A change of scene today with a short drive West to Boco do Rio. I haven't been here for a couple of months and there was certainly plenty of water lying in the fields now, which is quite typical of Winter. It was the tree covered hillsides in close proximity which brought me here - in search of Ring Ouzels. They seem to like this place and, with the water being reasonably 'fresh', are sometimes seen drinking at the water's edge. It wasn't long before I heard the 'chatter' of at least one Ring Ouzel in the bushes. Close to where I took the above photo from the roadside, I watched six Ouzels fly across the wetland in the space of half a minute. At least four of the birds were definitely males with one certain female too. A couple of the males were 'alpestris' race which is the Southern Europe race, showing much more scaly underparts and back too, giving the entire bird a paler appearance than those seen in Northern Europe eg the UK. Waders were in short supply in spite of all the shallow water. I didn't put up one Snipe and waders comprised two Common Sandpipers and two Black-winged Stilts. What did surprise me this morning was my first sighting of a Great White Egret at Boco do Rio. It spent most of the morning preening and remained in one position with several Little Egrets and Cormorants. The Great White Egret left in the early afternoon. A few pipits were moving around the fields though all appeared to be Meadow Pipits on this visit. Rather nice looking ones though! There were many other birds around here today from common warblers, Song Thrushes, Stonechats and White Wagtails.
30 Mallard were on the wetland and 2 Common Buzzard, a Sparrowhawk and Raven flew over. Many Crag Martins were flying for most of the morning, with a single House Martin among them. Comments are closed.
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