Wryneck

 Not a common bird in Menorca, but some of them can be seen every year in the migratory pass in September.

 

 

The Eurasian wryneck or northern wryneck (Jynx torquilla) is a species of wryneck in the woodpecker family. These birds get their English name from their ability to turn their heads through almost 180 degrees.

Starlings

Starlings (Sturnus vulgaris) are winter visitors in Menorca. We do not see any in the rest of the year, but since October til February or March there are thousands of them who reach the island covering the sky with forming flocks that become authentic clouds dancing capriciously especially late in the afternoon.

Picture taken by Barbara Salva near Son Bou.

Common Crane. Occasional visitor at Es Grau.

It could be said that today winter has arrived with all its severity to Menorca. Rain and cold winds have hit the island since last night.

The Common Crane is not a bird that is seen every year in Menorca, but this morning there was in the Albufera de Es Grau a group of specimens enjoyng the swampy meadows.

Purple Swamphen

Purple Swamphen, Porphyrio porphyrio, also known as Sultana Bird, is a rare bird breading in Menorca in the last years with its large feet, bright plumage and red bill and frontal shield is easily recognisable in its native range.

 Photographer: Barbara Salva.

Romans kept purple swamphens as decorative birds at large villas and expensive houses. They were regarded as noble birds and were among the few birds that Romans did not eat. A purple swamphen is depicted at the bottom of the famous garden fresco from Pompeii.

Plinii the Elder already (AD 23 – AD 79), mentioned in his work Naturalis Historia that either Majorca and Menorca provided the Romans with those birds.

Cattle egret in the wet meadows at 'Sa Marjal'

The cattle egret is a popular bird with cattle herds for its well known role as a biocontroller of cattle parasites like flies and ticks. 

The presence of this bird in Menorca has gone from being sparsely wintering to abundant and sedentary in the last years. It can be seen in the newly plowed fields and accompanying the herds of cattle grazing in the meadows.

Osprey in Es Grau

A magnificent specimen of Osprey flying over the lagoon of Es Grau

The osprey (Pandion haliaetus) — also called fish eagle,— is a diurnal, fish-eating bird of prey. It is a large raptor, reaching more than 60 cm (24 in) in length and 180 cm (71 in) across the wings. It is brown on the upperparts and predominantly greyish on the head and underparts.

This is one of the most emblematic birds of Menorca and at the same time more scarce.
 
It is estimated that there are four couples that nest on the island and perhaps some exemplary unpaired.

Water Rail in S'Albufera d'es Grau

The water rail (Rallus aquaticus) is a bird of the rail family which breeds in well-vegetated wetlands across Europe, Asia and North Africa. in Menorca is common but highly secretive inhabitant of S'Albufera d'es Grau. It has chestnut-brown and black upperparts, grey face and underparts and black-and-white barred flanks, and a long red bill. Difficult to see but can be heard calling in the watery marsh.

Early morning walk yesterday. The last one of 2016.

Rainy day...and hoopoes

The rain, which started in the morning, has not stopped falling throughout the day. At times it fell hard and other times it was very light, almost imperceptible.
 

And it is in those moments when you can see some movement among the small animals of the field. The hoopoes, which are insectivorous, taking advantage when the ground is wet to peck worms and slugs.

Hoopoe

 

Rock Samphire inflorescence, near Binidali.

Correcting a mistake and an uncommon winter bird

A guest/friend who did not leave his/her name has pointed a mistake I've done when identifying a plant in a Wild Flowers post. The flowers that I showed as Allium Triquetrum is not that plant. Despite it is very similar in appearance, the real Allium Triquetrum is this one

In Spain where we tend to assign dramatic or religious (or both) names to many things, we call this plant 'Lagrimas de la Virgen Maria' Virgin Mary's Tears. The plant belongs to the same genus as onions and garlic.

I saw this bird yesterday evening in a flooded meadow close to Lluriach. According to Javier from Menorca Walking Birds, it might be a Glossy Ibis, which is rare in Menorca.

