Menorca (2 Viewers)

[Richard G]

Got the family holiday booked to Menorca again this summer (end August/start of September) and as I've got back into birdwatching again am looking for some birding related information please.

What sort of birds are we likely to see? Any tips for best sites (bearing in mind we'll have a 7 & 3 year old with us to be kept entertained). Does anybody have a "Menorca List" (if such a thing exists)?

Highlight of last year's holiday was Booted Eagle (seen from the hire car) & White Stork (spotted in the distance from the hotel pool) - both lifers for me - but wasn't looking that closely. Am hoping to be watching in much more detail this year.

Thanks in advance,

Richard

 

[Keith Dickinson]

Hi Richard, been 6 years since I was in Menorca but had a great time birding there. We stayed at Cala Blanca just south of Citaduela in May.
I had woodchat shrike, sardinian warbler, hoopoe, tawny pipit, pallid swift all within 1/2 mile of hotel.There was at that time a great number of raptors about, booted eagle and red kite being the commonest, but I saw kestrels and egyptian vultures daily, red-footed falcon and osprey on a couple of occasions and honey buzzard once.
For wetland birds try Son Bou on the south side of the island. There is a large beach here with the marsh behind it. Leave the family on the sand and walk the edge of the reedbed. I saw little bittern, purple heron, dartford,sardinian, reed and great reed wablers here. Have a care though as the western end of the beach is the naturist area, I found out the embarassing way when I was tracking a warbler at the edge of the reeds some distance away and I got a rather close up view a naked gentleman :eek!:
There was a nature reserve on the north side of the island near Cala Morell, the La Vall estate in the Algaiarens area. You have to pay to park here and there are no facilities but the beach there is good. There is a small marsh not far from the beach and several paths you can follow. Here we saw large numbers of bee-eaters, zitting cisticolas, cetti's warblers and cuckoos. I had a brief glimpse of a peregrine here also.
We visited Es Grau but there wasn't a huge amount there, apparently this area is better in the winter for wildfowl. Also visited Cala Galdana to walk up the Algendar gorge, the birding here wasn't great but the scenery made up for it.
If you can find it Graham Hearl's 'A Birdwatching Guide to Menorca, Ibiza & Formentera' by Arlequin (isbn 1 900159 20 1) is good but I think the latest revision is still over 10 years old.
Hope you have a good trip and enjoy the birds, wish I was coming with you

 

[Richard G]

Thanks Keith.

I would love to see Bee-Eaters in the wild, so there may be hope for me on this holiday.

We stay in Cala'n'Bosch (this will be third year running we've been), and we plan to have a car for the full fortnight, so plenty of opportunity to explore.

Regards,

Richard

 

[paul goode]

Got the family holiday booked to Menorca again this summer (end August/start of September) and as I've got back into birdwatching again am looking for some birding related information please.

What sort of birds are we likely to see? Any tips for best sites (bearing in mind we'll have a 7 & 3 year old with us to be kept entertained). Does anybody have a "Menorca List" (if such a thing exists)?

Highlight of last year's holiday was Booted Eagle (seen from the hire car) & White Stork (spotted in the distance from the hotel pool) - both lifers for me - but wasn't looking that closely. Am hoping to be watching in much more detail this year.

Thanks in advance,

Richard

My wife and I spent 2 weeks in Menorca last august/september and thoroughly enjoyed the birding as it was our first trip abroad as birdwatchers.

We stayed at Cala Galdana and visited the Algendar Gorge regularly. It produced great views Booted Eagle, Egyptian Vulture, Red Kite and Raven. Spotted flycatchers were literally hanging off every branch! Plenty of resident and migrant warblers, finches and pied flycatchers, Hoopoe, Bee-eater and Woodchat shrike. Every visit produced something different. We visited Son Bou but found it very quiet probably because of the time of year.

In the north Cap de Cavalleria was good for Audouin Gull ,Blue Rock Thrush and Thekla Lark. We had a brief glimpse of a couple of shearwaters but were too late for the breeding colony.

The reserve at S'albufera es Grau covers a big area and needs time to cover although the beach at Es Grau backs onto the reserve. Again plenty of raptors including Osprey and a good cross section of other birds. The walk from Es Grau to the watchpoint we found very rewarding.

A 5 minute stop at the water treatment plant outside Mercadel was great for waders, wagtails, Shrikes, literally hundreds of Bee-eaters and good fun sorting out Pallid and Common Swifts.

Graham Hearls book is still pretty relevant and I would say essential reading.

