Doing the splits!

We spent our Christmas and New Year holiday period thousands of miles apart.  While June divided her time between the UK and Portugal, Peter was in Florida leading a tour for Avian Adventures.  It isn’t what we planned and it certainly wasn’t what we wanted but circumstances conspired against us and that’s what happened.

The tour in Florida was enjoyable enough although the self-styled “Sunshine State” fell some way short of living up to its name.  As with the Algarve, winter birding in Florida gives the opportunity to see lots of interesting resident birds as well as a great many that are from further north and only there to escape the cold.

For many birders, however, particularly Americans, the reason to visit Florida is that there are quite a few exotic species that are now sufficiently established there as permanent residents that they are now deemed ‘countable’ by the American Birding Association.  What that means is that if your motivation is to make a list of the birds that you have seen in the USA, species such as Red-whiskered Bulbul, Spot-breasted Oriole, White-winged Parakeet and Nanday Parakeet will at some point have to be targeted and Florida is the only corner of the country where they can be found.  There are currently about a dozen such species and several more amongst the many other non-native breeding birds are potential additions to the official American Ornithologists’ Union (AOU) Check-List.

Our tour in Florida was most definitely not about searching for exotic species!  However we did want to see Snail Kite and Limpkin that are at the northern edge of their natural range in Florida and not normally found elsewhere in the USA.  Others such as Painted Bunting, Roseate Spoonbill, Crested Caracara and Wood Stork, which all of us had previously seen in Texas, would also be good to find.  And it wasn’t just birds!  West Indian Manatee, a huge herbiverous, marine mammal, was also on everyone’s ‘wish list’.  In the event, all of these targets were seen without much difficulty.

Although we didn’t at any time find ourselves agonising over what was and wasn’t countable, there were a few questions raised, not about ‘exotics’ but about the differences in the way that the various ornithological authorities treat taxa such as Wilson’s Snipe, Common Gallinule, Cabot’s Tern, American Herring Gull and Hudsonian Whimbrel.

Wilson’s Snipe (Gallinago delicata) is regarded as a species separate from Common Snipe (Gallinago gallinago) by the AOU, by the British Ornithologists’ Union (BOU) and by the International Ornithological Committee (IOC) but it is not recognised as such by BirdLife International (BLI).

Cabot’s Tern (Sterna acuflavida) and American Herring Gull (Larus smithsonianus) are treated as separate species by the BOU and the IOC but not by AOU and BLI which list them as subspecies of Sterna sandvicensis and Larus argentatus respectively.

The BOU haven’t so far had to worry too much about Common Gallinule as none have yet made it to Britain.  It’s a bird that looks very much like a Common Moorhen but, mostly it seems because it sounds very different from Gallinula chloropus, the AOU are now, since 2011, calling it Gallinula galeata, a distinct species.  So far, the ever-conservative BLI are not going along with this.

At the moment it seems that only the BOU are persuaded that the Whimbrel that occurs in the Americas should be called Hudsonian Whimbrel (Numenius hudsonicus) and recognised as a species separate from Numenius phaeopus.

It’s all very confusing!  When the so-called ‘experts’ can’t agree, what chance is there for the likes of us?
Of course, there are other pairs that may or may not be separate species.  One thinks of the two Black Terns and Hen and Northern Harriers, for example.

What we do know for sure is that we ourselves were definitely split up over the holidays and we didn’t much like it!  As for all these species splits, you’ll just have to make up your own mind whether you like them.

Incidentally, can you see which of our photographs is the odd one out in that it doesn’t feature the American half of a split? 

Long-stayers

Yesterday was our first day birding together in the Algarve in 2014 and what an excellent day it was, too.  We enjoyed good weather (pleasant temperatures, no rain and very little wind) and saw lots of birds.

We began birding at Quarteira where the Eider Duck, first seen at the end of November, remained in the harbour and was easily located.  There have been only a handful of previous records of this species in Portugal and the last one in the Algarve was as long ago as 1998.  Remarkably, the day after the first sighting of this bird three more Eiders appeared in the Ria Formosa.

Eider

From Quarteira it was just a short drive to go and find the long-staying Red-knobbed Coot that we first saw in November at Foz do Almargem and from there an even shorter distance to Trafal where we quickly located a Lesser Yellowlegs that has also taken a liking to the Algarve.

 Red-knobbed Coot

Lesser Yellowlegs

When we were last in this area several weeks ago we saw a flock of what we estimated to be about 100 Common Scoters far out on the sea.  We might not have seen them at all had they not been disturbed by a fishing boat and taken flight.   While we have been away these birds have been seen at much closer range and the flock found to include both a Velvet Scoter and a Surf Scoter, both very rare birds in Portugal.  This is the first Algarve record of Surf Scoter and only the second of Velvet Scoter. 

