Sunny Days

Here's a post from 2 weeks in sunny Menorca. Brilliant indeed proved both the holiday and the birding with 14 days of unbroken sunshine and not a spot of rain. The island has a list of over 220 species throughout the seasons, so our two week birding list of 78 species is respectable but isn’t going to break any records. But bird watching is not the only joy of a Menorca holiday as blog regulars and/or visitors to the island will already know. Don't forget to click the pics for a colourful Menorca experience.

This year I met up with a Menorcan birder and ringer, Javier Mendez. Javier is extremely knowledgeable about birds and all things Menorcan, and for visitors to the island who prefer a guide, he does that too. You can contact him at  Javier Mendez.

I spent a morning with Javier at his Constant Effort Ringing site at Algendarat, an ecological farm near Mahon. Some lovely birds in the hand on Another Bird Blog soon, but for this post there are photos from birding mornings and exquisite places around the island. 

First port of call each year is to a Bee-eater colony on a farm close to the main road between the unspoilt, authentic inland town of Es Mercadal and the picturesque but touristy Fornells. The Bee- eaters fly to a roadside fence as long as there are not cars speeding by. Bee-eaters burrow into sandy soil to make a nest chamber, hence the dusty residue on this bird’s bill. 

European Bee-eater

Menorca

 European Bee-eater

We regularly see Hoopoes at the same location although they aren’t especially approachable, as Hoopoes tend to be. They have to keep a look out for raptors overhead, the common Booted Eagle or the ever present Kestrels that might rob them of their large insect prey. 

Hoopoe

Hoopoe

Kestrel

Booted Eagle

In a nearby field we discovered this year a spectacular display of wild poppies. Menorca has over 1000 species of plants, 60 of them endemic to the island. In the background of the picture is the resort of Cala Tirant, a world away from the flower-filled fields of a Menorcan Spring where the song of Corn Buntings fill the air and farming is carried out in traditional ways.

Menorcan Poppies

Hay Making Menorca

Corn Bunting

Menorcan Foal

We found just a few pairs of Stonechat this year, and it seems that the Stonechat is not doing too well here at the moment, Menorca is not totally immune from environmental changes that threaten species worldwide. The island’s Stonechats are a little darker than the ones we see in the UK, just like one or two other species, for instance Goldfinch and Woodpigeon being particularly evident in showing darker shades. Perhaps it’s something to do with all that sunshine? 

On the way to lunch at La Palma, a favourite café in Fornells we found a male Stonechat along the roadside telling us he had a family nearby. But there’s no time to stop when tapas is on the menu so we piled back in the Panda and set off again. 

Stonechat

Menorcan Panda

Fornells- Menorca

Fornells - Menorca

Fornells - Menorca

There’s more birds and scenes from Menorca soon on Another Bird Blog.

Linking this post to Stewart's World Bird Wednesday.

Why Menorca?

There’s no birding today, it's grandad duties looking after Isabella. So for blog regulars and “Menorca” Internet searchers here are some photographs from our recent holiday to that beautiful island. 

Sue and I go to Menorca because we adore the island scenery, admire the style, grace and friendly nature of the islanders, love exploring the countryside and the quiet little inland towns or perhaps visiting the historic cities of Mahon and Ciutadella. Two weeks of almost guaranteed sunshine plays a part too.

As ever, click on the pictures for a colourful slide show. 

Ciutadella 

 

 Mahon harbour

Es Mercadal

A bistro, Es Mercadal

While birding there takes second place to the actual holiday, any bird watching we do is a part of the relaxing time we have and the seeing afresh of common Mediterranean birds. Some years we pick up  new species for our island ”list” - this year Corncrake, Spoonbill and Glossy Ibis.

But bird watching is never easy in Menorca. Many of the regular species like Cetti’s Warbler, Nightingale, Firecrest, Purple Heron, Squacco Heron, Golden Oriole and Quail hide themselves away or stay distant whereby actually setting eyes upon any one of them becomes something of an occasion. Even the legendary and sought after Hoopoe is actually very shy in Menorca, more often heard as a distant 'oop-oop-oop' rather than seen well. Luckily I know of a regular breeding spot where both birds accept the busied click of the shutter button just once a year. 

Fornells bay

 Fornells

Bee Eater

Purple Heron

The Hoopoes weren't as far on as last year. This time I saw only the male as every fiftenn minutes or so he brought in food for the female's inspection, she sitting tight on the nest as he passed the food over without entering the concrete cavity.

