The lighthouse area at Cape St. Vincent was my starting point, and with a Northerly wind blowing from Iceland I wasn't going to be there for long! Another look for the Alpine Accentors rewarded me with two out of the four, believed to be present here at the moment. I found them on the North facing slope, feeding busily and blending in extremely well with their new surroundings. Each winter, a small number of these smart little accentors make their way down from the mountains in the North and frequent the cliffs at the Cape. Over Sagres town, 6 juvenile Short-toed Eagles arrived looking lost and, after circling out over the sea for a while, they departed in an Easterly direction. A Goshawk was seen briefly over a nearby wood. On my drive down, I had passed 11 individual Common Buzzards perched on the roadsides. This one flew over Cabranosa with full sun on the underparts. Two Red-rumped Swallows through Cabranosa were fairly late birds. Good numbers of Ring Ouzels and the occasional Redwing are here now. Later, at Boca do Rio I was still searching for Jack Snipe and Water Pipit with little success. There was practically no change from my last visit, with 2 Ring Ouzels, many Meadow Pipits and the stunning male Black Redstart of Southern Europe race. I came across 8 Common Snipe, 2 Greenshank, 3 Common Sandpiper and 4 Black-winged Stilts. Interesting colouration on this young Stilt's wings in the sunlight.
Chiffchaffs are everywhere, taking insects from the water surface. Comments are closed.
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