Algarve rarity update

The second half of October saw more rare birds arriving in the Algarve.  The star attraction was an Olive-backed Pipit found near the Cabranosa raptor watch point on the 21st.  The only accepted record of this species in Portugal was down here in the south at Alvor some 20 years ago but several have been reported from the Berlengas, Cabo da Roca and elsewhere in the last three years and those reports are still in the hands of the Rarities Committee.

Also found near Cabranosa on the 21st was a Yellow-browed Warbler, which proved to be the first of many!  So far there have been about a dozen in the Algarve and others further north.  There is still time for more to be found and numbers look certain to exceed last year’s total, which itself far surpassed anything that had gone before.

Yellow-browed Warbler - Castro Marim, November 2013

As might be expected, these birds at Cabranosa attracted some attention and perhaps it was increased observer activity in the area that resulted in three Rüppell’s Vultures being identified amongst the many Griffons and to the discovery of a White-rumped Sandpiper at nearby Martinhal on the 22nd.

Rüppell’s Vultures, while still very rare in the Algarve, are now birds that can almost be expected at this time of year at Sagres.  Recently we wrote here about vultures in Portugal and the fact that five Rüppell’s had been seen together in the Eastern Alentejo.

The White-rumped Sandpiper, which stayed until at least the 26th, is interesting as it is only the seventh record of this species in Portugal and it follows two others at Martinhal in 2009 and 2013.  Or does it?  What are the chances of three different White-rumped Sandpipers turning up in exactly the same place?  The 2009 bird was a juvenile; we believe the subsequent reports have referred to adult birds.  There seems no reason at all why this latest record (and last year’s) isn’t the return of the same bird and, who knows, it may well have remained undetected when making other visits to Martinhal.

White-rumped Sandpiper - Martinhal, November 2009

Perhaps because it was more of an oddity than a rarity, we omitted to mention in our earlier rarities roundup the hybrid Western Reef x Little Egret that we saw near Forte do Rato in Tavira on 19th September.  It looked very much like the bird that we had seen in the same place in September 2013 and we are reminded of it now because it seems to have moved to Spain.  See here a photograph that appears to be the same bird reported from Isla Cristina, Huelva on 26th October.

Western Reef x Little Egret hybrid - Tavira, September, 2013

No doubt November will bring more interesting birds to the Algarve; last year we had Eider, American Wigeon and Lesser Yellowlegs amongst others and from a previous November we recall a Red-breasted Flycatcher so there’s still time to look for passerine vagrants.

Algarve rarity roundup

The autumn rarity season in the Algarve opened with a 2nd-year male Red-footed Falcon seen near the Cabranosa raptor watch point on 8th September.  This was only the seventh record of this species for Portugal and the fourth for the Algarve.  Remarkably, a second Red-footed Falcon, a juvenile, appeared in the same area on 16th and 17th September.

A Pectoral Sandpiper was found at Martinhal on 13th September and the same day there was a report of a Marsh Sandpiper at Lagoa dos Salgados.  Photographs of the Marsh Sandpiper sparked a certain amount of debate and it will be interesting to see whether a supporting description of the bird proves sufficient to satisfy the Portuguese Rarities Committee.  Also at Lagoa dos Salgados, a White-winged Tern was a one-day bird on 17th September.

A Paddyfield Warbler was trapped and ringed at the Parque Ambiental de Vilamoura on 1st October.  This was only the second record of this species for the Algarve and the fifth for Portugal but there had been another one further north in the country just ten days earlier.  This a species that breeds mainly in Asia with the westernmost breeding population being along the Black Sea coast of Romania and Bulgaria; they winter in India and Pakistan, so definitely unexpected here.

Paddyfield Warbler (Scott Petrek)

Friday, 3rd October was the second day of the Sagres Birdwatching Festival and that ensured many people were present at Cabranosa to enjoy the sight of a juvenile Pallid Harrier.  Portugal’s first record of this species was as recently as 2011 but there have since been about a dozen reports that are awaiting the verdict of the Rarities Committee.  Pallid Harriers, the vast majority of which breed in southern-Asian Russia and northern Kazakhstan, are reported to be in steep decline as a result of the destruction and degradation of steppe grasslands in the breeding range and both habitat loss and the use of harmful pesticides on wintering grounds in Central Africa and India.

There was another Pectoral Sandpiper on 6th and 7th October, this time at a wastewater treatment lagoon near Faro and most recently, on the 14th, a Little Swift was reported from the Ria de Alvor.  Eleven previous records of this species have been accepted in Portugal, four of them in the Algarve but there are several others awaiting a decision.  The only previous October record was in 1997.  Little Swift has a predominantly Asian and African distribution but there is, of course, a small breeding population in Spain.

