Jupiter Birding

Projecto Arenaria 2011/12

2012-01-28T21:41:00.006Z

Projecto Arenaria (the ‘Turnstone Project’) is a survey of non-estuarine coastal birds here in Portugal that is similar to the Winter Shorebird Count carried out in the UK in 1984/85 by the British Trust for Ornithology. Living at the time in Staffordshire, about as far from the coast as you can be in the UK, Peter was an unlikely volunteer to participate in that survey but that’s what happened with round trips of 300 miles being made to count shorebirds along the coast of North Wales. Madness!

Arenaria began in 2009/10 so this is its third year. Counts have to be made between 1st December and 31st January, a period for most of which we were away in Ethiopia, the UK and the USA, so we weren’t expecting to take part this time. However, we returned last Tuesday to find that there was a stretch of coast not too far away that still hadn’t been surveyed.

Lesser Black-backed Gull

So this morning we walked along the beach from Praia Verde to Cacela Velha and back. It was another beautiful morning with a clear blue sky and temperatures that at times exceeded the forecast 16°C. A three-hour walk in the sun was exactly what we needed! As part of the survey, we counted not just the birds but also the people and any dogs that weren’t on a leash and as it was Saturday there were plenty of both.

By far and away the most numerous bird species was Lesser Black-backed Gull totalling just over 500. There were only a handful of Yellow-legged Gulls and a single Slender-billed. A few Sandwich Terns flew by, Northern Gannets were diving off-shore and just off the beach there was a single Razorbill. Waders were represented only by Kentish Plovers and Sanderlings and there were few of either.

Slender-billed Gull

Sanderling

Single Spoonbill and Cormorant flew over but probably the only real surprise was when a flock of 22 Common Pochards passed over, heading east to and from who knows where.

Will our data be of any use to anyone? Well, of course we hope so but more importantly we enjoyed collecting it and what’s more we didn’t have to drive 300 miles to do it!

Snow Buntings

2012-01-26T21:26:00.011Z

When we received an email on 6th January telling us that three Snow Buntings (Plectrophenax nivalis) had been found on the beach near Vila Real de Santo António in the south-east corner of the Algarve, we were still enjoying ourselves in Arizona!

Snow Bunting is a rare species in the Algarve, particularly so at this eastern end of the coast. So, although we were having a great time in the USA, it was just a little bit disappointing not to be able to go and look for them.

Still, we did put a trip to VRSA high on our list of things to do once we were back here in Portugal, hoping that the birds might just end up being long-stayers. Today that trip reached the top of our list and on a beautiful, bright and sunny morning we headed for the beach.

The report had been of an adult and two 1st-winter birds and within just a few minutes of our arrival we easily located the two 1st-winter individuals feeding along the tide line. From their differing plumage, we took them to be a male and a female. We can claim no great expertise in the identification of Snow Buntings down to subspecies but it has already been suggested that they are birds of the nominate race, nivalis, and we could find no reason to disagree with that. Wherever they are from, they are a long way further south than their normal wintering grounds.

The beach looking towards Monte Gordo.

We stayed and watched them for about an hour and a half during which time they fed more or less continuously and didn't seem at all bothered by our presence. At one point, one of them actually approached to within a couple of metres of June. Unfortunately, at no time was there any sign of the adult bird.

Let's hope the two of them stay around for others to enjoy.

Back in the Algarve

2012-01-24T18:14:00.006Z

It was still dark when we set out this morning. It was about as warm as you might expect it to be in the UK in January and it was raining. In short, we didn't need any persuading to be heading for Portugal.

We arrived at Faro airport on yet another on-time Ryanair flight at about 2.00pm; by 4.00pm we were in Tavira and another half an hour had us unpacked. Having stood for two months the car needed a bit of encouragement before it burst into life but by 5.00pm we were down the road watching four Short-eared Owls flying over the saltpans. We were supposed to be shopping for essential supplies but it's easy to get distracted even on such a short journey! A couple of House Martins were the only other birds of note seen before we reluctantly accepted the need for just a short visit to the Minipreço, our local supermarket.

Short-eared Owl - one of last winter's images that we hope to improve on during the coming days.

Doubtless there will have to more serious shopping tomorrow...but also more serious birding!

Arizona

2012-01-22T14:26:00.018Z

After our few days birding in California we moved just a short distance east and spent more than two weeks in Arizona.

Arizona is the sixth largest of the United States behind Alaska, Texas, California, Montana and New Mexico and covers an area of 295,254 square kilometres. That makes it substantially bigger than the UK but with a population of only 6½ million people! In terms of the number of bird species recorded, it ranks third, behind only California and Texas, two states that have the obvious advantage of a coast line providing lots of seabirds and shorebirds.

We restricted ourselves to the southern portion of the state where we visited many of the well known birding sites that are familiar to us from multiple previous visits (this was Peter’s 19th time in Arizona). Some of this was part of an Avian Adventures tour but we spent a week on our own after the tour which included a few days spent with friends in Tucson when we even had some time off from birding.

Without doubt, Tucson is one of our favourite cities, not least because of its location close to such good birding areas. Sweetwater Wetlands, a wastewater treatment facility on the edge of the city is just the sort of place you would like to have on your doorstep. The nearby Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum is another must-visit attraction and then there are the Santa Catalina Mountains, notably Mt Lemmon. The city itself has several small parks that regularly turn up interesting birds and within easy reach there are countless other places to find birds.

Ruddy Duck - common on most lakes and not causing any problems!

Yellow-rumped Warbler - birds of the Audubon's variety were common.

There was plenty of snow left on Mt Lemmon.

In winter, the Sulphur Springs Valley, located between the towns of Willcox and Douglas is a great place to be birding. It’s a huge area and we made a couple of trips down there. It’s famous for its raptors and Sandhill Cranes. More than 16,000 Sandhill Cranes were counted while we were there – quite a spectacle!

Thousands of Sandhill Cranes

Red-tailed Hawk in its natural habitat, a power pole.

The San Rafael Valley is another area that is probably best in winter. The attractions here are again birds of prey but also sparrows, lots of sparrows and longspurs. It’s an area of extensive grassland with limited access but where a surprising number and variety of birds can be seen from the narrow road. We looked hard for Baird’s Sparrows but without success on this occasion. As it was, Chestnut-collared Longspur was probably our highlight here.

Horned Lark - a regular species in grassland areas.

The San Rafael grasslands are best approached from the small town of Patagonia where Patons’ Birders Haven is always on the itinerary. Wally and Marion Paton unfortunately passed away some time ago but for the past couple of years the feeders in their yard have been maintained by Michael Marsden and have continued to attract birds all year round.

Another must-visit site in this area is Patagonia Lake State Park. Always trying to avoid the crowds that result from its recreational uses, particularly at weekends, we always expect to see a few species that we don’t find elsewhere. In the past we have seen a wintering Elegant Trogon here and we were fortunate this time to find what may well be the same bird somehow making a living along the Sonoita Creek that feeds the lake from its eastern end. This was probably the bird of the trip for the Avian Adventures group.

The swellegant, Elegant Trogon.

We also spent a couple of nights in the Chiricahua Mountains in the extreme south-east of the state, even crossing briefly into New Mexico. Everyone we’ve ever taken to Arizona has loved the ‘towns’ of Portal and Paradise and nearby Cave Creek Canyon and although they're not at their best in winter we couldn’t resist going for a rare chance to be there on our own.

White-breasted Nuthatch - this one at the George Walker House in Paradise.

Out to the west of Gila Bend we had a good look at part of the 68,000-acre Paloma Ranch where we found a remarkable number of Burrowing Owls as well as plenty of Mountain Bluebirds, Western Meadowlarks, American Pipits, Horned Larks and a variety of sparrows. These and flocks of Red-winged Blackbirds and doves at the cattle feedlots were a ready food supply for the Northern Harriers, Red-tailed Hawks, Ferruginous Hawk and Merlin that we saw but it was less clear what an Osprey was doing there.

Burrowing Owl - always a favourite.

We also took a look at Madera Canyon and Florida Canyon (now a regular site for Rufous-capped Warblers); we had a walk along the San Pedro River and puzzled over empidonax flycatchers; we took a drive out to the famous ‘Thrasher Spot’ near Buckeye where we managed to see Sage and Bendire’s Thrashers as well as the main feature, Le Conte’s Thrasher; in the Community Park at Anthem (north of Phoenix and the furthest north we went), we were successful in finding the long-staying Rufous-backed Robin, one of several of this species present in Arizona this winter. Unfortunately, on a Saturday afternoon when the park was, to say the least, rather crowded with people, we failed to locate a Rusty Blackbird that has also been a long-stayer there.

Sage Sparrow - a sideshow when looking for Le Conte's Thrasher and much easier to photograph.

Rufous-backed Robin - braving the crowds at Anthem.

The Santa Cruz Flats, west of I-10 was where we went to find what we regard as one of the must-see species of a winter trip to Arizona – Mountain Plover. We managed to find a few and, in fact went back for a second look on our last morning before heading for the airport. We do like our plovers and sandpipers! Crested Caracaras were also notable birds in an area where, as in several places we went, the cultivation of cotton seems to have taken over, probably to the detriment of wintering bird populations.

Not snow, but cotton.

Eastern (Lilian's) Meadowlark

Vermilion Flycatcher - this one out on the Santa Cruz Flats.

All in all it was a great trip – great birding, beautiful weather and good company! What’s not to like about Arizona?

Salton Sea

2012-01-17T15:45:00.021Z

Leaving behind the scenic California coast we headed east for a two-night stay in Brawley, situated near the southern end of the Salton Sea. Shortly before we reached Brawley we saw our first of many Greater Roadrunners and Burrowing Owls and also one of the least expected birds of the tour, a Zone-tailed Hawk.

Burrowing Owl – a close relation of the Little Owl, familiar to us in Europe.

The 35-mile long Salton Sea is the largest lake in California that owes its existence to an irrigation scheme started at the end of the 19th Century. In 1905, when heavy rainfall and snowmelt caused the Colorado River to swell and breach an Imperial Valley dike it took nearly two years to control the river’s flow into the formerly dry Salton Sink and stop the flooding. The sudden influx of water and the lack of drainage from the basin resulted in the formation of the Salton Sea. It became a desert oasis and a thriving tourist attraction but by the 1970s, as the sea grew heavy with salt, sewage and agricultural chemicals, disease outbreaks began to kill birds and fish and tourists stopped coming.

Cleaning up the lake became one of the issues championed by Sonny Bono during his two terms in Congress (1995-98). Who would have thought back in the 1960s when he was a successful singer, songwriter and actor, that following his premature death he would have a National Wildlife Refuge named after him as a result of his efforts to reverse the environmental problems of the Salton Sea?

Eared or Black-necked Grebe

Black-crowned Night Heron

Least Sandpiper

Great Egret

American White Pelicans

Western Sandpiper

The Salton Sea continues to be an outstanding location for birds and birders. Situated within the Pacific Flyway it provides important habitat for migrating and wintering birds. We had only a short time there but managed to see an excellent variety of shorebirds and wildfowl. As so often, it was large numbers of birds that impressed most – thousands of Snow and Ross’s Geese, Sandhill Cranes and White-faced Ibises.

We were to see many more Sandhill Cranes in Arizona…

Coastal Southern California

2012-01-16T15:47:00.012Z

We’re just back from the USA, a trip that included a two-week Avian Adventures tour in California and Arizona. This was followed by a week on our own in Arizona with just a brief excursion into New Mexico. Almost throughout our stay we enjoyed clear blue skies and most days the temperature rose to at least 21º C. Early mornings were sometimes cold but we always knew that it would soon warm up.

