birds were on show would probably be spooked by my car. Of course, that`s exactly what happened. I did however get a fairly good look at a large dark duck with a white head, Shelduck sized, as they all flew off. I don`t know what it could have been, Hybrid ?
I didn`t stay there for long, there wasn`t much to be seen. There were however Blue Throat singing but I didn`t get to see one.

Son Real bird hide was my next venue. This is one of those spots where you just have to be patient and keep your camera handy. A Hawfinch or Brambling or Siskin would have been nice but they didn't show up. But I had lots of Chiffchaff, Chaffinch, Greenfinch, Goldfinch, Robin and Crossbill. And after 2 hours of sitting crouching down with neck ache because the benches are all about 10 inches too high, I moved on to the Albufera.

Walking up the canal side lane I spotted an interesting thrush, perched high in a tree, with the sun behind it, however, after checking out my photos, I could see that it was a Redwing. This was a 1st in Mallorca for me, a special tick.
The Albufera hides; 3 at Sa Roca and 2 Cibollar hides were however a disappointment. There were Teal, Shoveller, Lapwing, BW Stilts, Marbled Duck, Flamingo, Widgeon. But no small waders. Not up to the Albufera`s high standards.

On the way home, I called in at Maristany. There were plenty of Crag Martins. Little Grebes, Coots and Moorhens, a few BH Gulls and YL Gulls.

I hope that the Albufera can improve and get back to it`s usual high standard . I still think that this winter`s exceptionally warm weather may be playing a part. ??

 

[Geordie Dave]

I’m back in Mallorca on Friday for 2 weeks, there are a number of other British birders also arriving. We have the first meeting of 2023 of the founding members of the Old Gits Birding Club at Albufera on Monday and hope others might join us. Pictured left to right late last year are:- International man of mystery, playboy and tax exile Mike Swiss; all the way from Liverpool, wit and raconteur Kevin “it’s been emotional” Hughes; His Lordship Michael Montier of Porto Petro, Moderator of the Forum and finally, yours truly, young gun (it’s all relative) Geordie Dave. Our aim is to get our Big Year off to a flying start!! but also to catch up with each other, have some laughs, pies and a few beers. In between times we shall be doing some serious birding as we chase the elusive 200 species in the year. Hopefully this will be the first of many days around this beautiful and varied island with more visits planned throughout the year. Eagerly looking forward to getting back.

 

[Josep Manchado]

I moved on another 10 minute drive to the Depuradora at Son Bosc. As I approached the viewing tower I was very aware of the fact that when I arrived there, whatever birds were on show would probably be spooked by my car. Of course, that`s exactly what happened. I did however get a fairly good look at a large dark duck with a white head, Shelduck sized, as they all flew off. I don`t know what it could have been, Hybrid ?

Hi Phil
It is an escape from some collection or private garden, specifically it is a South African shelduck or Cape shelduck (Tadorna cana).
It is there for the last weeks.

 

[Mike Montier]

A lovely late evening seawatch tonight.
It’s been a beautiful hot day but it’s due to change on Monday, the very day I’m meeting up with the British contingent, newly arrived and tick hungry. No doubt hungry for a few pies too. It’s my turn to buy though. I expect the predicted 14 degrees will be an improvement on the conditions they have all left behind.
77 Balearic shearwaters was a good number. They will soon be arriving in big numbers.
All birds go south but I noticed a very distinctive and rather plump black and white bird going north. A Razorbill. What a fabulous sight it was, I have rarely seen them in flight but they make a fine change from the usual fare.
A year tick too.
Mike

 

[Mike Montier]

Just for the record, I’m not a moderator for Birdforum, I just start this thread every year and contribute as much news as possible.
All other posts are most welcome, I always enjoy reading reports from visiting birders. I don’t want to miss a thing.
I especially enjoyed Geordie David’s report from Alicante and StewB always write a cracking report of his trips here, with photos and records of Dragonflies too.
The advancements in photography have allowed us all to have visual records too.
Sometimes I have even found unexpected species in with the photos.
So, keep the news coming!
I very much enjoy reading about old trips to Mallorca, especially the early days before I came to the Island. One special thing all birders have, are memories and I love to hear stories about trips here and birds seen. It’s a fascinating insight into the “old days” and how things have changed.
Good birding everyone!
Mike

 

[derban]

Here are two pictures from my own backyard, the serins feasting on the lavender and the lovely female kestrel, who regularly hunts in our field, always a grand sight having my breakfast while she hunts for hers.

