Birds seen during family holiday 29th June - 10th July 2015 We didn't hire a car, so what birds I did see were primarily seen around or near the villa in Cap d'Artrutx or from public transport, the one exception being a day out on a jeep safari which took us of road in a few places as well as visiting some towns and other places of interest.
Little Grebe Cattle Egret Little Egret Mallard Red Kite Egyptian Vulture Booted Eagle Kestrel Hobby Red footed Falcon Eleonara's Falcon Moorhen Coot Audouin's Gull Lesser Black-backed |Gull Yellow legged Gull Rock Dove Woodpigeon Collared Dove Tawny Owl Swift (didn't notice any Pallid) Bee-eater Thekla Lark House Martin Blue rock Thrush Blackbird Cetti's Warbler (heard only) Fan tailed Warbler Sardinian Warbler Spotted Flycatcher Raven House Sparrow Spannish Sparrow Greenfinch Goldfinch Not too bad with no telescope and not the best time of year to visit the Island for birding
other wildlife Palm Moth, Lizards (not sure which species), Blue Butterfly (again not sure on species), Terrapin, Heteroptera (orange and black with flat back). Tried but failed to see Cicada (noisy blighters). Cockroach, mice and plenty of Ants (although they were not a problem).
On a recent family holiday to the island I managed half a day at the S'Albufera Des Grau Natural Park (28/08/14), the park has good facilities and seems very well run (the trail maps and instructions given at the information centre were first rate), birds seen; Little Grebe ( I can honestly say I've never seen so many at one location, there were 100's with some areas of water just a mass of these grebes and coot feeding), Great Crested Grebe, Black Necked Grebe, Little Egret, Great White Egret, Grey Heron, Gadwall, Mallard, Shoveler, Pochard, Ferruginous Duck, Red Kite, Booted Eagle (common over the SE of the island), Osprey, Kestrel (common over the SE of the island), Moorhen, Coot, Black Winged Stilt, Avocet, Greenshank, Green Sandpiper, Common Sandpiper, Black Headed Gull, Yellow Legged Gull (common on the coast line around the SE of the island), Collared Dove, Cetti's Warbler (going off all over the park), Sardinian Warbler (the most ubiquitous bird on the island, "trrring" in every bush!), Raven.
Infrequent casual birding (it was far too hot for me!) around the Binibeca area (SE of the island) produced; Balearic Shag, Turnstone, Audouin's Gull (all on the rocky coastline), Wood Pigeon, Turtle Dove (good to see good numbers of these birds, seem quite common, frequenting gardens as well as farmland and shrubland), Swift, Bee-eater (one party of up to 50 birds flew over the villa late one afternoon, no other sightings !), Hoopoe (2 birds chasing each other through the villa garden), Swallow, Tawny Pipit (farmland), Whinchat, Stonechat, Wheatear (all 3 favouring the rocky coastline areas), Blue Rock Thrush (a find of a pair on my birthday on a rocky headland !, subsequently other sightings along this area of the coast), Blackbird, Fan-tailed Warbler, Spotted Flycatcher (very numerous, not sure if all resident or birds moving through, suspect the latter), Great Tit, Woodchat Shrike (seemed quite common on farmland including multiple juv birds), House Sparrow, Chaffinch, Greenfinch, Goldfinch, Linnet.
I was genuinely surprised at the lack of insect life seen, apart from 3 separate butterfly species, 1 dragonfly species, a couple of wasp/bee species (including one nasty little piece that stung me when I was saving his life by removing him from the pool !!) and a trillion minute ants in the villa there seemed to be a lack of insect life (no idea if this is a time of year thing or not).
Also seemed to be that the coastline and the farmland were a lot more productive than the plentiful "scrub"land (but again, possibly a time of year thing).