We flew to Los Angeles and spent our first night in Newport Beach, about 45 miles to the south. Birding began the following morning (Christmas Eve) on the hotel car park where Western Bluebirds, Orange-crowned Warbler, Anna’s Hummingbird and Black Phoebe were very confiding and threatened to delay our departure. However, we were soon on our way to Upper Newport Bay where our visit coincided with one of the year’s highest tides and ideal conditions to see the area’s most notable bird, the “Light-footed” Clapper Rail. Not only did we see several of this restricted range subspecies but also Soras, a Virginia Rail and two American Bitterns, all of them forced out of the cordgrass by the rising water. It was an ideal place to start the tour and in no time at all we had seen 40 or more species – ducks, shorebirds, pelicans, raptors and more local specialities in the form of California Gnatcatcher and the beldingi subspecies of Savannah Sparrow.

Black-necked Stilt with dragonfly

Later, we spent some time at the nearby San Joaquin Wildlife Sanctuary, an area of freshwater ponds that boasts 11 miles of nature trails. Here we had good close views of a variety of common ducks and shorebirds and saw our first Vermilion Flycatcher, always a crowd-pleaser. From there we headed to Dana Point where sadly we arrived a day too late to see the Masked Booby that had been hanging out there throughout the previous week. Those in our group who hadn’t previously seen one were just as impressed by a Pacific Loon.

Pacific Loon

Christmas Day was spent birding around San Diego, including the South Bay area, Tijuana Slough National Wildlife Refuge and along Monument Road that leads to Border Field State Park. The South Bay area in particular was full of birds and again we were fortunate to have a high tide to push the hundreds of shorebirds into close view. Tijuana Slough provided the Little Blue Heron that we had hoped for, not a very common species in California, but along Monument Road, in fading light, we were frustrated in our attempts to see the many Wrentits that could be heard singing from the brushy hillside. Perhaps not surprisingly, it was here within sight of the border ‘fence’ that we had our first encounter with the US Border Patrol.

US Navy ship in the South Bay with rafts of ducks, mainly Redheads and Lesser Scaup.

Willet - the western race inornata.

Little Blue Heron

Before leaving the coast we spent a most enjoyable morning at La Jolla, an attractive little town just north of San Diego where we were able to get up close to Harbour Seals, Brown Pelicans, Brandt’s Cormorants, Heermann’s, Western and Ring-billed Gulls and Royal Terns. More distant were Western Grebes on the sea and Black-vented Shearwaters flying over it. Shorebirds included Black Turnstones, Hudsonian Whimbrel and Willets. We might have hoped for more but on a beautiful, warm and sunny morning in such a scenic area, no one was complaining!

Brown Pelican

Royal Tern

Harbour Seal - looking a bit puzzled!

Next, the Salton Sea…

Ethiopia - Part 5

2011-12-21T15:06:00.012Z

The Awash region was undoubtedly among the most productive and enjoyable parts of Ethiopia that we visited. We stayed at Awash Falls Lodge, located within Awash National Park and at Bilen Lodge in the arid Afar country to the north-east.

An impressive variety of birds included the huge Somali Ostrich, the tiny Ashy Cisticola, the striking Rosy-patched Bush-shrike, the endemic Sombre Rock Chat, Harlequin Quail, Heuglin's Courser, Gillett's Lark and Eastern Grey Plantain-eater.

We saw more mammals here than anywhere else in the country, amongst them Grevy's Zebra, Soemmering’s Gazelle, Beisa Oryx, Gerenuk, Lesser Kudu and Salt’s Dikdik.

Pallid Harriers were seen commonly in a variety of habitats and finally one posed for a photograph! This is a species undergoing a steep population decline in Europe mainly as a result of the destruction and degradation of steppe grasslands through conversion to arable agriculture.

Lichtenstein's Sandgrouse - very confiding birds seen at Bilen Lodge. We also saw plenty of Chestnut-bellied Sandgrouse.

Awash Falls - a more impressive sight than we expected.

Arabian Bustard - we also saw Buff-crested, Kori and White-bellied Bustards in this area.

Northern White-faced Owl - we saw six owl species in all, a dozen individual birds.

Secretarybird - its common name is popularly thought to refer to the crest of long quill-like feathers, lending the bird the appearance of a secretary with quill pens tucked behind his or her ear. More recently it has been suggested that "secretary" is derived from a French corruption of the Arabic saqr-et-tair or "hunter-bird." Whatever, it's a pretty strange bird!

Hooded Vulture - seen around most towns and villages and attracted to garbage everywhere!

We have another tour in Ethiopia planned for December 2012 with a slightly modified itinerary. Details are on the Avian Adventures website.

Ethiopia - Part 4

2011-12-21T11:48:00.012Z

The Bale Mountains form a spectacular mountain range rising to more than 4,300 metres that are home to many of Ethiopia's endemic birds and mammals. It was a part of the country that we had particularly been looking forward to visiting.

It was unfortunate then that low cloud and rain were the main features of our time in the mountains! Although we did manage to see most of the key species, including an Ethiopian Wolf, the world's most endangered canid, opportunities for photography were very limited.

Rouget's Rail - endemic to Ethiopia and Eritrea and listed as 'Near Threatened' by BirdLife International. Habitat loss resulting from the ever-growing human population seems to be the main problem.

Abyssinian Owl - formerly treated as conspecific with Long-eared Owl. This very obliging bird was one of the highlights of the tour.

The Sanetti Plateau where Giant Lobelias are a feature of a remarkable Afro-alpine moorland landscape.

Mountain Nyala - its range is now restricted to the Bale Mountains.

The Sanetti Plateau supports the only know sub-Saharan breeding populations of three Palearctic species: Red-billed Chough, Golden Eagle and Ruddy Shelduck.

Abyssinian Ground Thrush - a secretive, ground-dwelling bird, treated by some authorities as conspecific with the Kivu Ground Thrush that we have seen in Uganda.

Abyssinian Ground-hornbill - a species seen frequently during the tour at lower elevation, this one, a male, was surprisingly in the grounds of our hotel in Goba at the base of the Bale escarpment.

We hope to return to the Bale Mountains one day and to see them bathed in sunshine!

Ethiopia - Part 3

2011-12-19T10:52:00.025Z

South of Addis Ababa the main road passes through the Central Rift Valley and close to a succession of lakes that are of major importance for resident birds and for Palearctic and Afrotropical migrants.

Pied Kingfisher - common around most of the lakes.

Egyptian Geese - seen most days of the tour.

We were able to visit Lakes Cheleleka, Hora, Ziway, Langano and Awassa and made brief stops at others when we were travelling.

Although wetland birds were the main focus, the lakes are surrounded by bird-rich savannas and forest and the diversity of species was impressive.

Fields of vegetables at Lake Cheleleka come as a surprise to the first-time visitor expecting to find Ethiopia a country of famine and drought.

Fishing at Lake Awassa attracts pelicans, cormorants, egrets, gulls and terns.

Roosting Slender-tailed Nightjars were easy to find in the grounds of our hotel at Lake Langano.

One of several Greyish Eagle-Owls that we saw, this one was at Lake Langano.

This much bigger Verreaux's Eagle-Owl and its mate were being mobbed by Fan-tailed Ravens.

Greenshank, one of the many wader species wintering around the lakes.

African Pygmy-geese at Lake Ziway; they are attractive little birds but are they geese or ducks?

Western Reef Egrets are mainly coastal and this one at Lake Hora was the only one we saw. It had us thinking about those apparent hybrids we see around Tavira.

Superb Starling - common and widespread.

Masked Shrike, a species that we had seen before only in Lesvos. We saw 18 species of shrikes, bush-shrikes, boubous, etc in Ethiopia.

Ethiopia - Part 2

2011-12-12T07:24:00.013Z

After arriving in Addis Ababa on an overnight flight from Heathrow we spent most of our first day in Ethiopia travelling north to Debre Libanos. Yellow-billed Kites, Pied Crows and Dusky Turtle Doves were among the first birds seen.

Erlanger's Lark

Our route took us across the Sululta Plain, undulating plateau grassland with frequent opportunities to stop for roadside birding. New and unfamiliar birds appeared one after the other! Many of them such as Wattled Ibis, Thick-billed Raven, Brown-rumped Seedeater and White-collared Pigeon would prove to be common but at this point they were just as exciting as Erlanger’s Lark and Long-billed Pipit which we saw only today. There was disappointment for those who missed seeing a Rüppell’s Robin-Chat, not knowing how many more we were going to see over the next two weeks.

We paused for lunch in the town of Sululta and for some of us this provided an early opportunity to sample the local staple, injera. It has to be said that it wasn’t wildly popular, being likened by those who tried it to foam-rubber carpet underlay! Soon we would get used to scouring menus for ‘safe’ alternatives! Omelette anyone?

Red-breasted Wheatear

By the time we reached the Ethio-German Park Hotel at Debre Libanos we had seen our first Egyptian and White-backed Vultures, Black-winged Lapwings, White-winged Cliff Chat, Pied, Isabelline and Red-breasted Wheatears, Groundscraper Thrush and lots of Moorland Chats.

Groundscraper Thrush

White-winged Cliff Chat

Lammergeier

Rüppell's Griffon

The hotel is wonderfully situated, perched on the cliff top overlooking the Jemma Valley. In no time we were standing outside watching Lammergeier, Rüppell’s Vultures, Tawny Eagle and Fan-tailed Raven soaring at eye level plus a distant Verreaux’s Eagle; Tacazze and Variable Sunbirds were an added distraction.

Tawny Eagle

Gelada

When we started birding the following morning it was cold with a stiff breeze, a reminder that we were at 2,400 metres above sea level. Erckel’s Francolin, Rüppell’s Black Chat, White-billed Starling and Ethiopian Cisticola were just some of our target species that were found quite easily close to the hotel. We also came across a troop of Geladas, grass-grazing primates that look like and are obviously closely related to baboons and which occur only in the Ethiopian highlands.

We had just a one-night stay in Debre Libanos and then returned to Addis. Next we would be heading for the Rift Valley lakes…

Ethiopia - Part 1

2011-12-08T16:11:00.011Z

We’ve just returned from a two-week tour in Ethiopia, a country we’d been wanting to visit for quite some time. We’re pleased to say that it didn’t disappoint - quite the opposite in fact!

Spot-breasted Lapwing

When we’ve mentioned Ethiopia in the past it’s been clear that many people have come to think of it simply as a country of famine, desert and drought. Such is the power of television! The fact is that about half of the country, the central plateau where the vast majority of the people live, is extremely fertile and enjoys quite a pleasant climate that includes plenty of rain. The economy is based largely on agriculture and the country is a major producer and exporter of coffee. There is spectacular scenery with mountains rising to more than 4,000 metres, rivers, gorges, many lakes and a great diversity of habitats for wildlife.

Jemma River Gorge, Debre Libanos

Awash River

Covering more than 1.1 million square kilometres Ethiopia is a big country (more than twice the size of Spain) and during our short visit, even though we probably spent more time than we would have liked travelling, we were able to see only a relatively small part of it.

Most tourists go to Ethiopia to see the many historical sites, the rock-hewn churches, the castles and the monasteries: it goes without saying that we were there for the wildlife, mainly the birds.

Blue-winged Goose - one of the easiest endemics to see

Just how many birds have been recorded in Ethiopia isn’t an easy question to answer. Likewise, it’s difficult to be precise about how many endemic species there are. Research the regular internet websites and you will find a variety of conflicting figures. Partly, of course, these differences result from varying approaches to splitting and lumping, the nightmare that is currently avian taxonomy! The African Bird Club has the total as 816 species and lists 14 as endemic and another 17 as near-endemic.

The latest estimate of the country’s population that we have been able to find is 90.8 million and with 46.3% of those being under the age of 15 years it’s clear that this figure is set to rise steeply. Habitat destruction, overgrazing and deforestation are already very evident and it is difficult to see how the situation can become anything other than considerably worse.

