Mediterranean Summer 2026


View of s'Albufera, Mallorca

This summer, Siân and I took two holidays to Mediterranean islands: Crete in June/July for two weeks, and Mallorca in September for a week.

 Crete

Since we were staying in the ‘city’ of Retymno, I didn’t think I'd do much birding, so I took binoculars but not a camera. However, while by our apartment’s pool, species of note included Italian Sparrow, Alpine Swift, Pallid Swift, Red-rumped Swallow, and Sardinian Warbler; I also heard but did not see Bee-eaters. The area we stayed in was pretty built up and dry, so a couple of local walks did not produce much more than this. We spent the time reading, swimming and eating and drinking.

During the second week, we hired a car for three days to visit some beaches on the south of the island. To get south, you had to drive through one of two gorges: Kotsifou or Kourtaliotiko. On our first trip south, we took a small road through Kotsifou gorge and stopped by a small church. Here there were Crag Martin, 10+ Griffon Vulture and a singing Blue Rock Thrush. I had seen a Common Kestrel from the car on the drive up to the gorge, and high above the church there were three more Kestrels together. However, on raising my binoculars, I noticed they were slightly the wrong shape for Common Kestrels, and when one called, and I looked at the plumage more closely, I realised they were Lesser Kestrel (adult male and two female/juvenile); now I wish I’d brought my camera!

Over the next couple of days of commuting between Rethymno and the southern beaches, we used both Gorges and stopped multiple times. We saw more (30+) Griffon Vultures at Kourtaliotiko Gorge as well as a few Eleanora’s Falcons. Several vulture nest sites in Kourtaliotiko Gorge were at road height, giving good views of adults and young birds; again, I wish I had taken my camera!

Mallorca

We had visited Mallorca for two weeks in 2010, staying in a villa with a car. As a result, I had visited a couple of sites like Vall de Bóquer, Cuber Reserviour and s'Albufera before and seen quite a lot of good birds there. On this trip, we were staying in a hotel in Port d'Alcúdia without a car, but only a couple of miles from s'Albufera.

Our hotel was on a freshwater lake and near the beach, so Audouin’s Gull and Yellow-legged Gull were always patrolling over the hotel and the beach. Audouin’s are one of my favourite gulls.



Spotted Flycatchers and Sardinian Warblers were everywhere around the hotel, and I saw them wherever I went during the week.



Sardinian Warblers were difficult to photograph as they were in constant motion.

I hired a bike for the first three days of our week, and I cycled down to s'Albufera each morning and explored nearly the entire nature reserve by bike and on foot. The light was very strong, and my photographic skills were particularly poor, but here are a few images of birds I saw:



There were several hundred Greater Flamingo at s'Albufera

Black-winged Stilt, also many hundreds of these at s'Albufera


An overexposed Night Heron


There were good numbers of Western Swamphen at s'Albufera


Two of eight distant Bee-eaters

Black-necked Grebe

A Nightingale was in the gardens by the visitor centre

One of about 40 Kentish Plover at s'Albufera


There were a handful of Spotted Redshank at s'Albufera


I saw five juvenile Woodchat Shrike around the perimeter of the reserve

I saw/heard lots of Cetti’s Warblers, Zitting Cisticola and Sardinian Warblers at s'Albufera, and I heard at least two Reed Warblers and saw a few Willow Warblers and Chiffchaffs. However, I did not see or hear the warbler species I was hoping for, the Moustached Warbler, but no birder I bumped into had seen one, and eBird had none recorded for September.

Last time I was here 16 years ago, Red-knobbed Coot and Marbled Duck were easy to see, the coots on the canals near the visitor centre and the Marbled Ducks from the two main hides. However, the two main hides were closed as they were being rebuilt, so there was a lot of disturbance in that area. Marbled Ducks had been seen a week earlier, but off the reserve, and no Red-Knobbed Coots were reported for September.

I saw a Booted Eagle each day I was at s’Albufera, I’m presuming it was the same bird. Other raptors there include Osprey, Common Kestrel, Marsh Harrier and Red Kite. My images of most of these raptors are shockingly bad, lots of sky and blurry smudges!

Osprey

On the fourth day I decided to walk to s’Albufera through a ‘wildlife’ area just west of the lake. On the walk down to s’Albufera I saw three Northern Wheatear and two Hoopoe.

A quick snap of a Hoopoe before a German walker scared it off.

On our final day in Mallorca, I took a half-hour bus ride down to Can Picafort, where I worked out I could walk along the beach to Parc Natural de Son Real. My target here was Thekla’s Lark, as this is a species I’d never seen before. I checked out the coastal scrub and had a female Balearic Warbler feeding under a bush (too dark to photograph) and a Hermann’s Tortoise crossing the path.


There was no sign of any larks on the coast, so I headed towards the Finca de Son Real. Around the farm were a few Redstart and Pied Flycatcher as well as a Hoopoe. There were 50+ Serins feeding in the fields and a couple of Firecrest in the trees. Scanning the fields I saw a possible Lark in the far distance and through heat haze, it could even have been a large Pipit species, it was too far to tell. There was no way to get to that part of the field so I moved on frustrated. I saw a small flock of Crossbill on the way back to the coast.

Just as I was leaving the Parc Natural de Son Real, back on the coast, a lark flew over me and landed on a bush. At last, a Thekla’s Lark! It then spent several minutes ascending into the sky and singing. I managed a few photos, and at least the bird is identifiable in them!



I did see one more Thekla's Lark; it flew over our coach on the way back to Palma Airport on the journey home!

List of birds seen in Mallorca 13th – 20th September 2026 in the order that they were seen:

House Sparrow

Feral Pigeon

Kestrel

Red Kite

Collard Dove

Yellow-legged Gull

Goldfinch

Coot

Blackbird

Audouin’s Gull

Kingfisher

Woodpigeon

Night Heron

Little Egret

Wren

Cetti's Warbler

Spotted Flycatcher

Shelduck

Glossy Ibis

Greater Flamingo

Stonechat

Black-winged Stilt

Swallow

Mallard

Chiffchaff

Bee-eater

Osprey

Black-headed Gull

Western Swamphen

Grey Heron

Redshank

Avocet

Sardinian Warbler

Greenshank

Great Crested Grebe

Little Grebe

Black-necked Grebe

Spotted Redshank

Zitting Cisticola

Little Ringed Plover

Shoveler

Teal

Purple Heron

Green Finch

Marsh Harrier

Great Tit

Snipe

Reed Warbler

Willow Warbler

Moorhen

Nightingale

Chaffinch

Booted Eagle

Kentish Plover

Ruff

Gadwall

Woodchat

Sand Martin

Cormorant

Wheatear

Red-Legged Partridge

Hoopoe

House Martin

Raven

Balearic Warbler

Linnet

Pied Flycatcher

Serin

Redstart

Crossbill

Firecrest

Thekla’s Lark


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