Wednesday 29 April 2009

Menorca birding

I've just got back from 9 days in Menorca. This is the list of birds I have seen on the holiday (in order of appearance - capitals = I've never seen before in any country!):

Day 1 (20/04/09):

1. Kestrel (the plane had been on the ground for 1 minute!)
2. House Sparrow (as soon as I left the terminal + seen absoultely everywhere on the island! The first bird seen/heard on every day of the holiday as group resident outside our appartment)
3. Goldfinch
4. Swift
5. WOODCHAT SHRIKE
6. SARDINIAN WARBLER (usually visible for short periods only as they love hiding in the scrub)
7. SHAG (I've seen Cormorants before but not Shag to my knowledge)
8. Swallow
9. Great tit (included for completeness)
10. Turtle Dove (a pair in vacinity of the apartment)
11. Wood Pigeon
12. Spotted Flycatcher (2 or 3 regularly in vacinity of the apartment)
13. Chiff Chaff
14. Cetti's Warbler (Heard all over the place 2nd most heard species after house sparrow - island covered in scrub so rarely got a view of one)
15. Coot
16. Blackbird

Day 2 (21/04/09):

17. Little Egret
18. Osprey
19. Little Grebe
20. Mallard
21. Marsh Harrier
22. Moorhen

Day 3 (22/04/09):

23. Raven
24. CORN BUNTING
25. House Martin
26. Stonechat
27. TAWNY PIPIT
28. WHITE STORK
29. Willow Warbler
30. PIED FLYCATCHER
31. EGYPTIAN VULTURE
32. Linnet
33. BLUE ROCK THRUSH
34. Yellow Wagtail
35. AUDOUIN'S GULL
36. YELLOW LEGGED GULL
37. Red Kite
38. ROCK DOVE
39. Greylag

Day 4 (23/04/09):

40. Greenfinch
41. BOOTED EAGLE
42. NIGHT HERON (flushed from the cliffs next to a beach by my dad swimming in the sea!)
43. ALPINE SWIFT
44. THEKLA LARK
45. Collared Dove

Day 5 (24/04/09):

46. Redstart
47. Chaffinch
48. Blackcap
49. Whitethroat

Day 6 (25/04/09):

50. HOOPOE (1/2 a minute before seeing this I was thinking to myself, this has been a hard days birding, what I'd really like to see is a Hoopoe! Well, it was high on my wish to see list so I must have been sending out some really positive vibes!!!) .

Day 7 (26/04/09):

Notes: This day was the only day that the winds were blowing from the south to north + it rained a little therefore = migrants! Otherwise wind was always blowing from north to south. Thus:

51. BEE EATER (one group of 13, one group of 21 and one group of 33!)
52. SQUACCO HERON (Seen from great distance with binoculars only - flew like a heron/egret and was white but was buff colour when landed = Squacco Heron - would have liked to see one closer - maybe next time!)
53. Black Tern (Halfway between winter/summer plumage - not sure about this one but Black Tern seems to be most likely)
54. Ringed Plover
55. WOOD SANDPIPER
56. WINCHAT
57. BLACK WINGED STILT (at Salines De Montgofre [old salt pans/lake] there were at least ten!
58. GREAT EGRET
59. Redshank
60. Avocet
61. Common Sandpiper
62. Shelduck
63. GREENSHANK
64. Gadwall
65. GREEN SANDPIPER

Day 8 (27/04/09):

66. CATTLE EGRET

Day 9 (28/04/09):

67. SHORT TOED LARK

Before you ask : There are a few species that I've never seen before that I could have seen in this country (e.g. Greenshank/pied flycatcher) but I've never made much of an effort to go out and find them. That's my only explaination!

I have a large number of photographs to sort through & will post some of the better ones (birds and scenery) at a later date.