As we all continue our wait for the raptor migration to pick up again, an opportunity to see a new 'swift' species has unfolded this week through a sighting by my friend Alexandre Guerreiro. Driving some 60km north of Sagres and lying to the east of Aljezur, we found ourselves in the small hamlet of Foz do Besteiro. This minor road runs through a long valley and, taking Alexandre's advice, we had no sooner left the car when Alpine Swifts and Crag Martins were seen overhead, flying the length of the valley. In next to no time, we saw among the flying birds - two White-rumped Swifts! These were new birds for Chris and myself. My only shot of the two swifts together:- The top bird above has a damaged feather on the left wing so subsequent photos can relate to a specific bird. With no Common Swifts around to compare, they appeared about the same size but are in fact, slightly smaller. Perhaps the most obvious difference at this angle is the deeply forked tail. The first twists of the birds revealed the small white patch on the rear which we had been expecting to see. Finding these rare swifts was absolutely magic. They appear very locally in parts of the Algarve and have an extremely small distribution globally, mainly in sub-saharan Africa. A feature which requires close observation in good light is the white chin patch. The patch appears much whiter than the throats on some other swift species. The Alpine Swifts of course were considerably larger and hurtling around the sky at great speed. A great day out in this quiet location and my thanks again to Alexandre for his directions.
'Ellie the dog' is usually the first to tell me what's going on at Cabranosa, but even she is puzzled by the empty sky that confronts us day after day. For at least a week now, judging by my blogs of previous years, we should have been enjoying the spectacle of increasing numbers of vultures. As of today, I have yet to see a Griffon this autumn and, after some spectacular eagles and falcons weeks ago, only the local Kestrels and perhaps a Sparrowhawk keep us on our toes. The situation with the small migrants is much the same and we are assuming adverse weather conditions over parts of Portugal are responsible for the lack of movement of birds, in our part of the country. A noticeable song ringing out all week has belonged to quite a few Woodlarks around Cabranosa. The last time we saw a number of eagles was when three Short-toed Eagles paid us a visit, five days ago! Away from Cabranosa and in the harbour at Sagres, a juvenile Great Black-backed Gull has been there for at least a week. A couple of 'detail' pictures showing head and tail. The very heavy bill almost black, with a mottled brown head. White primary tips and super covert detail. Below, a sooty looking adult Lesser Black-backed Gull now in its winter plumage. Close in the harbour were a juvenile and this adult Gannet. On Atalaia headland, a Spotless Starling showing off its glossy appearance to great effect. While we await the re-appearance of birds at Cabranosa, counting hawkmoth caterpillars has become something of a pastime for some!
It was one of those days when, for reasons we cannot work out, all the raptors regardless of species were flying remarkably low. To us, the weather conditions in terms of temperature and wind were barely different from the previous days. I described in my last blog the difficulty in obtaining reasonable images of birds requiring better identification. How we wished every day was like this, beginning for me with this classic juvenile Bonelli's Eagle Late morning saw yet another Eleonora's Falcon added to our records. Not the moulting bird from two days ago, this one was in great condition. The bulging crop shows the falcon has fed well very recently. Regarding age, the cheeks and throat are quite white and the breast pale too. The wing patterns look more adult than juvenile and there is no terminal or sub-terminal band on the tail. We were extremely lucky in that the falcon perched in a tree, giving excellent scope views for the recorders and visitors alike. The remainder of the day was spent enjoying stunning views of the more regular eagles, beginning with 3 Short-toed Eagles. Around twenty Booted Eagles remained in the area all day. Throughout the day, we noticed flocks of Stock Doves flying in reasonable numbers (20-30). A single Black Stork came in and settled in a field late afternoon. We concluded our visit by watching a lone juvenile Egyptian Vulture make its second appearance over the watchpoint.
