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. Comments are closed.
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