A trip to the South-western tip today to see if any remaining raptors from the Autumn migration were passing through. On arriving at the cliffs, the numbers of Crag Martins were in the hundreds as they winter on the Algarve coast. The cliff tops had many Stonechats and a couple of smart male Black Redstarts were seen, along with Crested Larks, Pied Wagtails and Meadow Pipits. Before long, the usual Kestrels and a Peregrine were in the air, a small greyish falcon flew past me at lightning speed and disappeared as quickly. Two Booted Eagles appeared and spent most of the morning hunting around the Sagres area. After a little wait, three eagles were seen flying together to the East of us. Eventually one turned more in our direction and confirmed them to be Short-toed Eagles. Small migrants seen included a Redstart and a Whinchat, two Song Thrushes flew about and Chiffchaffs and Blackcaps were everywhere.
Three Choughs called noisily and are always good to see at Cape St. Vincent. There was no more movement of raptors during our stay, but as is often the case when driving back, a possible Bonelli's Eagle flew parallel to the road over tree tops and, an Osprey was at the North end of Alvor Marsh. Comments are closed.
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