Great Spotted Cuckoos

Almost everywhere we have been this week we seem to have seen (and heard) Great Spotted Cuckoos.  At Castro Marim, around Tavira and all over the Mértola / Castro Verde area we have watched them engage in their annual battle of wits with the local Common Magpies.  In other parts of the world Great Spotted Cuckoos lay eggs in the nests of various species of corvids but in Europe, including Portugal, the Common Magpie is definitely their preferred victim.

During a season, a female Cuckoo is said to lay as many as 30 eggs, often laying more than one egg in each nest.  Frequently at least one Magpie’s egg may be damaged by the Cuckoo and that must reduce the competition for food when the chicks hatch.  However, as the young Cuckoos generally hatch several days before the Magpies, it is an uneven contest; the Cuckoos are always favourites to out-compete the young of the host species.

Common Magpie isn’t a widely distributed or particularly numerous species in the Algarve.  However, where there are Magpies we expect to find Great Spotted Cuckoos and we wonder what effect they have on the Magpie population.  In the absence of Cuckoos would there be more Magpies?  Maybe the introduction of Great Spotted Cuckoos into the UK would be a way of controlling the seemingly ever-increasing Magpie population there!

Back in Tavira

After a short visit to the UK at least one of us is now back in Portugal! But before anyone starts to feel sorry for June, left behind in the cold, she will only be there for a couple of days before she flies out to Uganda for a two-week tour for Avian Adventures. Make up your own mind which of us has got the better deal!

The weather this morning on arrival here in the Algarve was wet and windy. There was a short interlude after lunch when the sun appeared but before long it had deteriorated again - wetter and windier!

After shopping for essential supplies there was time for a quick tour round Tavira's birding hotspots to see whether anything had changed while we've been away. There wasn't much light for photography, but when has that stopped us!

Regular readers may recognise the perch that this Common Magpie is using. We have photographed Bluethroat, Southern Grey Shrike and Whimbrel on the same branch and have seen several other species using it. Common Magpie isn't such a common bird along the coast; in fact we've never seen one west of Faro and rarely get an opportunity to photograph one.

Common Magpie

Barn Swallow and Black-tailed Godwit were two species more numerous today than they were a couple of weeks ago. There must have been almost 100 Barn Swallows feeding over the saltpans and maybe 1,000 Black-tailed Godwits spread out across the Tavira and Santa Luzia area. A few of the godwits are now showing signs of summer plumage.

Black-tailed Godwit

The usual "Grey Egrets" were seen but only one of them was within camera range. A nearby Little Egret was also hard to resist.

Western Reef x Little Egret hybrid

Little Egret

Greater Flamingos, Spoonbills, Audouin's Gulls and Stone-curlews were also in exactly the same places as always and it does just seem possible that all these birds might not have noticed that we've been missing!