I met with Steve on Atalaia headland for an early walk and it was clear that thrushes were moving about in small numbers. We listened to the thin call of the Song Thrushes, in case a Redwing was among them. It wasn't long before two Ring Ouzels were found on the bushes. The light was poor but they looked like adult winter birds. A third Ouzel was seen flying towards the sea cliffs shortly afterwards. The bushes were rather short of birds with a few Blackbirds, Sardinian Warbler and the Stonechats, of course. A distinct call alerted us to a Brambling flying over. We picked it out in flight and luckily it chose to land a short distance away. A fairly scarce record in these parts so I was pleased to actually photograph one. Late yesterday, a flock of Griffon Vultures appeared to overnight somewhere in the Raposeira area. I told Steve I was going to try and see these birds lifting off as the morning warmed up, having roughed out a suitable location to watch from. I left Atalaia and found my well camouflaged Wryneck in a fig tree, behind the apartment. The watchpoint I selected was roughly halfway between Pedralva and Raposeira. My estimate worked out fairly well as I found Griffons lifting off within minutes of arriving. Twelve vultures were soon rising up, leaving another seven in a field, around 400 yards away. Behind these few Griffons I could see most of the 180 birds reported yesterday, circling far off and drifting away North. In this flock, not only was there a Ruppell's Vulture but also a much sought after Golden Eagle. I thought it worth remaining up here for a while in case of a return and turned my attention to the numerous Woodlarks, two flyover Bullfinches, a Firecrest and a possible Yellow-browed Warbler seen and heard very briefly. The sky remained clear of large raptors and we decided to return to Cabranosa. No sooner had we arrived when the twelve Griffons seen earlier, were seen coming towards us with two Bonelli's Eagles and two Booted Eagles. They were all flying very high but beneath them, a very large eagle on its own, flew directly towards us. To the amazement of all gathered at the watchpoint, this was a juvenile Golden Eagle. A very dark eagle, as juvenile Golden's are and still having dark upperparts and an extensive white tail, this looked like a 1st year eagle. White tail band with black edge. Almost unifomly dark upperparts. Large white patches visible on the underwings. This stunning Golden Eagle treated us to a magnificant fly around, over our heads for several minutes. It was difficult to take the eyes away from the Golden Eagle, though other raptors were coming and going. A Hen Harrier was seen at height, around 8 Short-toed Eagles and 4 Booted Eagles accompanied the Griffons. This little Hobby raced around the sky and snatched dragonflies regularly. To round off a superb day, I found another Yellow-browed Warbler in the trees at Cabranosa, while checking passing Chiffchaffs.
Raymond Paul Parsons
28/10/2019 03:22:17 pm
Strutty mentioned your blog. I'm glad I took his advice to look around. Comments are closed.
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