My post of this uncertain eagle species has brought together many minds, who have far more experience regarding identification of large raptors.
Discussions over my images were helped enormously today when Nelson sighted the eagle again, in the same location. With much better photographs taken, a possible hybrid Greater Spotted Eagle is almost certainly the correct identification. I understand that hybrids between Greater and Lesser Spotted Eagles occur to a considerable extent in Eastern Europe. I would like to thank all who have taken an interest in this sighting and let's hope it shows itself in the next days. My most frequent saying at the moment seems to be, "it's quiet but surprises keep happening". Yesterday was a great example, having almost completed a tour of the ricefields near Estombar. A last look at two Marsh Harriers gaining height, revealed a much larger raptor flying away from me, which I had clearly missed. This large eagle made several powerful wingbeats between repeated gliding and I ruled out straightaway, the Bonelli's Eagle seen not far from here last week. This was a larger bird and its flight reminded me of the Golden Eagles I have watched on the Isle of Mull in Scotand. By the time I had my camera on it, the eagle was far across the Arade estuary and about to disappear over the hills. I have done what I can with some obviously poor images. The only confusion species would likely be a Spanish Imperial Eagle but from the wing shape and the colouring that can be made out, this is thought to be a Golden Eagle. Although smaller than a Golden Eagle, this Osprey at Alvor this morning had an enormous appetite. How much fish does an Osprey need !! I've watched this perch many times and today it happened.
An astronomical phenomenon occurs today, as well as being the shortest day in terms of daylight. Tonight, the planet Saturn disappears behind Jupiter as their orbits align with Earth. My old Sigma lens never ceases to amaze me at times! Jupiter in the centre with four of its closest moons, Saturn off to the right. Not only a clear night but we had enjoyed a lovely clear day out on the Alvor marshes. It turned out to be a plover morning with no less than five of this species on the marsh. Grey Plovers are frequently seen around the marsh. Less often found is the Golden Plover and three were here this morning. A winter plumaged Ringed Plover. The fairly common Kentish Plover. Finally the Lapwing, or Green Plover by another name. A winter visitor and six were seen together. Other waders included Turnstone, Sanderling, Redshank, Greenshank and Dunlin. On the estuary, a single Oystercatcher was present and a small number of Knots were with more Sanderlings. Curlew and Whimbrel were also recorded. Four of the Knot group. I mentioned previously about the die-back of vegetation on the marsh and how new pools were forming. The image below shows the new landscape. Around this area, I counted 36 Grey Herons, 22 Spoonbills, 1 Great White Egret and many Little Egrets. Redshank, Greenshank and Lapwings were on the pools. The Great White Egret. It may be the shortest day, but Spring's on it's way soon.
A walk in the countryside was going well, with all sorts of birds flitting about and a perfectly normal 'chirping' going on in the bushes. Suddenly, there was a mass flushing of nearby birds which was followed by an eerie silence. A shadow actually moved across the ground in front of me and looking up, there was a superb adult Bonelli's Eagle. This eagle appeared to have flown in from my right (North) and began circling above me, which it continued to do for at least ten minutes. At times, the light was shining through the plumage in places, showing off features such as the pale grey tail, tipped by a dark band. The body on an adult is mainly white with thin dark streaks, the wings are almost dark throughout which gives an appearance of 'light body and dark wings' when identifying. The leading edge of the wing is white, which can be seen nicely on the image above. A beautifully marked and very healthy looking Bonelli's Eagle.
The water level is high again meaning waders were few apart from the Lapwing flock, accompanied by a dozen or so Golden Plovers. A few Sanderlings came and went, Black-tailed Godwits were still at the northern end of the lagoons. Wildfowl were predominantly Teal and Pintail, with lesser numbers of Mallard, Gadwall and Shovelers. All the wildfowl were beginning to show off their best plumage, in readiness for the breeding season. A pair of Wigeon were present today, the first there this Winter for me. Nice views were had of a Water Rail as it scurried over the bank, between the two lagoons. Two Kingfishers were seen, one by the viewing screen and the other along the boardwalk. Also at the viewing screen, a male Spanish Sparrow looking splendid. The resident viewing screen Grey Heron. Yesterday, a spare hour in Alvor was spent watching the local Crag Martins. A very under-rated bird in my opinion and one I enjoy photographing very much. What I didn't expect so much, in mid December, was when a House Martin joined in the aerial feeding. This bird was looking very untidy with worn/missing primaries. Was it a new arrival having undergone a long journey or, was there another reason for its appearance? A few minutes later, I heard the chittering of Swallows and couldn't believe five Swallows were here at the same time. Both the House Martin and Swallow does over-winter in the Algarve. This little fellow was watching me while I photographed the martins.
