The Birding Week

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

Sunday Morning

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

Ria Formosa

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...

Sunday at Castro Marim

Without doubt, Castro Marim is one of our favourite sites in the Algarve and it's one we visit pretty regularly. However, the Reserva Natural do Sapal de Castro Marim e Vila Real de Santo António (to give it its full title) covers a huge area and at this time of year, when the temperature can be approaching 30 degrees by 10.00am, we're not inclined to cover all of it in one day. This morning we gave it about two and a half hours before retreating into some shade.

Although much of that time was spent taking photographs (how many flight shots of Spoonbills do we really need?) and trying to read colour-rings, we managed to dig out about 50 species with minimum effort.



The only real surprise was a Black-crowned Night Heron, a species that seems to be occurring more frequently in the Algarve and will surely be breeding here soon if it isn't already.


Amonst the gulls, we found about a dozen each of Slender-billed and Audouin's. (For some reason, the largest concentration of Audouin's in the area currently is at Santa Luzia where 268 were reported this morning.)

As well as the resident Kentish Plovers, Avocets and Black-winged Stilts, a few returning waders were in evidence including Dunlins and Black-tailed Godwits, a couple of Little Ringed Plovers, a Common Sandpiper and (our favourites) two Green Sandpipers.



Not many raptors were seen but we had several sightings of what was presumably the same male Montagu's Harrier, plus Common Buzzard and Common Kestrel.

One species that we particularly looked for was Common Magpie and eventually we found two rather bedraggled-looking birds. As we had hoped, these Magpies were feeding two well-grown Great Spotted Cuckoos. The Cuckoos looked as though they should have been well capable of fending for themselves, but why would they when their foster parents were so attentive. No wonder the Magpies looked worn out!

Other notables were Woodchat and Southern Grey Shrikes, three Common Ravens, Little Terns, hundreds of Greater Flamingos, Azure-winged Magpies, Common Shelducks and Red-rumped Swallows.

All in all, some pretty decent birding. We are no longer surprised that we didn't see another birder the whole time we were there.

Water Water Everywhere!

The monsoon season continues here in the Algarve - rain, rain and more rain, day after day. And it's still pretty windy, too! There's water lying everywhere, fields that just two weeks ago were bone dry are now under several inches of water. The depth of water in many of the local saltpans is now such that only flamingos and Spoonbills can feed in them - even the long-legged waders, Black-winged Stilts and Black-tailed Godwits have moved out into the fields. At high tide today flocks of waders, including Dunlin, Ringed Plovers, Turnstones and Little Stints could be found out in the stubble.

It's certainly not weather that anyone would want to be out birding in. However, we did find a brief window of opportunity today for a drive to some of our regular spots around Tavira and even to take a few photographs before the sky turned black again at about 3.00pm and another thunderstorm rolled in.

Today's photographs are all of common species and were taken in one place, a flooded field at the edge of town.

Common Redshank

Mediterranean Gull

Lesser Black-backed Gull

Black-tailed Godwit

Black-winged Stilt

Meadow Pipit

Mediterranean Gull

Waders again

More 'admin' the last couple of days while the weather has been wet and windy but staying home has not been all bad news. At lunchtime on Monday we heard a Wryneck calling in the trees outside and when we went to look for it we found there were actually two of them. We were only out there for a few minutes but could see that the trees were full of newly arrived Blackcaps. Today a Black-shouldered Kite(or should that be Black-winged Kite?) was hovering out there briefly but was quickly carried off on the wind.

We did manage to get out for a couple of hours late on Monday afternoon to have a look at the local waders around Tavira. There were no rarities but plenty of birds to watch, photograph and enjoy.

A Tour of the Saltpans

We took ourselves off to Olhão yesterday afternoon. It’s the next large town along the coast to the west of here. We were hoping to see Collared Pratincoles, which we eventually did. Not surprisingly, Kentish Plovers, Little Terns and Black-winged Stilts all seemed to have young around the saltpans and it looked as though a few pairs of Pied Avocets might also have nested.

Little Tern

Black-winged Stilt

With all this breeding going on it was hard to think about ’autumn’ wader passage but there were at least 120 Black-tailed Godwits in the area, plus a couple of Ringed Plovers and presumably these are birds that have returned here from breeding grounds far to the north. Let’s hope they’re not all failed breeders! Later at Santa Luzia we saw more Black-tailed Godwits and two Oystercatchers.

At Santa Luzia there were 26 Audouin’s Gulls. A colour-ring on one of them was easy to read from the photograph, but unfortunately that isn‘t the case with the Spoonbill - one of at least 50 of this species seen at Castro Marim this morning. Also at Castro Marim were yet more Black-tailed Godwits and two Greenshanks but what really had us looking twice at the calendar was the sight of a drake Northern Pintail!

Audouin's Gull

Eurasian Spoonbill

Yesterday we spent a while watching Bee-eaters taking food to nest-holes here in Tavira. There was no possibility of photographing them but this morning at Castro Marim we were able to almost walk up to one.

European Bee-eater

We also managed without much difficulty to photograph a Little Owl in Tavira - presumed, as it was on the same building, to be a bird that was completely unco-operative on a previous visit. That's birds for you!

Little Owl

Tavira saltpans

We spent a couple of hours or so this afternoon around the saltpans here in Tavira. The area forms part of the Parque National da Ria Formosa, designated a wetland of international importance under the Ramsar Convention. It's a wonderful place to see wading birds and we can routinely see more than 20 species here in the winter months and at migration times. Just now most of the pans are dry and wader numbers are relatively low but in our short visit this afternoon we still managed to find 17 species.

They say that salt was harvested in the Tavira area as long ago as 2,000 BC and the expertise required to produce high quality salt, flor de sal as it is called here, is passed down from generation to generation. Today we were pleased to see work being done to prepare the pans for this year's production and we hope that it won't be long before the pans are flooded again and providing feeding areas for the many migrant waders that will be passing through here in the next few weeks.

In the meantime, we managed to photograph a few of the current 'residents'.