A number of personal records for Cabranosa were broken today, the first of which was brought about by an influx of hawks. Multiple Sparrowhawks were seen migrating together and at one point we saw four Goshawks harassing each other and Sparrowhawks. Below, one of the juvenile Goshawks:- The second record and of some importance, related to seven Bonelli's Eagles observed over our watchpoint. Such observations help in assessing the numbers of this rare eagle in Portugal. We began in the morning with two juvenile Bonelli's. One was the pale bird I have previously shown, the other a familiar coloured individual, with the tan coloured breast and wing pattern :- In the afternoon, adult Bonelli's Eagles together with a juvenile and what appears to be a 2nd/3rd year eagle. This eagle is shown flying below the two grey coloured adults :- Let's have a look at this new Bonelli's Eagle and some of the plumage features:- I should have mentioned that today, all the raptors were flying incredibly high and these Bonelli's were only visible to keen eyes. For that reason, I can't zoom the images in any further, but would much rather have some record of these birds than none at all. So on this individual, much of the tan colour seen on the forewing and breast of a juvenile has faded considerably and, will tend towards the grey of an adult in time. The tail is showing a dark tip which the juvenile does not have and the trailing edge of the wing is showing traces of black, which will be a complete black edge when an adult. We know that there are satellite-tagged individuals showing up also giving us an encouraging number of these rare eagles to evaluate. Yesterday, we saw two different Eleonora's Falcons. The morning bird went through so quickly I could only watch it depart to the north. A later bird and sadly again, high up in the sky, a dark phase adult falcon was very unusual here. I think this first image shows the Eleonora's feeding on the wing, like a Hobby does, perhaps taking a dragonfly in its claws :- The Eleonora's appears to be moulting considerably. We are still seeing some Honey Buzzards passing over and showing some interesting colour forms. Perhaps you've noticed my profile picture has changed on my Facebook account. Tiago G made a reference to 'Where's Wally' and in case you are wondering, he's a little lower down the stem that I'm holding. While attempting to keep 'Ellie the dog' off the toxic Apple of Sodom bush(!) I am in fact looking at the caterpillar of the magnificent Death's Head Hawkmoth.
These caterpillars are really colourful and in size, can be the same as an index finger :- There seems to be no clear pattern regarding the raptor movement at the moment. Some days have been very quiet, others have had sudden bursts of activity. Numbers within a species have remained low whilst most days, we have seen a good selection of raptor species. Two days ago, we saw the arrival of a superb Pallid Harrier. The bird is still in the area and passed across Cabranosa this morning. In one sudden flurry this morning, 4 Ospreys passed through quickly with Honey Buzzard, Short-toed Eagles and Booted Eagles. One of the four Ospreys shown below. While on constant watch for the Pallid Harrier, we had a female Hen Harrier fly low over the woods. We know now that the first thirty Griffon Vultures are within the recording area, but for the moment we have just one or two Egyptian Vultures remaining here. The first Red Kites of the season arrived today, two were seen with a Black Kite which made for useful identification practice. A very interesting and rather distant sighting was of this adult Bonelli's Eagle. This adult eagle has a radio transponder on its back. You may just be able to see the short aerial. I will try and find out who is tracking this eagle and how long the transponder has been fitted.
Todays' totals were:- 9 Short-toed Eagles, 2 Common Buzzard, 2 Honey Buzzard, 11 Booted Eagle, 2 Black Kite, 2 Red Kite, 2 Egyptian Vulture, 4 Osprey, 1 Pallid Harrier, 1 Hen Harrier, 1 Marsh Harrier, 7 Sparrowhawk, 3 Kestrel, 1 Peregrine, 2 Bonelli's Eagles. I had a feeling it would be a good day, as a new wave of Common Redstarts and small warblers flitted about the bushes around Cabranosa. Above us, the local flock of Choughs flew around noisily before resettling in the fields. In a short pause from birding, I followed a Swallowtail butterfly around some small bushes. It was here I bumped into Guillaume Rethore, leading a birding group around Cabranosa. Guillaume was looking at a strange shrike and asked me my opinion as to what I thought. I quickly judged it was not a juvenile Woodchat Shrike, the face and scaly breast made me think a juvenile Red-backed Shrike. The absence of any redness on the tail ruled out anything rarer, being brown with a white edge. This was a rare sighting as these shrikes don't migrate South through Portugal, taking the East European route instead. It is thought to be only the second record on the Algarve. Raptors were very few today and only this Honey Buzzard grabbed my attention. We completed the day at Vale Santo farm where a rare but regular passage migrant wader had just arrived.
