The Mediterranean island of Mallorca is a type of locations the place birding and non-birding hobbies might be mixed with fantastic comfort. That is reasonably necessary to me when touring with mates, as having the ability to document some fascinating species with out an excessive amount of effort and nonetheless maximising the time I can share doing non-birding actions is hard in locations with low avian variety. I used to be in Mallorca fairly a while in the past already, however since there may be not that a lot to report on within the birding division from central Germany at the moment of 12 months, I’m planning to deal with some spots I visited up to now.
The seashores on Mallorca are, conveniently, an important place for birding. Not solely the range-restricted Audouin’s Gulls are ever-present, however I additionally noticed Blue Rock-Thrush and Eleonora’s Falcon. I used to be warned by my mates nonetheless to not stroll across the touristy seaside with binoculars nonetheless, for apparent causes.
The drier woodlands, farmland, and thickets have been engaging to an entire vary of passerines, and therefore to me, with Woodchat Shrike, Frequent Nightingale and Sardinian Warbler being some enjoyable sightings right here. Crimson-legged Partridge was a lifer for me, however I did really feel barely unhappy once I ticked it, because the species was launched on the island within the thirteenth century. Regardless of counting this chook, I did assume that it might be good to see it in mainland Spain or one other space that constitutes its totally native distribution, i.e. with none human meddling. I now consider that this can be a bit foolish because the its actual distribution on the mainland has undoubtedly been affected by human actions over the millenia, so having the expectation of solely ticking “totally wild” birds appears over-ambitious, unrealistic, and pointless. I assume everyone has their very own cut-off of when to depend and when to not depend species. For instance, I’d not depend a Bearded Vulture within the Alps, the place they’ve been launched over the past many years.
Essentially the most well-known web site for birding on Mallorca is undoubtedly the big s’Albufera wetland. I didn’t handle to do that place justice as I visited with my mates at noon, however we did see some good birds like Cetti’s Warbler, Western Swamphen, and Larger Flamingo. My mates loved the Shiny Ibises most of all, so we spent some time watching these from the hides. It’s all the time enjoyable when non-birding folks discover particular birds very engaging that you simply’ve stopped listening to your self as you’ve seen them so often. Taking a step again like that is generally very refreshing.
We’re contemplating one other go to to Mallorca subsequent summer season, the place we hope to discover the mountaineous areas within the north and east, other than a few of the smaller and quieter seashores we found on our final journey. It will likely be a problem for me to not make a pursuit for the one endemic (Balearic Warbler) an excessive amount of of a precedence on that journey.
Autor Luca
