Birding/ Bird watching on Malta - March 2021

OK, it has come to my knowledge that we have senior citizens visiting my web page. How hard can it be? So it's not very easy for them to see the blue coloured links to the next page.

Jiffy (also jiff)

noun [in SING.] informal a moment: we'll be back in a jiffy.

ORIGIN late 18th cent.: of unknown origin.

So as you understand, in a jiff pretty much depends on your internet.

So I put a “Next” button here and I hope that there isn't any problem to understand how to use that one. So just CLICK the “Next” button on your left hand side and you will be on the next page in a jiff!

Marunong ka mag-tagalog? Walang problema! Magpunta sa kabilang pahina pindutin ang “NEXT” button sa itaas

Faites vous parlez le français? Pas de problème! Pour arriver à la page suivante faites s'il vous plaît un déclic le bouton “Next” ci-dessus!

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Farla parla l'italiano? Non problemi! Per vedere la prossima pagina lo scatto per favore giusto Il bottone “Next” sopra

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คุณพูดภาษาไทยได้ไหม ไม่มีปัญหา ถ้าคุณต้องการไปหน้าถัดไป ให้กดปุ่ม “Next” ข้างบนนี้

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E ni Svenskar och inte förstår Engelska så ska ni skämmas. J och Björn, med det menar jag inte att alla mina stavfel ska ältas varje gång vi träffas.

Well, the flag of Skåne, just a BONUS flag.

Wednesday 24 ^th of March 2021 and the taxi arrived just before 7 o'clock in the morning. We decided to go to the south today. We had covered many of the eBird hotspots up north yesterday. So we will check out the eBird hotspots in the south today.

I tell my driver that I want to go to eBird hotspot: “Xrobb l-Ghagin” and I shoved my Driver the map. He knew the place and we took off. My driver is amazing, he know every place on Malta. And yesterday he was telling me that he was happy to go around Malta with me. He had come to many areas where he never been to before.

The normal tourists only wanted to go to the normal tourist spots and he had really enjoyed himself during the bird watching. And he brought a doll for me this morning.

A doll I had been looking for since I arrived to Europe. The boy dolls was not available but my Driver will give it another try.

Malta Souvenir Doll

We arrived to the eBird hotspot: and I start my eBird app. We start at the coast and they are giving the area a real face lift with ew road and tree plants along the road.

Xrobb l-Ghagin

Meadow Pipit / Ängspiplärkar

Meadow Pipit / Ängspiplärkar

Meadow Pipit / Ängspiplärkar

Meadow Pipit / Ängspiplärkar

Meadow Pipit / Ängspiplärkar

Meadow Pipit / Ängspiplärkar

I spot one Meadow Pipit sitting on the stone wall and I tell my Driver to stop and I managed to get a few pictures of the Meadow Pipit and we continued. We drove along very narrow firt tracks that had high stonewalls on each side.

So it was impossible to see anything but stone walls at many places. But it was a very beautiful area where we could see beyond the stone walls. Some of the roads, well, most of the roads was like going off road. But both I and my Driver really enjoyed the morning.

A beautiful country side

There are Spanish Sparrows all over the area

There are Spanish Sparrows all over the area

Fake cuckoos to scare away birds

We come out on one dirt track and suddenly the wall on the left hand side comes to an end and we have a beautiful view. We have a big field with the container terminal in the back.

We see a Black Redstart and on Black-eared Wheatear but as the birds was in front of us the pictures turned out to be a waste of time through the windshield.

We had two, most likely three Western Marsh Harrier. Only two of them close enough for ID. The other one looked like a Western Marsh Harrier but I am not sure. Anyway, it was a beautiful place and I want to come back here again before I leave Malta.

