Fuerteventura - 3

We visited most of the island’s recommended birding sites seeking out our ten target species.

The Barranco de la Torre is described as the best site on the island for Fuerteventura Chat and we saw several of them there.  It was another place that we saw Barbary Partridge and we photographed Spectacled Warbler and Southern Grey Shrike there.  Again, with the shrike, we were looking at an endemic subspecies koenigi; they proved to be reasonably common in most areas that we went, often heard before they were seen.

Barranco de la Torre

 Barbary Partridge

Southern Grey Shrike - subspecies koenigi

 Spectacled Warbler - subspecies orbitalis

Berthelot’s Pipits and Trumpeter Finches proved to be common and widespread but with our remaining two target species we just got lucky.  We saw only one Barbary Falcon, which we watched for just a couple of minutes when we had stopped to look at something else and it was quite by chance that we came upon a small mixed party of Plain & Pallid Swifts when heading back late one afternoon to Caleta de Fuste.  They were circling quite low over the small town of Tetir and we had time to compare the two species.

 Berthelot's Pipit

Trumpeter Finch

We made just one trip to the south of the island to the Costa de Jandia, which sounded much better in the books than it proved to be on the day we went.  We assume that accounts of exceptional numbers of waders in pools along the beach refer to migrants in the late summer and autumn and not to wintering birds in December.

While we were ‘down south’ we crossed to La Pared on the opposite coast where Black-bellied Sandgrouse reputedly come to drink.  Not while we were there, they didn’t!  Nor were we successful in the area between La Pared and Costa Calma, which is supposed to be good for desert species.  Probably we weren’t persistent enough having already seen all the species in question near Tindaya.

The most common birds seen almost everywhere were Eurasian Collared Doves and Spanish Sparrows.  Ravens were widespread and wherever there was water, there were Ruddy Shelducks.  The Ravens are of the subspecies tingitanus that also occurs in North Africa.

Spanish Sparrow

 Common Raven - subspecies tingitanus

Barbary Ground Squirrels were quite common but the only other mammal species seen were a single Rabbit and several Algerian Hedgehogs that were ‘ roadkill’.  All of these have been introduced to the island.

Barbary Ground Squirrel

In total we saw only 52 bird species during the week, although with a bit more effort that number could no doubt have been improved on.  However, there seemed little point in spending time searching out common species that we see regularly and we very much concentrated on our targets.  We didn’t even go and look for the Yellow-browed Warbler that was reported from Costa Calma while we were there!

Easter birding in the Algarve

This last week our birding time has been spent mostly around Castro Marim and in the Ludo / Quinta do Lago area.  Both have been full of interest and some days it has been difficult to decide in which direction we should set off! 

 Castro Marim Reserve

Quinta do Lago

In a week which saw temperatures rise to almost 30º and a change in the wind direction, it has been great to see a variety of migrants at last arriving in numbers including Common Cuckoos, Bee-eaters, Nightingales, Northern Wheatears, Purple Herons, Woodchat Shrikes and Reed Warblers as well as the first Golden Orioles and Collared Pratincoles.  There have been Garganeys at several sites and among the Yellow Wagtails birds of the flava and flavissima races have joined the earlier arriving iberiaes.

 Woodchat Shrike

 European Bee-eater

Garganeys

The main attractions currently at Castro Marim have been the Little Bustards, which are now displaying and easy to see.  Spectacled Warblers and Great Spotted Cuckoos have also been popular and there has been a nice selection of passage waders that has included Spotted Redshank, Ruff, Black-tailed Godwits and Greenshank.  On Good Friday we saw a Short-toed Eagle there and the wintering Osprey with the red ring on its left leg seems reluctant to leave.  Marsh Harriers are also displaying and from time to time a pair of Ravens appear.

Spectacled Warbler

Although we have found Little Bitterns, Glossy Ibises, Red-crested Pochards and Purple Swamp-hens around Castro Marim in the last few days, these are species that are definitely easier to see In the Ludo / Quinta do Lago area.  Black-headed Weavers are now busy building nests and are also fun to watch in front of the hide that overlooks the Lagoa de São Lourenço.  The long-staying Red-breasted Flycatcher seems to have left and the Little Crakes didn’t stay very long but we have seen Wryneck, Booted Eagles, Osprey, Black Kite and Black-winged Kite as well as a few Mediterranean & Audouin’s Gulls.

Little Bittern

Purple Swamp-hen

Of course, we have also managed to visit the wonderful Castro Verde / Mértola area where Great Bustards are now displaying and easy to see.  One morning we stood and watched about a dozen of them at the same time as there were also in view two Spanish Imperial Eagles, a Black Vulture, 30 Black-bellied Sandgrouse and several Calandra Larks.  It was hard to decide where to look first!  We saw 10 raptor species during the day, which really is the minimum number we would expect at this time of year.  The first Rollers are just arriving but our experience is that Black-eared Wheatears are so far slow making an appearance.

Great Bustards

 White Storks

Almost wherever we go but particularly numerous in the Baixo Alentejo there are White Storks nesting.  We rather take them for granted but their black, white and red colours seen against a clear blue sky make a fine sight and we love to hear them bill-clapping.  There’s a colour-ringed White Stork nesting near Aipo that was ringed as a nestling at nearby Navarro (Castro Verde) in 1999.  It has been using the same nest for several years which is typical of the species but has been seen feeding on rubbish dumps in Spain in the dry autumn months when frogs are hard to come by.

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!

Breezy birding

We never tire of visiting Castro Marim. We were there again yesterday afternoon, just for an hour or so. Our targets were Little Bustard, Spectacled Warbler, Stone-curlew and Lesser Short-toed Lark and the first three were quickly and easily found. However, although it was bright and sunny, in a strong wind, the larks were more difficult and we really didn't get what might be described as a 'tickable view'. Consolation came in the form of a Great Spotted Cuckoo and there was also a fairly distant look at a Caspian Tern and a Marsh Harrier.

This morning we returned to Quinta do Lago but for a change from recent visits we walked in from the Faro side, past Ludo Farm. Again it was bright and sunny but with a stiff breeze blowing. It was no surprise that almost the first birds seen were two Booted Eagles - they are very regular here, even in winter.

Booted Eagle

A little further on we saw what might well have been the same Black Kite that was in the area on Monday but the highlight of our walk to Lago do São Lourenço was a Black Stork, seen first of all in flight and then perched in a tree. The explosive calls of Cetti's Warblers could be heard everywhere, several European Reed Warblers were singing and about a dozen noisy Bee-eaters were always just out of camera range.

At the lagoon a first-winter Little Gull was feeding over the water but otherwise there was little change from earlier in the week. As always, there were good opportunities to photograph several species and the Red-crested Pochards were difficult to resist. A Little Grebe was also reasonably obliging.

Red-crested Pochard

Little Grebe

As we returned to the car, this Yellow Wagtail allowed close approach. The wind was so strong that it was probably frightened to let go of the power cable!

Yellow Wagtail (iberiae)