Algarve Autumn Update

After our trip to Bulgaria we had only a few days in the UK before we returned to the Algarve.  We expected October to be a busy month and it certainly was!

October is always a month that produces rarities in the Algarve.  This year has been no exception although the suspicion must be that several of them are birds that have returned for at least a second visit here.  Surely this must be the case for the Rock Pipit at Porto do Baleeira, the Ring-necked Duck(s) at the ETAR de Vilamoura and probably the Marsh Sandpiper at Marinha do Grelha.  Still, it’s always good to see old friends.

Rock Pipit

Most photographed bird of the month (judged from appearances on Facebook) must be a Snow Bunting that was a surprise find at Alvor that gained many admirers.  As well as being a particularly attractive bird, this is not an easy species to see in the Algarve, one we have seen here only once, back in 2012.

Snow Bunting - this one from 2012

Also much photographed eventually was an American Golden Plover at Quinta de Marim although when we went to follow up on the initial report we were the only ones there – a typical Algarve twitch!  Interest in it did increase in subsequent days and it was present for at least two weeks.

American Golden Plover

Possibly the most surprising rarity has been the single Pink-footed Goose that was first seen mid-month.  This was the first of this species recorded in the Algarve and it has remained in the Sagres area at least until the end of the month but has sometimes been elusive.

A couple of Olive-backed Pipits have been seen and several Yellow-browed Warblers, encouraging us to look carefully at the numerous Meadow Pipits and Phylloscopus warblers that have been arriving even though those two rarities are probably more likely to be identified by their calls.

At this time of year there is a tendency for rarities to be found in the Sagres area in the extreme south-west.  At least in part this is probably the result of an increased number of birders in that area during the migration season.  The annual birdwatching festival brings visitors from far and wide with raptors being the particular attraction.  More than 20 raptor species were reported during the month including Golden, Bonelli’s & Spanish Imperial Eagles and Rüppell's Vultures.  We saw about 400 Griffon Vultures during one of our visits there but only from such a distance that any Rüppell's amongst them were impossible to pick out.

Griffon Vultures

This has been the first autumn for several years when we haven’t managed to take a boat trip to look for seabirds.  Reports suggest that it hasn’t been a vintage year for seabird passage but the Long-tailed Skua photographed on 12th October and the Sabine’s Gull on the 18th would both certainly have been nice to see.  Many of those who have ventured out to sea have been rewarded with some excellent cetaceans including Fin & Humpback Whales.  As it is, we have had to content ourselves with watching distant Cory’s & Balearic Shearwaters from the cliff top at Cabo de São Vicente.

In the past, our friends from Belvide Ringers in the UK have trapped and ringed a few rarities here during their annual autumn visits.  Common Yellowthroat, Aquatic & Paddyfield Warblers and Common Rosefinches spring immediately to mind!  This year they were here for two weeks, one spent as usual in the Parque Ambiental de Vilamoura and the other spent ringing waders at Quinta de Marim.  We spent several hours with them at both locations and although there were no rarities it was as always educational to see so many birds at close quarters.

 Wryneck

Penduline Tit

When we haven’t been guiding we’ve spent time birding around our local patch, the Tavira/Santa Luzia saltpans.  It’s not unusual to see 20 or more wader species during a visit here as well as six gull species and at least two terns.  There have been hundreds of Audouin’s Gulls, many of them with colour rings and we have reported quite a few.  Most have been birds from the Algarve breeding colony on the Ilha da Barreta but we have also seen ART8, a bird ringed in 2005 on the Isla de Alborán in Spain that we have now seen about a dozen times over the years.   The number of Slender-billed Gulls also increases year after year - it’s amazing to think that only quite recently this species was treated as a rarity in Portugal!  If ever people we meet here suggest they’re not keen on gulls we try to convert them by showing readily identifiable and attractive Slender-billed & Audouin’s Gulls.

 Greenshank

 Spotted Redshank

 Whimbrel

 Ruddy Turnstone

 Slender-billed Gull

Audouin's Gull

Reservoir at Álvares - almost dry!