A Lesser Yellowlegs was found by Georg Schreier the other day, on one of the salt pans at Ludo, near Faro. The photo above shows where we initially saw the Yellowlegs however, it can be a little mobile and moves to the pans on the other side of the track at times. The birds in the foreground are Black-tailed Godwits of which there were around thirty birds here. The Lesser Yellowlegs kept towards the left side, along with Common Redshanks, Green Sandpipers and Common Sandpipers. A Spotted Redshank was seen at the far end of this pool. The right hand side of this pool was shallower and Dunlin together with two Little Stints were feeding here. The Lesser Yellowlegs flew across the access track, landing quite close in a pool but unfortunately, against a bright light. In this difficult light, the wings can be seen projecting beyond the tail, the general plumage features show reasonably well although the leg colour is more difficult to see. The bird was seen in flight, showing a large square rump and barred tail, with trailing yellow legs. One of two Little Stints I was pleased to see, as they haven't appeared on the more western sites we visit. The shared Cormorant roost and heronry at Ludo. Booted Eagles can also be found in these trees. Flyover Spoonbills. A walk in to Quinta do Lago revealed very little, the lake was practically empty of birds. I only counted four Coots so there was no possibility of seeing the Red-knobbed Coot again. There were a few birds on the lake at the North end but where the big Coot flock was, I don't know. On a beautifully still morning, slight movements of the reeds enabled us to see one Little Bittern and several Swamphens emerged also. Below the hide were several female Black-headed Weavers, making another addition to my winter list here. A smart male Shoveler was one of the few wildfowl showing on the lake.
Yesterday we dodged a few black clouds along the way, picking various locations towards Sagres for a great day's birding. We met with Chris and Sue at Boco do Rio, keeping to the marshes on the lookout for small birds. It turned out to be rather quiet and we moved on to Cabranosa. Here we had lunch together and also a final meet with the raptor counters who are completing the annual raptor migration work. Moving on to the lagoon at Martinhal, we found a number of gulls flying in to the lagoon for a bathe and preen. Among the Yellow-legged Gulls were four Audouin's Gulls which I had not previously seen here. One of the Audouin's was clearly an adult with a distinct red bill. The remaining birds were not yet adult, with bills a more yellow/orange colour. I always find Audouin's Gulls are very smart looking gulls. I have never seen a scruffy or poor condition Audouin's ever! The lagoon edge had a number of White Wagtails around and a Grey Wagtail dropped in here also. We walked the beach, almost stumbling over six Kentish Plovers which were resting in small depressions in the sand, making them easy to miss. The Kentish Plovers in flight. On the rocks we found a few Turnstones and, at least two possibly three Purple Sandpipers on the outer rocks. This bay is frequented by Shags as well as Cormorants. We were lucky to see one close by, preening continuously. A Whimbrel and two Ringed Plovers were also along the rocks during our visit.
Early in the week, a visit to Salgados revealed the water was continuing to run into the sea, albeit very slowly. There is barely any water left in the lagoon, other than a mid-channel. Whilst some wading birds such as the flamingos have moved on, the small waders are doing well. It was noticeable that species such as Sanderling and Turnstone, normally found on the seashore, were taking advantage of the large swathes of mud. An interesting visitor was this winter plumaged Ruff. A Caspian Tern, often seen here, was resting with gulls near the bridge. There were many gulls preening and resting on the mud banks including Yellow-legged, Lesser Black-backed, Black-headed and good numbers of Mediterranean Gulls. This 1st winter Greater Black-backed Gull towered over the Yellow-legged Gulls which are normally the largest gull here. With very little human activity on the boardwalk, we were able to see Bluethroats working along the saltmarsh, close to us. Yesterday we went around to Alvor marsh (Praia d'Rocha) and along the approach road was an Osprey. He had clearly made a 'catch' and was about to start feeding on a freshly caught fish. Repair work is underway to plug the breaches in the estuary wall where the incoming tide has been flooding this area for over a year now. I have no doubt this work needs to be done as, not only does the road become covered in water but it also runs into nearby private land. When I first saw the effects of this flooding, I could see the vegetation was beginning to die down and the area looked really messy. At the back of my mind, I thought nature would have a solution and it would simply become a different habitat and not the devastation it looked at first. On our visit today, I found large areas where the vegetation has gone completely, leaving either shallow pools or large areas of mud. These pools were frequented by all the wader species normally seen here and the birds were actively feeding. Whilst saltmarsh is a valuable habitat for roosting waders, I can't help but think the way this ground is re-forming, it could be very beneficial to water birds. Compare this to the huge saltmarsh at Abicada where, apart from a few resting herons, there is very little going on (in my opinion), with all birds being on the estuary edges. Water Pipit on one of the new bare areas. On the estuary above Alvor harbour, a flock of 40 Cormorants had been driving fish into the shallower water. Here they were joined by Little Egrets, 2 Spoonbills and even Sandwich Terns, all joining in a sudden feeding session.
