Please see artcile I have written for my Club
newsletter. Please contact me if anyone would like additional info.
Allan
Birding in
Mallorca
Most Australians will know Mallorca as
Majorca and as the place where Christopher Skase lived out his days in apparent
luxury. Most Europeans will know Mallorca as a holiday destination famous for
sun, sand and booze. Birders, know Mallorca as a trap for passage migrants
between Europe and Africa and therefore a particularly interesting place to
visit.
So where is Mallorca? It lies off the
coast of Spain in the Mediterranean Sea, being the major island in the Balearic
group of islands and is fact a province of Spain. It is about 80 km long by
about 60 lm wide with a mountain range reaching up to 1500 metres dominating the
western side of the island. Every piece of sand on the island has a tourist
complex built behind it to varying degrees of tastefulness. Germans and Brits
dominate the tourist population, in fact, German seemed to be the major language
spoken by both the tourists and the locals who look after them in northeast of
the island
What excites birders to Majorca is a bird
list of 340 species. Of these only 58 are resident while an additional 38 are
regarded as winter visitors. So the majority are vagrants and virtually anything
can turn up. Spring migration seems to produce the most vagrants. Interesting
resident birds include Black Vulture, Audouin’s Gull, Mamora’s Warbler, Thekla
Lark, Blue Rock Thrush, Kentish Plover and Purple Gallinule.
The best place to go birding is Parc
Natural de S’Albufera. This is a very extensive area of marshland, in the north
of the island near the town of Port de Alcudia. This area has a series of hides
overlooking shallow ponds surrounded by hectares of reed beds.
The other "famous" birding area is the
Bocquer and other valleys of Cap Formentor in the north west of the island. This
is the area where passage migrants are likely to be found.
All this information was supplied from a
publication called "A Birdwatching Guide to Mallorca" by Graham Hearl, which was
purchased from amazon.com.uk. This guide not only contains very precise
directions to various birding sites in Mallorca but an annotated list of the
species seen which proved very useful.
Our reason for going to Mallorca was a
holiday with my wife, daughter and two granddaughters. Except for two mornings
at Parc Natural de S’Albufera, any other birding was incidental. We stayed in
the northeast part of the island in a village called Capdepera. The house we had
rented was on the edge of the village with open fields at the back and beyond
forest on a hillside. Around this area I saw Greenfinch, Blackcap, Robin,
Firecest, Redstart, Woodpigeon and a Yellow Wagtail in the courtyard. The leaf
warblers proved to be extremely frustrating. They called from the middle of
thick trees then didn’t move. Imagine thornbills in thick pine trees and you get
the picture.
One of the highlights of the Mallorca was
seeing a Blue Rock Thrush perched near the lighthouse at Cap de Pera with
Auduoin’s Gulls circling and Black Redstarts on the rocks nearby.
At Parc Natural de S’Albufera highlights
included Purple Gallinule which has been re-introduced here. The iridescent
light blue around its breast was stunning. Other good birds were Kentish Plover,
Spotted Redshank. Dunlin, Little Stint, Teal, Shoveler, Gadwell plus Cetti’s and
Willow Warbler. I was really excited to see the spectacular Hoopee here.
Probably the "rarest" bird here was Glossy Ibis listed as an uncommon passage
migrant. Overhead I identified Booted Eagle, Marsh Harrier and a pair of what, I
believe were Eleonara’s Falcon. These were two falcons palish underneath, dark
on top with long pointed wings and longish tail flying like Peregrines.
Another highlight of the marsh was seeing
the Starling flock leaving their roost in the morning. The flock was 500-600
metres long and 100-150 metres high and within this densely packed flocks were
pockets of birds that were even more densely packed which "waved" through the
flock. Amazing! The guide estimated this flock as up to 1 million
Starlings!
My final list after 6 days on Mallorca
was 56 species. Although any serious birder would probably sneer at such a
miserable total, I reckon the total birds possible at this time of year
(October) and excluding passage migrants is 96 so I was quite happy with the
total.
Mallorca is a very interesting. It offers
much more than sand, sun booze and birds. Spectacular coastal scenery combined
with of very interesting history and its associated architecture makes a visit
more than worthwhile. The extensive tourist infrastructure also makes Mallorca a
very "easy" place to visit and worth adding to the list of venues to visit in
Europe.