Haile Gebrselassie

The country is famous for producing athletes, mostly long distance runners. Ask most people to name a famous living Ethiopian and the betting is that the name Haile Gebrselassie will be amongst the first to be mentioned. Olympic gold medallist and possibly the greatest distance runner of all time, Haile Gebrselassie is also a highly successful and wealthy businessman and it was remarkable that this national hero was one of the first people we saw when we arrived at Bole International Airport in Addis Ababa. Even more remarkable was that we bumped into him again the next day 100 kilometres further north at Debre Libanos where he was filming a television commercial and we were looking for the endemic Rüppell’s Black Chat. What a nice guy!

Look out for more from our Ethiopian adventure shortly…

On Our Travels...

2011-11-18T16:40:00.012Z

We’re in the UK for a few days, preparing for an Avian Adventures tour in Ethiopia. There were long range forecasts of freezing weather here, so it’s a relief that it’s actually quite mild currently with temperatures up to 12°C. It’s still a bit of a shock to the system, though, for 'southern European softies' like us and we’re definitely hoping for some African sun next week. At the same time, we’re packing plenty of warm clothes for our days in the mountains.

Earlier this week we enjoyed what will be our last day this year of birding and guiding in the Algarve. An excellent day was spent around Ludo, Quinta do Lago, Olhão, Santa Luzia and Tavira recording a total of more than 90 species.

Slender-billed Gull

Highlights included at least 7 Booted Eagles, 2 Black-winged Kites, an Osprey, a Bluethroat, Slender-billed & Audouin’s Gulls, 23 wader species, more than 60 Stone-curlews, 3 Caspian Terns, a Blue Rock Thrush, 3 Black-necked Grebes and, of course, the always popular Purple Swamp-hens. Also notable for us were a Pied Wagtail, a sub-species that isn’t particularly common in the Algarve, and a Spanish colour-ringed Spoonbill that we had seen before in exactly the same place two years ago.

Purple Swamp-hen

Black-tailed Godwit

Although we're obviously looking forward to our travels, it's been a bit of a wrench leaving the Algarve where the birding can be so good at any time of the year and where we really enjoy spending what passes for winter.

Audouin's Gulls

Green Sandpiper

Look out for some photographs from Ethiopia in about three weeks time!

Great Black-backed Gull at Sagres

2011-11-09T09:10:00.007Z

Great Black-backed Gull is quite a scarce species in the Algarve; in 2008, the last year for which an annual report has been published, there were just four records here.

In most years, birds occur between November and February, usually singly; sub-adults predominate. With thousands of large gulls wintering here and relatively few observers, it is probable that a few get overlooked.

The favoured sites are the ‘docapescas’, the fishing docks, at Sages, Portimão, Quarteira and Olhão. This bird found yesterday at Sagres harbour fits the pattern exactly.

Wet in Portugal, Dry in Spain

2011-11-02T21:55:00.011Z

With a freak storm damaging the terminal building at Faro airport and water up to the tops of our wellies in the street outside, there seems little doubt that summer in the Algarve is truly over. Daytime temperatures which only a short while ago were reaching 25ºC are now struggling to reach 18ºC. No matter what the temperature, putting the clocks back an hour seems to be a signal to our Portuguese friends to change into their winter plumage and no doubt we will soon be joining them.

With so much wind and rain, opportunities for birding have been limited but last weekend we did manage a trip across the border into Spain in the hope of finding some birds to photograph in Doñana. Unfortunately, we came away disappointed. We saw plenty of birds and a reasonable variety of species but because the area is still so very dry we weren’t able to get close enough to anything to even think about pointing a camera. In fact most of the birds we saw were concentrated in just three areas: the Cañada de Rianzuela, the Caño del Guadiamar and the Isla Mayor ricefields. Everywhere else was bone dry and birdless.

Maybe we shouldn’t be disappointed by a day that included seeing nine raptor species (including Spanish Imperial Eagle), thousands of ducks (including Marbled Duck that we just don’t see in the Algarve), Cranes, a flock of maybe 1,000 Black-winged Stilts being terrorised by a Peregrine Falcon and Lesser Short-toed Lark (more difficult to see in the Algarve now since the access restrictions at Castro Marim). But the fact is that by the end of October and after a fair amount of rain we were expecting better of ‘Europe’s most important wetland’. The people we saw at the JAV Centre who were taking the official tour in two of those big green Doñana buses had almost certainly seen fewer birds than we had and seemed to be losing interest.

It’s somewhat ironic that earlier in the week we managed to see, during a fairly leisurely day of photography during which we travelled no more than a couple of kilometres from Tavira town centre, more species than we could find in Doñana. And we had an extra two hours in bed! One of the days perhaps we’ll try for 90 species around the town – it might just be possible.

Meanwhile, the rain has definitely improved conditions for photography here, providing pools of fresh water where waders and gulls come to drink and to bathe. All we need then is some sunshine and off we go...

Ruddy Turnstone

Ringed Plover

Curlew Sandpiper

Little Stint

Common Snipe

Black-winged Stilt

Common Sandpiper

Sacred Ibises

2011-10-28T10:29:00.004+01:00

On several occasions this month when we have been in the Ludo/Quinta do Lago area we have seen a group of five Sacred Ibises which seem to have settled there. Possibly they are the same five birds that were reported earlier in the year further west at Paul de Lagos.

There have been regular reports of Sacred Ibises in the Algarve in recent years and records of the species elsewhere in Portugal as long ago as 1998 when a pair may have bred near Coimbra.

Sacred Ibis is a very common bird in sub-Saharan Africa but wild birds are not known to have ever reached Europe, so where then have the current five birds come from?

Sacred Ibises where they're supposed to be - in Africa!

With Sacred Ibises held in zoos and waterfowl collections in most European countries (presumably including Portugal) and established breeding colonies in France, Italy and probably Spain which result from escapes from captivity, there are clearly many possibilities. At least one of the Ludo birds has a ring on its leg which might provide a clue if only we could read it but that really isn’t the issue.

Sacred Ibises are reasonably attractive birds and are still something of a novelty here. Some people might even welcome the possibility that the Algarve might soon have a new breeding bird. Indeed, there might already have been breeding here. There are several precedents for allowing colonisation by non-native species (Common Waxbill, Black-headed Weaver, etc, etc) so why should it matter if we have another one?

Well, in some other parts of the world these birds have become serious pests, particularly as predators in colonies of ground-nesting birds such as terns and waders. In France, Common, Sandwich, Black and Whiskered Terns, Black-winged Stilts and Northern Lapwings have all been seen to lose eggs to Sacred Ibises and, in South Africa, Cape Cormorants have been amongst the victims. This is surely something we would want to avoid happening here – ground-nesting birds in the Ria Formosa already have enough to contend with! Also, Sacred Ibises are competitors for nest sites with Little Egrets and Cattle Egrets.

Sacred Ibises in the Algarve

So, with this in mind and remembering our very costly experience with Ruddy Ducks in the UK, perhaps now, while there are still only a handful of them, would be the time to ‘remove’ them rather than wait until there are hundreds or even thousands to be dealt with as there are now in France.

With good reason, The African-Eurasian Waterbird Agreement requires that the Contracting Parties (which include Portugal) shall:

prohibit the deliberate introduction of non-native waterbird species into the environment and take all appropriate measures to prevent the unintentional release of such species if this introduction or release would prejudice the conservation status of wild flora and fauna; when non-native waterbird species have already been introduced, the Parties shall take all appropriate measures to prevent these species from becoming a potential threat to indigenous species.

What do you think?

Slightly Cooler Birding

2011-10-22T18:09:00.011+01:00

This week we’ve had only one day in the Castro Verde area; it was another day when finding birds was hard work but which did at least produce reasonable numbers and decent views of both Great and Little Bustards and we saw Spanish Imperial Eagle and Golden Eagle. The Golden Eagle, seen from the roadside through the telescope, perched high on a crag, was probably the day’s highlight.

Otherwise we have been covering our regular sites in the Eastern Algarve: Tavira, Santa Luzia, Ludo and Quinta do Lago. What a pity that Castro Marim is no longer among the places we regularly visit! For the time being, we have also now added to our itinerary the watercress beds near Almancil where we recently found a Pectoral Sandpiper. Could lightning possibly strike twice in the same place?

On both Thursday and Friday we recorded more than 90 species during what were fairly gentle birding days. Although there are signs now that the weather may be about to change (cooler mornings and evenings and a bit more cloud), temperatures throughout the week have risen to a very pleasant 24º C to add to our enjoyment.

Eurasian Spoonbill - one of three Dutch-ringed birds seen this week in Tavira

There have been no real rarities on show other than a Barnacle Goose which we found at Quinta do Lago. Although this species is officially a rarity in Portugal, it was hard to imagine this individual as anything other than an escape from captivity. But who knows? It had no rings and did seem quite wary. Thankfully, it didn’t spook as easily as the two that were in Tavira last Christmas; those two departed in such a hurry that June missed seeing them completely!

Barnacle Goose among the Eurasian Coots at Quinta do Lago

As we have hardly strayed away from the Ria Formosa, it’s not surprising that wetland birds have predominated – waders (24 species), ducks (10), gulls and terns (8), herons, spoonbills and ibises (7) made up more than half of our species total. Among them, only Sacred Ibis might not have been predicted, although we have now seen the same five birds in the same place on three occasions.

Grey Plover - still a smart-looking bird in winter plumage

Slender-billed Gull - easy to see around Tavira

Black-winged Stilt - numerous but always fun to watch

Northern Shoveler - numbers now building up as they arrive from...the north!

Robins, Bluethroats, Chiffchaffs, Song Thrushes, Meadow Pipits, Skylarks and White Wagtails are amongst the species that have now arrived here in numbers to spend the winter. On the other hand, there are fewer Whinchats and Northern Wheatears to be seen and Yellow Wagtails are in short supply. Two Red-rumped Swallows and a single Sand Martin were the only hirundines recorded.

Raptors have continued to provide plenty of interest down at the Sagres end of the Algarve this week with a Pallid Harrier causing particular excitement, but here in the east we have had to be content with just six species: Booted Eagle, Black-winged Kite, Marsh Harrier, Common Buzzard, Common Kestrel and Peregrine Falcon.

Sagres Day

2011-10-16T21:01:00.007+01:00

We were delighted to get a phone call on Friday from our friends at Marilimitado at Sagres. Unfortunately, the boat trip with them that we had been booked on earlier in the month had to be cancelled but now another one had been arranged.

And so, yesterday we set off early to drive almost the length of the Algarve coast – possibly the last time we will be able to do so without paying tolls on the A22 motorway – arriving at the harbour in Sagres at about 8.15am.

While Ricardo was getting the boat ready and fetching a barrel of ‘chum’, a noisy Blue Rock Thrush kept us entertained.

The boat is the ‘Kogia’, the same one we have been on in previous years. Sitting astride the seats and holding the bar in front is rather like being a pillion passenger on a motorbike. Thankfully, the seats are extremely well padded.

It was quite windy and the sea didn’t look particularly inviting but in no time at all conditions improved and it seemed that the sea was calmer the further out we went.

Northern Gannet

Before we found any seabirds of note a Hammerhead Shark was seen briefly and soon we came across several Common Dolphins, which are always fun to see swimming alongside the boat. However, better was to come in the shape of a huge Leatherback Turtle, the first time that Ricardo had seen a live specimen of this species in these waters and a creature we have seen before only in South Africa. Again it was only a brief sighting and there are no photographs but it was exciting to see!

The plan was to head south looking for a trawler or two and hope that fishing activity would be attracting some birds. We found a boat about 12 miles out and with it were about 100 gulls, mostly Yellow-legged. By this time we had seen a couple of Balearic Shearwaters and lots of Northern Gannets. When Ricardo began dispensing the ‘chum’ more Gannets appeared and several Great Shearwaters came really close but surprisingly, we saw only one Cory’s Shearwater.

