Son Real, Parc Natural de la Peninsula de Levant and Punta de n’Amer
This was our guided birding day with Cristina Fiol from Balears Wildlife. We had high hopes for Balearic Warbler and Balearic Shearwater at various sites, the first of which was Son Real. We had been to Son Real before but I think we got a bit confused about which track to take (there are many) and weren’t sure if we might get lost. Anyway, Cristina was more confident so off we went. We parked in the car park and walked through the big gates that lead to the tracks that eventually (a long way) lead to the beach.
The first birds we got were a nice pair of Firecrest that Cristina found. Then I found a Hoopoe and we flushed a couple of Thrushes. There were Robins aplenty and Blackbird and Stonechat. We saw Sardinian Warbler but no sign of Balearic Warbler at all and really it was quite hard work finding anything. After an hour or two we decided to try elsewhere but we at least got good views of a Booted Eagle as we returned to the car.
Our next destination was the Arta Peninsula at the Parc Natural de la Peninsula de Levant. En route we stopped for another Booted Eagle – no problem with them! In fact when we parked up at the visitor centre at the Parc Natural we saw yet another Booted Eagle and Kestrel and Raven. We also got Redstart which was nice but no Balearic Warbler. Cristina did see Cirl Bunting but could not put us on to it! Very frustrating.
So off we went again, this time to Punta de n’Amer. We got a Red Kite en route. When we got to the “town” of Sa Coma we were shocked to see an immense conglomeration of huge hotels and beachware shops and cafes and bars and it was all a bit too much. There is a walk from the car park at the edge of town to the castell along the coast and this is supposed to be a great place for Balearic Warbler and Shearwater. An embarrassingly long look out to sea revealed not a single bird of any kind but there was a small flock of Audouin’s Gulls roosting on the rocks. We felt very sorry for Cristina who, I think, was starting to think that this was a nightmare day for her. We knew enough, of course, to know that everyone has bad birding days but I don’t suppose that made her feel any better.
Among the dunes we continued our futile search for warblers. We did get Redstart and I found a pair of Cirl Buntings at last. Other than that it was pretty futile apart from very common birds – Woodpigeon, Blackbird and Goldfinch.
Somewhat deflated we headed back home. I don’t suppose that Cristina felt that good about it but, for us, we had a good day anyway and found out about more sites and the right tracks to take for the places we had been to before so were not as upset as Cristina probably thought. Put simply, you win some and you lose some.
One last stop on the way home that typified this was a stop at Tucan Marshes which is near Alcudia. I had read about this site but had never been there before so it was very interesting to go there. It was pretty mosquito ridden but what do we expect at a marsh? We got Black-winged Stilt and Greenshank, Kentish Plover and Cetti’s Warbler and yet another Booted Eagle. Perhaps not a great haul here again but interesting none the less.
We eventually got back to Port de Pollenca and Cristina was very apologetic and even offered us a discount which we, of course, declined to accept. What a day for her!