We’ve also had a couple of trips to see Great Bustards in the Castro Verde area.  Visiting this area has underlined the fact that the southern part of Portugal is suffering from a severe drought.  A favourite site, the reservoir at Álvares that stores water to irrigate a huge olive plantation is currently reduced to just a small ‘puddle’ and passing by the Barragem de Odeleite, on the way north, we saw the water level there lower than we have ever seen it.  And this is the reservoir that supplies mains water to most of the Eastern Algarve.  We really do need to have a seriously wet winter!  Something to look forward to?

Red-breasted Merganser in Tavira

Red-breasted Merganser is a scarce winter visitor to the Algarve and one that we have never seen around Tavira so it was a surprise to hear that one had been seen this week from the Estrada das Quatro Águas.

 Red-breasted Merganser

The bird, a female, seemed quite settled in a deepwater pan and we watched it feeding successfully for about 20 minutes during which time it didn’t seem at all bothered by our presence.  At one point it actually flew for no apparent reason and came to rest back on the water quite close to where we were standing.

Red-breasted Merganser - swallowing a large fish

For months the Estrada das Quatro Águas was subject to road improvements and other redevelopment works, most of which were completed earlier this year.  It seems odd that we have ended up with a very wide pedestrian pathway and a rather narrow road between the town and the ferry.  Parking by the roadside is now impossible and the days of driving along this road and birding from the car are well and truly over.  It really is a pity that no birdwatchers were consulted during the planning stage of this work.  We might well have done things differently!

 Estrada das Quatro Águas - photograph taken March 2016

This a favourite area for roosting Audouin's Gulls

Our visit to see the Red-breasted Merganser again highlighted the fact that in future it will be necessary to bird this area on foot.  We don’t mind walking, in fact we enjoy it, but now it will take much longer to cover the area and no longer will we be able to sit in the car and watch Bluethroats or read the rings on the Audouin’s Gulls and that's a pity!  

Back into our routine

With Peter now back in the Algarve after his travels for Avian Adventures we have returned this week to our usual routine that includes birding in both the Algarve and Baixo Alentejo, some photography and some reading of colour-rings.

We began on Monday with a trip to the salinas at Olhão where two Red-necked Phalaropes had been seen during the previous few days. This species is classified as a rarity here and is always a delight to see. With good directions we easily found one of them but have to assume that the other one had departed.

 Red-necked Phalarope

Whilst in the Olhão area we called in at Quinta de Marim. This was partly to see our friends at RIAS but also to have a look for a Marbled Duck that had been seen and photographed on the small freshwater pond there. Marbled Duck is a species that many visiting birders want to see and ask us to find for them, presumably not realising what a scarce bird it has become in Iberia. The last record in the Algarve was in January 1997!

Marbled Duck

It used to be that they could be found across the border in Doñana but relatively few remain there and they aren’t easy to find. The breeding population is very small and has undergone a large and rapid decline because of destruction and degradation of breeding habitat. Many of the wetlands in North Africa where they spend the winter have also beeen destroyed.

Marbled Duck

When we found the duck it was quickly obvious that it had a yellow ring on its right leg and this it would seem is evidence that it originates from a Spanish re-introduction project. For more precise details it will be necessary to read the inscription on the ring, something that won’t be easily achieved!

We did hear that there had been a report of two Marbled Ducks at Quinta de Marim, which together with the secretive behaviour of the bird we saw has given rise to speculation that a breeding attempt might be in progress. Now that would be exciting!

A morning out around Tavira with the camera resulted in some pleasing portraits of European Bee-eaters. We also spent some time at a small puddle where Serins and Goldfinches were drinking and bathing and House Martins were collecting mud.

 European Bee-eater

House Martin

We spent a full day in the Castro Verde area where we saw most of the expected species including thirteen raptor species, European Rollers and both Little & Great Bustards. Rufous-tailed Scrub Robins (aka Rufous Bush Chats), Collared Pratincoles, Cattle Egrets and Gull-billed Terns were also getting on with the business of breeding. We also saw four Mute Swans but we’re not sure what they were doing there!

