Costa Festival Ibiza Birding Trip Report 2024

During the festival, daily morning birding trips took place led by Jim Coyle and Steve Flynn. These explored two main areas of the island; on the 25th and 26th April a minibus trip was taken to the Salinas (salt flats) near Ibiza airport and on the 27th – 30th daily walks from the hotel explored the local farmland, woodland and coast.

Despite its popularity as a holiday destination, very few people go birding on Ibiza which has it pros and cons. There is little information on where to go other than the popular area of Salinas near the airport, but this means there are many unexplored areas which allows you to discover birds for yourself, and there are some great birds to be discovered as we found out.

A link to the checklist of birds seen can be found at the bottom of this page. The checklist contains some birds that were not seen during the festival but were recorded during the planning visits in the days leading up to the start of the festival. They are included in the list for completeness. The list is comprehensive in that it includes all the birds seen by all groups on all days, so not everyone saw all the species – including Jim and Steve.

At future festivals were are planning to have more birding options so that people can go on multiple walks and see a wider range of species in different habitats.

One of the birds seen on the 23rd near the hotel was this Cuckoo pictured below which unfortunately did not stay around to be enjoyed on the birding walks. The other species in the list that were seen on the planning walks but not during the festival walks were Booted Eagle, Firecrest, Black Redstart and Greater Short-toed Lark.

25th April, Sal Rossa Ses Salinas

On the 25th April the first trip to Sal Rossa Ses Salinas took place led by Jim and Steve. There were 28 species seen in total including good views of birds typical of Mediterranean wetlands such as Greater Flamingo, Black-winged Stilt and Pied Avocet however the commonest species seemed to be Common Shelduck. We spent about an hour near the observation hide and enjoyed good views of Marsh Harrier quartering the fields adjacent the airport and picked out a few Red-legged Partridge in the ploughed field by the hide. The Zitting Cisticolas made their presence known with their eponymous zitting call and one perched out in the open giving great views.

A good selection of waders was present in addition to the Avocets and Stilts, with Green Sandpiper giving brief flight views, and Wood Sandpiper more obliging as it worked the margin of the salinas in front of the hide. Kentish Plover, Little Stint and Common Sandpiper were also seen.

On the walk back from the Salinas hide a flock of Serins gave good views from a nearby bush but the best bird of the day suddenly appeared – a Gull-billed Tern. This gave great views as it patrolled the margins of the Salinas.

We then walked inland and changed habitat to look for some more species and in an area of open scrub adjacent to woodland we encountered Turtle Dove, Woodchat Shrike, Common Redstart, European Stonechat and Northern Wheatear. After exploring the area on foot we retraced our steps back to the awaiting coach.

See Steve’s ebird checklist for this visit where you can see the full list of species seen and the location.

26th April, Sal Rossa Ses Salinas

On the 26th we returned for the second trip to the Salinas with a different group of birdwatchers. We followed broadly the same route and saw most but not all of the species seen the previous day. We also added a few new species not seen earlier. These were Mallard, Common Redshank, Grey Heron, Little Egret and Little Ringed Plover at the Salinas and Whinchat in the scrub inland from the Salinas.

Whilst watching a close group of Flamingos, someone said they had seen a tern in the distance. A little later the tern reappeared much closer and it was most likely the same Gull-billed Tern from the previous day.

Birds seen the previous day that we didn’t see on the 26th included the Green and Wood Sandpipers and the Marsh Harrier.

See Steve’s checklist for this visit where you can see the full list of species seen and the location

27th April – Local walks from the hotel

For the local walks Steve and Jim lead separate groups to reduce the group size giving everyone a better chance to see the birds. Each walk covered similar habitats and many of the familar farmland and woodland species were seen by both groups including Woodchat Shrike, Turtle Dove, Collard Dove, Sardinian Warbler, Barn Swallow, Common Swift, Blackbird, House Sparrow, Serin and Greenfinch. Steve’s group saw the only Hoopoe of the week while Jim’s group had an Osprey fly over during their walk.

One of the best birds in the fields close to the hotel is surely the Stone Curlew. Jim’s group saw these on this walk whilst Steve’ group heard them calling but didn’t see them unfortunately.

Steve’s walk included a detour to the sea-cliffs where the Peregrine’s that nest there were seen, along with brief views of Blue Rock Thrush. Both groups also saw Audouins and Yellow-legged gulls, which are the commonest gull species on Ibiza – despite Audouins gull still being one of the rarest gulls in the world!

See Steve’s checklist for this walk

28th April – Local walk from the hotel

On the 28th there was a single birding walk led by Jim. This covered the same route as previously and saw broadly the same species as previously including Cirl Bunting and a new species for the list in the form of Spotless Starling. The group also heard a Nightingale singing – the only one one encountered during the walks and an excellent addition to the list.

30th April – Local walks from the hotel

Unfortunately heavy rain on the morning of Monday 29th meant the cancellation of the walk scheduled for that day, however most people were able to rebook for the 30th when Steve and Jim both led separate walks.

Despite the disruption caused by the rain it did have a positive impact on the birding, with a noticeable increase in common migrants seen during the walks which had been grounded by the previous day’s weather, with many Whinchats and Pied Flycatchers seen along with large numbers of Spotted and Mediterranean Flycatchers particularly in the areas where Steve’s group walked. At a conservative estimate there were at least 50 Spotted Flycathers encountered on this walk – they seemed to be everywhere, closely followed by Whinchat. The moral of this tale – go birding after rain!