A splendid Dotterel which my photos don't do justice, due to it being a hot day and a warm breeze gave a lot of distortion on the ground. This has become an annual event now, as we all put our sea legs to the test and take a small vessel out into the Atlantic in search of seabirds. Again this year, Algarve Dolphin Lovers were our hosts and the friendly guidance of skippers/marine biologists - Debora and Rodrigo ensured we had a safe and enjoyable experience. The Company has taken delivery of a new vessel this year which is larger and very powerful, offering seating at the front and rear as well as under cover. So we made an early start in the Port of Sagres, quickly heading out in a SW direction off Cape St. Vincent. Generally, one doesn't go far before encountering the first shearwaters which in this case were small numbers of Balearic's, scooting along from West to East. A little further out we met our first Cory's Shearwater, a large shearwater told easily by the stout yellow bill which shows at reasonable distance, the clean white underparts and white patch towards the tail. On our way out to deeper water, we passed Gannets, Yellow-legged Gulls and at one point were joined by a 1st winter Mediterranean Gull. We reached an area with only a slight swell and began dispensing our oily, fishy 'chum' mixture in order to attract a variety of interesting birds. European Storm Petrels came to us within minutes. This first attempt at 'chumming' went fairly well and were surprised when a Great Skua came to see what was going on. Sailing to another sea area, we began 'chumming' once more and were soon seeing Great Shearwaters for the first time. I have only seen Great Shearwaters at a distance and was not aware that they are quite happy to feed around boats such as ours today. Told from the Cory's Shearwater by the dark bill and dark cap together with a white side to the neck. This became a great opportunity to watch these shearwaters at close range. Flying commences with a pattering of feet across the water surface. We were seriously chumming now and the results were astonishing:- We had 30-40 small petrels around the boat and it was time to look for some Wilson's Storm Petrels. The general consensus was that there were possibly three such birds in this feeding flock. Once identified, they were relatively easy to follow since they tend to glide for long periods, often with legs trailing or projecting from under the tail. This had been a great trip with the most petrels I have ever seen feeding together. We also came across a second Great Skua and a very brief look at an Arctic Skua too.
Shortly after 9-00a.m. yesterday, we registered our attendance at the Festival headquarters at the ancient Fort Belize. Groups of people were already setting out on the various activities offered in the comprehensive timetable of events. Coincidentally it was Chris's birthday and in traditional fashion we set off for Cabranosa, Brian and Pam joining us too for this occasion. A small increase in the number of birds on the ground included Willow Warblers in the pines and Sub-alpine Warblers seen more than once. The group of three or four Ortolon Buntings remained in the trees around the pond. Booted Eagles numbered around 60 for much of the morning, well spread over the area as they have been for some days. The bird which really made our day was the surprise arrival of a Barn Owl. Flying into some nearby pines, the owl promptly went to sleep. In comparison to the Barn Owls I have seen in the U.K, this Owl was much darker and facially quite different. The breast was heavily spreckled and it would be interesting to know the origin, given there are 46 races of Barn Owl to choose from! The afternoon was spent enjoying the Booted Eagles where occasional Black Kites and Short-toed Eagles joined the throng. A sub-adult and two juvenile Bonelli's Eagles rounded the afternoon nicely. One of the juveniles was clearly much lighter in plumage than the other. Today, I spent some time around Vale Santo beginning with a look at the Choughs and Ravens which are frequent in this area. There were a few small birds in the fields - Wheatears, Whinchats, Thekla Larks, Stonechats, Corn Buntings and three of these smart Yellow Wagtails. A little later, the Raven flock were making a noise and alerted me to the presence of an Egyptian Vulture which looked as though it may be about to land. Interestingly, this was not a first year bird, much closer to sub-adult judging by the white plumage above and below on this bird. As you can see, I had wonderful views of this Egyptian Vulture as it circled me several times before settling on the ground some way off.
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