Such was the view in the Serra de Tramuntana at the end of a full day's birding the western half of Mallorca with local guides Cristina and José Luis of Balears Wildlife. I went there last weekend together with a birding friend with the main target of seeing Balearic Warbler, which is endemic to the Balearic Islands. Our first stop, therefore, was a rocky headland on the Bay of Palma with the typical garrigue habitat where this species can be found. The first birds of the day were Stonechats, which were all over the island and had obviously had a very successful breeding season going by the numerous fledglings we encountered. It didn't take long, though, before we got brief but good looks at two, very close Balearic Warblers with another new species for me, Thekla Lark, singing all around us. After that, we did a big, counterclockwise loop stopping at various places for Blue Rock Thrush, Eleonora's Falcon, Booted Eagle, Stone Curlew, Red-legged Partridge, Short-toed Lark, Cirl Bunting, and both Black and Griffon Vultures. The highlight for me was finally getting to visit the world-famous S'Albufera nature reserve, where two of the reserve's flagship species, Purple Swamphen and Red-knobbed Coot, were unbelievably easy to observe as we crossed a bridge over one of the canals.
A Common Nightingale (below), usually one of Europe's skulkiest birds, seemed to have taken a leaf out of the same book as it sat out on a branch and sang in full view alongside the entrance track. Marbled Teal, Purple and Squacco Herons, a lone Spoonbill, and a family of recently-fledged Woodchat Shrikes rounded off our time at S'Albufera before we headed into the beautiful mountains for my third and final new species of the day. Our guides were pretty confident we would see it at Cuber reservoir but, arriving there in the scorching heat of the afternoon with virtually no bird-activity at all, I was not convinced. Sure enough, though, by the time we reached the dam and some welcome shade, we had seen at least three, male Moltoni's Warblers, with more of them scolding from the bushes. By the time we returned to our hotel, we had been out in the field for twelve hours and racked up an impressive total of 71 species.
