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. Comments are closed.
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