In addition to the migrants, Steve’s group saw as well as heard the Stone-Curlews this time and had wonderful views of a male Golden Oriole perched in a bush. The poor photo below does not do it justice I’m afraid but I was making sure everyone got a good view of the bird rather than taking the best photograph possible!

Not to be outdone, Jim’s group also recorded Golden Oriole with both a male and female seen in flight.

Peregrine was also seen again by Steve’s group with the male seen passing food to the female overhead away from the sea cliffs and in the same area Thekla’s Lark was seen, but perhaps the most unexpected bird was not identified until later. A small bird was seen in the distance feeding on the ground with a flock of Linnets and Goldfinches and was initially thought to be an Ortolan Bunting but a better views and a fortunate photo revealed it to be a Trumpeter Finch! Although there is a small breeding population in south-east Spain, Trumpeter Finch does not normally occur in the Balearic Islands, and despite a few records from Majorca we can find no previous records from Ibiza, so this was an excellent sighting.

See Steve’s checklist for this walk

As well as the birds seen on the organised walks other species were seen during the festival; these included several Osprey’s that were seen from the hotel over several days, a Purple Heron which flew across the sea in front of the hotel on the 25th, A single Whimbrel on the rocky shoreline by the hotel on the 30th, a Balearic Warbler which was reported from the woodland behind the beach, Mediterranean race of European Shag and both Balearic and Cory’s/Scopolis Shearwaters which were seen on several days in San Antonio bay.

The birding trips proved to be very popular and the feedback has been very good. We saw some excellent birds including many that are difficult or impossible to see in the UK and ended with a total of 68 species. We will be running more birdwatching trips at future festivals including both Portugal and Ibiza. Please check the website or get in touch for details.

The full alphabetical list of species is below.

For a pdf checklist click here.

For an Excel Spreadsheet click here.

Audouin’s Gull (Ichthyaetus audouinii)
Balearic Shearwater (Puffinus mauretanicus)
Barn Swallow (Hirundo rustica)
Black Redstart (Phoenicurus ochruros)
Black-winged Stilt (Himantopus himantopus)
Blue Rock Thrush (Monticola solitarius)
Booted Eagle (Hieraaetus pennatus)
Cirl Bunting (Emberiza cirlus)
Collared Dove (Streptopelia decaocto)
Common Chiffchaff (Phylloscopus collybitta)
Common Cuckoo (Cuculus canorus)
Common Firecrest (Regulus ignicapilla)
Common Kestrel (Falco tinnunculus)
Common Linnet (Linaria cannabina)
Common Nightingale (Luscinia megarhynchos
Common Redshank (Tringa totanus)
Common Redstart (Phoenicurus phoenicurus)
Common Sandpiper (Actitis hypoleucos)
Common Shelduck (Tadorna tadorna)
Common Swift (Apus apus)
Common Whitethroat (Sylvia communis)
Common Woodpigeon (Columba palumbus)
Cory’s Shearwater (Calonectris diomedea)
Eurasian Blackbird (Turdus merula)
Eurasian Golden Oriole (Oriolus oriolus)
Eurasian Hoopoe (Upupa epops)
European Goldfinch (Carduelis carduelis)
European Greenfinch (Chloris chloris)
European Pied Flycatcher (Ficedula hypoleuca)
European Serin (Serinus serinus)
European Shag (Mediteranean) (Gulosus aristotelis desmarestii)
European Stonechat (Saxicola rubicola)
European Turtle Dove (Streptopelia turtur)
Feral Pigeon (Columba livia (domest.))
Great Tit (Parus major)
Greater Flamingo (Phoenicopterus roseus)
Greater Short-toed Lark (Calandrella brachydactyla)
Green Sandpiper (Tringa ochropus)
Grey Heron (Ardea Cinerea)
Gull-billed Tern (Gelochelidon nilotica)
House Sparrow (Passer domesticus)
Kentish Plover (Anarhynchus alexandrinus)
Little Egret (Egretta garzetta)
Little Ringed Plover (Charadrius dubius)
Little Stint (Calidris minuta)
Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos)
Northern Wheatear (Oenanthe oenanthe)
Osprey (Pandion haliaetus)
Peregrine Falcon (Falco peregrinus)
Pied Avocet (Recurvirostra avosetta)
Purple Heron (Ardea purpurea)
Red-legged Partridge (Alectoris rufa)
Sardinian Warbler (Curruca melanocephala)
Spotless Starling (Sturnus unicolor)
Spotted Flycatcher (Mediterranean) (Muscicapa striata balearica)
Spotted Flycatcher (Spotted) (Muscicapa striata)
Stone-curlew (Burhinus oedicnemus)
Thekla’s Lark (Galerida theklae)
Trumpeter Finch (Bucanetes githagineus)
Western Marsh Harrier (Circus aeruginosus)
Western Yellow Wagtail (iberiae) (Motacilla flava iberiae)
Western Yellow Wagtail (Motacilla flava)
Whimbrel (Numenius phaeopus)
Whinchat (Saxicola rubetra)
Wood Sandpiper (Tringa glareola)
Woodchat Shrike (Lanius senator)
Wood Warbler (Phylloscopus sibilatrix)
Yellow-legged Gull (Larus michahellis)
Zitting Cisticola (Cisticola juncidis)