Killing Time In Menorca

Wednesday began with yet more strong wind and showery spells from the north, hardly the best weather for finding later migrants arriving for the British Summer. Looks like I will have to invest in a pair of Stanfield's Canadian Thermal Long Johns for our UK summers.

So I took a day off birding until Thursday on the strength of a better forecast and set about creating a blog post about the recent Menorca holiday. 

There’s a well-worn route of ours via the ME1 and the Ronda which circumvents Ciutadella to reach Punta Nati, a rather desolate and sometimes windswept point at the north west corner of Menorca. Punta Nati is the place to see Ravens, larks, pipits, large numbers of Corn Buntings and when conditions are right, a number of raptors and other migrant birds. 

A mile before Punta Nati there’s a colony of Cattle Egrets in a pine plantation at the roadside. But the tiny stopping place leaves the car vulnerable to scraping the wing mirror on a stone wall or being hit by traffic zooming into Ciutadella a mile away. So it’s a quick point and shoot where the egrets are quite amenable as long as you don’t leave the car expecting the egrets to stay put. Many a budding photographer has discovered that should they approach on foot the egrets readily erupt into a cacophony of noise and action then depart the trees. 

Cattle Egret

Cattle Egret

The stone walls near the point provide lots of singing posts for Short-toed Larks, Corn Buntings, Thekla Larks and Tawny Pipits. In early May those species are well into the breeding season with much display, song and evidence of youngsters in the nest. 

Punta Nati, Menorca

Short-toed Lark

Tawny Pipit

Corn Bunting

Short-toed Lark

The Theklas proved harder to photograph this time, the only half decent pictures obtained on the single grey morning we encountered. 

Thekla Lark

The other speciality of the rocky landscape of Punta Nati is the Blue Rock Thrush, a species which like most members of the thrush family is generally shy. Here’s a somewhat distant picture of a male and female together. The Blue Rock Thrush is fairly common but not always easily seen in Menorca.

Blue Rock Thrush

Egyptian Vultures are usually about and it was here that on our second and sunny visit I came across an adult bird taking off from a rocky field and heading south, gaining height as it did so. The usual views of Egyptian Vultures consist of birds soaring over the Menorcan landscape at great height, where their almost 6ft wingspan makes them unmistakeable, even from some distance away. 

Egyptian Vulture

Egyptian Vulture

Egyptian Vulture

The Egyptian Vulture (Neophron percnopterus), also called the white scavenger vulture or pharaoh's chicken, is a small Old World vulture and the only member of the genus Neophron. The use of the vulture as a symbol of royalty in Egyptian culture and their protection by Pharaonic law made the species common on the streets of Egypt and gave rise to the name "pharaoh's chicken". 

Egyptian Vultures feed mainly on carrion but are opportunistic and will prey on small mammals, birds, and reptiles. They also feed on the eggs of other birds, breaking larger ones by tossing a large pebble onto them. The use of tools is rare in birds and apart from the use of a pebble as a hammer, Egyptian Vultures also use twigs to roll up wool for use in their nest. Populations of this species have declined in the 20th century and some isolated island populations e.g The Canary Islands and Menorca, are endangered by hunting, accidental poisoning, and collision with power lines. 

On our sunny visit to Punta Nati we clocked up Kestrel, Red Kite, Booted Eagle, Peregrine plus a good number of Whinchats and Wheatears. We didn’t see the Stone Curlew here this year which does occur around Punta Nati, but a shy species which is not easily spotted amongst the grey rocky landscape. However we did manage to see two at Tirant on another day and another story. 

It’s the trade-off for a morning’s birding at Punta Nati, a stop off in Cutadella, Menorca’s second but far from second-rate city. Here are a few pictures which give a flavour of this most picturesque, historic, vibrant and wonderfully authentic Spanish city. 