We really enjoyed our holiday and hope you do

Regards

Paul

 

[Grampy Bustard]

With family in tow, Son Bou is well worth it. Inthe scrub at the end of the beach carpark nearest the reedbeds, Moustached Warbler is easy (singing), and have had Bluethroat there too. You get the odd waders in beach pools, and I have had Cattle Egret here too.

Paillid Swifts are the common coastal swift, dysillabic call distinctive. I did a spring trip there years ago, and a couple of October ones too, when a few migrants about. All of the places mentioned above are worth a go, anywhere which has freshwater and reedbeds could be useful. I did a bit of sea-watching from the lighthouse in the SW, and saw a few seabirds, Cory's, Balearics, a Gannet, Gull-billed Tern, Audouin's Gulls, and a Red-winged Black Bishop(?!).
I'll see if I can dig out some lists.
Dead easy birding, and pleasant place.

 

[russkie]

son bou for purple gallinule, also we stayed at cala galdana - you must walk the algendar gorge.

good birding all round although we were disappointed with s' albufera - coots and not much more - waste of a day trip .

enjoy though.

nigel

 

[Allen S. Moore]

Only joking, of course

Got the family holiday booked to Menorca again this summer (end August/start of September) and as I've got back into birdwatching again am looking for some birding related information please.

What sort of birds are we likely to see? Any tips for best sites (bearing in mind we'll have a 7 & 3 year old with us to be kept entertained). Does anybody have a "Menorca List" (if such a thing exists)?

Highlight of last year's holiday was Booted Eagle (seen from the hire car) & White Stork (spotted in the distance from the hotel pool) - both lifers for me - but wasn't looking that closely. Am hoping to be watching in much more detail this year.

Thanks in advance,

Richard

How do you identify a booted eagle without looking closely? What's the jizz like?
It looks from paul goode's reply that Menorca is a mighty place for unusual birds.

 

[paul goode]

Picking up on a couple of points.

Son Bou. We walked along the reedbed from son bou to a ruined cottage and saw very little (if you dont count the naturists), apart from Purple Gallinule, forgot that on my earlier post. I assume that this was due to the time of year, maybe it was just the time of day (mid morning.) Another couple we met said that the far end of the reedbed furthest from Son Bou were it swings into a ravine was good. I must admit that on the path we walked it became rather degrading to pick your way through piles and piles of, how can I put this delicately, Human deposits complete with tissue paper, maybe not nice with young children in tow.

S'albufera es Grau. When we arrived at the visitor centre and walked to the lake I totally agree that Coot accounted for 90% of the birds and we left feeling dissapointed. The path from Es Grau was much better starting with kingfisher sitting on the bridge over the river. I think the relevant point is that we started this walk at about 4pm and more birds appeared as the afternoon wore on. Even in september the midday heat is enough to keep birds under cover and so the best birding is early morning and late afternoon.

Algendar gorge however was good at any time of day but probably best in the early evening. Don't know what access to the Gorge will be like, the steps in the wall had disappeared and the whole wall was on the verge of collapse. If it is rebuilt without steps access could become difficult.

Regards

Paul

 

[Keith Dickinson]

Son Bou must have changed a lot since I was there in 99, the path you mention was very productive with numerous warblers etc. Didn't have the problem with waste matter either.
Had a look back through my notes for the trip and we saw a sanderling on the beach at Son Bou, very early morning and had a good passage of shearwater from there also. The honey buzzard that we saw was flying over the gorge just off Son Bou beach.

 

[trealawboy]

I did a little birding there on a family holiday in September a few years back. Its a lovely island with a lot of archeologial interest.

Along with the other areas mentioned, I'd also take in S'Albufera des Grau a few miles north of Mahon. Here's someone's trip report you may find of interest.

http://www.birdtours.co.uk/tripreports/balearics/Menorca/

On the non-birding front, you should make an effort to get to Cala Macarella on the couth of the island. Its stunning.

http://www.menorca-info.com/indnetsc.htm?s_macarella.htm

 

[Richard G]

I would love to see Bee-Eaters in the wild, so there may be hope for me on this holiday.

Sorry for resurrecting an old post of mine, but have just been re-reading what I'd posted.

I acheived the ambition mentioned in my quote above, and actually got to see Bee Eaters whilst in Menorca in September. In fact I saw a whole flock of about 30+ when I was out about 8 am waiting for Blue Water Scuba to open in Cala'n Bosc.

Fascinating sight, but what a weird call they have!!