Holiday in Majorca

We spent last week in Majorca, staying in Port de Pollenca - the first time either of us had been to Majorca. The weather was a bit mixed, which was to be expected in February, but we did make it into our t-shirts on a couple of occasions. Although not a birding holiday, I took my bins and camera and managed to see a fair bit, and got myself a tick in the form of Balearic Warbler at the bottom of the end of the Boquer Valley. These were in the area beyond the obvious wall that cuts across the path where it crests before dropping down to the Cala, and with a bit of patience I got some fairly decent views of a couple of singing birds, although photographing them was more problematic! 

Cala de Boquer

Bagging a Balearic!

Balearic Warbler

Other nice birds in Boquer included 3 Booted Eagles, Crag Martin and several Blue Rock Thrushes, and around 30 wild-type Rock Doves.

Blue Rock Thrush

Es Trenc beach, on the south-west coast (near Colonia de Saint Jordi) looks like it would be spectacular in the summer (white beaches and blue seas), and even in February it was looking rather good, albeit with huge piles of washed up Posidonia in places. It also hosted several incredibly tame Audouin's Gulls, one of which was colour-ringed (which I've reported), coaxed in with some old bread - absolute beauties. Other birds here included a Thekla Lark in the dunes behind, and a Black-necked Grebe on the pool next to the carpark.

Es Trenc beach

Audouin's Gull

AJ8S

Nearby, the Salobrar de Campos looked very interesting, although with only bins I didn't do it justice; nevertheless, I couldn't miss the 26 Flamingos, and I got a good selection of waders here including Black-winged Stilt, Curlew, Spotted Redshank, Avocet, Ruff, Grey Plover and Little Stint, as well as Shelduck .

Greater Flamingo

Salobrar de Campos

Another day saw us visit the Cuber Reservoir, up in the Tramuntana Mountains. A nice walk up to the Coll de L'Orfe produced several new species, including Red Kite, Firecrest, Cirl Bunting and good numbers of Crossbills and best of all, several Black Vultures, along with several Griffon Vultures - with better views of these over the cliffs above the Gorg Blau Reservoir, a few kilometers back towards Pollenca. Nearby, I saw a Hawfinch briefly at Lluc Monastery, with another flying across the road further down the valley.

Cuber Reservoir from Coll de L'Orfe

Black and Griffon Vultures above Gorg Blau

No visit to Majorca would be complete without a trip to S'Albufera - a fantastic place. 35 Night-herons roosting in trees along the Gran Canal, next to the access track, were a good start, followed by a good selection of waders and wildfowl elsewhere on site. These included Lapwing and Golden Plover, Pintail and Red-crested Pochard, Water Rail and lots of Snipe, as well as numerous Cetti's Warblers and several Reed Buntings. Perhaps most notable/obvious were the Purple Gallinules, and we couldn't fail to miss the Crested Coots, feeding on weeds on the bridge at La Roca and completely oblivious to the visitors taking photos of them!

Purple Gallinule

Two Crested Coots...

... oblivious to their admirers!

Other good birds here were Moustached Warbler (several birds singing and a few showing themselves), a single Bluethroat, and 2 Great White Egrets - plus lots more!

S'Albufera looking north towards the powerstation

My other birding was focussed on early morning/late afternoon trips to a nice little reserve in Pollenca called La Gola, and to S'Albufereta, just south of Pollenca. La Gola didn't produce anything unusual, but did allow some close views of several common species, with several Audouin's Gulls and a Sandwich Tern on the adjacent section of beach. S'Albufereta was a bit difficult to access, but I found a good spot at Can Cullerassa at the norhern end. This area produced Osprey, and my only Skylark and Little Grebe of the trip, as well as a single House Martin.

S'Alufereta, looking south from Can Cullerassa

Osprey over S'Albufereta

Stonechat at La Gola

And a mention for the 'common'  birds: In places, there were big numbers of Robins and Song Thrushes, and in urban and agricultural areas there seemed to be Black Redstarts all over the place, including some very smart males. In other places, Stonechats were on every perch. And of course, it's always nice to see favourites like Kentish Plover, Zitting Cisticola, Hoopoe, Sardinian Warbler and Serin. I finished the trip with 102 species - not bad for the time of year; a full trip report is available on the Surfbirds website.

Kentish Plover

Sardinian Warbler

And finally, a visit to the caves at Campanet is definitely a good thing to do on a wet day - quite incredible!

The caves at Campanet