Days out from Tavira

Last week was a busy one for us with days spent in the Castro Verde area of the Baixo Alentejo and across the border in Doñana as well as around some of the usual sites in the Algarve.

The Alentejo is at its very best right now.  Both Great Bustards and Little Bustards are displaying and easy to see, there are raptors everywhere (13 species this week), Calandra Larks singing, Black-bellied Sandgrouse, Collared Pratincoles, Great Spotted Cuckoos, Rollers, Black-eared Wheatears and more.  However, what makes this time of the year really stand out is the amazing display of wild flowers – carpets of yellow, white and purple with patches of red.  Truly spectacular!

Alentejo flower show...

...too many to name!

Black-eared Wheatear

Lesser Kestrel

Doñana, too, is really looking good.  In complete contrast to last year’s disappointment following the drought, currently there is water everywhere and, as a result, lots of birds fixing to breed.  In particular, there were hundreds of Greater Flamingos and Glossy Ibises and seven species of herons and egrets.  Throw in a few Gull-billed & Whiskered Terns, some Greater & Lesser Short-toed Larks, Red-knobbed Coots, Great Spotted Cuckoos and an assortment of raptors and waders and it makes a great day trip from Tavira.  There was even a Long-tailed Duck at the Cañada de Rianzuela.

Great Spotted Cuckoo

Little Ringed Plover

In the Algarve, we’ve been to Ludo, Quinta do Lago, Olhão and, of course, Tavira, all of them within the Ria Formosa.  Highlights for our visitors have included Collared Pratincoles, Little Bittern, Bee-eaters, Caspian Terns, Slender-billed Gulls and Stone-curlews.  Just as much as those, we’ve enjoyed hearing the air filled with the songs of Nightingales, Cetti’s & Reed Warblers and watching Black-headed Weavers busy building their nests.

Collared Pratincole

Black-headed Weaver

Finally, news of the colour-ringed Common Redshank, H19, which we previously blogged about here.  This bird, which has now spent three winters in the saltpans here, is so faithful to one particular area that when we couldn’t find it on 15th March we were confident that it had left to start its migration to The Netherlands.  At the time, the weather there was awful with temperatures down to minus-3 and it didn’t seem like a good place to be going.  We were worried!  Anyway, the good news is that ‘our’ bird (which we share with Wim Tijsen who ringed it) arrived back on the breeding grounds on 9th April having presumably stopped somewhere on the way to wait for better weather.  We hope for news of a successful breeding season.       

So Much To See...

What a busy week! Not only have we been to most of our favourite birding sites in the Algarve and twice visited the Baixo Alentejo, we also managed a trip across the border to Doñana.

And it hasn’t just been birds we’ve been looking at. Butterflies, dragonflies and reptiles have also been getting at least some of our attention.

Apart from the breeding Avocets, Black-winged Stilts, Kentish Plovers and Common Redshanks, quite a few wader species still remain on the local saltpans in small numbers: Ruddy Turnstones, Dunlin, Curlew Sandpipers and an occasional Greenshank, most of them in something close to full breeding plumage.

Ruddy Turnstone

Kentish Plover

At Quinta do Lago and the Parque Ambiental de Vilamoura, several pairs of showy Black-headed Weavers are attracting lots of attention as they busily attend their nests. Purple Swamp-hens now have young and are equally popular. At the other end of the scale, a singing Savi’s Warbler is rather less obvious and almost impossible to see!

Black-headed Weaver

We’ve had two great days in the Castro Verde/Mértola area with most of the regular birds giving great views. Every day there is different – sometimes it’s the Rollers that put on a particularly good show, sometimes Griffon Vultures, Black Vultures, a Short-toed Eagle or any one of a dozen or more other raptor species will fly directly overhead, other times it might be a Calandra Lark that poses or, as on both occasions this week, young Great Spotted Cuckoos drawing our attention with their noisy begging calls. With Great Bustards, Little Bustards, Black-bellied Sandgrouse and many more special birds to look for, we are very happy to keep returning.

Calandra Lark

In Doñana we made our way first to the Dehesa de Abajo, situated adjacent to the vast rice producing area of Isla Mayor. The breeding colony of White Storks here is said to be one of the largest in Europe with perhaps 500 nests. Black Kites were also numerous but, surprisingly, the enormous lagoon here was almost birdless. Next we went to the José Antonio Valverde Visitor Centre where large numbers of breeding Glossy Ibis, herons and egrets are the main attraction and nearby we had a fairly distant view of what we like to call Iberian Imperial Eagle.

Black Kite

White Stork

Black-crowned Night Heron

Large and easy to identify, Two-tailed Pasha, Cleopatra and Common Swallowtail are our kind of butterflies, more so than the blues, skippers and whites but when bird activity has died down in the heat of the day we have also taken an interest in these smaller ones. Two-tailed Pasha was a particular target this week, a species that apparently can be baited with fermenting fruit and alcohol. We found one around its favourite larval host-plant, Arbutus unedo, the Strawberry Tree.

Two-tailed Pasha

Large Psammodromus

We are keen to learn more about the reptiles here and are always pleased when we come across snakes and lizards that allow close inspection or at least a photograph from which we can identify them. This Large Psammodromus appeared while we were waiting for White-rumped Swifts to appear.

Other highlights of the week have included a quick look in at a Black-winged Kite nest site here in the Eastern Algarve, a visit to our local “Grey Egret” and an evening showing Red-necked Nightjars.

So much to see, so little time...

Quinta do Lago

Yesterday's visit to Quinta do Lago was for no other reason than we hadn't been there for quite a while. As it was, the morning's bird list contained few surprises but the chance to photograph Little Bitterns made the trip worthwhile even if the results weren't great in the very harsh sunlight.



It was difficult to resist also pointing the camera at the Black-headed Weavers, a species that surprises and often puzzles first-time visitors here. An African species introduced to Portugal and now a well-established breeding bird, Ploceus melanocephalus is also referred to by some authors (e.g. Stevenson & Fanshawe, Field Guide to the Birds of East Africa) as Yellow-backed Weaver. The fact that the name Black-headed Weaver is also sometimes given to Ploceus cucullatus, better known as Village Weaver, adds to the confusion!


Some time ago we had a long debate in the hide at Quinta do Lago with a visiting 'expert' who knew for certain these birds couldn't be weavers of any sort because they were definitely Black-headed Buntings which he 'was very familiar with' after seeing them on his trip to Lesvos! Nothing we could say would persuade him...

The lagoon held the usual species: Purple Swamp-hens, Common & Red-crested Pochards, Little Grebes, Great Reed Warblers, etc. On the the tidal mud there were a few returning (or perhaps never departed) waders: Grey Plover, Whimbrel, Curlew, Redshank, Avocet; also good numbers of Black-headed & Yellow-legged Gulls with just a few Lesser Black-backs and Mediterranean Gulls and a single Audouin's. (On Saturday, we counted 85 Audouin's Gulls at Santa Luzia saltpans.)

If there was any sort of surprise for us yesterday it was the flock of 26 Glossy Ibises that flew over, following the coast. Perhaps they'll end up at Lagoa dos Salgados or maybe some inland ricefields.

At 10.00am, with the temperature approaching 30 degrees, we figured it was time to head for some shade!