After picking up Gary and Anne from their hotel, we headed straight for the Gozo ferry. Soon after boarding and heading to the outside deck, we started ticking off birds in the form of two Sandwich Terns diving for fish just outside the harbour, and our first Scopoli’s Shearwater. The crossing was quiet and we didn’t see any migrating wild ducks. Therefore, after arriving in Gozo we headed straight to our first location on the cliffs. Here we began to get acquainted with the local residents, including Sardinian Warblers, Zitting Cisticolas, and Blue Rock-thrushes, which have great views as they sang and displayed from exposed perches. In addition, we were treated to great point black views of several territorial male Spectacled Warblers. Lingering winter visitors included several Black Redstarts and White Wagtails, while the onset of spring made itself felt by a migrating male Northern Wheatear.
We then headed to another nearby clifftop area, where we were treated to a host of spring migrants, including no less than 3 Common Hoopoes feeding together and good numbers of Greater Short-toed Larks, as well as another Northern Wheatear. After some searching, we also found a few Western Yellow Wagtails of the black-headed subspecies, and a few Red-throated Pipits, one of which was in full breeding plumage. A stop at a nearby farm gave us good views of several more Western Yellow Wagtails of various subspecies.
After a quick lunch and ice-cream at Xlendi, we headed to the other side of the island. A male Western Marsh-harrier was spotted soon after leaving Xlendi. A brief stop at the popular Ramla l-Hamra beach didn’t produce any new birds. We then headed to another coastal stretch on the other side of the island. Here we spotted good numbers of Northern Wheatears, all males, joined by at least 2 Isabelline Wheatears. We also spotted 2 more Common Hoopoes as well as a small flock of Common Linnets and some Barn Swallows. Spectacled Warblers were present throughout while Scopoli’s Shearwaters were present offshore. Towards sunset, our attempts to see harriers heading to roost were unsuccessful. Our last stop was overlooking the channel, where a quick scan gave us our intended target in the form of a flock of around 50 Yelkouan Shearwaters preparing to visit their breeding colonies.