Catching up!

As usual, March, April and May have been busy months for us and we have been left little time for blogging.  Now we are catching up and able to at least share a few photographs from our days out in the Castro Verde area as well as around the Algarve:

Red-crested Pochard - breeding birds seem to have been even more numerous than usual this year, particularly at Castro Marim and at the Lagoa de São Lourenço.

Little Bustard - easy enough to find when they are calling and displaying but after that they disappear!  There is a suggestion now that the population of these birds in the Baixo Alentejo may be at a much lower level than previous estimates.
 

Great Spotted Cuckoo - to find these birds, look for their preferred host species, Common Magpie. Those Magpies that failed to chase away the Cuckoos earlier in the year can now be found feeding their young ones!

Thekla Lark - common enough in the Castro Verde / Mértola area and in the western Algarve, perhaps best separated from the similar Crested Lark by the shape of the bill.

Calandra Lark - a very distinctive and easy to identify lark and one that is easy to see in the Alentejo at most times of the year but especially when they are displaying and singing.

Rock Bunting - in the Algarve, probably most numerous in the hills of Monchique and Caldeirão but this one was less than 15km from Castro Marim in the east.

Eurasian Nuthatch - most often seen (by us) in the woodlands of the Serra do Caldeirão but also regular at Ludo.

Spotted Flycatcher - an uncommon breeding bird in the Algarve but we found this one at what seems to be a regular site where in previous years we have also seen breeding Common Redstarts.

 Crag Martin - we have followed the progress of this easily viewed roadside nest for several weeks.  It's amazing how they manage to stick the nest to vertical walls.

Little Owl - a common enough species but this particular bird is very obliging and usually to be found in this same roadside tree.

 

Lesser Spotted Woodpecker - we mentioned this nest in a previous blog.  It was in the same agave where a pair nested in 2011.  When we last visited, they were feeding young.

Little Ringed Plover - commonly found breeding around reservoirs and along rivers and streams; passage birds are sometimes seen in the Ria Formosa; we call them 'lurps'.

 Greater Short-toed Lark - quite widely distributed but nowhere really numerous.

 Blue Rock Thrush - a recently fledged juvenile that we came across in the Eastern Algarve.

  Stone-curlew - one of a pair breeding in the Ria Formosa.  Habitat loss has resulted in fewer birds around Tavira in recent years.

  Pallid Swift - we always enjoy the challenge of photographing these birds that nest in the trunks of palm trees in the centre of Tavira.

A Day in Doñana

Regular readers of this blog and those who have visited the Algarve will know that our base in Tavira is only 30km or so from the border with Spain.  This allows us occasionally to make a day trip to Doñana, still regarded as one of the most important wetlands in Europe and an excellent location for all sorts of wildlife.  We were there just recently and although only a small part of the area can be seen in a single day, we had reasonable success visiting the Dehesa de Abajo and the José Antonio Valverde Visitor Centre.

There aren’t many bird species available in Doñana that don’t occur regularly in Portugal but notable exceptions are Marbled Duck and White-headed Duck, both of which are classified by BirdLife as Globally Threatened, and Red-knobbed Coot, which is widespread in Africa but scarce in Europe.  However, finding any of these in Doñana isn’t guaranteed and on this recent occasion we found only one of them: there were four White-headed Ducks at Dehesa de Abajo, three males and a female. It’s quite possible that there were Red-knobbed Coots present, too, but on this occasion there wasn’t much enthusiasm for standing in the blazing sun peering through a telescope trying to find them amongst hundreds of distant Eurasian Coots.
  
What Doñana does offer is better opportunities to see species such as Great Reed Warbler, Savi’s Warbler, Black-crowned Night Heron, Squacco Heron and Black Kite, which are not ‘every day’ birds in the Algarve and much greater numbers of European Reed Warblers, Purple Herons and Glossy Ibises.

 Glossy Ibis

Purple Heron

We have written before including  here, here and here about previous visits to Doñana.  One of the features of visits in the breeding season has been the spectacle of hundreds of nesting herons, egrets and Glossy Ibises at the José Antonio Valverde Visitor Centre so it was disappointing this time to find virtually none there at all.  Fortunately, it wasn’t long before we were able to at least find where they had re-located to but it is no longer possible to view them at such close range.  However, there were countless birds constantly flying to and fro and endless opportunities for flight photography.