Great Shearwater

Before very long several Great Skuas spotted the opportunity for a cheap meal and began harassing the gulls that were the main beneficiaries of our generosity. And then several European Storm Petrels came darting about looking like House Martins or perhaps White-rumped Swifts and about as easy to photograph as those two species!

European Storm Petrel

Great Skua

And that was it, really. As pelagic trips go it wasn’t one of the best we have done but it’s getting late in the season and we didn’t really expect lots of birds. Ricardo had warned us that he hadn’t seen Wilson’s Storm Petrels for a while and also that Cory’s Shearwaters were few. Maybe it was surprising that there weren’t a few more Balearics and maybe some Sootys.

After the boat trip we drove to the nearby raptor watch point at Cabranosa but didn’t stay there very long – just long enough to see a Peregrine Falcon, a Common Buzzard and a Common Kestrel and to find out that it was generally a pretty slow day as far as migrant raptors were concerned. However, we also learned that last week’s Rose-coloured Starling had been seen again at Vale Santo, so that’s where we headed next. This time we did at least find a small starling flock but unfortunately there was no sign of the rarity among its Spotless and European cousins. Consolation came in the form of three Black Storks and an Egyptian Vulture that passed almost overhead.

Black Stork

Castro Verde Week

2011-10-14T18:14:00.009+01:00

There’s not been much time for Algarve birding this week. Bustards have been in demand and our schedule has been dominated by trips to the Castro Verde area.

Great Bustard

As we have indicated previously, Great Bustards can be a bit elusive at this time of year and with temperatures reaching 32° it’s definitely best to be out early to look for them. It’s amazing how well they blend in with the vegetation in the parched landscape. Our 100% record of finding them remains intact but there have been occasional moments of doubt!

Little Bustards have been even harder to find in recent weeks so yesterday’s flock of more than 50 birds was particularly welcome. Sometimes we have to make do with flight views but these were on the ground and we had excellent views through the telescope.

Raptors in the area now include Hen Harriers, replacing Montagu’s, and Red Kites, replacing Black ones. We’ve had brilliant views of Spanish Imperial, Short-toed and Bonelli’s Eagles and yesterday had a reasonably close flock of two dozen or so Griffon Vultures.

Eurasian Griffon

All of the week’s Black-bellied Sandgrouse have been heard first and seen only as fly-overs; the area of habitat available for them now is huge.

Northern Lapwings started arriving several weeks ago but there are still relatively few of them. In this extremely dry environment, food must be in short supply. Mostly they are around the edges of the few reservoirs or on grassland that has been irrigated. The reservoirs are attracting a few other waders including Greenshanks and Green Sandpipers (two of our favourite birds!) and three times this week we have seen a Great Egret along with the Little Egrets and many Grey Herons. Great Egrets are relatively scarce here but we do seem to be seeing them more and more frequently. It was also good to see a couple of Black Storks standing amongst the assembled herons.

Black Stork

Northern Wheatears are numerous now, flying from roadside fence posts everywhere; it’s a time when we can easily see all three wagtail species and amongst the Yellow Wagtails there are a few Tawny Pipits.

Tawny Pipit

This Viperine Snake, a species usually found in or near to water, was taking advantage of a puddle formed by run-off from agricultural irrigation.

We don’t mind how often we visit the Baixo Alentejo and no doubt we’ll be up there again next week!

Hot and Hectic!

2011-10-09T17:36:00.013+01:00

With temperatures continuing around 25°C along the coast and 5 degrees warmer than that in the Baixo Alentejo, it’s been a another warm week for us as well as a fairly hectic one.

We’ve enjoyed two reasonably successful trips to the plains around Castro Verde looking for the special birds of that area. Even if we didn’t find Little Bustards, any day that produces four species of eagles has to be considered a good day!

On the other hand, our trip to Sagres and Cabo de São Vicente at the far western end of the coast was something of a disappointment - we simply picked the wrong day. Of course we were hoping to see some raptors migrating but few were in evidence – just a few Egyptian Vultures, a couple of Booted Eagles and one or two Hen Harriers. Not only that but we missed seeing the Rose-coloured Starling that was reported in the area. Lots of Northern Gannets and Cory’s Shearwaters were passing offshore and there might well have been more but we came away and spent the afternoon at Lagoa dos Salgados.

Black Redstart at Cabo de São Vicente

Salgados had an excellent assortment of birds in spite of the water level being rather higher than ideal. Purple Swamp-hens and Glossy Ibises were amongst the species seen. On the way back, we called at a site that regularly provides Black-crowned Night Herons and Little Bitterns with hardly the need to get out of the car. On this occasion it also provided a bonus in the form of a Wryneck.

Of course, Wednesday’s Pectoral Sandpiper was the week’s main highlight but, in terms of birds that we don’t often see here, a group of five Sacred Ibises is worthy of mention. Maybe while there are still only five of them we should be considering whether these are birds we really want here – perhaps a topic for another day.

Pectoral Sandpiper

Sacred Ibises

A morning spent in the Ria Formosa began well with five Booted Eagles, two Black-winged Kites and two Common Buzzards in the first half hour. In fact it’s been a good week for Black-winged Kites, a species which definitely seems to be increasing in numbers here. Twice recently, early starts have resulted in Red-necked Nightjars being the first birds of the day.

As usual, the Tavira/Santa Luzia saltpans have had a fair amount of our attention. This week the number of Mediterranean Gulls has increased and it’s now sometimes possible to see six gull species together – often with a Caspian Tern amongst them. More Bluethroats have arrived but there must surely be more to come and the same is true of Chiffchaffs, one of the most numerous species here in winter. With unseasonably warm weather being enjoyed further north, perhaps some of these migrants aren’t yet feeling the need to move south. The local Stone-curlews have been more difficult to see recently but can still usually be found. An Iberian Grey Shrike seems to have settled in the same area and we’re hoping it will stay around.

Mediterranean Gull

Stone-curlew

Iberian Grey Shrike

One afternoon we popped across the border into Spain and had a couple of hours birding around Isla Cristina. It’s not somewhere we often go but it made a change. We saw most of the regular wader species and, like almost everywhere else we’ve been this week, one or two Pied Flycatchers and Northern Wheatears.

Northern Wheatear

Today we were at Castro Marim where several Black-necked Grebes were our first since our last visit to Cerro do Bufo.

As we’ve said before: so many birds, so little time!

Pectoral Sandpiper - at last!

2011-10-05T22:08:00.005+01:00

With so many North American shorebirds turning up in the UK, in Spain and further north here in Portugal, we were sure there must be at least one somewhere here in the Algarve. For several weeks now we have been looking even more closely than usual at the many Dunlins, Little Stints and the rest as we’ve been birding around the saltpans of Castro Marim, Tavira, Santa Luzia and Olhão. All of that has been without success but today we finally had our reward and it wasn’t at any of our regular sites.

One of the lesser known products of the Algarve is watercress. Most of the watercress on sale in the UK is grown here, much of it near Almancil. And it was when we were on our way to Quinta do Lago today that we found this juvenile Pectoral Sandpiper on one of the watercress beds. Fortunately, it was quite confiding and close to the roadside.

Around the Eastern Algarve

2011-10-01T12:30:00.014+01:00

In the last few days there have been reports in the Sagres area of a Lesser Spotted Eagle, a Long-legged Buzzard and a Red-footed Falcon but here in the Eastern Algarve rare birds continue to be in short supply. In spite of visits to Ludo, Quinta do Lago, Olhão, Castro Marim and Parque Ambiental de Vilamoura and almost daily coverage of the Tavira and Santa Luzia saltpans, the best we have found this week has been another Great Egret. Maybe it was the same bird we saw on 24th September at Vilamoura but this one was at Castro Marim and it was only our seventh record in the Algarve.

A juvenile Woodchat Shrike and a feisty Eurasian Jay were the highlights of our final session with the ringing team at Vilamoura on Tuesday. Jays are quite often bad tempered and ready to fight back and so are always handled with a degree of trepidation even by experienced ringers. This one was no exception! Mostly they were catching docile hirundines.

Eurasian Jay

As well as Monarch butterflies and an assortment of dragonflies there was other insect interest at Vilamoura in the form of a Red Palm Weevil and an impressive Death's Head Hawkmoth caterpillar. The weevil is a major pest here in the Algarve (and elsewhere) infesting and eventually killing large numbers of palm trees.

Red Palm Weevil

Death's Head Hawkmoth caterpillar

Hundreds of Spoonbills and Greater Flamingos continue to be a feature in the Tavira/Santa Luzia area. Three colour-ringed Spoonbills found this week originated from the Netherlands. One of them was 15 years old and has regularly been seen spending its winters in the Parc National du Banc d'Arguin in Mauritania. Presumably it will soon be heading in that direction again.

Eurasian Spoonbill

Until quite recently considered a rarity in Portugal, Slender-billed Gulls are now commonly seen and becoming more numerous. About 80 birds are currently to be found at Santa Luzia and there are also plenty in the Cerro do Bufo area of Castro Marim.

Slender-billed Gull

Cerro do Bufo, Castro Marim

This photograph of Cerro do Bufo may look like the first snow of winter but any climate change that may be in progress hasn't yet reached that extreme! No, of course, it's salt - a reminder that September sees the peak of the salt harvest, an activity they say has been going on in these parts for about 2,000 years or so.

Ringing at Vilamoura

2011-09-25T17:40:00.014+01:00

As well as visiting Ludo and Quinta do Lago and keeping an eye on the local Tavira and Santa Luzia area, this last week has twice seen us spending time at the Parque Ambiental de Vilamoura. For the fifth successive year a group of ringers from the UK has been visiting there and although there’s obviously a serious purpose to their visit, it’s also fun to see what they’re up to, what they catch and how they go about it all.

Catching a juvenile Booted Eagle and three juvenile Common Kestrels was certainly a surprise.

It’s instructive, too, and seeing how difficult it can be to age and sex birds in the hand definitely makes us more cautious about making these calls in the field. Also, of course, we remember that these same ringers, when they were here last year, trapped a Common Yellowthroat and two Common Rosefinches, birds that otherwise would surely have gone undetected. What might they turn up this time?

It was good to have the identification of a Greenland Wheatear confirmed by reference to biometrics rather than just “that looks big and chunky”.

As always, it was interesting to see familiar birds such as Bluethroats and Kingfishers in the hand and a Little Bittern at close range emphasised the fact that this is a bird that is all legs, neck and beak with quite a small body.

This year’s ringing session was earlier than any of the previous ones and almost a whole month earlier than in 2010. This in itself probably reduced the chances of trapping any major rarity but at the same time it was thought that it might increase the diversity of species ringed. Whatever, having already seen in the past few days without the aid of a mist net migrants including Wryneck, Woodchat Shrike, Tawny Pipit, Northern Wheatear, European Reed Warbler, Common Whitethroat, Greater Short-toed Lark and Whinchat, we knew there would be plenty to see.

Whereas in October, Chiffchaffs and Blackcaps have tended to be the most numerous species caught, this time there were relatively few of either of these. Instead, Red-rumped Swallow and European Reed Warbler seem to have topped the chart. No doubt, we will receive a full report with all the ringing totals in due course. Possibly one of the most surprising birds caught was a Spectacled Warbler found in what we would consider atypical grassland habitat.

Sorting out the races of Yellow Wagtails was easier when adult males were involved!

Willow Warbler and Chiffchaff, but which is which?

Red-rumped Swallow - hundreds roosting in the reed beds.

