Alcudia, Majorca (S'Alfubera + S'Albufereta) - Part Two

Alcudia, Majorca (S'Alfubera + S'Albufereta) - Part One

Alcudia, Majorca (S'Alfubera + S'Albufereta) - Part Three

Date: 18th May - 25th May 2017

Location: Alcudia, Majorca

Weather: Blue Skies, Very Warm and Sunny

Observation:
Next day headed out on bike as Lauren wanted to top up tan and went towards Can Picafort along main road to find Son Bosc and Depuradora not sure what I would find but found Bee Eaters at end of dusty track just past some old sewage works, I think.

A bit distant but pleased to find them, road ended and a Privido sign was at end of track so went back to main road.

A Painted Lady landed on the track my first of year.

Apart from Stilts and Kentish Plovers on the small waterworks a Woodchat was above on wires feeding.

Plenty of Swifts screaming over head too.

While chatting to a Irish lady who was saying that there's not much about! No binoculars and must have been blind!

This Purple Heron flew overhead, she told me about Son Bosc and Depuradora further along the track so while she went past the Prividi sign I decided to carry on along road and turned by Bus Depot and along road. After 20 mins I bumped into lady again!  Missed the Sewage Works so hopped over a fence and ended up in S'Albufera Park.

On first platform saw a Golden Eagle with a couple of Marsh Harriers, escapee but great to see.

Sat in tree looking quite at home.

Heading back round hides the Stone Curlew was almost infront hide giving amazing veiws.

Counted 8 Glossy Ibis to collecting nesting materials.

The Woodchat also was present on its normal spot.

Down towards Bishops Hide the Herons and Egrets looked stunning, this one giving me the evil eye.

Quite a few Nightingales about still, there amazing song.

The next day (21/05/17), Dad headed out early before breakfast this Serin posed perfectly along the wires on the beach.

We both headed to S'Albufera for the morning. Plenty of Cattle Egret's leaving the overnight roost, 7 in one shot, more I couldn't fit in!

Another close view of a singing Serin.

From the Bishops Hide, Little Egret, Great Egret and Spoonbill all visible in one shot, the Spoonbill was present the whole morning.

We spotted all the waders making a fuss and the chicks running to safety, as we looked up a low-flying Eleanora's Falcon, seemed to be hunting dragonflies.

An abundance of Great Reed Warblers singing high in the reeds all across the reserve.

From the footpath bridges, it is easy to see Egrets or Herons, this time was a Purple Heron.

We returned to the Sa Roca hide, searching for the Western Reef Heron, we sign this morning, 3 Glossy Ibis back and forth collecting nesting materials though.

Also Marsh Harrier's almost always in view somewhere on the reserve.

Some very close Little Ringed Plover's and Kentish Plover in front of most of the hides also.

So great to see the Avocet's protecting their chicks from anything that comes close to them!

After a few hours, we returned to the hotel. After lunch, Wayne headed back out this time to La Victoria on the bike in the hope of the Firecrest.

Safe to say they didn't disappoint!!

.Also some Linnet, Serin, Chaffinch present.

On Monday, after being joined by some more family members we booked the Formentor boat trip (we booked for the birds). Not a great boat trip, but on the way back some people started chucking some food from the boat and this was the outcome.

There were around 20 Yellow-Legged Gulls, 1 Shag and 6 Cory's Shearwaters following the boat for about 15-20 minutes. It was the highlight of the trip!

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Alcudia, Majorca (S'Albufera + S'Albufereta) Part One

Alcudia, Majorca (S'Alfubera + S'Albufereta) - Part Two

Alcudia, Majorca (S'Alfubera + S'Albufereta) - Part Three

Date: 18th May - 25th May 2017

Location: Alcudia, Majorca

Weather: Blue Skies, Very Warm and Sunny

Observation: A slightly delayed blog due to a few trips in the past 3 weeks so more blogs to come! First up we headed to Majorca for a week on 18th May. We arrived early afternoon, so headed out after we settled in down to the beach.

We spotted a few Audouin's Gull along the shoreline, with light fading we only got a few shots knowing we would be returning.

There were plenty of Spotted Flycatcher's buzzing around feet from us also.

The next morning we got up and headed out for sunrise visiting the little ponds being Lidl's. It proved a successful trip with singing Great Reed Warbler's high in the reeds and was worth the early start even if we ended up with about 50 mosquito bites between us!

With the light improving and our plan was to head to S'Albufera we walked back to the hotel along the beach and improved our shots from last night.

We picked up our bikes and headed straight onto S'Albufera after breakfast. It did start off slow but by 1pm we had taken hundreds of shots and seen a decent number of species.

A very healthy number of Cattle Egrets and Little Egrets constantly in view.

Our first target species was spotted sat in the nearby tree's not far from the footpath.

As we moved on we spotted this Night Heron, where we originally thought had caught a fish but then...

It was stood in this position for about 2-3 minutes before finishing the chick off.

We have agreed it is most likely to be a Cattle Egret chick, makes sense as this was under the Egret Colony. Such an amazing thing to see!

From the Es Ras hide, there was a single Stone Curlew, Black-Winged Stilts and plenty of fly-pasts. This little Balearic Woodchat Shrike popped up in front the hide and posed for a few pictures.

We spoke to another birder who advised the Squacco Heron was giving some great views down a long track on the reserve. We headed in the direction and had no view and spotted off in the hide before returning. Walking up the path to the hide this Purple Swamphen came out in the open for a few shots.

As we were about to leave the Hide, this little guy landed and gave us some great views, after a quick lunch he flew off into the next pool.

As the birds were picking up, we done another route around before heading back. This time around was even better!

This Spotted Flycatcher was feet from us close to the Visitor Centre.

The reserve was full of Nightingales but this was the only one that gave us a song in view (took us a while to spot it!)

There were plenty of butterflies about, which we will do a round-up later in the blog.

As we crossed the last bridge this family of Crested Coot were feeding in the pond grass, Wayne photographed this same bird with the ring 1-NA back in October, so great to see the same bird with it's own little family.

This was the highlight of the trip and at this stage we didn't even know! We originally thought this was a Purple Heron as was flying into the light, but a tweet was spotted when we were at dinner and a Western Reef Heron! This was the only picture we had which confirmed it!

Extremely pleased to get such a rare bird and were determined to get some more shots before we come home.

The next morning we rode in the opposite direction to S'Albufereta and Can Curassa.
Shortly after arriving at S'Albufereta a  Peregrine Falcon and Booted Eagle both with kills flew through.

A fly-over Purple Heron was heading straight towards us so we both snapped away!

Around on the new platform a singing Yellow Wagtail (Iberian) and Corn Bunting were sharing the top branch before moving into different tree's.

Another Purple Heron flew past, so many Swift's in the skies!

Can Curassa, was pretty quiet with a few more Yellow Wagtail (Iberian) a fly-through Kentish Plover but... 5 Swallowtail, the first one was seen was MASSIVE! They didn't stop for long so not many shots.

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