After last week's exciting day with the seabirds at Carrapateira, this week has been much steadier and I'm presenting a few images which took my interest during my outings. I had watched the large flock of Scaly-breasted Munias at the ricefields last week. The birds weren't as numerous on my next visit however, I found both a male and female sitting together showing the clear differences between them. An adult male (upper) is a splendid looking bird and both sexes possess what appears to be a bill of steel, capable of splitting the hardest of seeds. The Waxbill flocks continue to amass around 100 birds in each flock. Now is the time when Monarch butterflies are emerging and though I know a couple of 'strongholds' for this very threatened species, I had not seen one on the ricefields before. It was searching out any 'yellow' coloured flowers to feed from. Along the northern footpath, Bluethroats are in good supply with at least six birds being found among the hedging or in the field itself. At times they will step out on the footpath giving their alarm - 'chack' call before disappearing in undergrowth. Sometimes they are just plain obliging! A short visit to an agricultural area outside Lagoa, Quinta do Vala I believe, was where I found these horses and an accompanying flock of Cattle Egrets. I felt it was one of those peaceful scenes that spells the true Algarve to me. A Common Buzzard in a nearby stand of trees. The marsh at Quinta da Rocha continues to do well, with four Ospreys seen on two occasions within a week. The Audouin's Gulls are back this week in larger numbers. As they leave for the sea, they cross one of the paths around the marsh which gives us the very best of views, as they pass overhead. Adult Audouin's Gull. 3rd year Audouin's Gull. Flamingos of various ages are feeding well on the marsh. Yesterday, Carl and Julie met with me outside Faro at the waterworks or ETAR. It is known that a couple of White-headed Ducks from Spain have been seen here recently and I was more than a little interested to see them. Having spoken with and kindly obtained permission of the landowners adjacent to the ETAR, we were able to see much of the reservoirs by walking a lane on their land. The reservoirs are not all that large but the quantity of wildfowl on them and the sound of 'whistling' Wigeon was staggering. Below is a sweep along one side. Let me know if you see a White-headed Duck!! All I can say is 'top marks' to the people who have found this bird(s). It is an incredible mass of Wigeon, Pintail, Gadwall, Mallard, Teal and Little Grebes. I did pick out one Black-necked Grebe on the far side with my 'bins, so there was plenty of effort put in by us all. There were also many resting places and banks where ducks were sleeping and a 'scope is a 'must have' at this location.
It is worth saying that we were impressed with the surrounding marshy area as, Common Snipe kept flying up, Glossy Ibis were in small flocks and Marsh Harriers and Ospreys frequented the fields and hidden water courses. Yesterday got off to a fairly early start, despite some thick fog around Alvor. I wanted to be at Salgados whilst it was quiet to check the margins for any Jack Snipe and other waders. Carl joined me a few minutes after I'd arrived and we soon found the margin of the lake, busy with Bluethroats. At least two males were out in the open and a female was seen singing from a tree in the shallow water. The water levels remain very high which suits the waterfowl if nothing else. Duck numbers are increasing each week and an unusual sighting here was a pair of Red-crested Pochard which quickly disappeared behind an island. Pintail are showing very well with this pair being a good example. The whole length of the boardwalk produced very few sightings, with Shoveler and Gadwall ducks present on the small islands. Lapwings, a few Snipe and a Black-tailed Godwit were the only waders along this part of the lake. We came across the (white-faced) Crested Lark which I have photographed on some occasions. This lark must be a good four years old now, by my records! The Marsh Harriers were hunting the reedbeds and although they put all the ducks in flight, I didn't see any interesting waders flying from the marsh. We decided to spend the afternoon at Estombar on the ricefields. My previous visit had turned up huge numbers of Waxbills and now, decent flocks of the Scaly-breasted Munia were joining the Waxbills. A couple of fields of rice have been harvested recently, by an old harvester I'd seen at the farm and thought it was some relic from days gone by. The farmer gave us a cheery wave as his tractor coughed and spluttered past us, the tractor manufactured by - Lamborghini!! The rice grains attract large numbers of sparrows and some smart male Spanish Sparrows can be seen here. One of the fields contains a great deal of water and has attracted Green Sandpipers, Common Snipe and Greenshank. A fair way across this field I noticed another wader and it was only with the aid of my camera lens, I found it to be a juvenile Wood Sandpiper. Standing between and behind those reeds gave me loads of problems focussing at long distance but I was pleased with a Wood Sandpiper sighting here. In the same pool and equally unusual were my first Flamingos at the ricefields. Quite what they were finding to eat I don't know but