An unusual bird that wasn’t trapped was a Great Egret, one of only a handful of this species that we have seen in the Algarve. It flew over our heads and dropped into the neighbouring water treatment works (in Portuguese, the ETAR). The ETAR is usually full of birds at this time, particularly gulls, and it would be great to have access to the site or even a hide from which we could more easily view them.

As we have said before, the Parque Ambiental is a great site for birds and also for dragonflies and butterflies. It is one of the best places in the Algarve to see Monarch butterflies and this time we were also lucky enough to see a Plain Tiger, the so-called African Monarch, something of a rarity.

Parque Ambiental de Vilamoura

+++++++++++++++++++++++++

The occurrence in the UK of remarkable numbers of Nearctic vagrants on the back of Hurricanes Irene and Katia has to some extent been mirrored here in Portugal. So far this month six species of American shorebirds have been reported in mainland Portugal. Next door, in Spain there have also been multiple occurrences of transatlantic shorebirds. Unfortunately, here in the Algarve, we’ve had none at all or at least none have so far been reported. Surely there must be a Buff-breasted Sandpiper or a Pectoral Sandpiper here somewhere! Or, more difficult to find, perhaps a Semipalmated Sandpiper is lurking in one of the local saltpans. We must keep looking!

Flying South

2011-09-17T16:29:00.009+01:00

Autumn migration is now in full swing, millions of birds are on the move. An estimated 19% of the world’s bird species make regular journeys from their breeding grounds mostly to spend time in areas where the climate is more to their liking and, most importantly, where there is a more readily available food supply. Millions of birds are leaving Northern Europe to spend the winter further south; many of them will be crossing the Sahara. For some the Algarve will be their final destination: huge numbers of waders, wildfowl and gulls are already arriving and there will soon be countless numbers of Chiffchaffs and other passerines. The Algarve will also be a staging post for those that intend to continue south into Africa.

Eurasian Whimbrel - wintering in the Algarve or on its way to West Africa?

For many birdwatchers this is the most exciting time of the year. It’s the time when rare birds are most likely to be found. Of course, ‘rare’ usually equates to ‘lost’ and it is no coincidence that the vast majority of rarities are juvenile birds that are migrating for the first time with no previous experience. That’s not to say that adult birds don’t lose their way and, if it is climate that is a main reason for migration, it is weather that is the mostly likely cause of problems along the way.

Juvenile Buff-breasted Sandpiper - lost in the Algarve

Over the last 100 years or so a great deal has been learned about migration from ringing birds but there are still huge gaps in our knowledge. We may know where a bird was ringed but unless that ring can be read again at some time in the future, either on a dead bird or as a result of re-trapping the bird, we are not much further forward. In terms of our knowledge of migratory movements most of what we are now getting from ringing studies is confirmation of what has already been demonstrated. What, for instance, has ringing told us so far about where Common Cuckoos migrate? The facts are that out of 6,452 birds ringed in the UK (up to the end of 2010) only one has been recovered south of the Sahara - a bird that was shot in Cameroon in 1930!

However, anyone reading this will surely be aware by now that the situation is changing and that the satellite tracking of five Cuckoos earlier this year has already told us more in three or four months about their migration than we have learned in 100 years of ringing. This has been made possible by technological advances which have led to miniaturisation of solar-powered transmitters. Satellite tracking is now a well-established means of studying the movements of birds that are large enough to carry the weight of the necessary transmitter and as the kit gets smaller, so the possibilities open up to study smaller birds.

Details of satellite tracking studies are all over the internet. One story that came to our attention this week concerned two Hudsonian Whimbrels, birds that were fitted with transmitters in 2008 and had been providing valuable information about migration routes between Canada and Brazil. These were birds that from experience of previous such journeys knew where they wanted to go, how to get there and where to stop on the way. However, as referred to earlier, their problem was the weather. More specifically, Tropical Storm Maria and Hurricane Irene were the problems and because of severe weather both birds ended up somewhere they hadn’t been before. But this was only their first problem. Read about them here and here and add Guadeloupe to the list that includes Malta, Cyprus and who knows how many other islands where the locals have fun killing migrating birds.

Hudsonian Whimbrel - wintering in Costa Rica or on its way to Brazil?

Last month’s Birdfair chose to support Born to Travel – The BirdLife Flyways Campaign. Illegal shooting and trapping is only one factor affecting migrating birds. Loss of habitat is undoubtedly one of the major ones. Birdwatching tourism is increasingly being promoted in quite a number of countries including Portugal and is to be commended but much more than fancy hides and boardwalks, birdwatching tourists want birds and now, more than ever, birds need what is left of important habitats, including migration stopover sites, to be protected and bird protection laws to be enforced.

Lagoa dos Salgados - one of the Algarve's many important sites for migrating and wintering birds

Incidentally, amongst the recommendations contained in the recent report of the Taxonomy Sub-Committee of the British Ornithologists' Union Records Committee is that Hudsonian Whimbrel Numenius hudsonicus and Eurasian Whimbrel Numenius phaeopus should be treated as separate species. We’ve been doing that for some time, haven’t you?

The Birding Week

2011-09-10T21:48:00.014+01:00

Two trips to the Castro Verde area this past week have demonstrated again how much more difficult it can be at this time of year to find even those species which we think of as reasonably common there. Sure we’ve seen Great and Little Bustards, Black-bellied Sandgrouse, Griffon Vultures, Short-toed Eagles, Calandra Larks, Lesser Kestrels and plenty more but for some of them we’ve really had to work hard! On one visit we had great views of a juvenile Black Vulture but our best bird was probably a Rüppell’s Vulture. We say ‘probably’ because, in all honesty, we couldn’t be 100% sure of the identification; we both saw it briefly and came to the same conclusion but the bird quickly got mixed up in a flock of about 50 Griffons and was soon no more than a silhouette disappearing into the distance.

We’ve also spent a day around Ludo and Quinta do Lago where Little Bitterns, Purple Swamp-hens and Black-crowned Night Herons continue to be among the most popular birds. We had so many sightings of Little Bitterns it was difficult to come to any conclusion about the actual number of individuals that were present. We were also pleased to see both a Black-winged Kite and a Booted Eagle in an area where we have regularly seen them in the past and where we hope they will now remain through the autumn and winter.

Quinta do Lago - the familiar view from the hide

Around the Tavira area, we have been keeping an eye on the saltpans and adjacent areas. As well as Greater Flamingos, Spoonbills and increasing numbers of gulls and waders, there are now a few passerine migrants to be found, including Spotted and Pied Flycatchers, Northern Wheatears, Chiffchaffs and Tawny Pipits. There are many Red-rumped Swallows and House Martins in evidence currently and we are seeing plenty of Kingfishers. The increasing number of Stone-curlews probably explains why we couldn’t find any in the Alentejo!

Adult Greater Flamingos...

...and a juvenile

Black-winged Stilt

Stone-curlew

Black-headed Gull

Today, for a change, we crossed the border into Spain and met up with friends, Stephen and Julie, for a look around the Marismas de Isla Cristina. The birds there were much the same selection that we would probably have seen here in the Algarve but it was nice to have a change of scene. We also looked in at El Pintado Mill Ecomuseum, one of more than a hundred tidal mills that were constructed in Spain and Portugal in the second half of the 13th century and were an early example of the use of renewal energy. It’s definitely worth a look if you’re in the area.

El Pintado Mill Ecomuseum

Rain in Tavira

2011-09-02T20:20:00.006+01:00

Back in Tavira, it was disappointing that our first morning's birding was interrupted by rain. As if we hadn't seen enough rain in the UK these last few weeks. That's definitely not what we came back for! Thankfully, the difference here is that even when it's wet, it's still warm.

Tavira saltpans

We managed a couple of hours around the town during which we saw about 50 species, the majority of them wetland birds either on the saltpans or tidal channels of the Ria Formosa. On cultivated land adjacent to the saltpans, there were two or three Northern Wheatears and nearby we found an Iberian Grey Shrike.

Curlew Sandpiper

There are lots and lots of Greater Flamingos here now and a good proportion of them are juveniles. As usual, it was no time at all before we were reading their colour-rings. Although we occasionally see Flamingos that have been ringed in France or Italy, most of those we have reported have originated in Spain, particularly Laguna de Fuente de Piedra near Malaga. Not surprisingly, there were also a couple of colour-ringed individuals among the Audouin's Gulls. Almost certainly they will have come from the Ebro Delta.

Greater Flamingo

Audouin's Gull

This was a second outing for the newly acquired Panasonic Lumix DMC FZ-100. Not too many opportunities to really test it but we're reasonably pleased with it so far.

Gailey Grebe

2011-08-29T15:20:00.005+01:00

We’ve not had a great deal of time for birding while we’ve been in the UK but a Red-necked Grebe at Gailey Reservoir, just 10 miles away, eventually proved irresistible. The bird was first seen on 15th August and is still present today.

Red-necked Grebes are mainly winter visitors to Staffordshire and this one seems to be only the second to turn up in August, a previous one being seen at Tittesworth Reservoir in August, 1996.

Over the years, Chasewater and Blithfield Reservoir have been the most popular Staffordshire waters to host Red-necked Grebes but there has been one previous record at Gailey, a long-staying individual in February 1972 (which Peter also saw!).

Attempts to photograph the bird were hampered by the fact that we left Canon cameras and lenses in Portugal but we have just acquired a Panasonic Lumix DMC FZ-100 and so were able to at least get a record shot in very unfavourable conditions. We’re hoping that the Panasonic will prove to be a handy alternative to the heavyweight gear but we haven’t yet had an opportunity for a proper try-out.

Birdfair 2011

2011-08-23T15:01:00.023+01:00

We’ve been in the UK for a few weeks, escaping from the baking heat of the Algarve. Day after day with temperatures of 30° and higher are not to our taste! Not only are July and August the hottest months, they are also the most popular with tourists and so we have also been avoiding the crowds!

Another very important reason to be in the UK in August is the British Birdwatching Fair at Rutland Water or simply Birdfair as we are encouraged to call it these days. We’ve just got back from this year’s event, having had, as always, an exhausting but most enjoyable weekend. For us this is definitely one of the highlights of the year, something we wouldn’t want to miss.

Osprey – a breeding bird at Rutland Water, but this was the only one we saw during the weekend!

Our main purpose in being at Birdfair is to promote Avian Adventures and the birdwatching tours that we lead for them. The brochure detailing their 2012 programme of tours has now been published and is available on their website. For us it includes six tours in Africa, three in the USA, two in Costa Rica and one in Cuba – it’s a good job there are two of us! And, of course, we’ve also been promoting the Algarve.

Marquee 3 - once again, our home for three days.

The Avian Adventures stand where Sering Bojang and Ray Tipper seem unimpressed by Neil Glenn’s fisherman’s tale.

Bonifence Byamukama from Uganda with one of his country’s Gorillas. He says they are closely related and we reckon we can see a likeness!

Just as good a reason to be at Birdfair is that we get to see so many old friends – people who have been on overseas tours with us, those who have been birding with us in Portugal, guides and ground operators from all around the world and lots more – all with a common interest in birds. It was a weekend of non-stop talk!

For the second year running Stuart Winter was launching a new book. The Birdman Abroad includes accounts of Avian Adventures with Peter in Arizona and The Gambia.

With more than 20,000 people now attending each year and a total of more than £2,000,000 raised to help save birds and their habitats in Europe, Africa, Asia and South America, Birdfair continues to grow year on year. This year the chosen conservation project was Birdlife’s Flyway Campaign, one that just about every birder can identify with.

The Birdfair mural, a regular feature following the theme of the year’s chosen conservation project.

One migratory bird that has been getting lots of publicity recently is the Common Cuckoo. Five of these birds were caught in East Anglia back in the summer and fitted with satellite tags so that their movements can be tracked. “Our Cuckoo” (given the name Chris) is currently in southern Chad. You can follow the progress of all five birds via the BTO website.