Glossy Ibis Plegadis Falcinellus in Menorca

A walk through "Ses Salines de Mongofre"

The Cami de Cavalls, the ancient path that encircles the island took us to Mongofre today and we found these old salt ponds, no longer used for decades.

Althought it is believed that the salt is extracted in Menorca since ancient times, these salt evaporation industry had a short life. It began operating in 1845 and by 1950 they close down due to the lack of profitability and low demand. But they left a very curious landscape of marine shallow ponds that are now a sanctuary for waterfowl.

 

 It is not unusual to see small groups of flamingos in Menorca during the winter

Grey Heron (I think) looking for her dinner.

Wild berries at 'Sa Sella'

'Sa Sella' is a rocky hill whose shape vaguely resembles a saddle. It is a well known area because it produces great variety of wild mushrooms in the Autumn season.

On my first visit there this year I have seen no sign of them, but there was many wild berries. Food for birds.

 

Fornells.

Looks like we can expect a week of autumn weather in this end of the season. Although the day was gray and dark, at least it has not rained and at Fornells, some people has yet dared to enjoy windsurfing.

 Modern sculpture or remains of a shipwreck? It does not seem to be a concern for this cormorant

The great cormorant (Phalacrocorax carbo),  is a widespread member of the cormorant family of seabirds.  It feeds on the sea, in estuaries, and on freshwater lakes and rivers. Northern birds migrate south and winter along any coast that is well-supplied with fish. 

The great cormorant can dive to considerable depths, but often feeds in shallow water. It frequently brings prey to the surface. Many fishermen see in the great cormorant a competitor for fish. Because of this it was nearly hunted to extinction in the past. Thanks to conservation efforts its numbers increased.

Walking among partridges at Cutaynet.

Throughout the eighteenth century the flourishing trade between the port of Mahon and other ports of the Mediterranean gave way to an era of prosperity in the island. The bourgeois who got rich on trade and privateering wanted, as a symbol of their prosperity, buy land, which so far, were in the hands of the nobility since Middle Ages.

 Thus, at this time the large agricultural holdings on the island were segregated and the new ones, often preserved part of the array name.

Cutaynet is one of those properties whose land belonged one day the vast region known as Cotaina

As I walked around the area I have been in the middle of a group of partridges that had been singing as daylight was coming to its end.

Black-winged stilt and Dracunculus

The black-winged stilt, common stilt, or pied stilt (Himantopus himantopus) is a widely distributed very long-legged wader in the avocet and stilt family. (Recurvirostridae).

 Adults are 33–36 cm long. They have long pink legs, a long thin black bill and are blackish above and white below, with a white head and neck with a varying amount of black. Males have a black back, often with greenish gloss. Females' backs have a brown hue, contrasting with the black remiges. In the populations that have the top of the head normally white at least in winter, females tend to have less black on head and neck all year round, while males often have much black, particularly in summer. This difference is not clear-cut, however, and males usually get all-white heads in winter

Dracunculus is a genus of 3 species of a tuberous perennial of the family Araceae. They are characterised by a large purple spathe and spadix, often produced in advance of the pedate, dark green leaves often with white mottling. The open spathe is usually accompanied by a foul smell.

The species native in Menorca is Dragons Mouth Arum (Dracunculus Muscivorus). The common name refers to the unique and powerful scent! 'Probably the most disgusting flower I have ever encountered...' was one group member's reaction to seeing this rare relative of the common Dragon Arum and the word 'muscivorus' means fly-eating. but it merely attracts them with that dead meat scent to spread the pollen, as it happens with other Arums.

Both pictures were shoted by Ms. Carol Crawford, Guest, Ecologist and Artist.

New customer...Great Tit

 

 

She flew in through the door and fluttered around the pictures hanging off the walls.

 The Great Tit (Parus Major) is a distinctive bird, with a black head and neck, prominent white cheeks, olive upperparts and yellow underparts, with some variation amongst the numerous subspecies. It is predominantly insectivorous in the summer, but will consume a wider range of food items in the winter months.