four very young Flamingos had settled here. One individual was colour-ringed (2ZTS), denoting it was ringed in Andalucia, Spain last year or this one. There is invariably something interesting going on here, each time I visit. The White Storks and Spoonbills feed placidly if you walk quietly and at a slow pace along the tracks. ** ** ** I had around an hour's drive this morning to take me over to the West coast and the spectacular headlands at Carrapateira. For at least a week now, big seas have been pushing against this coast and have been bringing with them, large numbers of seabirds which would normally remain further out to sea. Huge waves breaking on Carrapateira beach. I checked out a suitable place to observe the sea from and immediately noticed I was being watched, someone else had the same idea! I let the Peregrine have that cliff and moved away to another good view out to sea. As there was a real possibility of some interesting gulls and a good auk passage, I had asked Chris and Sue to join me for a morning's seawatch - in relative comfort! As you can see, it's a long way down to the sea but our 'bins turned out to be perfectly adequate most of the time and we were in for a brilliant few hours. Razorbills were passing at regular intervals, sometimes a single bird though more likely, flocks of between five and fifteen auks at a time. We were to see a couple of hundred Razorbills in all. A fascinating sight in itself, not being used to seeing auk species on migration. All winter plumage birds, flying low and fast in a southerly direction. A much hoped for species, the Kittiwake appeared for the first time, a distant adult. Unmistakeable with a grey back and solid black wing tips. The next image shows a hint of a trailing dark leg. An addition to the Portugal list for both Chris and myself and as we congratulated ourselves, the Peregrine was not amused at all. Now we had got our eyes in, it wasn't long before a juvenile Kittiwake showed up with its clearly marked upperwings. We continued watching the lines of passing Razorbills when one small flock attracted some attention. There was another auk ahead of the flock which looked a little different to the Razorbills (upper left in picture). Both Chris and I were pretty sure we were looking at a Puffin and a hasty look at the camera confirmed that there was a single Puffin flying with the group of Razorbills. The enlarged view shows the dark underwing which Razorbill does not have. There is a complete dark breastband behind the head and the large bill is rather discoloured as it should be in winter. So another species had found its way onto our lists and we had achieved what we had set out to see, in the most beautiful coastal location.
Nicely settled back in Alvor and it wasn't too long before we were walking the marsh at Quinta da Rocha, to the west of Alvor town. I'm very fond of this wetland now as the number of bird species seen here, always makes for a good visit. The recent American vagrant - the Long-billed Dowitcher has, to the best of my knowledge now departed. I took the photograph below at the start of our week and I have not seen it on two subsequent visits. Remaining in that area are the Black-tailed and Bar-tailed Godwits, Black-winged Stilts, three Ruff, many Common Snipe and three Curlew Sandpipers. Juvenile Curlew Sandpiper. I was pleased to see a Bluethroat (in full song), close to the roadside. On our last visit yesterday, we had two juvenile Ospreys in the air, passing fairly close and flying towards the fish farm!! I am seeing more Oystercatchers on the estuary than I did a few years ago. The marsh continues to have dozens of herons, spoonbills, egrets and now the flamingos are happily feeding here in good numbers too. Today was an airport run with Angela so I was able to make a fairly early start at Ludo, five minutes from Faro airport. I spent a good while with the waders on the saltpans, looking for anything out of the ordinary. There is a large Avocet flock there at present, a single Little Stint was with some Dunlin. Three Spotted Redshank were among the Redshank flock and Black-tailed Godwits numbered around forty birds. There were some great 'flyovers' with Pintail flocks, Spoonbills and of course, Grey Herons everywhere. The lake at San Lourenco was fairly quiet except for many Wigeon 'whistling'. The Wigeon usually winter on the Ludo lakes and I've never seen fifty or more of them on this water. Pintail were few here but I had seen flocks in the air earlier. One Little Bittern appeared on the far bank briefly and no Swamphens showed this morning. Since starting out very early, it was no surprise that by lunch-time, I had made my way back towards Alvor and stopped off at the ricefields at Estombar. Here I had no difficulty with Swamphens, as six showed very well, munching large pieces of reed and undeterred by my presence. A walk around these ricefields at the moment will reveal an enormous flock of Waxbills, in fact more than one flock with well over a hundred birds. Although only tiny birds, there is an audible 'whisssh' as the entire flock rises from one area of reed to another. A Great White Egret was here today, along with smaller egrets, Spoonbills, White storks and Grey Herons. No sign of a Little Bunting yet as this is a known wintering place for them and, no interesting pipits either.