I am looking forward to meeting up with the Brits on Monday. Mike spoke of how things have changed in his last post, and the last time I met them all a year ago it certainly changed my perceptions. I always thought birding was such a quiet occupation ... .

 

[Mike Montier]

Another delightful seawatch this evening.
Two little gems were at the entrance to greet me, Goldcrests.
I probably prefer Firecrests but they are pretty common here, whereas Goldcrests are relatively scarce. There seems to be good numbers this year, here in the south-east.
Last time out a few days ago, I logged 77 Balearic shearwaters so I was hoping to crack 100 this time.
243 was the total number going south so I was well happy with that result.
The numbers will continue to rise.
Two birds looked good for Yelkouan but I couldn’t be sure. Nothing else came by. I’m hoping for Great skuas later on, I love seeing those monsters.
Mike

 

[Phil Akers]

Hi Phil
It is an escape from some collection or private garden, specifically it is a South African shelduck or Cape shelduck (Tadorna cana).
It is there for the last weeks.

Thanks for the info Pep, if I spot it again at least I'll know.

 

[Mike Montier]

I meant to say, a very large crowd was gathered at the lighthouse.
i wondered why so many people were there so I asked someone.
I wish I hadn’t, I didn’t understand a word of the local language.
I have just read though, that tonight is the lighting of fires at all the towers around the Island. I’m not sure what the official celebration is called but I will try to find out.
There are huge bonfires in the streets as well and hundreds of people turn out to barbecue whatever they bring. There is a great carnival atmosphere and it’s a very jolly affair.
Never a dull moment in Mallorca, especially at this time of the year.
Mike

 

[Mcnswiss2]

St. Anton celebrations

Sant Antoni Fiesta & the Curious Tradition of Pollenca's Pujada del Pi

Celebrations all over Mallorca to celebrate one of the most popular saints

www.seemallorca.com

 

[Mike Montier]

Thanks Mike.
As I said recently, there is something magical about being on site in the dark. You just never know what may happen.
I arrived at passage 5 and pulled up at my usual spot.
On top of one of the familiar trees was a large dark blob. I stared at it and it stared back. A long-eared owl! It floated silently and gracefully away. Amazing.
It took me until December to see one last year so I was chuffed to get one so early in the year.
I turned round and a slim harrier flew out of another tree. It headed towards the salt pans. I was desperately trying to see a white rump but I couldn’t make one out in all the gloom. My money would be on Hen harrier, it certainly looked like one.
A bit later five gulls were mobbing a Black kite.
Three great birds in such a short time.
I made for the Cap but I didn’t stay long, it was horrible. A biting wind and choppy sea made for unpleasant viewing so I went back to passage 5. I must be getting soft.
Some blossom was out as was the sun but I saw very little afterwards, just a dark morph Booted eagle patrolling the area.
That was it for the day, a traditional Sunday lunch and a siesta should round the day off nicely.
I will be meeting up with the many Brits tomorrow and I’m very excited about the day ahead. Even if the birds don’t behave, it will be a great craic.
Mike

 

[Geordie Dave]

Arrived on Friday lunchtime after a very early and a drive down to Liverpool airport. A leisurely day on Saturday with a walk around the back roads at Llenaire and Cami Volantina before heading back along the sea front at Port de Pollenca for lunch. A gentle start to the Big Year with 31 species seen. The undoubted surprise being a Razorbill in the sea within 1-2 feet of the beach. It was a first for me in Mallorca and continues the trend of there being quite a few seen close in this winter. Not sure what they are doing here but can only hope they survive.

 

[Geordie Dave]

Another quiet day today, the calm before the storm of meeting fellow Brits tomorrow. After a short visit to the market in Pollenca town had a very pleasant couple of hours at Albufereta. Around 100 flamingo spread fairly equally between the main ponds and Sa Barcassa pond. Lots of shoveller and a few teal, great, little and cattle egrets, marsh harriers hunting as usual, dark booted eagle. The star was a close up Osprey at one point being mobbed by a peregrine falcon. 52 species so far. A quick couple of cana then back to the apartment to watch Newcastle United on tv. A canny day all round. Tomorrow Albufera.