This is one of our local walks and today, I was following up a belated report of a possible Pallid Harrier seen here. Marsh harriers frequent this area, both a male and a female were seen along with a Common Buzzard. The usual array of waders were on the mudflats, with Redshank, Greenshank, Kentish and Grey Plovers being seen from the paths. As we were setting off, I met with Guillaume returning from the same walk and he told me of some Stone Curlews out on the marsh. Each year I see the occasional Stone Curlew so I was keen to have a look in the direction Guillaume had indicated. I was nearing the approximate location when the male Marsh Harrier disturbed eight Stone Curlews, causing them to separate and drop into long grass. I found a few of them after a short search. Not the easiest bird to make out on the ground, but I did have some further views of single birds in flight which was excellent. On the same area of marsh but a long way off, I noticed an adult Peregrine with its prey on a long mud bank. Another Peregrine, this time a juvenile, was flying over the large lagoon. An Osprey was here too, going about its fishing when the young Peregrine decided to annoy the Osprey. The Osprey soon had enough of the Peregrine's wild antics! An enjoyable walk in this wild territory, that was until we returned to the dam where Ellie was seen to be chewing something. A spot frequented by local fishermen, I soon noticed fishing line hanging from Ellie's mouth and a quick look revealed she had swallowed some bait, hook and line. A quick trip to the vets ensued, where Ellie was given anaesthetic, an x-ray and an endoscopy. The skill of the vet avoided the need for surgery and a substantial hook was retrieved from Ellie's stomach. After three hours, Ellie was recovering and we were a few hundred Euros worse off, all due to a careless fisherman. Ellie resting today.
Since our last couple of visits when the water level was very high, today we found an extremely low level with water still flowing out to the sea. The huge areas of mud made the lagoon look much more productive, with birds feeding everywhere. Above shows a small part where Lapwing (75+), Black-tailed Godwit, Redshank, Greenshank, Sanderling, Turnstone, Dunlin, Avocet and Black-winged Stilt were all found. Before we look at other birds seen, a most interesting individual was found mid-afternoon, on the upper lagoon. At first glance, a Coot, but then what appeared to be a neck collar was seen - black plastic with white lettering on it 1JN. My thought then was, a Red-knobbed Coot having seen such collars on these birds in Mallorca. Even at long range, we felt the bill colour was more greyish, as in red-knobbed. It wasn't until I was going through my images that, the bird appears to show a pointed black wedge (on both sides of head) in front of the eye - diagnostic of an ordinary Coot! Despite looking at many images of red-knobbed coots, I haven't seen any such prominent markings as on this individual. Additionally, even at greatest computer magnification, there is no sign of any red knobs!! The 'collar' I believe originates from the ringers at Coto Donana, in Spain. I'll be dropping them an email to let them know of this individual at Salgados. Other features of a Red-knobbed Coot would be a flatter back, but that didn't appear very conclusive on a 'paddling' bird. For the moment I'm not sure on the true i.d. of this Coot. Perhaps its age when known, may give a better idea. It turns out that there is a ringing scheme for the European Coot also at Coto Donana. This is one of their birds. A couple of colourful characters of more dubious origin, are the two Muscovy Ducks which seem at home near the viewing screen. At the Eastern end of the lagoon, the shallow water put all the Little Grebes into a feeding group. By the bridge where a normally large expanse of water is found, the gulls rested on the mud. This Mediterranean Gull was among the Black-headed Gulls. I finally added a single Audouin's Gull to my winter list, long overdue with the lockdowns! A nice Bluethroat boosted our species count to around 65 on a really interesting day. While confined to our municipality the other day, I came across a property (fenced) containing not only an Egyptian Goose, but also two smart Barnacle Geese, looking very out of place in the Algarve!!! |
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