The Week's Highlights

On Monday we were at Castro Marim. It was another 70-species morning with no particular highlights but 30 Golden Plover were new arrivals since our last visit, there were eight Little Terns and at least half a dozen Slender-billed Gulls.

Tuesday was mainly an admin day but we did manage a quick look at some of the local birds around Tavira in the afternoon. These included 50 or more Audouin's Gulls and a Caspian Tern plus all the usual waders, Greater Flamingos, Spoonbills, etc. Back at home, a Crag Martin past the kitchen window was a bit unusual.

We wrote recently about birds being faithful to the same wintering areas year after year. On Wednesday, leaving the car at home, we set out on foot to look for a Black-winged Kite in an area on the edge of Tavira where we saw one regularly last winter. Black-winged Kites are relatively common in some parts of Portugal but not especially so in the Eastern Algarve. It is possibly our favourite raptor species and one that we are always pleased to see. On a warm, sunny morning we found our target bird surprisingly quickly - sitting on the same power cable that we saw it on at this time last year. The same bird? We would like to think so!
Late in the afternoon we decided to count the local Stone-curlew flock. The total of 109 birds was our best so far this autumn/winter.

Stone-curlew

Thursday was another beautiful day and we spent the afternoon walking around the saltpans on the Santa Luzia side of Tavira. A total of 64 species was recorded, 23 of which were waders (or shorebirds, if you prefer) including about 20 Knot which are not always easy to find there. A male Hen Harrier was presumably the same bird that we first saw on 26th October and has been seen several times since. There were at least 20 Slender-billed Gulls which we have to keep mentioning lest anyone should think that they are still rarities!

Back at home later, we saw a Black-winged Kite from the window, presumably the bird that we went looking for yesterday come to return the compliment.

We have already written about Friday - the day of the Whooper Swan at Altura and the Osprey in Tavira. We didn't mention three Barn Swallows at Altura or that we also found time to photograph those local Bluethroats again!

That Whooper Swan again - from even further away!

Bluethroat - also distant!

Today we had to be in Almancil for a couple of hours from mid-day (more of which later) but the binoculars and telescope are always in the car and not surprisingly we found time for some birding. On the way there, a Black-winged Kite got the day off to a good start. On the way back we made just a slight diversion and were rewarded with two more Black-winged Kites, a Booted Eagle, a Marsh Harrier, a remarkable 12 Black-crowned Night-Herons, a Glossy Ibis, about 100 White Storks, a dozen or more Spoonbills including one with what we believe to be a Spanish colour ring and scores of ducks - Wigeon, Pintail, Shover and Gadwall. A Great Spotted Woodpecker flew into a nearby tree, a flock of Azure-winged Magpies passed by, a Water Rail was squealing, two Barn Swallows were overhead and there were more Little Egrets than we cared to count. All this while we stood by the car - which was a good thing really as we weren't dressed for birding.

Old Friends

These last three days we've had multiple visits to Castro Marim and to the Tavira and Santa Luzia saltpans. As a result and not surprisingly we've been seeing the same birds - that's not just the same species, we mean the same individuals.

Some individuals are easily recognised. Yesterday, for instance we saw both of the local hybrid 'grey egrets' that have been in the Tavira area for several years. They each have their favourite feeding areas and can be found most days without too much effort. They're like old friends.

Presumed hybrid Western Reef Egret x Little Egret

Colour-ringed birds are another obvious example of individuals that can be easily recognised. We're currently looking for a Black-tailed Godwit that has been on the saltpans here during the last three winters. We're hoping it has survived to return.

Black-tailed Godwit

There's currently a Black-tailed Godwit at Santa Luzia that has a damaged leg and can therefore be identified as an individual. It feeds in exactly the same place day after day. The likelihood is that the other Godwits feeding with it are also repeatedly using the same small area - not just day after day but perhaps, year after year.

Each year we find wintering Bluethroats in the exactly the same small patch of vegetation, Caspian Terns on the same saltpan, Stone-curlews in the same field. How many of them are, we wonder, like the colour-ringed Godwit, individuals returning to places they know to be safe and to have a good supply of food? And, of course, it's not only the repeated use of wintering sites, for birds heading for sub-Saharan Africa it's reliance on the same stopover sites for 're-fuelling'.

Bluethroat

So then there is the question of what happens to migrant birds such as these when the places they know and rely on are changed from one year to the next. What happens to the bird that flies hundreds of miles and arrives tired and hungry to find that its familiar reedbed has been destroyed, its usual wetland drained, a golf course where that stubble field used to be? Some will no doubt be able to adapt, to find another site, but for some it will be the difference between surviving or not.

Ringing at Vilamoura

We spent yesterday morning at Vilamoura with a team of ringers from the UK headed by our friend and fellow Avian Adventures tour leader, Colin McShane.

Colin checking one of the mist-nets

We always find these ringing sessions entertaining and educational and it's particularly interesting to have good, close-up views of species that are often difficult to see well in the field such as Grasshopper Warbler.

Grasshopper Warbler

For the ringers it's a great opportunity to get experience of species that they don't often get chance to handle back at home. And it's a further illustration of the importance of the Vilamoura area as a wintering and re-fuelling site for migrant birds.

As well as those species photographed, birds mist-netted while we were there included: Kingfisher, Stonechat, Whinchat, Subalpine Warbler, Cetti's Warbler, Blackcap, Zitting Cisticola, Chiffchaff, Willow Warbler, Common Waxbill and Yellow-backed Weaver.

