Well the builders came early as promised, they worked well for about two and a half hours and then, in the manner of builders everywhere, they left, promising to return tomorrow. Presumably they had other promises to fulfil today!
Although this was more than a little frustrating, it did mean that we could go out and this put the possibility of Dusky Warbler back on to the agenda. So off to Quinta do Lago we went.
We arrived at about 1.00pm to find just two people looking for the warbler. Simon and his pal, Thijs, had been there since 8.00am and thought they might at some point have heard a call that could have been Dusky Warbler…or possibly Yellow-backed Weaver. Not surprisingly, having put in a shift that was twice as long as our builders, they were soon ready to go and so we were left with the responsibility of finding the bird.
The information we had about the bird was that it was seen on Tuesday ‘in scrub near to the new hide at Quinta do Lago‘. It sounds quite precise until you get there and remember just how much scrub there is. The question soon arises: how near to the hide?
To cut a long story short, we drew a blank. We found ourselves looking at Chiffchaff after Chiffchaff and although we knew that we should quickly recognise a Dusky Warbler amongst all these Phylloscs it was difficult to avoid critically examining every one, lovely birds that they are. In fact it was quite educational (or as we say, confusing) to see how much they varied.
We put in a ’builders’ shift’ of two and a half hours and left at about 3.30pm. Our rewards were Little Bittern, Glossy Ibis, Water Rail, Purple Swamp-hen and all the usual birds of Lago do São Lourenço.
Although this was more than a little frustrating, it did mean that we could go out and this put the possibility of Dusky Warbler back on to the agenda. So off to Quinta do Lago we went.
We arrived at about 1.00pm to find just two people looking for the warbler. Simon and his pal, Thijs, had been there since 8.00am and thought they might at some point have heard a call that could have been Dusky Warbler…or possibly Yellow-backed Weaver. Not surprisingly, having put in a shift that was twice as long as our builders, they were soon ready to go and so we were left with the responsibility of finding the bird.
The information we had about the bird was that it was seen on Tuesday ‘in scrub near to the new hide at Quinta do Lago‘. It sounds quite precise until you get there and remember just how much scrub there is. The question soon arises: how near to the hide?
To cut a long story short, we drew a blank. We found ourselves looking at Chiffchaff after Chiffchaff and although we knew that we should quickly recognise a Dusky Warbler amongst all these Phylloscs it was difficult to avoid critically examining every one, lovely birds that they are. In fact it was quite educational (or as we say, confusing) to see how much they varied.
We put in a ’builders’ shift’ of two and a half hours and left at about 3.30pm. Our rewards were Little Bittern, Glossy Ibis, Water Rail, Purple Swamp-hen and all the usual birds of Lago do São Lourenço.
Glossy Ibis
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