Travelling from Portimao towards Monchique, a colony of breeding White Storks live on either side of the road at Rasmalho. While they don't take to being approached on foot, they can be seen easily from the car (off the road) and are busy displaying at this time of year. Many of these birds visit the landfill site near Silves which accounts for some unusual colours in plumage at times. Very occasionally, an unwanted visitor may arrives at this colony in the form of juvenile Griffon Vultures. This week, one such individual has come to Rasmalho and finds a White Stork nest most suitable to perch on, even if it means despatching the owners for a while. A Griffon is a huge bird but appears dwarfed when standing on the massive structure built by the White Storks. This juvenile hasn't mastered the 'booby trap' sticks left by the owners! The Griffon took flight a number of times, selecting other Stork nests to use as look-out points. The Griffon among several other White Stork nests.
It is exactly four years ago tomorrow (blog entry 22/2/2019) that I and many others enjoyed watching two long staying Griffon Vultures. Also notable here this afternoon was a flock of seven Red Kites. These birds arrived from the direction of the landfill site, flew at considerable height for a while before returning the same way. Perhaps these birds are feeding there also which would be quite typical for kite species. Comments are closed.
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