Our visit to the BTO ringing demonstration coincided with the trapping of this Lesser Whitethroat.

Another well publicised bird at Birdfair was the Critically Endangered Spoon-billed Sandpiper, one we have yet to see other than on television like this one.

Lots of fun to be had too!

Next year’s Birdfair will be on the 17th, 18th & 19th August – put it in your diary!

Bempton Cliffs

2011-08-02T11:52:00.013+01:00

We see Northern Gannets at all times of the year off the Algarve coast but largest numbers are in October and November when thousands, including many juveniles, pass by Cabo de São Vicente. Most are heading south to spend the winter off the coast of West Africa but some will opt instead for the Mediterranean. Generally it is the young birds that travel furthest and some of the longest distance ringing recoveries are of British bred birds found dead in their first winters (in Guinea Bissau, Israel and Turkey).

British breeding birds, (219,000 nests were counted in the last full survey), represent more than half of the world population. Mostly they favour offshore islands but an exception is the RSPB reserve at Bempton in Yorkshire where several thousand of them nest on cliffs on the mainland.

It was to Bempton that we took ourselves for our first day’s birding after arriving back in England but this wasn’t just to see Gannets. There is something really special about colonies of breeding seabirds and no matter how many times one sees them on film there’s nothing like actually being there to experience first hand the wonderful smell and the noise. It's something we can't do in the Algarve. Also, have you noticed how film makers always seem to concentrate on the ‘sexy’ birds like Puffins, Razorbills and Guillemots without ever mentioning that their soundtrack is largely being provided by Kittiwakes! That 'kittee-wa-aaake, kitte-wa-aaake' call is an essential part of the seabird colony experience and it was good to see so many juvenile Kittiwakes on the cliffs.

We were too late in the season to see many auks but there were a few Puffins and the odd Guillemot or two remaining. It was also nice to see Fulmars again and we were delighted to find Tree Sparrows along the clifftop trail, another bird we haven't seen for quite some time.

On our way home we stopped off at another RSPB reserve at Blacktoft Sands on the south side of the Humber Estuary. Here we enjoyed a real ‘tringa-fest’ - Greenshanks, Common & Spotted Redshanks, Green Sandpipers and a Marsh Sandpiper, some of our favourite birds. It was also good to see what most people still seem to refer to as Bearded Tits (rather than Bearded Reedlings), a species that hasn’t yet found its way to Portugal and so another treat for us!

Common Waxbill

2011-07-27T14:10:00.009+01:00

A bird that we are quite often asked about, especially by first-time visitors to the Algarve, is the Common Waxbill (Estrilda astrild).

This isn’t because Common Waxbills are rare or even because they are hard to identify. In fact they really are quite common and they’re very distinctive and pretty much unmistakable. No, the reason for the regular questions is that the species is missing from several of the popular field guides and even the Collins Guide hides it away at the back amongst the introductions and escapes. As a result, many people are just not expecting to come across them.

Common Waxbills are native to sub-Saharan Africa and widely distributed there. They were introduced to Portugal in the 1960s and are now well established and apparently thriving. Accounts of exactly where and when they were introduced vary: The Birds of Africa (Vol. VIII) refers to c100 birds introduced or escaped near Lisbon in 1964; the excellent website www.avesdeportugal.info has the date as 1968 and the place as Lagoa de Óbidos. They are, of course, only one of several non-native species that are well established here. Not only are they very numerous in Portugal but they have also spread into neighbouring areas of Spain. Clearly they have found Iberia very much to their liking and the fact that they appear to have a very long breeding season has obviously contributed to their success.

They seem to prefer damp lowland areas with dense vegetation, particularly tall grasses and reeds. No surprise then that we have so many of them along the coast here in the Algarve. We routinely see them from our window but usually we hear them first. They have a very distinctive flight call and quite often this is what draws them to our attention and we are just in time to see a small flock of 15 or 20 birds disappear into the distance or maybe just into the vegetation close by.

They can be quite confiding and when seen well are quite attractive little birds that are easily identified. They are one of the 18 species that make up the genus Estrilda, several of which are kept as cage birds in various parts of the world. The books put their length at 11-12cm (roughly the size of a Serin); the most striking features of the adult bird are the orange-red bill and the red stripe through the eye. Juveniles have a black bill.

Bee-eater update

2011-07-11T13:11:00.007+01:00

We usually see our first Bee-eaters back here in the Algarve during the third week of March. This year they were a few days later than that with the first ones seen on the 24th.

Of course it was a while after that before we began seeing birds regularly and before they began sorting out nesting territories in the local colony. By the second half of April they were busy excavating nest holes, a task that both sexes work at. The nest is in an enlarged chamber at the end of a tunnel that is typically a metre or so long - not surprising then that it can take as long as three weeks to complete! It’s tough work and the muddy beaks seen on the birds we photographed in mid-May show that work was still in progress then.

We would guess that by the end of May they had eggs – a clutch of six is typical. We’ve never seen any but, as with most hole-nesting species, they’re said to be glossy and white. Incubation starts with the first egg so that hatching is asynchronous. The incubation period is roughly three weeks.

Right now they are busy feeding their young ones with a variety of insects that certainly includes a few bees but also dragonflies and various others. They no longer have to enter the nest hole, instead they are greeted at the mouth of the tunnel by the open beak of a hungry offspring! Very soon they will be fledging.

Audouin's Gull

2011-07-09T12:03:00.010+01:00

A few pairs of Audouin’s Gulls have been breeding in the Algarve since 2001 and the species can be seen here throughout the year. They are mainly nocturnal feeders, spending their days loafing on the saltpans and, as they often stay faithful to the same areas for weeks or even months, they’re easily found.

The world population of Audouin’s Gulls is now something like 21,500 pairs, a remarkable total bearing in mind that as recently as 1975 there were thought to be only 1,000 pairs.

The increase in numbers is the result of the establishment in 1981 of an extremely successful breeding colony at La Punta de la Banya in the Ebro Delta in Spain. This colony, which has been extensively studied, now holds roughly 65% of the world total. As well as in Spain and in Portugal, there are breeding colonies in Algeria, Croatia, Cyprus, Greece, Corsica (France), Italy, Morocco, Turkey and Tunisia.

Although most Audouin’s Gulls spend the winter around the southern Mediterranean, many, particularly young birds, find their way down the coast of West Africa to Mauritania, Gambia, Senegal and Gabon.

The initial success of the Ebro Delta colony was said to result from a ready supply of food in the form of discards from the local fishing industry. A trawler moratorium from 1991 to 2000 that coincided with the birds’ breeding season put an end to this easy life for the gulls but it had little effect on the colony’s growth as they sought alternative food sources and ranged more widely along the coast. The introduced American Red Swamp Crayfish, abundant in the area’s extensive rice fields, became an important food source. When fishing recommenced the renewed availability of fish waste naturally gave a substantial boost to the population.

With such a high percentage of the population concentrated at one site and dependent to quite a high degree on a trawling fishery that is considered unsustainable, Audouin’s Gull is classified as ‘Near Threatened’ on the IUCN Red List.

In the last five years we have reported details of about 40 darvic-ringed birds that we have seen around Tavira and Santa Luzia. Replies with ringing details and life histories are very slow to arrive but so far, not surprisingly, all have been from the Ebro Delta or satellite colonies nearby, including one from Isla Moltona, Mallorca. In the last few days we have been seeing a bird that we first reported two years ago and which was ringed as a pullus in 2002.

Jean Victoire Audouin (1797-1841), for whom the species is named, was a French naturalist, an entomologist, ornithologist and malacologist.

Sunday Morning

2011-07-03T18:03:00.009+01:00

A four-hour walk around the local saltpans certainly gave us an appetite for Sunday lunch but it provided no real surprises among the birds seen. A Kingfisher was probably the least expected among about 45 species recorded. A temperature of no more than 22°C and a slight breeze made for a pleasant morning.

Black-winged Stilt

Pied Avocet

There’s clearly been some breeding success for Kentish Plovers, Black-winged Stilts and Avocets and we saw at least one juvenile Common Redshank but quite a few Avocets in particular do appear to have failed and we could find no Little Tern chicks at all. Ominously, more Yellow-legged Gulls have nested than we have seen in previous years and it may well be that there has been an increased level of predation on eggs and young birds.

Yellow-legged Gull

Other waders included about 100 Black-tailed Godwits, plus a few Dunlin, Curlew Sandpipers, Oystercatchers and a Grey Plover. On the adjacent tidal area there were more Oystercatchers and a few Bar-tailed Godwits, Turnstones, Whimbrels and Curlews. Greater Flamingos continue to increase in number and we found a couple of Spoonbills hiding amongst them.

Greater Flamingos

A flock of about 25 Audouin’s Gulls included a colour-ringed bird that we had seen in almost the same place two years ago. It was ringed in the Ebro Delta in Spain in 2002. Completing the gulls were a few Black-heads and a couple of Meds. Several times recently we have seen two Slender-billed Gulls but there was no sign of them this morning.

Audouin's Gulls

Mediterranean Gulls

Serra do Caldeirão

2011-06-30T15:17:00.014+01:00

We spent yesterday in the beautiful countryside inland from Tavira, something we don’t do often enough. The Serra do Caldeirão is a huge area of attractive rolling hills located between the Algarve coast and the Baixo Alentejo. All too often we drive through them on our way to look for Great Bustards and all those other special birds that occur on the plains around Castro Verde. Only occasionally do we find time to explore them, to drive the narrow roads and tracks between tiny hidden villages and enjoy not just the birds but all the other wildlife that occurs there.

To be honest, the end of June is not the best time to be there! Of course, we knew that but we had a great day anyway. There’s not so much bird song now but we saw plenty of birds, the flowers are long past their best but there are still splashes of colour in the parched landscape and there were lots of butterflies and dragonflies to keep us occupied.

Here are just a few of the day’s photographs:

There is still plenty of water running in the larger rivers. We checked under quite a number of bridges like this one, looking for signs of nesting White-rumped Swifts. The swifts take over the nests of Red-rumped Swallows and we found plenty of those, but only at one already known site did we actually see a White-rumped Swift.

Plenty of water meant that we came across quite a few dragonflies. These are not our speciality but we’re definitely interested, particularly when there are fewer birds to distract us. This one is a Scarlet Darter or Broad Scarlet (Crocothemis erythraea).

Harvesting cork is a summer occupation in these parts and everywhere we went we saw stacks of cork waiting to be collected and taken for a wide range of applications, not just as stoppers in wine bottles. Cork production is an important industry in Portugal, said to provide half the world’s supply. Although cork is associated in the minds of many people with the Alentejo, the best quality cork apparently comes from further south, here in the Algarve.

Portuguese law prohibits stripping the bark more than once every nine years in order to protect the trees. The bark has been removed from this tree this year, hence the figure ‘11’ that has been painted on it. Cork Oaks can live to be more than 150 years old or more and it isn’t until they are 25 years old that cork starts to be harvested.

If you’ve read this blog before, you will know that the bigger the butterfly the more we like it! Things have to be pretty slow in the world of birds before we get down to looking at skippers, blues and heaths. This Scarce Swallowtail is our kind of butterfly - it’s the feisthameli subspecies.

One of the highest points in the area is at Mu, 577m above sea level. Not surprisingly, it has been despoiled with wind turbines but the views are tremendous.

Of course, many of the birds we did see were young ones like this Woodchat Shrike. A gathering of 300 or so White Storks up in the hills was perhaps less expected.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t a day when we saw many reptiles or amphibians – we both enjoy lizards and snakes, in particular. This tiny frog was the only one that posed for a photograph.

Hot Summer Days

2011-06-22T18:43:00.009+01:00

It’s hot! It has to be expected in the Algarve in June but you can’t ignore the fact and early starts to the day’s birding are highly recommended.