There is also a bird in this flock that may prove to be a Black Scoter, once regarded as a race of Common Scoter but now generally treated as a separate species.  Separation of the two, especially in seawatching conditions, isn’t easy and it is to be hoped that better views can be had and perhaps photographs taken.  It took a little while before the flock drifted close enough to shore for us to be able to pick out the three ‘odd birds out’.  Maybe someone needs to hire a boat!

While we were watching the Scoters, we also saw several Razorbills, four Great Skuas (one apparently feeding on a gull) and a first-winter Little Gull.  This last bird may also be a long-stayer as we saw one in roughly the same place in November.

Next we took ourselves off to the wastewater treatment ponds near Faro where we soon found amongst the thousands of ducks (mostly Wigeon) another bird that doesn’t seem to want to move on - the drake Falcated Duck that we reported on here.  A Ruff, two or more Marsh Harriers and a Glossy Ibis were also seen here but we were perhaps most pleased to see three Little Ringed Plovers, not commonly found here so early in the year.

The rest of the afternoon was spent around Tavira and Santa Luzia where highlights included Black-necked Grebes, Slender-billed & Audouin’s Gulls, Bluethroat, Caspian Tern, a male Hen Harrier and good counts of Stone-curlews (65+) and Knot (150+).

When we got home we realised that we had recorded 99 species during the day.  It could easily have been more.  It’s good to be back!  

More from Ethiopia

Here are some more photos from last month’s Avian Adventures tour in Ethiopia.

In contrast to the previous set, these are all of wetland species that are fairly widespread in Africa.  Most people we talk to about Ethiopia don’t associate the country with wetlands but the Rift Valley lakes that we visited (Lakes Zwai, Langano, Awassa and Chelekleka) held thousands of birds and Chelekleka (the spelling varies!) was again particularly good with several thousand Common Cranes among the highlights.

 Three-banded Plover

 African Fish Eagle

 Black Heron

 Black Crake

 Great White Pelican

 Long-tailed Cormorant

 African Spoonbill

White-winged Tern

We have another Avian Adventures tour to Ethiopia planned for later this year.  Details are on the website.
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Avian Adventures tour in Ethiopia

Here are just a few photographs from the recent Avian Adventures tour in Ethiopia.  It's pleasing to report that the accommodation and the food were both improved since our last tour there and we even managed to have much better weather than last time!

 Gelada - often referred to as Gelada Baboon - spends most of its time sitting eating grass. Apparently it's not really a baboon at all but it certainly looks like one.  It can only be found in Ethiopia.

 Spot-breasted Lapwing - an Ethiopian endemic, not difficult to find in the highlands above 2,500m.

Black-headed Siskin or Ethiopian Siskin - another Ethiopian endemic and common, sometimes abundant in the highlands.

Ethiopian Wolf - now listed as Endangered by the IUCN, on account of its small numbers and fragmented range. Threats include habitat loss and fragmentation, diseases and hybridisation with domestic and feral dogs.  We saw about ten of these fox-like animals, which feed mainly on rodents, notably Giant Root-rats.

Abyssinian Catbird - also an Ethiopian endemic, its song is reminiscent of a Nightingale and it looks somewhat like a Grey Catbird of North America but is no relation.

Stresemann's Bush-crow or Ethiopian Bush-crow - also endemic to Ethiopia and in some ways the country's star bird.  It's confined to a very small area but within that area is quite common.  It bears a striking resemblance Clark's Nutcracker.   

We have another tour to Ethiopia scheduled for December 2014.

More photographs later.

Birding around our local patch(es)

Today was our last day this year birding together in the Algarve as Peter heads off tomorrow for more or less back to back tours for Avian Adventures, first to Ethiopia and then to Florida.  What a contrast those promise to be!

We spent the morning at Castro Marim.  We hoped we might catch a glimpse of the unseasonal Great Spotted Cuckoo that was reported there yesterday or that maybe we could re-locate the Yellow-browed Warbler that was seen on Saturday and Sunday but unfortunately we saw neither of those.  We did see a nice selection of birds though, including an Osprey, Iberian Grey Shrike, Crag Martin and Barn Swallow, Water Rail, Bluethroat, Caspian Tern, Marsh Harrier and plenty of waders.  A Common Snipe posed for a photograph.

