The Last Two Weeks

It’s the migration season, that time of the year when even more than usual we want to be out birding all day every day. So that’s what we’ve been doing and why it is there’s been no news from us for almost two weeks!

During that time, we’ve had two further visits to the Castro Verde area, a trip across the border to Doñana and multiple visits to the usual sites in the Algarve – Quinta do Lago, Ludo, Castro Marim, Tavira/Santa Luzia, Olhão and even Lagoa dos Salgados, somewhere that we don’t go all that frequently.

We’ve had no further luck with the crakes at Quinta do Lago and neither it seems has anyone else. There’s been one further report of a Little Crake there but no confirmation of the Baillon’s Crake reported on 22nd March. Interestingly, three further Baillon’s Crakes have been found further north in Portugal during the past couple of weeks and there’s been at least one in Spain. There was another Little Crake at Vilamoura on 2nd April and there have been at least three Spotted Crakes in the Algarve during the same period of easterly winds.

The weather that brought the crakes has also resulted in us having many more migrants than usual in the Algarve. Species such as Subalpine Warbler, Bonelli’s Warbler, Black-eared Wheatear, Common Redstart and Greater Short-toed Lark have all appeared in greater numbers than we normally expect and it has made for some exciting birding.

Greater Short-toed Lark

No further sightings of crakes at Quinta do Lago but it has been a great place to watch Little Bitterns. Black-headed Weavers have been busy building nests there and are always a talking point and Purple Swamp-hens can always be relied on for entertainment. Not far away, Glossy Ibis continue to be seen and we’ve heard a Savi’s Warbler singing on two or three occasions. The Barnacle Goose that we first saw back in October is still present and appears to be of the fulica race, making itself at home feeding on the golf course with the Coots!

Glossy Ibis

When we’ve been to Quinta do Lago we’ve usually also spent time at nearby Ludo. The saltpans there haven’t been very productive but the raptors have been good with Booted Eagles, Black Kite, Montagu’s and Marsh Harriers, Common Buzzard, Peregrine Falcon and Osprey all seen there in the last week. A pair of Wrynecks (one of June’s favourites) also put on a good show for us one morning.

We still rate Castro Marim as the best birding site in the Algarve and spend quite a lot of time there. As well as regular birding there, we’re also helping with a survey of the breeding Lesser Short-toed Lark population. As usual with survey work, one of the side benefits has been that we have birded in areas that we don’t usually go to. Amongst the recent highlights at Castro Marim have been several pairs of Great Spotted Cuckoos, displaying Little Bustards, a Short-toed Eagle, Montagu’s Harriers, half a dozen Glossy Ibises, more than 50 Slender-billed Gulls and plenty of waders, including Spotted Redshanks and Curlew Sandpipers starting to show signs of breeding plumage and, yesterday, a Wood Sandpiper.

Slender-billed Gull

The woodland at Aldeia Nova is worth a quick visit when in the Castro Marim area and we have been rewarded there recently with Ferruginous Duck, Red-crested Pochards and Black-crowned Night Heron at the small pond and Bonelli’s Warbler in the pines.

The Castro Verde area has continued to provide us with excellent birding. Displaying Great Bustards and Little Bustards are the ‘crowd pleasers’ along with the Spanish Imperial Eagles and it’s great now to see so many Montagu’s Harriers and Lesser Kestrels. We’ve also enjoyed watching the song-flights of Calandra Larks. On our last visit we had great views of a flock of about 50 Black-bellied Sandgrouse, two Collared Pratincoles and the first Rollers of the year.

Montagu's Harrier

We also had good views of a Spanish Imperial Eagle when we were in Doñana but there the sandgrouse were of the Pin-tailed variety. Other highlights of our day there were 20+ Griffon Vultures, Short-toed Eagles, Purple Herons, Great Reed Warblers, Black-crowned Night Herons and countless Black Kites. It was disappointing to see how much the area seems to have suffered from the very dry winter; few egrets or Glossy Ibises appear to be nesting at the JAV Centre where they are usually such a feature.

Black Kite

The soundtrack to the last two weeks has been the songs of Corn Buntings, Cetti’s Warblers, Serins, Nightingales and Zitting Cisticolas and the calls of Bee-eaters. We’re looking forward to adding Golden Oriole to that list very soon and we’re also listening out now for the return of Red-necked Nightjars.

European Bee-eater

Bee-eater update

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.

A Bit of Luck!

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!

Tavira Bee-eaters

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.