 Eurasian Griffon

 Gull-billed Tern

Rufous-tailed Scrub Robin

Cattle Egret

An enjoyable afternoon was taken up with a visit to the Audouin’s Gull breeding colony in the Ria Formosa. This species began breeding in the Algarve in 2001 and it’s amazing that there are now estimated to be 1,800 pairs here.  Forty years ago the global population was estimated to be only 1,000 pairs! The population has expanded owing to increased availability of fisheries discards close to key breeding colonies, something that could in future be affected by the EU Common Fisheries Policy. We managed to read a few colour-rings including some indicating that the birds originated from the Ebro Delta in Spain, site of the largest colony in the Mediterranean. There is also a substantial breeding colony of Yellow-legged Gulls on the island.

 Audouin's Gull

 Yellow-legged Gulls

Last week's birding

We're now settled back into our routine here in the Algarve and we've just  enjoyed an excellent week of birding. Migrants are on the move, it's been a particularly good week to see eagles and there's been much more besides.

Spanish Imperial Eagle

Our two visits to the Castro Verde area in the Baixo Alentejo gave us multiple sightings of Short-toed, Bonelli's, Golden & Spanish Imperial Eagles - enough to make anyone's day!  It would have been nice to have come across the Steppe Eagle that has recently been reported but maybe that was too much to ask for.  Other raptors we did see up there included Black-winged Kites, Griffon Vultures and Eurasian Black Vultures so there were no complaints.

 Short-toed Eagle

As usual at this time of the year, Great Bustards were relatively few and we failed to find any Little Bustards at all.  In an area where hundreds of them nest, there wasn't a White Stork to be seen but we watched a party of seven Black Storks over São Marcos da Ataboeira.  Most of the summer visitors such as Golden Orioles, Collared Pratincoles, Bee-eaters and Rollers have left but a couple of Black-eared Wheatears remained.

After a scorching hot summer the plains are baked dry and for many birds food must be scarce.  Most of the rivers and streams are now dry but there are quite a number of ponds and small reservoirs that still contain some water.  Green Sandpipers and Common Snipe winter around these reservoirs and both species are already in residence. A few passage waders also occur at these waters and we found Dunlin, Common Sandpiper, Greenshank and Ringed Plover.  We also saw Greater Flamingos and Spoonbills which somehow seem a little out of place here away from the coastal wetlands.

 Spoonbills

The eagles we saw in the Algarve were of course Booted Eagles, several of them at a regular site with two Black-winged Kites roosting nearby.  At Quinta do Lago, Little Bitterns, Glossy Ibises and Purple Swamp-hens were easy to see and a Water Rail made a brief appearance.  At Santa Luzia a juvenile Red-necked Phalarope brought to 25 the number of wader species recorded during the week; Audouin's & Slender-billed Gulls were also there.  At Olhão there were Mediterranean Gulls plus Caspian, Little, Common & Sandwich Terns and near Tavira we found what is presumed to be a hybrid Little x Western Reef Egret, a bird that has been in the area for several weeks.

  Booted Eagle

 Audouin's Gull

Red-necked Phalarope

Presumed hybrid Little x Western Reef Egret

An adult Spanish Imperial Eagle was our main reward for making the long trip to the Doñana area in neighbouring Spain.  There were also several Booted Eagles.  Again here it was a matter of finding some water in order to find a few birds as the whole place was parched dry and unrecognisable compared to how we see it in the spring and early summer. A few Black Storks, Great Egrets and Night Herons were seen as well as numerous Grey Herons, Cattle & Little Egrets but apart from Green Sandpipers and Black-winged Stilts there few waders and the day was generally disappointing.

Spanish Imperial Eagle

Everywhere we have been there have been at least a few passerine migrants, including Common Whitethroat, Northern Wheatears, Whinchats, Tawny Pipits, Pied  & Spotted Flycatchers, Chiffchaffs, Willow & Subalpine Warblers and Common Redstarts and we can expect more of the same during the coming weeks.  Maybe this will be the year for another North American passerine - we can but hope!