 Squacco Heron

Black Kite

Short-toed Eagle

Other than Lesser Kestrels and hundreds of Black Kites we saw disappointingly few raptors but at least one Short-toed Eagle allowed close approach.

Mid-June would not be our recommended time to visit Doñana but if you can put up with temperatures of 40ºC and higher, it still offers some good birding.  Better, though, to go in April or early May when more birds are singing and there’s the prospect of seeing some migrants.

South-east Arizona

An Avian Adventures tour in Arizona has become a regular feature of late April and early May and this year has been no exception.  Each year the itinerary tends to be similar, concentrating on the south-east corner of the state and the Santa Catalina, Chiricahua, Huachuca and Santa Rita mountain ranges.  There have been quite a number of blogs about previous tours, e.g. here, here, here and here.

Not for the first time, an important target species this year was Olive Warbler (Peucedramus taeniatus).  Although superficially this species seems like a typical New World wood warbler, evidence from anatomical and DNA studies has placed it into a family of its own, the Peucedramidae.

From time to time we have clients whose aim it is to see at least one representative of each of the world’s 200-odd bird families.  As Olive Warbler is the only member of the Peucedramidae, it therefore has particular significance.

It isn’t what you would describe as a difficult species to see but they do tend to forage high among clumps of pine needles and they never seem to be particularly vocal.  Finding the first one is always something of a relief!  Maybe one day I will manage to photograph one…

Here are some of the birds I did manage to photograph, although photography is never the main aim of these tours and that applies especially to the tour leader – me!

Vermilion Flycatcher – mostly found near water but a fairly common bird.  We saw them along the San Pedro River, at Whitewater Draw, at Patagonia Lake and Sweetwater Wetlands.

Elegant Trogon – another ‘must see’ species in Arizona.  Like so many species it’s not too difficult to find if it calls but can otherwise be elusive.

Northern Tufted Flycatcher – the first record in the USA was in 1991 and only a handful have been seen since then.  This bird was in Carr Canyon in the Huachucas.

Acorn Woodpecker – a very common bird and easy to see but always popular.

Eastern Meadowlark – this is the lilianae subspecies, earmarked as a potential future split, Lilian’s Meadowlark. 

Great Horned Owl – we saw seven owl species during the tour.  This one was at Whitewater Draw but a pair of Great Horned Owls also had young in a tree right next to Portal Peak Lodge.

Violet-crowned Hummingbird – the former home of Wally & Marion Paton in Patagonia, now taken over by Tucson Audubon, has long been the best place for this species.  We also saw one in the nearby state park.

Rufous-capped Warbler – a very scarce resident in SE Arizona but regularly seen in Florida Canyon.

Northern Beardless Tyrannulet – the curious name refers to the species’ lack of the rictal bristles that are a feature of most other tyrannulets.  This bird lacks almost any features!

White-throated Sparrow – a scarce wintering bird in Arizona, this was the only one we saw.

Ladder-backed Woodpecker – a bird of the desert and other arid areas where it nests in cavities in trees and cacti.

Cooper's Hawk - this accipiter is a surprisingly common bird around Tucson.

Changing fortunes

The occasional occurrence in the UK of European Bee-eater, Blue Rock Thrush and Woodchat Shrike seems to do little to diminish the popularity of those species with British visitors to Portugal. In spite of being twitchable in Britain they retain a degree of rarity value, they are bright and colourful and they are still crowd-pleasers.

 European Bee-eater

Blue Rock Thrush

On the other hand, increasing numbers in the UK of species such as Little Bittern, Glossy Ibis, Great Egret, Cattle Egret, Black-winged Stilt and Spoonbill mean that these birds no longer feature as highly as they once did on the ‘wanted lists’ of those many birders who arrive here wanting to see ‘something different’.

Little Bittern

This change in the status of bird species does, however, work both ways.  For instance, we still have Turtle Doves in Portugal, maybe fewer than previously but we still see (and hear) them regularly. And we have Lesser Spotted Woodpeckers, a species that by all accounts has become difficult to find in many if not most parts of Britain.

Eurasian Turtle Dove

Today was my first day back in the Algarve after three weeks away, part of which was spent leading an Avian Adventures tour in Arizona, more of which later.  While I was away I was alerted to the presence of a Lesser Spotted Woodpeckers’ nest not far from Tavira which might offer the possibility to photograph the birds once they are feeding young.  It was only when I got back that I received precise details of the location and much to my surprise it turned out to be exactly the same site where June and I watched and photographed Lesser Spotted Woodpeckers in 2011.  Have they been nesting there regularly in the intervening years, I wonder?  I have to admit that we haven't checked.

