As my winter stay in the Algarve draws to a close this week, what better way to end than with another rare record. A 1st winter Iceland Gull is presently on the fish quay at Portimao. One was photographed further East at Tavira yesterday and is still present by the old bridge in the town. It's interesting that these 'white-wingers' appear in February at the earliest , taking some time to reach these more southern latitudes. I arrived early this morning and found the Iceland Gull searching for food on bare ground close to other roosting gulls. It looks rather worn and keeps its head low nearly all the time. It did drink a fair amount of fresh water from a puddle and appeared to be finding odd fish scraps to eat, so hopefully it's going to feed up and rest. This becomes the 260th species I have seen in the Algarve and along with Glaucous Gull, is another rare 'Northern' gull record. Update on the 8th March - this bird and the one at Tavira are still present. The Portimao gull is looking better today, according to a friend's report.
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