This morning we walked the local saltpans and by 9.00am we were back home seeking refuge from the heat and the humidity. Avocets and Black-winged Stilts have now been joined in the deeper water by returning Black-tailed Godwits, most of them still in their brick-red breeding plumage. There were about 100 of them in the relatively small area that we covered and they made a fine sight. They were, though, completely eclipsed by a stunning Spotted Redshank in full summer plumage. Now that really is a smart bird!

Black-tailed Godwit

Numbers of Greater Flamingos continue to increase and we were quickly into our routine of reading colour-rings. Earlier this week we reported three birds which we knew from their ring numbers to have been reared at Laguna de Fuente de Piedra, near Malaga and this morning we found two more. One of the three earlier birds was one we had seen here in Tavira last November, so we’ll be interested to hear whether it has been reported anywhere else since then.

Other excursions in the last week or so have mostly been half-day affairs and with specific birds in mind. We’ve been to three different sites to check on breeding White-rumped Swifts and at one of these Rufous-tailed Scrub Robins¹ were another target. Collared Pratincoles continue to be in demand and so we’ve been to see them; we’ve checked out a breeding pair of Black-winged Kites in the Eastern Algarve and, of course, we’re keeping an eye on the local European Bee-eaters which are always popular. Two different ‘Grey Egrets’ (hybrid Western Reef x Little Egrets) have been seen around Tavira and the number of Audouin’s Gulls here is slowly increasing.

White-rumped Swift

For a recent trip to the Baixo Alentejo we left Tavira at 4.30. However, this wasn’t one of our early starts – it was actually 4.30pm when we set out! Accepting that what was actually a rather late start would give us relatively short birding time in the Castro Verde area, still we set out to find as many as possible of the ‘key species’. Needless to say, there were some we missed but Golden Eagle, Short-toed Eagle, Little Bustard, Great Bustard, Black-bellied Sandgrouse, European Roller, Great Spotted Cuckoo, Griffon Vulture, Eurasian Black Vulture², Black Kite, Black-winged Kite, Lesser Kestrel, Calandra Lark, Stone-curlew and Red-knobbed Coot were all seen before bad light inevitably stopped play. It just goes to show that you don’t have to be out for sixteen hours to see a decent number of birds. The Red-knobbed Coot was, of course, the bird that we have reported on previously and we were pleased to see that Coot Jnr had more or less doubled in size since our last visit.

Eurasian Black Vulture

Finally, of particular interest to us, we found a Blue Rock Thrush singing from the roof of a church in the town centre here in Tavira. We’re always pleased to have some bird interest on those occasional days when a trip to the local shops becomes essential!

¹Rufous-tailed Scrub Robin is the name recommended by the International Ornithologists' Union for Erythropygia galactotes, otherwise known as Cercotrichas galactotes, Rufous Bush Chat, Rufous Bush Robin or Rufous-tailed Scrub-robin. Take your pick!

²Eurasian Black Vulture is not the name recommended by the International Ornithologists' Union for Aegypius monachus. They prefer Cinereous Vulture; others call it Monk Vulture, a translation of its German name Mönchsgeier.

Ria Formosa

2011-06-11T18:36:00.019+01:00

Just today we’ve seen Tavira referred to again as ‘the most beautiful town in the Algarve’ and it’s not a description that we would want to argue with. Its location on the river, its attractive architecture (including 37 churches!), the wonderful beach and lots of historical interest going back 2,000 years are amongst the many reasons why people come here on holiday or, like us, for longer.

An added and major attraction for us was the town’s position adjacent to the Parque National da Ria Formosa. The Ria Formosa consists of coastal lagoons, vast areas of tidal flats, saltmarsh and saltpans that are enclosed by a belt of sand dune islands. It’s a really important wintering area for many birds from northern Europe and as a resting and feeding station for birds migrating between Africa and Europe.

Throughout the year, there are waders (shorebirds) here. Sometimes in late autumn and winter as many as 25 species can be found within easy walking distance from the town centre! Even now, as we approach the middle of June, we have seen in the last two or three days in the Ria Formosa almost half that number.

Kentish Plover

Black-winged Stilt

Breeding here in good numbers are Black-winged Stilts, Pied Avocets and Kentish Plovers plus a few Common Redshanks and Stone-curlews. But we also still have plenty of Dunlins and Sanderlings and small numbers of Eurasian Oystercatchers, Black-tailed Godwits, Ruddy Turnstones and Curlew Sandpipers. Although a great many of these birds are in something approaching full breeding plumage, presumably at this late stage, few of them are now going to try and head north to breed. Mostly they are likely to be birds in their first year or maybe some of them are birds that were just not fit enough to attempt migration. Whatever they are, we’re pleased to have them!

Sanderling

Curlew Sandpiper

Dunlin

Little Terns and Collared Pratincoles are also breeding; Greater Flamingos and a few Eurasian Spoonbills are still around and at least five species of gulls can be found.

Collared Pratincole

And that’s not the half of it...

Beak Deformities

2011-06-09T21:40:00.009+01:00

As part of its Garden BirdWatch survey, the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) has been collecting records and photographs of birds with beak deformities. To date they have reports relating to 32 species and the suggestion, surprising given that this is a garden bird survey, is that Rooks are the birds most likely to be affected. Blue Tits and Blackbirds are also high on the list.

Several different kinds of deformity have been recorded and there are apparent differences between species as to how they are most frequently afflicted. A Blackbird, for instance, is more likely than most to have an overgrown lower mandible, while an overgrown upper mandible is the most common deformity in Blue Tits.

Similar research by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) has been in progress in Alaska since 1999. There, more than 2,000 deformed Black-capped Chickadees have been identified, claimed to be the highest concentration of such abnormalities ever recorded in a wild bird population anywhere. More recently, rapidly increasing numbers of other species in Alaska, including Northwestern Crows, Downy Woodpeckers, Steller’s Jays and Black-billed Magpies have also been reported with beak deformities.

There are no firm conclusions yet about the causes of these deformities but contaminants (industrial pollutants, insecticides, herbicides and fungicides), nutritional deficiencies, disease, parasites and genetic abnormalities are all on the list of suspects.

Our interest in this research was sparked by these two gulls that we saw yesterday at Olhão.

For more information about the BTO research and the consequences and odd behaviours resulting from beak deformities, go to their website. You can follow links from there to read about the USGS research.

Breeding Red-knobbed Coot

2011-06-04T13:50:00.004+01:00

Red-knobbed Coot or Crested Coot (Fulica cristata) is one of the rarest breeding birds in Europe, considered ‘Endangered’ within the EU. It’s certainly a very rare bird in Portugal with no more than three or four records annually and one that we have seen here on only a handful of occasions.

Back in March there was a report of a bird on a small pond near Viseus, about 15km from Castro Verde in the Baixo Alentejo. Since then, throughout April and May, it has been seen there regularly in the company of a Eurasian Coot (Fulica atra) leading to the obvious speculation that they might be breeding. Yesterday we got the answer when we visited the site and found the two of them taking it in turns to feed their single, newly hatched, hybrid offspring.

The Portuguese breeding bird atlas has two records of possible breeding here during the years 1999-2005, in both cases involving at least one bird that was identified, presumably from a neck-collar, as originating from the captive breeding programme that is ongoing in neighbouring Andalucía. Other than those, there do not seem to be any records of breeding in Portugal in recent times.

Last year, we saw a similar hybrid pairing at the Marismas del Odiel in Spain but it doesn’t seem to be an occurrence that is much recorded or documented.

So Much To See...

2011-05-29T14:05:00.019+01:00

What a busy week! Not only have we been to most of our favourite birding sites in the Algarve and twice visited the Baixo Alentejo, we also managed a trip across the border to Doñana.

And it hasn’t just been birds we’ve been looking at. Butterflies, dragonflies and reptiles have also been getting at least some of our attention.

Apart from the breeding Avocets, Black-winged Stilts, Kentish Plovers and Common Redshanks, quite a few wader species still remain on the local saltpans in small numbers: Ruddy Turnstones, Dunlin, Curlew Sandpipers and an occasional Greenshank, most of them in something close to full breeding plumage.

Ruddy Turnstone

Kentish Plover

At Quinta do Lago and the Parque Ambiental de Vilamoura, several pairs of showy Black-headed Weavers are attracting lots of attention as they busily attend their nests. Purple Swamp-hens now have young and are equally popular. At the other end of the scale, a singing Savi’s Warbler is rather less obvious and almost impossible to see!

Black-headed Weaver

We’ve had two great days in the Castro Verde/Mértola area with most of the regular birds giving great views. Every day there is different – sometimes it’s the Rollers that put on a particularly good show, sometimes Griffon Vultures, Black Vultures, a Short-toed Eagle or any one of a dozen or more other raptor species will fly directly overhead, other times it might be a Calandra Lark that poses or, as on both occasions this week, young Great Spotted Cuckoos drawing our attention with their noisy begging calls. With Great Bustards, Little Bustards, Black-bellied Sandgrouse and many more special birds to look for, we are very happy to keep returning.

Calandra Lark

In Doñana we made our way first to the Dehesa de Abajo, situated adjacent to the vast rice producing area of Isla Mayor. The breeding colony of White Storks here is said to be one of the largest in Europe with perhaps 500 nests. Black Kites were also numerous but, surprisingly, the enormous lagoon here was almost birdless. Next we went to the José Antonio Valverde Visitor Centre where large numbers of breeding Glossy Ibis, herons and egrets are the main attraction and nearby we had a fairly distant view of what we like to call Iberian Imperial Eagle.

Black Kite

White Stork

Black-crowned Night Heron

Large and easy to identify, Two-tailed Pasha, Cleopatra and Common Swallowtail are our kind of butterflies, more so than the blues, skippers and whites but when bird activity has died down in the heat of the day we have also taken an interest in these smaller ones. Two-tailed Pasha was a particular target this week, a species that apparently can be baited with fermenting fruit and alcohol. We found one around its favourite larval host-plant, Arbutus unedo, the Strawberry Tree.

Two-tailed Pasha

Large Psammodromus

We are keen to learn more about the reptiles here and are always pleased when we come across snakes and lizards that allow close inspection or at least a photograph from which we can identify them. This Large Psammodromus appeared while we were waiting for White-rumped Swifts to appear.

Other highlights of the week have included a quick look in at a Black-winged Kite nest site here in the Eastern Algarve, a visit to our local “Grey Egret” and an evening showing Red-necked Nightjars.

So much to see, so little time...

European Rollers

2011-05-20T20:42:00.008+01:00

The European Roller is a species that is regularly on the ‘wanted list’ of birders visiting Portugal and it is one that we are always happy to try and show them. The total population here has been estimated at no more than 100-300 pairs but they are not so difficult to find...if you know where to start looking!

Unfortunately, Rollers are in decline, classified by BirdLife/IUCN as ‘Vulnerable’ in Europe and ‘Near Threatened’ globally. They are especially sensitive to changes in farming practices, including the resultant loss of habitat, and with a diet that consists mainly of large insects, small rodents and lizards, the widespread and increased use of pesticides has been a particular problem. They also, of course, face the usual hazards that affect all trans-Saharan migrants.

Rollers are popular not only with birders but also with farmers and landowners; it is a large (Jackdaw-sized), brightly-coloured bird that perches conspicuously and has a characteristic display flight that is not unlike that of a Northern Lapwing. They are simply nice birds to have around.

These are birds that nest in holes and cavities and among the steps being taken to help them is the provision of nest-boxes and other artificial sites.

A Bit of Luck!

2011-05-15T20:40:00.008+01:00

After three weeks away from the Algarve I was keen to catch up with the local Bee-eaters here in Tavira and try to get a few more photographs.