Lesser Spotted Woodpecker (photo from 2011)

As usual, while I was away I missed a rarity here in the Algarve, this one actually in Tavira. Fortunately, this time it was ‘only’ a Red-necked Phalarope so not too much concern.  However, this species is a genuine rarity here requiring reports to the Portuguese Rarities Committee so it’s as well that June managed to photograph it.  A bird photo by June is probably rarer than the bird itself!

Red-necked Phalarope

Photos from Tanzania

If I said we had seen vultures, eagles, falcons, shrikes, bustards, sandgrouse, storks, rollers and larks, you might well think I was referring to one of our regular trips to the Castro Verde area in the Baixo Alentejo region of Portugal.  Certainly those are birds we might expect to see there and June and I have had a couple of great trips in that direction during this past week.
 
However, these birds are also some of those that were seen during the recent Avian Adventures tour in Tanzania.  The itinerary for this tour that included Arusha, Tarangire, Lake Manyara and Serengeti National Parks, Ndutu and Ngorongoro Crater was very similar to previous years and there have been quite a number of blogs about Tanzania in the past, most recently here, here and here.  So this time I’m just going to share some photographs and I’ve chosen to include those of the nine bird families referred to.

This was my sixth time in Tanzania and it really has become my favourite among the Avian Adventures tours that I lead.  There is nothing not to like about it.  It is definitely one of the world’s top wildlife destinations.  We were there mainly for the birds but we still saw 40 mammal species including the so-called ‘big five’.  Huge numbers of Wildebeest and Zebras provide a great spectacle and backdrop to some really good birding and everyone enjoys seeing the big cats and the small ones – this year, as well as Lions, Leopards and Cheetahs, we saw African Wildcat and Caracal.

And the photography is much easier than it is in Portugal...

 Rufous-naped Lark

 Isabelline Shrike

 Lilac-breasted Roller

 Bateleur

 Saddle-billed Stork

 Yellow-billed Stork

 White-bellied Bustard

 Grey Kestrel

 Kori Bustard

 Yellow-throated Sandgrouse

 Long-crested Eagle

 Tawny Eagle

 Hooded Vulture

 Brown Snake-Eagle

 Lappet-faced Vulture

 Chestnut-bellied Sandgrouse

Common Fiscal

Bitterns & Crakes

Peter writes:
I’ve just returned to the Algarve after almost four weeks away which included leading another Avian Adventures tour in Northern Tanzania.  I say ‘another tour’ because this was my sixth time in Tanzania, but this wasn’t just another tour this was to see the wonderful Serengeti, the marvellous Ngorongoro Crater, Lake Manyara, Tarangire and Arusha National Parks.  It may be an itinerary that has become familiar to me over the past few years but this is undoubtedly one of the world’s great wildlife destinations and one I always look forward to visiting.

Having said that, it’s almost inevitable that while I’m away, at least one or two interesting birds turn up in the Algarve and this time was no exception.  I was only a couple of days into my trip when a Eurasian Bittern was reported from Parque Ambiental de Vilamoura.  There have been only a handful of records here of this species and it’s one that June and I have never seen in Portugal.  June went with Ray Tipper to look for it and although they didn’t see it they had more than a little consolation when instead they found a female Little Crake.  Then the next day a male Little Crake was found at Quinta do Lago.  I was slightly miffed even before I reached Tanzania!

In recent years there have been several records here of Little Crake, most of them at Quinta do Lago and usually following periods of easterly winds.  We have seen them a number of times, most recently in 2015 when we blogged here.

Yesterday we went to Parque Ambiental de Vilamoura optimistically thinking that the Great Bittern might still be there and to Quinta do Lago hoping to see a Little Crake.  We did at least have partial success.  We failed to see a Eurasian Bittern but I was pleased that the Little Crake remains at Quinta do Lago after three weeks even if it seemed to do everything possible to avoid being photographed.

There has been speculation in the past about Little Crakes possibly breeding here.  They can be such difficult birds to detect and previous records include a juvenile in September 2009.  Although we are not aware of any female being seen this time at Quinta do Lago, the present long-staying bird does put in mind the same thought.  And what about the Eurasian Bittern?  Is that a species that might breed here?  Vilamoura would certainly be the place for them.

