3
PREVIEW OF ILLUSTRATED TALK ON CONTINENTAL BIRDS ON
WEDNESDAY, 18th NOVEMBER AT 7.30 p.m. OLD HOUSE, BRENTWOOD.
Most people will raise an eyebrow when Majorca is
mentioned in an ornithological context, but this delightful
Island is full of surprises, and many birdwatchers know that
it is not all high-rise hotel blocks and swimming pools, the
Northern half of the Island being very mountainous and almost
undeveloped commercially.
Majorca is especially rewarding during Spring and
Autumn migration, but in addition to the passage birds such
as Wheatears, flycatchers, redstarts, whinchats, hoopoes
and hirundines in their thousands, the Island boasts very
many of the breeding species of Mainland Spain. In addition
it has one or two specialities which can be seen with certainty
and almost nowhere else in Europe. The Black Vulture, with its
nine foot wing span is the largest Old World Vulture and is
maintaining its numbers of 30-35 birds due to the mountain
feeding stations set up by the Island Ornithology Group,
without which this species, already endangered, would not
survive.
It is exceedingly rare now on the Spanish mainland where
its slightly smaller relation, the Griffon vulture can still be
found in reasonable numbers.
The other Mallorquin speciality is that handsome dashing
cousin of our hobby, the Eleonora's Falcon, one of the rarest
raptors of the world, breeding only in small colonies on some
of the smaller inaccessible Mediteranean Islands. It breeds
on the northernmost tip of Mallorca on Gape Formentor where
it can be seen in late September dashing over the tall cliffs
chasing late summer passage migrants on which it feeds its
young chicks. Eleonora's falcon, although specifically
gregarious, is not afraid to mob a passing Booted eagle or
even larger Short-Toed Eagle if they should stray too close to
the breeding colony. It just about tolerates its larger cousin,
the peregrine, several pairs of which can be seen in this area
of the Island.
In the nearby pine forests, crossbills and firecrests are
common and numerous, whilst on drier stony ground are black
eared Wheatears, blue rock thrushes, hoopoes, and in the scrub
many species of warbler, all of which are frustratingly skulking.