Sitting in the car for long periods when the temperature is above 27° isn't everyone's idea of fun but yesterday brought its reward! Not only did I get some Bee-eater photographs but I had almost unbelievable luck when an Osprey landed nearby complete with a fish! It didn't stay long but it was long enough to capture the moment in pixels and it was well worth the extreme discomfort.

Mid-May seems very late for a migrant Osprey heading for Northern Europe. As far as we know, it's been quite a while since the species attempted to breed in Portugal but with Ospreys having re-colonised neighbouring Andalucia in recent years and breeding only about 80 km away from here, maybe we should expect to see more of them in the summer months. Perhaps we should think about providing them with a nesting platform here in the Algarve or ask one of the White Stork pairs at Castro Marim to move over.

Meanwhile, I'll thank those Bee-eaters to wipe the mud off their bills in future before coming to portrait sessions!

Arizona tour

2011-05-11T20:11:00.030+01:00

Peter writes:
I’m just back from Arizona and another successful birding tour in the Grand Canyon State. The itinerary was the familiar one that we have been using for several years now. It included Tucson (Sabino Canyon, Sweetwater Wetlands and Mount Lemmon), Portal (Cave Creek Canyon), Sierra Vista (San Pedro Riparian National Conservation Area, Garden, Huachuca, Ramsey & Miller Canyons), Green Valley (Madera Canyon), Sedona (Oak Creek Canyon) and finally the Grand Canyon itself.

In contrast to last year, the weather was mostly very warm and we found everywhere to be very dry after a winter with little rain. It was also quite windy on occasions. These are conditions that give rise to an extreme risk of fires and since my return there has been a major outbreak in the Chiricahuas which is affecting about 10,000 acres near Portal. It has threatened Cave Creek Canyon and quite a number of homes in the area have been evacuated. Currently, it is reported that the fire is 10% contained and that the Forest Service has 343 people fighting it. Up to date news of the fire can be found here.

As in 2006, our tour coincided with the passage through Arizona of thousands of Wilson’s Warblers heading north from Mexico and Central America to breed in Canada and the Pacific North-West. There were times, particularly along the San Pedro River, when we were almost in danger of stepping on them! Audubon’s (Yellow-rumped) Warblers were also numerous.

Wilson's Warbler...

...and another Wilson's Warbler

Audubon's Warbler

Empidonax flycatchers were abundant and gave us repeated identification challenges! With the popular field guides (Sibley, Kaufmann, National Geographic) saying that Cordilleran and Pacific-slope Flycatchers are identical in appearance and separable only by the call of the male, it is probably best to call them ‘Western’ Flycatchers, as they were before being split in 1989. There are many who still regard this as a ‘bad’ split and I can understand why! Dusky and Hammond’s Flycatchers probably are separate species but they, too, are very difficult to separate.

'Western' Flycatcher

Hammond's Flycatcher - I think!!

Fortunately, there were also plenty of brightly-coloured and easily identifiable birds to see, which is what you want, particularly if, like some of our group, it’s your first visit to the USA. Not everyone on a birding tour wants to spend time agonising about the identity of lots of small, grey, brown or olive-green birds! So, Painted Redstart, Elegant Trogon, Hooded, Scott’s and Bullock’s Orioles and Western Tanagers were popular.

Elegant Trogon

Western Tanager

Greater Roadrunner and California Condor were two of the ‘most-wanted’ species and although it would have been a major surprise if we hadn’t seen them, both took a little longer to present themselves than I would have liked. There are now reported to be 74 Condors living in the wild in Arizona and as a result of captive breeding, the total population has increased dramatically from 22 birds in 1987 (the brink of extinction) to 369 birds in 2011.

Greater Roadrunner

California Condor

Our total bird list fell just short of 200 species, about par for the course. As always, among my own personal favourites were the waders (shorebirds if you’re reading this in the USA). They included Willets, Wilson’s Phalaropes, American Avocets, Long-billed Dowitchers, Lesser Yellowlegs, Solitary Sandpipers and, of course, Killdeers.

Willets

American Avocet

Solitary Sandpiper

Killdeer

We are hoping to be back in Arizona (and California) at the end of the year when we lead the Avian Adventures Christmas tour across the deserts from San Diego to Tucson.

White-rumped Swift

2011-05-09T14:28:00.003+01:00

White-rumped Swifts breed in much of sub-Saharan Africa and we have seen then regularly when leading tours in Uganda and Tanzania and in South Africa, Botswana and Zimbabwe. They also now occur in Morocco and the Iberian peninsula; the first record for Portugal was in 1983 and the first confirmed breeding here was in 1995.

Although this is still a scarce breeding species in Portugal, it does seem to be well established. We know of only four breeding sites but there must surely be more and we hope to find time during the next few weeks to try and locate them.

Because of the birds’ comparative rarity in Portugal we have been reluctant in the past to take anyone to see them and have declined several requests. However, we know that other guides have taken a different view and perhaps this is understandable given that details of several breeding sites have now been published. Recently, the Portuguese Rarities Committee (Comité Português Raridades) removed White-rumped Swift from its list of species requiring approval.

Against this background we have decided this year that we will be open to requests to see White-rumped Swifts and, in fact, we have already in the last couple of weeks provided two clients with great views of these attractive little birds.

Attractive they may be, but they do take over the nests of other birds, not necessarily waiting until the original occupants have finished with them! In Africa, Little Swifts and Wire-tailed Swallows are among those who give up their nests; in Portugal, it is Red-rumped Swallows that are the victims. Red-rumps nest under bridges and culverts and on other man-made structures and they are quite common here. White-rumps therefore have plenty of nests to choose from and so it probably won’t be easy for us to find new sites.

Tavira Bee-eaters

2011-04-19T16:53:00.013+01:00

We're lucky to have a colony of European Bee-eaters just a five minute drive away. They're busy excavating nest holes at the moment and we're looking forward to watching their progress over the coming weeks.

They really are such beautiful birds that it's hard to imagine that they are persecuted and treated as pests in so many places, including Portugal. Maybe we would take a different view if we kept bees!

Of course, they eat much more than just bees but their diet does consist mostly of flying insects of one sort or another. We did see one this week, however, that was feeding on the ground, apparently taking ants.

Tavira Owls

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Little Owls are really quite common in these parts and most of the time very easy to find.

This particular bird is one we know very well. It’s a bird that we have seen regularly in the same tree for the past six months or more. It lives only a short distance from the Tavira Gran-Plaza and every day many people walk, ride and drive past within just a few metres without even seeing it, which is a shame. The owl is only occasionally disturbed by passers-by, sometimes jumping up a little higher in the tree or hiding behind the foliage. Mostly it just sits there!

When we first came to Tavira we thought Little Owls might be the only owl species in the area and it was a while before we even saw a Barn Owl. We have now seen (or in one case heard) six species of owls within less than a kilometre of the town centre. It just goes to show! What does seem very unlikely though is that there will ever be a seventh but who would bet against it?

Doñana

2011-04-09T21:39:00.011+01:00

Yesterday we crossed the border into Andalucia and spent the day in the Doñana area. It was only our third visit there this year but our second this week! In January we managed to choose a foggy day, last Sunday it was cloudy and it rained; at last, yesterday was sunny and warm!

Squacco Heron

White Stork

We often wonder what the Algarve would have been like for birding 50 years ago, before the tourism industry took it over and destroyed so much of the habitat. To some extent that same question about Doñana is answered by Guy Mountfort’s book, Portrait of Wilderness, an account of three expeditions to the area in the 1950s which helped establish the Doñana National Park as one of western Europe's outstanding natural areas. Doñana is unrecognisable now as the wilderness that was explored by Mountfort and his colleagues. Since those days, the area has suffered, like the Algarve, from tourist development and human encroachment, wetlands have been drained, river water has been diverted to boost agricultural production and there is also pollution from surrounding agriculture. In 1998, the area was threatened by a huge spill of toxic sludge from a reservoir at the Aznalcollar mine into the Guadiamar River. Having identified such a wonderful area and recognised its importance for wildlife, how could it be possible to allow so many negative impacts to continue over the following 50 years?

Northern Wheatear

Black Kite

The good news is that, in spite of everything, Doñana is still a wonderful area for birds and other wildlife. There may be times when it is dry and maybe seems rather uninteresting but right now it is teeming with birds, many that are there to breed and many that are just passing through. We had a great day and the question now is how soon can we go again?

Corn Bunting

Greater Short-toed Lark

If you haven't read Guy Mountfort's book, you really should! Likewise, if you haven't been to Doñana...

Alentejo day (again!)

2011-04-07T21:28:00.008+01:00

Yesterday we were in the Castro Verde area again. It was sunny and warm and we had another very good day; in fact only a strong wind prevented it from being an excellent day!

More than 20 Eurasian Griffons were seen, as well as a Eurasian Black Vulture

By now it probably goes without saying that we saw lots of bustards, Black-bellied Sandgrouse and raptors! However, we did see also a few unusual or unexpected species.

For example, we hadn’t expected to see again the Wood Sandpiper that we found three weeks ago at Alvares. This bird is a migrant heading perhaps for Scandinavia and it has chosen to pause on its way north at a tiny pond that for the past six months, through the winter, has been home to a Green Sandpiper. What is it, we wonder, that makes this bit of water so attractive to Tringas? And when will it decide to continue its journey?

One of the many White Stork nests in the area

The Red-knobbed Coot near Viseus was certainly unusual, a rarity anywhere in Portugal, in fact. There have been reports of two birds there but we found the cristata apparently keeping company with a Eurasian Coot.

Also an unusual sight in our experience was a flock of at least 30 Whiskered Terns at a lake in the heart of bustard country.

And we were surprised to find two European Golden Plovers; we had thought that all the wintering birds in the area had left some while ago. One of the birds was looking exceptionally smart in full breeding plumage.

Quite apart from the birds, at this time of year it is worth a trip to the Alentejo just for the flowers. You don’t have to be a botanist to enjoy the wonderful carpets of white, yellow, blue and purple that cover the countryside!

Flowers everywhere!

Little Ringed Plover nesting habitat

Little Ringed Plover - several pairs were seen during the day

Pratincoles; no Water Rails

2011-03-31T22:53:00.009+01:00

This morning we were at Castro Marim. It was a beautiful, warm morning with barely a cloud to be seen. And there were plenty of birds!

Particularly pleasing to see were our first Collared Pratincoles of the year; there was a good selection of waders that included Spotted Redshank and several Ruff; Bee-eaters were numerous; several Spectacled Warblers were singing; we saw at least three Marsh Harriers and, of course, there are still a few Spoonbills around and hundreds of Greater Flamingos. Less expected species were a Whiskered Tern and a Jackdaw (only our second record at Castro Marim); totally unexpected was an Orphean Warbler.

Collared Pratincole

This afternoon we came back to Tavira and spent two hours baking in the car in the hope of seeing the Water Rail family that performed so well yesterday. Unfortunately, there was no sign of them! Instead we had to make do with a Stonechat, a Crested Lark, a couple of Barn Swallows and a Little Ringed Plover, all of which came to the water and at least provided some entertainment. Maybe we'll try again if we can find time.

Crested Lark

Little Ringed Plover

Common Stonechat

Barn Swallow

Water Rails or the Alentejo?

2011-03-30T22:59:00.006+01:00

Just five minutes drive away from home we have a pair of Water Rails feeding young. I spent a couple of hours in the car this afternoon watching them and trying to get some photographs. Limited success so far but there's always tomorrow! There seem to be four young and they must only be a few days old; they're just cute little black balls of fluff.

June spent the day in the Castro Verde area. When she returned home I said I was sorry she had missed seeing the Water Rail chicks. She said she was sorry I hadn't been with her to see four species of eagles, two species of vultures, countless Great Bustards, Black-bellied Sandgrouse, etc, etc...

I guess we both had a good day!