 

[Mcnswiss2]

Returned to the Island on Friday.
In the last two days visited S’Albuferata, Maristany, Fishermans Walk at Can Vincente and walked down the Valley at Lluc.
Wonderful weather so far.
Some 50 species seen including Black and Griffen Vultures, Osprey, Marsh Harriers, Red Kites, Black Winged Stilts, Flamingos.
So many Thrushes and Robins about.
My favourite so far include Balearic Warblers and Cirl Buntings.(Previous Photos)
Looking forward to the Reunion with the Brit Birders.

 

[hughm]

Slightly away from the present but I got a present on Friday as a belated Christmas gift from my younger son- a copy of the art book "Birds in Mallorca" by John Busby from 1988 (second-hand but still in excellent condition). He has a very distinctive style which brings the birds to life, but I also like his more normal landscapes as backgrounds to the birds. He also puts in some prose about where and when he visited from 1981 onwards and what the weather was like. Altogether a brilliant book but I was also interested in where he got to and places that have changed or become more recent hotspots. I have never even attempted to get to the Ternelles Valley, and I suspect that Casas Velles is a shadow of it's former self. He says that when he visited Albufera in 1985 it had only just become a reserve and there were only 2 hides- which two, I wonder? Albufereta was known but unprotected, and the matter of access to the Boquer Valley was even then a matter for speculation as to how long it would last. Of course there is no mention at all of Son Real, but he did get to the Arta mountains.
As regards birds he still uses Herring Gull for YLGull, Marmora's Warbler for Balearic, and Cory's Shearwater rather than Scopoli's. Back then there was only one Griffon Vulture, and a number of other recent colonists (or just recently discovered?) are absent. The only error I have picked up so far is that he says that Cory's (Scopoli's) and Balearic Shearwaters are the same size but distinguishable by flight action. The latter is of course true, but they are certainly not the same size!
The Bibliography is littered with the early books on Mallorca in English by the Bannermans, Eddie Watkinson and Pat Bishop, and the famous meetings at the Pollentia Hotel were in full swing. If you haven't got a copy then look out for one as it is a wonderful aide-memoire of the Island and it's birds. Has anyone else got views on this book?

 

[StewB]

Slightly away from the present but I got a present on Friday as a belated Christmas gift from my younger son- a copy of the art book "Birds in Mallorca" by John Busby from 1988 (second-hand but still in excellent condition). He has a very distinctive style which brings the birds to life, but I also like his more normal landscapes as backgrounds to the birds. He also puts in some prose about where and when he visited from 1981 onwards and what the weather was like. Altogether a brilliant book but I was also interested in where he got to and places that have changed or become more recent hotspots. I have never even attempted to get to the Ternelles Valley, and I suspect that Casas Velles is a shadow of it's former self. He says that when he visited Albufera in 1985 it had only just become a reserve and there were only 2 hides- which two, I wonder? Albufereta was known but unprotected, and the matter of access to the Boquer Valley was even then a matter for speculation as to how long it would last. Of course there is no mention at all of Son Real, but he did get to the Arta mountains.
As regards birds he still uses Herring Gull for YLGull, Marmora's Warbler for Balearic, and Cory's Shearwater rather than Scopoli's. Back then there was only one Griffon Vulture, and a number of other recent colonists (or just recently discovered?) are absent. The only error I have picked up so far is that he says that Cory's (Scopoli's) and Balearic Shearwaters are the same size but distinguishable by flight action. The latter is of course true, but they are certainly not the same size!
The Bibliography is littered with the early books on Mallorca in English by the Bannermans, Eddie Watkinson and Pat Bishop, and the famous meetings at the Pollentia Hotel were in full swing. If you haven't got a copy then look out for one as it is a wonderful aide-memoire of the Island and it's birds. Has anyone else got views on this book?

I’ve had a copy of this lovely book for many years. Your post made me get it off the shelf for the first time in ages - it certainly is both beautifully illustrated and a good read!