Bluethroat

Bluethroat

Melodious Warbler

Hoopoe

Spanish Sparrow

Great Reed Warbler

Tavira saltpans

After the Dusky Warbler last week came news of a Little Bunting trapped and ringed near Portimao, but both were eclipsed by yesterday's news of a Wallcreeper on the Algarve. It was seen only briefly and hasn't yet been re-located but we live in hope!

Today, an afternoon walk locally produced the usual selection of waders, (including several Little Stints and Greenshanks), Greater Flamingos, a Spoonbill or two, Mediterranean Gulls, a single Slender-billed Gull and several Kingfishers. Around the edges of the saltpans, Chiffchaffs and Sardinian Warblers were the common birds and there were a couple of sightings of Bluethroats.

Along the track that leads down to the saltpans we had good views of Common Waxbills, a single Dartford Warbler and several Zitting Cisticolas. In the distance we could see Northern Gannets passing just offshore.

Common Waxbill

Probably the ’best’ bird of the afternoon was a Black-shouldered Kite, seen at some distance but always a bird we enjoy. There was speculation as to whether it was the same bird we saw in the nearby Vale Formoso on 4th November. Anyway, we shall hope to see it again.

Ringing at Vilamoura

Together with Ray Tipper, we went to Vilamoura yesterday morning to meet up with our friend Colin McShane and his team who are over from England for a week ringing birds in the Parque Ambiental. Colin, Rob Skeates, Lee Wells, Dave Clifton and Glynn Middleton were amongst those who came out here in October last year and were so impressed that they had no hesitation in planning a return. By the time we arrived at about 8.30am, the ringers had been in action for a couple of hours and they had already caught and processed lots of birds, greatly helped by Portuguese ringers, Ana, Miguel, Nuno and Rita.

At this time of the year huge numbers of birds are on the move, most of them migrating south from their breeding grounds to spend the winter somewhere that is warmer and has a better supply of food. From ringing we now know a great deal about these movements. For instance, we know that some of the Chiffchaffs that are arriving here now are from Northern Europe (including the UK), that some of them will stay here until February or March but that others will simply use the Algarve as a staging post and having re-fuelled will continue their journey south to West Africa. The same can be said of Bluethroats, Yellow Wagtails and Blackcaps.

Different species have different strategies for survival. Pied Flycatchers, Northern Wheatears and Whinchats, for instance, are all here now but will soon be continuing their move south, most of them crossing the Sahara. We still don’t know where some of these birds finish up. For Blackbirds and Robins, on the other hand, the Algarve is the end of their autumn travels and they will be with us until the nesting season. There is still much to learn and in these times of climate change and continual habitat destruction ringing is also an important means of monitoring birds.

It is always instructive to see birds in close-up, being handled by skilled ringers. Yesterday we saw a variety of warblers, finches, Bluethroats, Kingfishers, Robins, Blackbirds and others. As well as being ringed they were weighed and measured and, as far as is possible, their age and sex determined. It is always exciting when a ringed bird is reported from some remote country but those are very much a minority and a great deal of information can be gathered in other ways.
While we were there yesterday, two birds were caught that had been ringed elsewhere, both of them Blackcaps. One carried a BTO ring from the UK, the other had a Belgian ring.

One bird that we were particularly pleased to see was a Grasshopper Warbler, outside the breeding season a notoriously secretive and inconspicuous species that we had never previously seen in Portugal. Last year Colin and his team caught 17 Grasshopper Warblers during their week at Vilamoura! Without a mist-net you just wouldn’t know they are there. Who knows whatelse may be hiding in those reedbeds?

Bluethroat

Working the local patch

We were at Castro Marim again this morning. For the first time in a week it was quite cloudy and the temperature remained comfortable all day. We walked nowhere near as far as we usually do but probably saw just as many species.

The highlight was seeing a flock of 13 Little Bustards; they’re not uncommon here but can’t be guaranteed. Additional to the 19 wader species found in the same area last week were about 10 Northern Lapwings and a Wood Sandpiper. There were still a few Slender-billed Gulls; Mediterranean Gulls had increased to double figures and there were at least 100 Audouin’s Gulls. A few Northern Pintail had arrived to swell the duck numbers and in addition to the usual Caspian and Little Terns, about a dozen Black Terns were feeding over the marsh. One or two Marsh Harriers were around, a Peregrine Falcon was sitting on a post in the middle of the salinas and just as we were leaving a Booted Eagle passed over.

On the way back we checked our best local sites for Blue Rock Thrush and Bluethroat and were successful at both, although we had to be patient. It was a case of “come on out - we know you’re in there” as we sat in the car waiting for them to appear. The Bluethroat was our first of the autumn but was in exactly the same spot that we see them every year which, not surprisingly, we call ’Bluethroat corner’.

While we were looking for a Bluethroat we saw another grey egret. We weren’t able to say with any certainty whether it was the same bird we saw at Santa Luzia last week but the suspicion is that there are at least two birds that frequent the Tavira area. Ray Tipper is comparing the many photographs of these birds and we will be adding the one below to his collection. Also seen here was one of the pinkest Slender-billed Gulls we have seen. Not only were its underparts pink but also its rump, tail and primaries. Oystercatcher and Bar-tailed Godwit brought the wader species total to 24 since we arrived back here last week.

'Grey Egret'