In the past, visits to Castro Verde in the Alentejo have been all too brief. Always a day trip from somewhere on the Algarve coast and under a time constraint in which to find and enjoy the desired bird species. In such a vast area, there is no guarantee that you are going to see any of the rarer species and perhaps the worst thing you can do, is to start rushing from here to there. After talking with Chris and Sue, we hatched a plan to stay two nights in Castro Verde and really put some time in, with more pairs of eyes! We travel from different parts of the Algarve so while waiting to rendezvous with Chris and Sue, a visit to the local Long-eared Owls in their daytime roost revealed three owls. Our meeting point was the lake at Horta da Nora on the Casevel road from Castro Verde. Many of the more common species were accounted for quite quickly, for example the Grey Heron, Spoonbill, White Stork and Little Egret. Waterside birds were made up of Common Sandpiper, Lapwing, Black-winged Stilt and Snipe. A single adult Lesser Black-backed Gull was more unusual, though the star bird here was undoubtedly a fine adult Black Stork. Photographing it into the sunlight was not very effective, but we will return to this bird later as we found it the following morning on another lake. We took in the first few Alentejo birds such as the Carrion Crows, numerous Red Kites and Iberian Grey Shrikes. Thirty five species were attained at this site alone. From Horta da Nora we travelled the short distance to the LPN Educational Centre. In a few months time, both Lesser Kestrel and Roller can be found here. We were aware of this but also know other great species can be found here. Before even setting off to search, 13 Little Bustards flew across the landscape at some distance. Walking one of the permissible tracks added another 16 species to our rapidly expanding lists. Lapwing flocks contain large numbers of birds at this time of year. Often associated with them are the Golden Plovers, shining brilliantly in the sunlight. Jackdaws are plentiful around the old buildings, our first Ravens were seen and a female Marsh Harrier flew over the Reserve. More and more circling Red Kites drew our attention to three large raptors high above us. One was soon established as a juvenile Spanish Imperial Eagle, the other two were much darker birds. These two Golden Eagles stayed for a while, circling high up and not giving much away, as to their age. As these eagles departed, we watched more kites, both Red and Black-winged. The Marsh Harrier showed up again and Common Buzzards showed occasionally. The sky was becoming alive in the warm afternoon, 'crowned' by the re-appearance of the Little Bustards giving brilliant views as they circled the fields more than once. We made our way slowly back to Castro Verde where Chris and Sue caught up with the Long-eared Owls - taking in more sightings along the roads. Iberian Grey Shrike. We had seen two of Portugal's rarest eagles and for me, my first opportunity to look at Little Bustards in flight.
An excellent first day and tomorrow we will be at more locations around Castro Verde. Comments are closed.
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