I will be away again during the first half of May – that should be a good time for more rarities to show up!          

Phylloscopus warblers

Among the many birds that we saw during our recent visit to Thailand were ten species of leaf warblers from the genus Phylloscopus.  That’s Phylloscopus from the Ancient Greek phullon, “leaf”, and skopus “seeker” (from skopeo, “to watch”).  They included Dusky (P. fuscatus), Radde’s (P. schwarzi), Two-barred (P. plumbeitarsus) and Yellow-browed (P. inornatus), all of which have long been autumn vagrants to Western Europe and Eastern Crowned (P. coronatus) and Pale-legged Leaf Warbler (P. tenellipes), which have reached Britain for the first time only quite recently.

Identifying some of these warblers can be a bit of a challenge and so we were very pleased to have Neil Lawson with us to help sort them out!  Mostly they are very similar looking birds with greenish or brownish upperparts and off-white or yellowish underparts; most of them have eye-stripes and/or crown-stripes.  The fact that they tend to be very active, constantly moving and flicking their wings as they glean the foliage for insects, sometimes high in the trees, often makes it difficult to see them well and distinguish the finer details that are required to differentiate between them.  Although some have fairly distinctive calls, some don’t and anyway it takes time to get tuned into them.

 Yellow-browed Warbler - Algarve 2013

Although it was no longer calling and close inspection was possible, the Pale-legged Leaf Warbler that was found dead last October on St Agnes, Isles of Scilly, remained unidentified until analysis of its DNA.  That’s how difficult some of them can be!

Common Chiffchaff - Algarve 2008

Of course, we have seen more than a few Yellow-browed Warblers over the years but the status of this species in Western Europe has changed markedly in recent times.  These are birds that breed in Siberia and normally migrate to spend the winter in the forests of South-east Asia.  However, every year in September and October a small number could be expected to arrive ‘by accident’ on the east coast of Britain.  Gradually over recent years the number of Yellow-broweds arriving in Britain has increased considerably and last autumn was exceptional. Back in the 1970s an annual total of about 70 birds was the norm; in 1988 there were more than 700 and in 2005 at least 1,250 were recorded.  Last year it was believed that there may have been 5,000 or more!

Common Chiffchaff - Algarve 2008

Not surprisingly, the increase in the number of Yellow-browed Warblers occurring in Britain has been reflected in the numbers seen in the Iberian Peninsula.  One theory is that these birds have taken to wintering in West Africa instead of South-east Asia and are passing through Spain and Portugal on their way south.  In Portugal the numbers occurring are still relatively small (about 40 in 2015) but the upward trend is clear and there have now been at least two or three instances of birds actually wintering here, including one that remains this week, reported again by Georg Schreier.

Iberian Chiffchaff - Algarve 2017

It was partly with the intention of tracking down the wintering Yellow-browed Warbler that together with Ray Tipper we set out a few days ago to Fonte Ferrea.  However, we also had another aim, which was to see and to photograph three species of Phylloscopus warblers in one morning.  It seems unlikely that there is currently any site in Europe other than this small park in the Algarve where this might be possible and the window of opportunity is quite a short one.  Presumably, the Yellow-browed can be expected to leave any day now and the same is true of the Common Chiffchaffs (P. collybita) that have been with us, as usual, throughout the winter but will breed further north.  The third species, Iberian Chiffchaff (P. ibericus), is now just returning to breed here after spending the winter away so there is just a small period of overlap.

Iberian Chiffchaff - Algarve 2017

Not surprisingly, our ambitious mission met with only limited success!  We did manage to see all three species but the Yellow-browed showed no inclination at all to be photographed. Common Chiffchaffs are numerous in the Algarve in winter and have been photographed many times so in the end we didn’t bother much with them.  Instead we concentrated our efforts on the Iberian Chiffchaffs, which obligingly sang to confirm identification and sometimes remained still for just long enough for the lens to focus.  Eventually we did manage to get a few reasonable images, which all importantly are better than our efforts in previous years. It's interesting to compare these images with some of our old ones of Common Chiffchaff and to see how difficult it is to separate these species by plumage alone.

We have photographed Yellow-browed Warbler here in the past (at Castro Marim in 2013) and have included one of those images here.  It will be interesting to see what the autumn of 2017 brings but it seems very likely that there will be more opportunities to catch up with this remarkable little bird that seems to be undergoing a serious change in its migratory strategy.