The Great Tit occupies a range of habitats. It is most commonly found in open deciduous woodland, mixed forests and forest edges. In dense forests, including conifer forests it is usually found in forest clearings. In Menorca is common in parks and gardens.

Stone Curlews and Torre Vella

I saw some stone curlews in the fields close to the Hotel yesterday morning.

The stone-curlew is a crow-sized bird with a large head, long yellow legs and relatively long wings and tail. Active at night, and its large yellow eyes (which give it a "reptilian", or "goggle-eyed" appearance) enable it to locate food when it is dark.

In Menorca is a common bird and in the Summer it is easy to see individuals. They join in small groups in the winter.  Should this meant that it approaches the end of summer already? I hope not as many customers are booked for October.

Despite that, the fields in the island are very dry. And the few storms we have had this summer are not enough to cover Menorca needs of water.

Some barren fields at Torre Vea. Beside Saint Phillipe castle.

Algaiarens

Had not been to Algaiarens since April. The difference between the picture I took then and this one is clearly evident. The beach now, in August has become very popular, full of families who go there to spend the day by the sea.

Only at the end of the day returns to quiet showing at the beginning and end of the season.

When returning, we saw an egyptian vulture fly high at dusk. Egyptian vultures (Neophron percnopterus)  are sedentary on the island, though not very numerous.

Cala'n Vidrier. Little treasure.

Located near the beach of Es Grau, almost opposite the island "D'en Colom", this delightful little cove is very fine white sand.

The Audouin's Gull (Ichthyaetus audouinii) is a large gull restricted to the Mediterranean and the western coast of Saharan Africa. It breeds on small islands colonially or alone, laying 2-3 eggs on a ground nest. As is the case with many gulls, it has traditionally been placed in the genus Larus.

In the late 1960s, this was one of the World's rarest gulls, with a population of only 1,000 pairs. It has established new colonies, but remains rare with a population of about 10,000 pairs.

This species, unlike many large gulls, rarely scavenges, but is a specialist fish eater, and is therefore strictly coastal and pelagic. This bird will feed at night, often well out to sea, but also slowly patrols close into beaches, occasionally dangling its legs to increase drag.

The adult basically resembles a small European Herring Gull, the most noticeable differences being the short stubby red bill and "string of pearls" white wing primary tips, rather than the large "mirrors" of some other species. The legs are grey-green. It takes four years to reach adult plumage.

This species shows little tendency to wander from its breeding areas, but there were single records in the Netherlands and England in May 2003.

This bird is named after the French naturalist Jean Victoire Audouin.

The Audouin's Gull is one of the species to which the Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds (AEWA) applies.

Bee-eaters and a quiet morning at "El Fonduco"

 The European Bee-eater (Merops apiaster) is a near passerine bird in the bee-eater family Meropidae. It breeds in southern Europe and in parts of north Africa and western Asia. It is a long distance migrator, wintering in tropical Africa, India and Sri Lanka.

This is one of the most spectacular birds, by the color of their plumage, which can be found in Menorca.
The bee-eaters are gregarious, and always travel in groups that can become numerous. They make a relatively long tunnel in which the 5 to 8, spherical white eggs are laid around the beginning of June on sandy slopes. Cala Tirant and Sa Mesquida are well known nesting sites.
Just as the name suggests, bee-eaters predominantly eat insects like bees, vesps, dragonflies but lizzards and froggs too.

El Fonduco.

Hoopoes!

The number of hoopoes in Menorca, that had been declining in recent years, seems to be recovering, and that is good news for bird lovers. We do seem to have quite a number of such birds in the fields and woods of the island and we love to hear them calling in the spring and summer

The Hoopoe (Upupa epops) is a colourful bird that is named for its call, “hoo-poo.” The common hoopoe is about 12 inches (30 cm) long. It has a showy, semicircular crest and mixed reddish-brown, black, and white plumage. The bill is long and curved, the legs short.

A regular guests, who is a keen stamp collector told me once that  he had a very complete collection of stamps of hoopoes. I could not imagine there were so many, and from so many countries.