A beautiful country side

A beautiful country side

A beautiful country side

A beautiful country side

Western Marsh Harrier

Western Marsh Harrier

Western Marsh Harrier

Western Marsh Harrier

Western Marsh Harrier with a damaged wing

Today's track at Xrobb l-Ghagin

eBird Report

Xrobb l-Ghagin, Malta, Malta
Mar 24, 2021 07:22 - 08:49
Protocol: Traveling
5.71 kilometer(s)
7 species

Western Marsh Harrier 2
Barn Swallow X Many, allover the area
Black Redstart 1
Black-eared Wheatear 1
Spanish Sparrow X Many
White Wagtail (alba) 1
Meadow Pipit 1

View this checklist online at https://ebird.org/checklist/S83990359

This report was generated automatically by eBird v3 (https://ebird.org/home)

We drive a little south to the eBird hotspot: “Marsaxlokk Harbour” and we drove along the harbour, a beautiful area but no birds. We drive back north to the eBird hotspot: “Zaqq it-Tajr (ex-Jerma hotel site)”. Jerma Hotel, a former 5 star hotel that was sold.

I don't know why someone would buy a 5 star hotel and just let it fall in to decay. Maybe someone ran out of money. Imagine the cost to remove the building if you buy this property.

And the piece of land must be very expensive located at the water front. So I can imagine how this area was looking when the 5 star hotel was in operation.

There was quite a few birds in the area, but as usually, no pictures. But I liked to walk around the area, except for the garbage laying around.

Jerma hotel site

Jerma hotel site

Jerma hotel site

Jerma hotel site

Jerma hotel site

Willow Warbler / Lövsångare

Willow Warbler / Lövsångare

My Driver keep himself busy talking with two ladies that have come to walk in the area while I walk around looking for birds. It was a nice atmosphere in the area, of course, all the garbage destoyed a little bit of the mood.

It would be nice to leave the building and just let the nature take over the area slowly and it would have turned in to a ghost place.

Yellow-legged Gull

Subalpine Warbler

Jerma hotel site

Subalpine Warbler

Willow Warbler / Lövsångare

Willow Warbler / Lövsångare

Today's track at Zaqq it-Tajr (ex-Jerma hotel site)

eBird Report

Zaqq it-Tajr (ex-Jerma hotel site), Malta, Malta
Mar 24, 2021 09:39 - 10:26
Protocol: Traveling
0.67 kilometer(s)
5 species

Yellow-legged Gull 1
Willow Warbler 2
Subalpine Warbler 2
Black Redstart 1
Spanish Sparrow 2

View this checklist online at https://ebird.org/checklist/S83991397

This report was generated automatically by eBird v3 (https://ebird.org/home)

We drove a little bit north to the eBird hotspot: “Zonqor” on the coast. There was not many birds, one Common Buzzard and a few gulls too far away for proper ID.

Some kind of gull at Zonqor

Some kind of gull at Zonqor

Driving south along the coast and we passed some beautiful water fronts with restaurants and pubs, of course closed no during the Wuhan virus. We enjoyed the views and that was the only thing to enjoy as there was no birds to see and all the restaurants were closed.

We made the decision to go to the eBird hotspot at the airport. Some of the hotspots in eBird are wrongly positioned on their map, or if the GPS have a very low accuracy. Looking for the point and we drove along a very narrow road with high stone walls on each side. And according to the map the hotspot is behind the wall. We reached the airport and we made a U-turn to go back.

By luck we found the hotspot when we came back and turned left. The hotspot is an 20 to 30 meter opening in the vegetation/ stone wall overlooking the runway.

eBird hotspot: Safi Airport

We had 5 Common Kestrels hunting close to the hotspot, but I never took any pictures as I had got good pictures yesterday, these birds was a wee bit too far away.

There were two other bird watchers and they were from Malta so I took the opportunity to as some questions about birding on Malta. We left just after 12 o'clock and we drove north on the west coast to visit a couple of hotspots. We made a stop at the Blue Grotto.

I went down the ramp on the cliff opposite Blue Grotto. I was suffering from a terrible vertigo. I had left the camera in the car as I did not expect any birds. But here was House Martins and Swifts flying around the cliff. So if I have time I might come back.

Blue Grotto

We visited the eBird hotspots Wied iz-Zurrieq and Ħaġar Qim but no birds. A little disappointing and we drove back towards the hotel with a stop at yet another hotspot, the Gnien il-Gibjun. We had more luck at Gnien il-Gibjun and there was a couple of birds, among them a Blue Rock Thrush.

I spent the late afternoon and evening in my room and I went to bed early with the alarm set to go off at 4 o'clock. My Driver will pick me up at 7 and you just have to click HERE to find out if we see any birds during tomorrow's birding tours.

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