S'Albufera National Park.
It had to be done with another visit to to the National Park. This time Dawn and I chose bikes to get us around 14 km of the park.
Thank goodness we did as the information board suggested that to walk it, would take more than 3 ½ hours. Not that we weren't far off that, as the track at times was very bumpy.
Main highlights were two lifers a Crested Coot and a Purple Swamphen. The latter also known as Purple Gallinule.
Mammals Recorded:
Mallorcan horses
These white horses are Mallorcan horses and are also known as Mallorquin or Balearic horses.
Birds Recorded:
Cattle Egret
Cattle Egret
Purple Heron
Little Egret
Glossy Ibis
Shelduck
Mallard
Red-crested Pochard
2 Muscovy Duck (feral)
Marsh Harrier
Kestrel
Moorhen
Coot
1 Crested Coot (Lifer)
1 Purple Swamphen (Lifer)
1 Spotted Crake
Avocet
Black-winged Stilt
8 Ruff
4 Common Sandpiper
Black-headed Gull
Yellow-legged Gull
Common Tern
Sandwich Tern
Gull-billed Tern
Wood Pigeon
Collared Dove
Swift
15+ Bee-eater
Swallow
15+ Nightingale
2 Stonechat
Blackbird
3 Reed Warbler
2 Great Reed Warbler
Cetti's Warbler
Zitting Cisticola
Garden Warbler
Blackcap
Sardinian Warbler
1 Chiffchaff
Balearic Spotted Flycatcher
Great Tit
Blue Tit
Wren
House Sparrow
Goldfinch
Greenfinch
Serin
A Cattle Egret with nesting material.
A Red-crested Pochard.
Muscovy Ducks. Not native to Mallorca and undoubtedly feral birds.
A Marsh Harrier
This is my first.............
................ ever Crested Coot.
And here are two video clips of this unusual looking coot.
And this is exactly what I heard, before I saw it.
Five Ruff
In total there were 10 Ruff.
A Common Tern.
Not easy to spot, but there were at least 15 Bee-eaters flying very high over the reserve.
A female Stonechat hiding in amongst the reeds.
A very common warbler on Mallorca is the Sardinian Warbler.
Reptiles Recorded:
Red-eared Slider (Trachemys scripta elegans)
This invasive terrapin is.............
............a Red-eared Slider (Trachemys scripta elegans)
Dragonflies and Damselflies Recorded:
Blue-tailed Damselfly (Ischnura elegans)
A male Blue-tailed Damselfly.
Bees Recorded:
Great Banded Furrow Bee (Halictus scabiosae)
Long-tailed Blue (Lampides boeticus)
A Long-tailed Blue (Lampides boeticus)
Crickets and Grasshoppers Recorded:
Egyptian Grasshopper (Anacridium aegyptium) European mole cricket (Gryllotalpa gryllotalpa)
..............is one of the largest European grasshoppers, with adult males reaching 30-56 mm and females 46-70 mm in length.
..........which was on the point of extinction, can only be found in Mallorca and hardly anywhere else. In fact, it and another hybrid are unique to the Albufera Natural Park.
General Photographs:
This is an Egyptian Grasshopper (Anacridium aegyptium) and.........
No Photo 😞
Dawn did well on our bike ride around the reserve, and not only spotted the Red-eared Slider (Trachemys scripta elegans), but also an European mole cricket (Gryllotalpa gryllotalpa), which I just missed out on photographing, as it disappeared into the undergrowth. Here is a photo of one on Wikipedia here.Plants Recorded:
Marsh Orchid (Anacamptis palustris robusta)
Marsh Orchid (Anacamptis palustris robusta). This subspecies of the Marsh Orchid,....................
There are fair few orchids to be found on the reserve.
Dawn and I hired bikes from the hotel and cycled around the reserve..........
..................... For 10 euros each to hire for the day we thought it was a pretty good deal.
A very comprehensive map of the reserve.