You can keep up with news of rare birds in the Algarve on Facebook but remember that ‘rare’ in this context refers to species that are subject to review by the Portuguese Rarities Committee and that may include some that are quite common where you live!

We look forward to some more rarities in the next few weeks...

Sagres and Salgados

Yesterday we made the long drive to Sagres and Cape St Vincent.  We looked in at the Fortaleza de Beliche, mingled with the many tourists around the lighthouse that marks the south-western extremity of mainland Europe,  drove out to the Vale Santo and then spent a couple of hours at the Cabranosa raptor watch point before making a brief visit to the port of Baleeira.  It’s a circuit that we have done many times.

We saw the expected Red-billed Choughs, Rock Doves, a Blue Rock Thrush, Black Redstarts, a few off-shore Gannets and a very obliging Little Owl; it wasn’t a great day for passerine migrants but they included many Northern Wheatears, both Pied & Spotted Flycatchers and several Phylloscopus warblers.  Most of the interest, however, was in the sky above as Short-toed & Booted Eagles, Griffon & Egyptian Vultures, several Sparrowhawks, a Black Stork, a Hen Harrier, a couple of Black Kites, a Honey-buzzard, a Goshawk, several Common Kestrels and a probable Eleonora’s Falcon vied for attention.  Apparently a Spanish Imperial Eagle was seen later in the day, after we had left!  It is to be hoped that those attending next weekend’s Sagres Birdwatching Festival are as well entertained.

Northern Wheatear

On the way back east we called in at Lagoa dos Salgados for a couple of hours.  The lagoon has certainly been transformed by the restoration project that was carried out at great expense a few months back but in spite of promises about more control over water levels there was still more water than we might have liked.  At this time of year it would have been good to see a bit more mud around the edges and although there was a nice selection of waders we might have hoped for higher numbers.  Not surprisingly the newly created islands were covered in gulls, mostly fuscus and michahellis but also a few ridibundus and audouinii.  A Sandwich Tern and a Black Tern both made brief appearances.  There were a few Spoonbills, Great Flamingos and Cormorants and small numbers of common dabbling ducks.  Migrants included Yellow Wagtails, a Whinchat and several Northern Wheatears and at last we saw our first Bluethroat of the autumn.

Vultures

An African White-backed Vulture (Gyps africanus) seen at the Estação Biológica do Garducho, near Mourão on 24th August is just the second record of this species for Portugal and only the fifth for Europe.

African White-backed Vulture (Tanzania)

It was seen at one of the vulture feeding stations set up in that part of Eastern Alentejo by the LIFE Lince Abutre project, which aims to contribute to the improvement of the survival, feeding and breeding conditions of the Iberian lynx (Lynx pardinus) and the Cinereous or European Black Vulture (Aegypius monachus) in southeast Portugal but also benefits several other threatened species.

European Black Vulture (Portugal)

Only three weeks earlier, there was a remarkable report of five Rüppell’s Griffon Vultures (Gyps rueppelli), another African species, also in the Eastern Alentejo.  Sightings of Rüppell’s Griffons in ones and twos have become regular in Portugal and Spain in recent years, most of them at Tarifa and Sagres, with some speculation about how many different individuals might be involved, so the occurrence of five together was very interesting.

Rüppell’s Griffon (Ethiopia)

It is assumed that Rüppell’s Griffons and now White-backed Vultures mix with wintering Eurasian Griffons (Gyps fulvus) in West Africa, and then come to Europe with them.  Rüppell’s has also tried to breed in Iberia, in hybrid pairings with Eurasian Griffons, but to date there has not been any evidence of success.

Eurasian Griffon (Portugal)

Last year a Rüppell’s Griffon was wing-tagged in Portugal, and was subsequently seen in France and Spain, confirming that these birds range widely across the continent.

So now we have six species of vultures to look out for: European Black, Eurasian Griffon, Rüppell’s Griffon, Egyptian (Neophron percnopterus), African White-backed and Lammergeier (Gypaetus barbatus).  Lammergeiers haven’t been seen here for a very long time but they have been re-introduced in Spain and individuals are known from satellite-tracking to have occasionally crossed the border to fly unseen over Portugal.

Egyptian Vultures (Ethiopia)

It is timely that we are writing about vultures as the first Saturday in September each year is International Vulture Awareness Day.  It also gives us an opportunity to draw attention once again to the on-line petition to ban the use in Europe of diclofenac, the drug that has been responsible for wiping out huge numbers of vultures in India, Pakistan and Nepal.  You can read more about that here and here you can donate towards efforts being made by Birdlife International to save vultures in Europe and Africa from the fate that has befallen so many in Asia.