It was a sunny morning with an almost clear sky but it started cold (by Algarve standards!) and we needed several layers of clothes.  As it warmed up we began to see a few butterflies including a Small Copper.  On the way back we stopped at Altura tank where insects were definitely in abundance over the water attracting both House Martins and Crag Martins.

This afternoon we spent a couple of hours around Tavira, mostly along the road to Quatro Águas.  We increased to 23 our total of wader species for the day and to six our tally of gull species, we saw another Bluethroat and a Dartford Warbler but mainly we concentrated on trying to read colour rings.  Those on Audouin’s Gulls were easy enough but we struggled with the Spoonbills, which were just that little bit too far away.  We finished up with details of just four Spoonbill rings but there were at least a couple of others that even with Swarovski help we couldn’t be sure of.

Yellow-browed Warbler at Castro Marim

On a cold and damp morning our thoughts were more on shopping and housework than they were on birding but a message from Filipe Moniz at Castro Marim quickly brought us to our senses! He had had a brief view of what he thought was a Yellow-browed Warbler on the reserve at Castro Marim but he had to go to work and wasn’t able to spend any time with the bird. Did we want to go and check it out? Did we!

We got there as soon as we could; by this time it wasn’t just damp, it was raining. We met Dinis Versa Silva and Sao Gomes and the four of us spent an hour or so searching in the area that Filipe had described. Chiffchaffs appeared from time to time to raise our hopes briefly but regrettably there was no sign of any other Phyllosc.

Understandably, Dinis and Sao decided that enough was enough - conditions were starting to be fairly unpleasant! They left and it was almost inevitable that no more than 10 minutes later, having widened our search, we re-located the target bird in trees by the visitor centre. We were able to watch it from close range for several minutes and even managed a few photographs.

Yellow-browed Warblers are more or less annual visitors to Portugal but this autumn has been exceptional with several records from further north being followed by at least three here in the Algarve. This one was our first ever in Portugal and for Filipe a ‘lifer’, which we hope stays around for him (and Dinis and Sao) to see on another day.

Ospreys

Ospreys are birds that we seem to see with increasing frequency here in the Algarve.  Breeding birds from Northern Europe pass through the Iberian Peninsula in the autumn and spring on their way to and from wintering areas in West Africa and there are a few that seem happy to stay with us here through the winter.  As a result, Ospreys are seen here from September through to April and we also have several records for May and June.

Osprey - Santa Luzia, Nov 2013

Ringing, wing-tagging and particularly satellite-tracking have all helped to give a fairly detailed picture of Osprey migration routes.  They are said to be an exception among raptor species in that they migrate on a broad front and are capable of flight over long stretches of water but there does nevertheless seem to be a tendency for satellite-tracked birds to cross the Mediterranean close to its narrowest point and that probably means that the majority of migrating birds pass some way to the east of here.

Osprey - Santa Luzia, Nov 2013

The situation here may be complicated to some degree by the fact that a project was started in 2003 to re-introduce Ospreys to breed in Spain with the nearest site being only about 50km across the border at the Marismas del Odiel.  Possibly the birds we have seen in May and June at Castro Marim have been wanderers from there.  Or they may of course have been sub-adult non-breeders from Britain or Scandinavia that had no reason yet to go further north.

Osprey - Tavira, May 2011

A further possible complication is that in 2011 similar attempts to re-introduce Ospreys to breed in Portugal were started at the Alqueva Reservoir in the Alentejo region, although news of that project seems for some reason hard to come by.  Ospreys last bred here in the Algarve in 1997; the female of the last remaining pair died and although the male occupied the territory in subsequent years and females were seen, there was no further breeding.

Osprey - Tavira, Dec 2012

Although we are lucky enough to come across them relatively often, there is still something special about seeing Ospreys.  Maybe it is the fact that not so long ago they were genuinely rare birds in the UK and we can still recall the excitement of seeing them at Loch Garten in the early days of their re-colonisation.
Currently we are seeing birds at Ludo and around the Tavira/Santa Luzia area.  The Ludo bird has a red ring on its right leg but we haven’t been able to get anywhere near to it to read an inscription.  Maybe it is from the UK.  We have been lucky to see the Tavira bird at quite close range but of course that one doesn’t have a ring!

Osprey - Tavira, May 2011

Until quite recently, Osprey was considered to be a single species with a worldwide distribution and four recognised subspecies.  However, some authorities now regard one of those subspecies as a separate species, Pandion cristatus or Eastern Osprey.  That would leave us calling our birds Pandion haliaetus or Western Osprey.  Well, you might want to call them that but we'll just stick to Osprey!