 Tawny Pipit

Whinchat

Castro Marim & Tavira

After a period when we were frequently at Ludo, Quinta do Lago, Vilamoura and other sites to the west, all of our birding this past week has been either at Castro Marim or around the Tavira/Santa Luzia area.  Although there were a couple of days with reasonably early starts it has mostly been at a pretty relaxed pace and we’ve spent quite a few hours cooped up in the car trying to take photographs.  Still we have managed to see more than 100 species.

For visitors who have been with us the birds which seem to have brought the most pleasure have been Little Bustards, the two regular Ospreys, Bluethroats, Purple Swamp-hens and Great Spotted Cuckoos.  There has also been some enthusiasm for the gulls, particularly Audouin’s and Slender-billed but also Mediterranean.

Little Bustard

 Bluethroat

Audouin's & Lesser Black-backed Gulls

For us the highlight was probably the Wood Sandpiper at Castro Marim, which by a few days was our earliest record of this species.  It was also good to find Little Ringed Plovers birds that we don’t often see in February.  These two brought the total of wader species seen during the week to an impressive 26.

 Little Ringed Plover

Northern Lapwing

The arrival of increasing numbers of hirundines encourages us to think that the migration season is now upon us.  House Martins are inspecting what’s left of last year’s nests on buildings in the town centre; Barn Swallows are everywhere and a few Red-rumped Swallows are also appearing.  It should be only a couple of weeks before the first Woodchat Shrikes return and by then we should also have seen Yellow Wagtails.  Spring is surely just around the corner!

Here Comes Summer

Even at the end of May there are still some waders to be found in the Ria Formosa and at Castro Marim, mostly Dunlin and Sanderling but also Knot, Oystercatcher and Bar-tailed Godwit.  However, for some time now our attention has been not so much on passage migrants as on the local breeding birds.

Dunlin

Species such as European Bee-eater, Little Bustard, Collared Pratincole, Iberian Grey Shrike and Spectacled Warbler have been in demand as usual and all have been easily viewable even from the car.  We have found Little Bitterns at two sites in the Eastern Algarve, close to Castro Marim and nearby there have also been Audouin’s Gulls, Great Spotted Cuckoos, Glossy Ibises and Stone-curlews.  In the same area, there have been regular sightings of Montagu’s Harriers and Marsh Harriers and occasionally a Short-toed Eagle.

Spectacled Warbler

 Great Spotted Cuckoo

Audouin's Gull

Inevitably, we have spent quite a lot of time looking for the scarcer and less easily found species and the last week or so has seen us earn the gratitude of visitors for whom Iberian Chiffchaff, White-rumped Swift and Western Orphean Warbler have been ‘lifers’.  This has taken us inland to areas where we have been able to enjoy the song of countless Nightingales and Blackcaps and often Woodlarks and Golden Orioles.  The White-rumped Swifts have been difficult and so far we have found them at only one of the five sites we have been to where they have bred in previous years.

Non-breeding birds still here include more than 600 Greater Flamingos, plus a handful of Caspian Terns and Slender-billed Gulls.  Once again, there was a Lesser Flamingo recently amongst the Greaters.

Caspian Tern

 Slender-billed Gull

Of course, we have also been making frequent trips to the Baixo Alentejo where Great Bustard, Little Bustard, Spanish Imperial Eagle, Short-toed Eagle, Montagu’s Harrier, Griffon Vulture, Black-bellied Sandgrouse, Roller, Lesser Kestrel, Collared Pratincole, Great Spotted Cuckoo and Calandra Lark have all been seen on virtually every visit.  Golden Eagle, Bonelli’s Eagle and Gull-billed Tern have also been fairly reliable. 

Collared Pratincole

We’ve been across the border to Doñana only once recently.  We found large areas of the National Park to be completely dry and it certainly wasn’t at its best.  It was good to see plenty of people visiting the Dehesa de Abajo (where Red-knobbed Coots seem now to be regular) but in contrast we were the only visitors at the JAV and so the only ones to enjoy seeing a Spanish Imperial Eagle pass low overhead!  Even so, we probably enjoyed the Purple Herons as much as any of the birds we saw.

Purple Heron

Summer has now arrived; temperatures are regularly reaching 26ºC and higher and there are more and more people here.  It will soon be time for us to retreat to the UK!