Squacco Heron & Little Bitterns

A Squacco Heron was an unexpected find yesterday here in the Algarve.  It was on a small pond by the entrance to the Pinheiros Altos Golf Resort.  Squacco Herons are rare breeding birds in Portugal so seeing one at this time of the year is quite unusual.  We do recall also seeing one in May last year, but all of our other records have come in the months October to March.

Nearby at Quinta do Lago, we watched three juvenile Little Bitterns doing not very much!  Their male parent appeared to bring food on one occasion but otherwise seems to be leaving them to fend for themselves.  He presumably thinks it’s time they were independent.

Elsewhere, the day’s highlights included Collared Pratincoles, Caspian Terns, a Black Tern, Slender-billed Gulls and Audouin’s Gulls but the weather was windy and quite cool and not what we came here for!