Hoopoe

Hoopoe

 

Hoopoe

In ten visits to the island I have yet to meet a Menorcan birder and whilst there may be a small number, I imagine they could be counted on the digits of both hands and more probably one. Bird watching seems not to figure in the Menorcan culture. There are hardly any visiting birders either, the more substantial list and reputation of nearby Majorca ensuring that most foreign birders head there instead of its smaller neighbour. There is no bird news service on Menorca, word of mouth being the only means of relating news between the transient population of mainly European bird watchers who spend a week or fourteen days there before returning to the colder north. 

Screen Hide at Es Grau

View - Es Grau, Menorca

Spotted Flycatcher

Little Egret

Little Grebe

Whiskered Tern

Ses Salines - Menorca

Black-winged Stilt

In other words, and for those who appreciate such things, bird watching Menorca Style is rather old-fashioned by allowing discovery of birds alone, unencumbered by the annoying bleeps of pagers and mobile phones or car loads of hyped-up folk dashing between one bird-hit and the next. OK, at the end of a week the list in your notebook won’t be long but there will be a wonderful selection of Mediterranean species, a number of common birds and a few “goodies” thrown in, all of them with no pressure involved to the bird or the birder. 

Turtle Dove

Booted Eagle

Bee Eater

Stonechat

Cattle Egret

Cattle Egrets

Kestrel

It wasn't just birds. We saw good numbers of European Swallowtail Butterfly on a couple of days - flying too fast and frequently to get pictures. We also came acrosss a few large grasshoppers - up to 3 inches long - the migratory Egyptian Grasshoper I think. Insect experts help required please.

Egyptian Grasshopper?

And at the end of another stress free day there’s always a quiet bar to while away the time, watch the sunset and spend quality time, planning another day of discovery and hoping that tomorrow’s Roller may be a lot closer. If not, there's always next year and an excuse for a return visit.

Bar at Es Grau

European Roller

Menorca Sunset

Please log in soon to Another Bird Blog for more news and views. I'm linking this post to Stewart's Gallery - World Bird Wednesday  in Australia- take a look for more bird pictures.

Not Here, Over There

As old hands to Another Bird Blog know the month of May involves Menorca, a few days when the blog takes a break from damp and dreary UK and samples instead the warm delights of the Best of the Balearics. 

A year goes quickly. It seems just weeks ago we stocked up with water and wine from the supermercado in Es Migjorn and said “hola” to our Menorcan friends. Then before we know it here we are again, a splash of sunbathing, rest and relaxation plus birding in the sunshine of picturesque Menorca. 

Like at home but here on Menorca there is also a local birding patch, a circuit which consists of stop-offs to many parts of the whole island, places where we know precisely to look and what to expect at any given time of day. 

First route this week was north and the road through Mercadal towards the coast at Fornells, eyes peeled for Red-footed Falcons, Kestrels, Peregrines, Booted Eagles and Red Kites soaring above the gentle hills and crags below El Toro, at 1175 ft. the highest point of Menorca. After a leisurely breakfast it’s surprising how early a coffee break is necessary before hitting the road again. 

 Booted Eagle

Es Mercadal 

Coffee Time Menorca

Payoff for the coffee and pastry came with a short detour from Mercadal to the local but actually quite unsmelly sewage works. Here we found both Wood and Common Sandpipers, a couple of Black-winged Stilts and lots of Swallows, Swifts and martins plus Yellow Wagtails, the latter a bird no longer common in the UK. 

Common Sandpiper

Before picturesque Fornells are the lagoons and the shore of Ses Salinas, a reliable spot for Black-winged Stilt, maybe an Avocet, Little Ringed Plover or a Curlew Sandpiper. A short walk from Fornells takes us a few hundred yards north to Cap Fornells where Blue Rock Thrush and Tawny Pipits are found amongst the rocks and paths up to the Torre itself.

Fornells - Menorca

Blue Rock Thrush

Tawny Pipit

Soon we hit the road back south and home to Sant Tomas, another tiny diversion and a quick turn to the marsh at Tirant where there are herons, egrets, shrikes, Bee Eaters, Marsh Harriers, Egyptian Vultures and lots more. Here is a great spot to spend an hour or two or three with yet more colourful Menorcan friends. 

Bee Eaters 

It's a hard life on Another Bird Blog but someone has to do it. Tune in soon and see if the misery continues.

I hope to catch up with Blogger friends soon and apologise in advance if comments remain unanswered.