The cathedral Ciutadella

Cafe Culture - Menorca

The fish market - Ciutadella

Market Square - Ciutadella

Coffee time in Ciutadella

Photography Exhibition - Ciutadella

The Harbour - Ciutadella

Placa Des Born - Ciutadella

 

Another Coffee Stop - Ciutadella

We called into one of our favourite shops where the Jamóns are displayed along the shelves and where Menorcan quesos lie slowly maturing.  Jamón ibérico or "Iberian ham", also called pata negra is a type of cured ham produced in Spain. Meanwhile the Menorcan countryside is dotted with farms which sell home-made speciality cheeses. The aromas created by these and other delicacies in delicatessens are simply heavenly making it impossible to leave such a shop without indulging in one or two samples. 

Menorcan Cheese - Ciutadella

Jamóns - Ciutadella

More from home and away soon on Another Bird Blog.

Menorca Postcard

Another Bird Blog is in Menorca. So please excuse the brevity but here’s a picture postcard to be looking at until I’m home. 

Menorca view

Cattle Egret

Thekla Lark

 

Bee Eater

Rural Menorca

Turtle Dove

Hoopoe

Coffee time Menorca style

Ciutadella

Coot

Black-winged Stilt

Red Kite

Menorcan Panda

Tawny Pipit

 Goodnight from Menorca - Scops Owl

Many Thanks for your visit and comments. I’ll catch up with you quite soon.

North To Nati

There was birding today but things were so quiet that I'd struggle to fill a post. So instead here’s more from our two week holiday in Menorca of 2nd-16th May. 

A trip north and west is an annual event, a birding morning to see a number of specialised species which inhabit the coastal area of Punta Nati three or four miles out from the second city Ciutadella. There’s perhaps not much to interest the average Joe at Punta Nati - a lighthouse, a number of partly restored prehistoric monuments within a patchwork of dry stone-wall enclosed fields, and birds.

Punta Nati - Menorca

For birders this part of the island guarantees Short-toed Lark, Blue Rock Thrush, Thekla Lark, Tawny Pipit and Stone Curlew. Off shore there may be Cory’s Shearwaters, Audouin’s Gulls, Yellow-legged Gulls, European Shags and if the conditions are right, swifts of the Pallid, Alpine and Common persuasion. 

European Shag

 Alpine Swift

Although our morning here was dry and sunny the Tramuntana blew quite strongly to make the birds skittish and less likely to pose on the exposed walls, so apologies for less than ideal pictures. It all makes for good reasons to return to Menorca in 2015.

Blue Rock Thrush

Thekla Lark

Short-toed Lark 

Tawny Pipit

The common lizard in Menorca is the Italian Wall or Ruin Lizard - Podarcis siculus

Italian Wall Lizard - Podarcis siculus

On the way south but before hitting the outskirts of Ciutadella there’s a roadside stop at the Cattle Egret colony.

Cattle Egret

Cattle Egret

It’s easy to wax lyrical about beautiful Ciutadella, an historic town that has held up well to the pressure of tourism in the twentieth century. It was originally named by the Carthaginians, who called it Jamma, and was the original capital of Menorca until the British came along and chnged it to Mahon in the eighteenth century. To many Menorcans Ciutadella still remains the capital of Menorca and there is intense rivalry between the two cities.

A little shopping, exploration and coffe stops in Ciutadella is a relatively good exchange for a morning’s birding at Punta Nati.

Ciutadella

Street Artist - Ciutadella

Ciutadella

The Harbour - Ciutadella - Menorca 

At least a couple of Kestrel pairs nest in the centre of the city, one pair next to the clock tower of the Cathedral Basilica. The fine old buildings are home to many pairs of Common Swift, the harbour a place to see Yellow-legged Gulls and sometimes Audouin's Gull. So even amongst the shopping and sightseeing there's always a spot of birding.   

Kestrel

Menorca Cathedral - Ciutadella

 Yellow-legged Gull

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Linking today to Anni's Birding Blog and Eileen's Saturday Blog.