Vultures need our help!

Coming soon to a golf course near you?

This week, the American Birding Association Checklist Committee voted unanimously to accept the Egyptian Goose (Alopochen aegyptiacus) as an established exotic in south-eastern Florida and added it to the official ABA Checklist.  Birds have been present in Florida for 20 years and there have been numerous records of breeding; without doubt the population is now self-sustaining. Although the species is found elsewhere in North America (e.g. Arkansas, California and Texas) those populations are not yet regarded as being established and presumably therefore are not ‘tickable’ but it seems likely to be just a matter of time.

Egyptian Geese were introduced to Britain as early as the 17th century and have bred in the wild for over 200 years.  Until comparatively recently they were more or less confined to Norfolk but there has been a gradual increase in numbers and fieldwork for Bird Atlas 2007-11 has shown a significant recent range expansion including scattered winter records from Shetland, west Wales, Cornwall and even Ireland.

In Holland, too, there has been considerable expansion and the population there has been estimated at about 11,000 pairs, or 50,000 individuals post-breeding.  There are also breeding populations in France and Germany.     

This week’s Noticiário Ornitológico included a record of 13 Egyptian Geese at the Alqueva reservoir near Évora in eastern Portugal, close to the border with Spain.  This continues the trend that we have seen this year for increasing reports of this exotic species in Portugal.  In June and July birds were seen in the Algarve at Lagoa dos Salgados.  These latest birds were seen on 23rd August south of Roncão and they represent the largest flock seen so far.  Not so long ago reports of Egyptian Geese were referred to as escapes from captivity but this description has now been dropped and the reality surely is that these birds are arriving from the established and expanding feral populations in Northern Europe.  

Two of the most obvious field marks of the Egyptian Goose are the chestnut eye patches surrounding its yellow eyes, and a brown chest patch.  There is also a brown stripe that forms a collar around the nape of the neck.  The bill is pink, with a black tip and a dark base. The male has green secondaries, but a large portion of the adult wing is white. The white usually remains hidden when the bird is at rest, however, the white wing feathers are easily seen when the bird is in flight. The under tail coverts are cinnamon colored:  the upper tail is black.  The sexes look alike, but the female is slightly smaller.  Juvenile birds are similar to adults but lack the distinct facial markings.

Of course, the Egyptian Goose isn’t really a goose at all; it is believed to be most closely related to the shelducks (genus Tadorna) and their relatives, and is placed with them in the subfamily Tadorninae.

Egyptian Geese are native to sub-Saharan Africa where they are widespread and numerous; we have seen them on most of our visits to Africa.  In many areas they are regarded as agricultural pests because they sometimes feed on or trample crops and in South Africa they occur in large numbers on golf courses where they cause physical and financial damage to the courses and are a nuisance to golfers and golf course managers.  In Holland they are reported to be aggressive towards breeding waders.  We do wonder therefore whether we should be looking beyond the novelty of having these birds arriving and instead considering the potential for them to quickly become an unwelcome nuisance.

Norfolk & Lincolnshire

It would seem that on Sunday the only rarities seen along the North Norfolk coast were June and Peter.  However, although there was nothing very unusual to see, we had a decent day’s birding and the weather was kind to us throughout.  We were strangers in what was once very familiar territory, visiting for the day with friend Keith Lievesley. 
 
We began at Titchwell (RSPB), moved on to Cley Marshes (Norfolk Wildlife Trust) and later on the way back had a good walk over Blakeney Freshes (National Trust).  Each area showed signs of the damage caused by the exceptional storm surge that took place on 5th December last year but it was remarkable to see how well they seem to be recovering.

A fairly relaxed day in this relatively uniform habitat produced a modest 72 species.  One of the most numerous of the waders was Ruff and it was the only one that we photographed.

So infrequent are our visits to Titchwell that we hadn’t previously seen the much-maligned Parrinder Hide.  We had read about it and seen it described as, amongst other things, “too posh”, “ridiculously expensive” and “a monstrosity” and certainly it does seem a bit over the top.  Just the size of it was a surprise!  Who would have imagined something like this when Norman Sills first came to Titchwell as the first warden in the early 1970s?

The hides at Cley Marshes are probably more to our liking - Daukes Hide is surely a much more attractive structure.  However, the visitor centre here, like the Parrinder Hide at Titchwell, is also a building that divides opinion.  The mere fact that it can be found on TripAdvisor is for some people enough to view it as a tourist attraction in its own right and it certainly houses a seriously commercial operation.  It was the first time we have been asked to sign for Gift Aid when paying an entrance fee for a reserve - but why not?