Raptor watching included resident Marsh Harriers, two Common Buzzards, one Kestrel, one Peregrine Falcon, one pale Booted Eagle and one Short-toed Eagle. Star bird however, was this magnificent Hen Harrier which hunted small birds with some ferocity and agility. She remained in the fields for a couple of hours, occasionally resting on the ground between flights. We all remark how quickly time flies and our two month stay in Sagres is coming to an end already. The superb view over Sagres harbour and starting point for some great pelagic trips. Much of our time has been spent at Cabranosa during the raptor migration. There have been plenty of comments on how late the vultures have been this year, only now are they starting to show in reasonable numbers and sometimes in spectacular fashion! We felt some days were really quiet with few birds arriving. Within the species we saw, several Eleonora's Falcons, a Lesser Spotted Eagle and a possible Lanner highlighted the incredible birds that can show up at Cabranosa among the more expected juvenile raptors. I am always indebted to the raptor teams working at Cabranosa for their friendliness and invaluable information, also for their patience in putting up with this year's 'experts' gathered below. On a less happy note, we are all saddened to hear of the passing away of our friend Rob Mills. Despite Rob's disabilities, he amazed us all with his stamina and determination, arriving at Cabranosa each morning and, remaining throughout the day whatever the weather. He was a keen and well respected birder among the community there and will be sadly missed, particularly as he had hoped to join us this year. Rob with the Cabranosa Crew in November 2018. This afternoon and much to our surprise, we were visited by the 'herdsman' who attends the roaming cattle, over the land around Cabranosa. He and his seven dogs steered the cattle around the watchpoint with just the right amount of whistling and the odd shout, giving a marvellous demonstration of these working dogs right before our eyes. What was even more astounding as we watched the herdsman in his traditional fleece coat, was that he spoke remarkably good English and told us all about his dogs and their work. Tomorrow we move on to Alvor, perhaps calling in at the windfarm on the way as we believe more Griffon Vultures are close by.
We have waited as patiently as possible for what is likely to be, one of the latest dates for significant numbers of vultures arriving here, that has been recorded in recent years. From our viewpoints around Raposeira, the arrival of the Griffons was quite magnificent as they approached not only from the north-east but along the coast from the south-east also. This meant that by midday, we had around 400 vultures milling around above us. Several different flocks approached the windfarm, some birds flying at low level. It was good to be watching these huge birds once again, at the same time taking in this difficult journey they make in their first year. In one of the flocks a Black Vulture was present, adopting its usual position as 'lead bird' as the flock made its way through the various windfarms and out to the hills again . The Black Vulture watches an approaching Griffon. A view from Raposeira towards the windfarms of Barao de Sao Joao and Barao de Sao Miguel. The wind turbines are shut down as the vultures move through and the importance of this shutdown is vital for the safety of the migrating birds. A turbine at Raposeira with a close Griffon Vulture. This turbine had been stopped. With luck, tomorrow will be another good day for vulture sightings. A short look back at Cabranosa yesterday when the Red-backed Shrike continued to show well in the clearing throughout the day. Before leaving, Chris thought he had seen a Cuckoo and as we retraced his steps, a juvenile Cuckoo was seen flying low between the trees. This is a very late sighting of a Cuckoo and the bird was feeding well, on a plentiful supply of caterpillars found in the ground vegetation. A juvenile Cuckoo looking in great condition.
Yesterday a juvenile Red-backed Shrike was found by Rhys Jones at Cabranosa. Almost a month ago, another shrike had been seen in the same vicinity and naturally, there will be interest as to whether this is the same bird. I had spent much of the day patrolling the area where the previous shrike had been seen and my efforts were unsuccessful. On returning home, I found some comments on Facebook regarding the location where the shrike was and annoyingly, it was within 100 metres of my search but on different ground. Within fifteen minutes I was sitting on a sandy track with the Red-backed Shrike feeding busily and doing what shrikes do best - sitting on top of bushes for long periods. In judging whether this is a different bird and having images of the earlier bird to hand, I was looking for something structural rather than a mere colour difference, which is always subject to lighting changes.
One feature I noticed is that the curved tip of the bill on the new bird (above) is 'more' curved, that is, the very tip itself and is unlikely to be a feature which would change. The brown mask extends lower (below eye level) on this bird than on the earlier bird. There are doubtless other plumage variations which may exist, given similar light conditions. My opinion is that this is a different shrike to the one recorded on 5th October. A day away from Sagres today to see the Long-billed Dowitcher (Limnodromus scolopaceus) on the marsh near Quinta da Rocha. A rare vagrant indeed from North America which, given the recent jetstream activity is perhaps quite understandable. Rather difficult to observe, as those who know this location will have experienced the view in a southerly direction which is always into bright light. All the same, here are the best images I could obtain and delighted to add another American visitor to my Algarve List. A couple of days ago, a drizzly afternoon caused three Short-toed Eagles to rest in the woods at Cabranosa. I was so pleased to find one of the eagles perched close to the track, enabling me to have some wonderful views of this medium sized and beautiful eagle. Finally, a pale Booted Eagle from yesterday at Cabranosa.
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