Stew

 

[StewB]

Well everyone, Happy new year, I`ve managed to post on the new 2023 thread now instead of my last week`s post on the old thread. 😣

Samarador was my first port of call yesterday. I parked up and walked down the lane toward the viewing tower. It was a beautiful crisp sunny morning, but chilly, and as I was halfway to the tower, 6 Marsh Harriers appeared, including 2 very handsome males. They were quartering the reed beds and I was looking forward to getting a few good pics of them when I reached the tower. But of course, by the time I got there, they had moved on, heyho.
I was hoping to find a few new tics for my year list and I wasn't disappointed. The Mute Swan was there and so were about 6 pairs of Red Crested Pochard. And shortly afterward 3 Glossy Ibis flew in, all tickable, and my luck was still in when a Little Bittern flew low over the water and into the reeds.
Walking back to the car I disturbed a Red Legged Partridge which completed the first part of my birding day.

I moved on another 10 minute drive to the Depuradora at Son Bosc. As I approached the viewing tower I was very aware of the fact that when I arrived there, whatever birds were on show would probably be spooked by my car. Of course, that`s exactly what happened. I did however get a fairly good look at a large dark duck with a white head, Shelduck sized, as they all flew off. I don`t know what it could have been, Hybrid ?
I didn`t stay there for long, there wasn`t much to be seen. There were however Blue Throat singing but I didn`t get to see one.

Son Real bird hide was my next venue. This is one of those spots where you just have to be patient and keep your camera handy. A Hawfinch or Brambling or Siskin would have been nice but they didn't show up. But I had lots of Chiffchaff, Chaffinch, Greenfinch, Goldfinch, Robin and Crossbill. And after 2 hours of sitting crouching down with neck ache because the benches are all about 10 inches too high, I moved on to the Albufera.

Walking up the canal side lane I spotted an interesting thrush, perched high in a tree, with the sun behind it, however, after checking out my photos, I could see that it was a Redwing. This was a 1st in Mallorca for me, a special tick.
The Albufera hides; 3 at Sa Roca and 2 Cibollar hides were however a disappointment. There were Teal, Shoveller, Lapwing, BW Stilts, Marbled Duck, Flamingo, Widgeon. But no small waders. Not up to the Albufera`s high standards.

On the way home, I called in at Maristany. There were plenty of Crag Martins. Little Grebes, Coots and Moorhens, a few BH Gulls and YL Gulls.

I hope that the Albufera can improve and get back to it`s usual high standard . I still think that this winter`s exceptionally warm weather may be playing a part. ??

As Pep says, it’s a South African Shelduck. I took this photo of it at the Dep when I was there in November.

Stew

 

[derban]

A day birding with seven other Brits is always a full on experience. We met at the Depuradora, where the cold from the biting wind was mitigated by Mike's excellent pies, but expectations of the year-tick counter rattling along were somewhat muted by the lack of species diversity, the most distant pond offering a variety of distant ducks, including a garganey that I didn't see, and a black-necked grebe, which I did thanks to Phil's telescope. It was a relief to get into the shelter of the hides and denser vegetation at S'Albufera, where once again there was a sense that things could have been better. Nevertheless, we did pick out night heron, purple gallinule, gadwall, glossy ibis, spotted redshank, common sandpiper and a couple of star turns in a peregrine spreading fear among the water birds and a bar-tailed godwit calmly moving among them as well as an osprey feeding on a fish on the distant perimeter fence. It was also good to pick up a few ticks for common birds like chaffinch and greenfinch that had not yet crossed my path. The day was rounded of at S'Amarador for half the group, where we were rewarded with a crested pochard and a mute swan. I still can't quite get my head around that as a rarity! All in all, it was a great day with many laughs and good banter and great for me to benefit from the experience of the others.

 

[Geordie Dave]

The half that didn’t go to S’Amarador walked up to Columbars ponds and hide at the power station at Albufera. There were plenty of snipe, spotted redshank, black winged stilts and a small group comprised of Kentish, ringed and little ringed plover. Our patience in watching the base of a bush in the pond paid off when a water rail appeared, feeding very close in front of us. From there we made a quick visit to the canal mouth but there was nothing to see. Our final stop was at Maristany where we saw 40+ common pochard among the many little grebes and coots. There were 30-40 crag martins feeding over the small pond among them a bat low over the water, wing span at least the same as the crag martins. Not my specialist subject, what might it be? Now on 83 species for the year since Friday afternoon. Good to meet the fellow Brits today, the banter almost made up for the slow birding.

 

[Mike Montier]

It was a great day with a total of eight fellow Brits invading the marsh.
Great banter, lots of birding stories and some good year ticks too.
Always good to hear about world birding with accounts of birding around the globe.
Thanks everyone for your splendid company.
Just a few snaps from the day.