Daukes Hide

Cley Marshes Visitor Centres - the new and the old

It was the first time we have looked out to sea from Cley and seen not just passing seabirds but also about 90 wind turbines!  We still can’t bring ourselves to like them at all!  We preferred to look east along the shingle bank towards Sheringham.

Several times during the day we met people who have been birding with us either through Avian Adventures or Algarve Birders.  They were all first encountered at Titchwell, which has now perhaps replaced the East Bank at Cley as the place to bump into people you know or at least recognise.

The East Bank

Cley-next-the-Sea viewed from Blakeney Freshes

After our walk at Blakeney we drove to Wells-next-the-Sea and as we struggled to negotiate the narrow section of the A149 through Stiffkey we were looking forward to fish and chips.  When we arrived, long queues at both shops on the front were another reminder (as if we needed one!) that this was a Bank Holiday weekend.  We quickly decided that continuing to Hunstanton might be a better plan and so it proved although we cut it fine, being the last to be served before closing time at the excellent Supafry in Greevegate.

Monday could not have been more different; it was a public holiday and the weather performed accordingly, pouring rain no doubt ruining countless events that had been a long time in the planning.  We were not immune and suffered a good soaking during our visit to Deeping Lakes, a Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust reserve, near Stamford.  We took a circular route through the reserve and along the bank of the River Welland, sheltering in a couple of hides while looking at various gravel pits where Great Crested Grebes were feeding young and Cormorants also seemed to be finding plenty of food.  An artificial Sand Martin nesting bank would have been more interesting to see earlier in the summer and we would love to see one like it in the Algarve.  June did at least get to see one of her favourite Green Woodpeckers, so our trip wasn’t all in vain.

This sign at Deeping Lakes appealed to us pedants.    

Birdfair 2014

We’ve just enjoyed another great weekend at the British Birdwatching Fair at Rutland Water, three days of talking birds, travel and photography with a bit of cricket and football on the side!

As usual we were on the Avian Adventures stand promoting tours all over the world but there were plenty of opportunities to talk about the Algarve ("lots of birds and sunshine and less than three hours away from most regional airports in the UK")!

It was really nice to meet up again with so many friends, a great number of them, like Mavourneen Pearce (above), from overseas.  We re-lived quite a few past birding trips but also made plans for several more in the next few months.

The cover of the Avian Adventures brochure for 2015 features a Collared Araçari photographed in Honduras by James Adams.  Here Gerry Griffiths drinks a toast with James to the success of next year’s tour there.  See here for details!

We were in Marquee 3, seen here during a relatively quiet moment late on Sunday afternoon.

At the 2011 Birdfair we sponsored the BTO’s satellite-tagged Cuckoo, Chris, not realising at the time that it was named after Chris Packham.  Anyway, it proved to be a good choice as Chris is the only one of that year’s Cuckoos still to be transmitting.  Chris is currently in Italy on the way back to spend the winter in Africa and we have our fingers crossed for his continued survival.  It’s great that our stand in Marquee 3 is directly opposite that of the BTO as it gives us the chance to pop across during any quiet moments to talk to their staff who are working on projects such as this.

It looks as though June is about to be attacked by Findlay Wilde's Hen Harrier!  There were frequent reminders of last week’s Hen Harrier Day and if you haven’t already signed Mark Avery’s petition, you really should.  It's good to see that well over 15,000 people have so far signed.

Television presenter and President of the BTO, Chris Packham, has been a great supporter of the Hen Harrier campaign; he signed countless copies of his latest book.

The SPEA stand was one of several promoting Portugal and its birds.  Currently SPEA is mounting a campaign against the illegal trapping of birds, which is becoming an increasing problem in Portugal.  Details of how you might make a donation to help with this campaign can be found here.

Amy and Sering Bojang enjoying a joke with Neil Glenn - Sering’s combination of rubber boots and sunglasses rather summed up the weekend weather.  Neil was much involved in collecting football strips for Kits 4 Causes.

Although it’s called Birdfair, increasingly we’re seeing wildlife other than birds being featured.  Butterfly Conservation, Buglife, Bat Conservation Trust and the British Arachnological Society were just some of the organisations trying to get birders to look at a bigger picture, which most of us probably do.

There is a really good nature reserve and lots of birds at Rutland Water or at least that’s what we’ve been told!  Year after year we go the Birdfair but somehow never seem to find time for any birding.  Nevertheless, we are already looking forward to Birdfair 2015!