Day 2: Formentera

Another beautiful day dawned in Ibiza and the Villa Rosa birding posse set out on the Ibiza-Formentera ferry this morning. The weather was typical Mediterranean in spring with crystal clear blue skies and a sea so azure it could almost melt your heart. As we left Ibiza port we had great views of the old town, along with Audouin’s and Yellow-legged Gulls, plus a Pallid Swift amongst the Common Swifts. 

Ibiza Town and Dalt Vila from the ferry

View from the ferry

View towards Ibiza

It’s only a 30-minute crossing and on this perfect morning there wasn’t too much shearwater activity although we did pick up a few distant Scopoli’s Shearwaters. Upon landing in Formentera we drove some 25 minutes to the far eastern side of this lovely island and based ourselves for much of the day at Far de la Mola. 

Far de la Mola

This huge promontory reminds me of Portland Bill a little bit and we were hoping for some migration magic. As the winds had been switching between easterly and south-westerly I had high hopes of some migrants but initially it wasn’t looking too promising. After half an hour we headed across some fields with low bushes and found the area to be alive with birds! We were almost immediately into double figures of Common Redstarts with a sprinkling of Northern Wheatears, along with Willow Warblers before Mike exclaimed he had a Bluethroat. And oh boy what a great bird. The totally blue throat and lack of a red or white spot meant it was what HBW refer to as an Iberian Bluethroat (ssp azuricollis) and what a cracker! 

Our first view of Bluethroat

Iberian Bluethroat - check out the lack of a spot on the throat

We watched it feeding in the field against a stone wall for ages, with Iberian Yellow Wagtails, groups of Greater Short-toed Larks, numerous Balearic Woodchat Shrikes, some resident Thekla’s Larks and Sardinian Warblers, and at least 4 Blue Rock Thrushes vying for our attention. 

Greater Short-toed Lark

There were also numerous Linnets, EuropeanGoldfinches and European Serins singing and flying constantly around us and the setting was totally mesmeric. Just perfect in fact. We spread out a little in the hopes of finding more goodies but the late morning hour meant activity was dying down and apart from some Red-legged Partridges and a migrating Booted Eagle we had to content ourselves with the commoner migrants. The Bluethroat was refound a little later and showed very well at much closer range and we found it really hard to pull ourselves away from such a stunner. 

We drove to a nearby village for a spot of lunch and coffee before returning to the headland. Taking a different route we walked along the rocky path and into a grove of pine trees hoping to find something sheltering in the shade of these large trees. 

Common Firecrest

There were more redstarts and even a European Pied Flycatcher but not much else, apart from a confiding Common Firecrest that we watched for some time and a Peregrine Falcon circling overhead. 

Far del Cap de Barbaria

So we drove to Far del Cap de Barbaria, a headland facing due south on the other side of the island. There’s totally different habitat here with low scrub and rocky open ground. It was 5pm by now and a little quiet apart from another Balearic Woodchat Shrike. Just inland the vegetation is better with more bushes, fields and trees and around one meadow there were at least 4 Whinchats, as well as yet more Common Redstarts and even a Balearic Warbler. 

Whinchat

Leaving here we drove around Estany Pudente, a series of salt pans and lagoons. We were able to pull up alongside a few Kentish Plovers and got a few nice photos. 

Estany Pudente

There were also Common Redshanks, Common Greenshanks and a few Black-winged Stilts to look at before heading back to the port and onto the 7.30pm ferry back to Ibiza. It was a beautiful sailing and the water so very calm allowing superb views of many Scopoli’s Shearwaters close to the ship. 

Scopoli's Shearwater showed well from the ferry this evening

A group of Balearic Shearwaters flew quickly past the bow and across the calm waters before we reached Ibiza and our waiting dinner. Quite a day really!