Yesterday's early start at Atalaia was very uneventful, with an almost total clearout of migrants. It was left to the resident Choughs, Kestrels and Thekla's Larks to provide the sightings and, this Peregrine circled the headland as it does most mornings. Back at the apartment it was a slightly different story. I stepped outside to look for the local Booted Eagle and found this Black Kite had made an early appearance. As I was writing that one up, the kite was followed by this incredibly low pass, made by an Egyptian Vulture. This is quite an unusual record, in that this vulture is within the sub-adult range and must therefore be around two to three years old. Normally around Sagres, the Egyptian Vultures seen are all dark juveniles so, the reason for this vultures appearance is quite unclear. The nearest image I can find in 'Helm's Identification of European Raptors' would show this bird to be in its third year, as the bill has turned yellow and the juvenile brown colouration is all but gone. At Cabranosa, many of the juvenile Honey Buzzards had not left during the North winds and some were in the air early on. It was great to see Chris and Sue together with Brian and Pam back here yesterday - members of the Cabranosa Crew, as we call ourselves and all keen to get stuck in to the analysis of what was going on in the skies above us. For those who were out yesterday, the fresh wind kept the raptors at low level, barely over the tree tops at times. This gave us the best possible views, particularly of the many Booted Eagles fighting against the wind. With small birds in short supply, a brief visit by a juvenile Woodchat Shrike to Carl's pond, made a welcome sighting. After lunch, a few new birds appeared including a Black Kite and a number of Short-toed Eagles. Short-toed Eagle 'head on'. This morning at Cabranosa with a light East to South-East wind now, some of the recent Honey Buzzards were moving out and with them, the Booted Eagles also. By late morning, what appeared to be fresh birds were arriving. I don't have the totals but there were many more Short-toed Eagles and Booted Eagles. A Peregrine was seen and a good number of Sparrowhawks too. I was watching a group of four Booted Eagles which had at least three Sparrowhawks with them, when I noticed the largest hawk was, in fact a juvenile Goshawk. This could be told by the vertical barring on the chest, as opposed to horizontal, in Sparrowhawk. On the ground, I had the impression there were a few more birds coming in. A nice male Cirl Bunting was in the trees near the pond. A walk over the mound led me to hear what I thought was an Iberian Chiffchaff calling - 'see-u'. I found two birds calling to each other making them my first 'definites' this year. More greenish upperparts than Chiffchaff. Yellow supercilium leads in front of the eye - happy with that!
*** Late News - Visited Martinhal late this afternoon. The sea has come over the beach and made a large, sand-edged lagoon extending into a wet marsh area. Looks good for a few waders soon. *** Comments are closed.
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