A very pleasant day at Salgados and a very social one too, meeting with at least three groups of birding friends I haven't seen for a while. A check on the 2nd year Ring-billed Gull revealed it on the beach this morning, with its usual entourage of Black-headed Gulls. As bits of food were hurled from the bridge by passing visitors, the Ring-billed Gull flew onto the lagoon where it is normally found and tried out an apple core, for a change! One of the Black-headed Gull flock appeared to have adopted for summer plumage already. The spring tide had washed over into the lagoon, making for very high water levels. This Cattle Egret was looking for food by climbing over the reeds and bushes. The high water was pushing Bluethroats out of the reeds, with a female showing nicely here, having just eaten a caterpillar. Around the viewing screen area, the flamingos were quite close today with some brightly coloured individuals. I heard a single 'wheeze' from a Penduline Tit in the tamarisks but didn't find it. We had more luck when two cracking male Spanish Sparrows flew into a nearby bush. It's not always obvious that sparrows have a summer and winter plumage. These two are winter plumaged as, the crown which is slightly spreckly, will turn a rich chestnut colour in summer. Also, these males have a small black bib which will get larger and merge into the streaked breast markings. Even in winter plumage, a very colourful bird. A few metres away from this bush, a single Glossy Ibis flew in revealing its multi-coloured feathering which shows really well in bright sunlight. The high water level was unsuitable for waders with only Golden Plovers accompanying some Lapwings managing to find space on one of the islands.
The lagoons were more suited to the wildfowl with Mallard, Shoveler, Teal, Gadwall and a count of 26 Pintail on the lagoon. Comments are closed.
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