Mallorca : 12th October 2015 : Boquer Valley
This day was a lovely day for a walk up the Bocquer Valley but it was also a public holiday so there were a huge number of people walking the valley including hordes of infants out on some group nature trek – very noisy indeed. This combined with the usual loud hikers and kids going over for a swim at the bay at the end of the valley and the result was anything but peaceful. Fortunately it is such a fantastic place that it was really enjoyable anyway and despite the crowds we managed to see some nice birds including a “life tick”.
At the Casa Bocquer I got very brief views of a Firecrest and a Black Redstart but all the other small birds were hiding well away from the crowds. As usual you can get a quick glimpse of a bird but if you cannot ID it in flight you are probably out of luck because they fly straight into a bush and that’s them lost to view. We did manage to get a Sardinian Warbler but they are the easy ones. There were also a Robins around but we didn’t get the Blue Rock Thrush we were hoping for.
As we walked along the valley we could see large numbers of Ravens flying just above the mountain tops. There were also a couple of larger birds but I was travelling light that morning due to the heat so I couldn’t identify them. Further along I got the “life tick” of the day when we saw several small groupsof Crag Martins buzzing around the rocks but never very far away from them.
At the very far end before the descent to the bay, we stopped for a rest and a scan of the mounting tops. It wasn’t long before we spotted a Booted Eagle gliding majestically along and circling occasionally until it was harassed by an Eleonora’s Falcon and then it drifted back down I the direction of the town.
As we passed the roundabout at the bottom of the track a final tick was a Garden Warbler that paused briefly on a wire fence before flying off.
On our way back we chatted to a few people but didn’t see anything new so it was definitely time for a beer.
We drifted back home via La Gola where there were the usual suspects and from our hotel balcony we could see the usual Gulls and Shags on the rocky promontory in the bay.
Bird Sightings : Boquer Valley
| Species | Count |
|---|---|
| Booted Eagle | 1 |
| Common Wood Pigeon | 4 |
| Eurasian Collared Dove | 4 |
| Eleonora’s Falcon | 1 |
| Common Raven | 20 |
| Eurasian Crag Martin | 20 |
| Firecrest | 1 |
| Garden Warbler | 1 |
| Sardinian Warbler | 2 |
| Black Redstart | 1 |
| House Sparrow | 20 |
Bird Sightings : La Gola and Beach
| Species | Count |
|---|---|
| Mallard | 20 |
| Grey Heron | 1 |
| Little Egret | 1 |
| Audouin’s Gull | 1 |
| European Shag | 8 |
| Audouin’s Gull | 3 |
| Yellow-legged Gull | 4 |