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

St Martin's summer

A severe storm on 1st November brought torrential rain to the Algarve and was followed by more rain the next morning.  The area between Quarteira and Portimão was reported to be the worst affected and there was severe flooding in the popular resort of Albufeira where sadly one person died as a result.  For some of the coverage see here and here (which includes some aerial footage taken over Lagoa dos Salgados).

Since then we have been enjoying a St Martin’s summer - for almost two weeks we have had sunshine, mostly cloudless skies and temperatures reaching a comfortable 23°C or even higher.
During this time we have mostly been visiting our usual haunts along the coast of the Eastern Algarve but there have also been longer excursions to Sagres and Cape St Vincent and inland to the Castro Verde area.

Part of the Castro Verde / Mértola plains

 The coast at Cape St Vincent

In the Baixo Alentejo, Common Cranes have arrived to spend the winter and both Great & Little Bustards are now much easier to find than they were before the rains.  Red Kites and Hen Harriers have now replaced the Black Kites and Montagu’s Harriers that were here for the breeding season.  On one trip up there we were surprised to find four Mute Swans on a reservoir where just a couple of weeks earlier we had seen two of these unexpected visitors.  We were almost as surprised to find four Great Egrets at another lake nearby but at least we could think that they were truly wild birds.

Little Bustard

Inevitably, we have made multiple visits to Quinta do Lago where Purple Swamphens and Little Bitterns are so easy to see and sometimes to photograph and there are also opportunities, if you are lucky, to photograph Common Snipe and Kingfisher.  While waiting for these birds to appear, it’s hard to resist filling up the memory card with a variety of duck species!

 Common Snipe

 Northern Pintail

 Purple Swamphen

 Eurasian Teal

Little Bittern

Nearby at Ludo we have been seeing Booted Eagles and Black-winged Kites and this is one of several places we’ve seen Firecrests.

 Booted Eagle

Firecrest

We also had a morning at Rocha da Pena where a long uphill walk to the summit at Talefe (479m) provided marvellous views over the surrounding countryside and a modest selection of birds that included a single Ring Ouzel, which was our main reason for being there.  Ring Ouzels are regular autumn and winter visitors here and Rocha da Pena is always a good bet when it comes to finding them.

 Rocha da Pena

As to be expected, rarities have been fewer but there were several reports of Grey Phalaropes after the storm and a drake Long-tailed Duck near Faro was a good find (by Thijs Valkenburg).  We wonder whether it was the same bird that was briefly at the same site in February.

Long-tailed Duck

In Tavira we have been reading colour-rings, mostly those on Mediterranean Gulls but also on Audouin’s, Lesser Black-backed & Slender-billed Gulls.  There have been as many as 500 Meds on the saltpans by the Estrada das 4 Águas and they have come from Belgium, Holland, France, Germany, Spain, Poland and Hungary.  Some of them are birds that we have seen here in previous years.  There have been Lesser Black-backs from Belgium, Iceland and Alderney while the Audouin’s have been from Spain (Ebro Delta and Mallorca) and from the local colony on the Ilha da Barreta in the Ria Formosa.

Mediterranean Gull

 Marsh Harrier ready to be released

Finally, we should mention the visit we made to our friends Fábia and Thijs at RIAS (the Centro de Recuperação e Investigação de Animais Selvagens) at Quinta de Marim.  It is the season for them to be taking into care any Griffon Vultures that are too weak and hungry to continue their migration but we were there to be involved in a happy outcome, the release back to the wild of a Marsh Harrier.  Fortunately, this bird had not been badly injured and was fully recovered after just a short stay.

Raptors galore!

We’ve had another excellent week’s birding.  Again we’ve been to the Castro Verde area and across the border to Doñana as well as to most of the best sites in the Algarve.

It’s been a great time for raptors and we have seen an amazing 20 species in the space of five days.  These were Eagles (6), Falcons (5), Harriers (3), Kites (2), Vultures (2), Sparrowhawk and Common Buzzard.

Bonelli's Eagle

The standout species among those were a Steppe Eagle and a Pallid Harrier but Eleonora’s Falcon and Merlin are also species that we don’t see very often.  Somehow we managed to miss seeing any Ospreys!

The Steppe Eagle is presumably the same bird that was first reported in the Baixo Alentejo at the end of August and has been seen several times since then.  We found it near Entradas in the company of two immature Spanish Imperial Eagles on the ground at a carcass.  It isn’t a species that one would expect to see in Portugal and already doubts have been expressed about its origin.

Steppe Eagle with two Spanish Imperial Eagles

The Pallid Harrier on the other hand is a bird that no longer comes as a surprise here.  The first record for Portugal was as recently as 2011 but there have been records annually since then.  We had good views of one near Cabranosa which was our first here.

Passerine migration continues, of course.  Robins, Blackcaps and Meadow Pipits have become noticeably more numerous in the past week or so while Whinchats, Northern Wheatears, Pied Flycatchers and others are now fewer.  Not surprisingly, there have been quite a few Yellow-browed Warblers, a species that looks set to lose its status as a rarity here as it has in the UK.

Pied Flycatcher

In the Alentejo, we found four Mute Swans at Alvares where previously there had been only two.  We hear that since our last visit there these birds have been joined by two Black Swans!  One can only speculate as to the origin of these birds and hope that they soon move on!  It’s been good to see the increasing number of Green Sandpipers and Common Snipe at this site and at similar small reservoirs in the area.

Common Snipe

Lagoa dos Salgados continues to hold hundreds of birds with the water level a little lower now than it was a month ago.  A particular feature there recently has been the number of Glossy Ibises, which at times has reached 500 or more.  A couple of Marsh Harriers regularly cause panic amongst the many ducks, gulls and waders.  Bluethroats are now a frequent sight.  We saw both Black & Caspian Terns during our last visit.

Glossy Ibis

Quinta do Lago is also a site that seldom disappoints.  The Purple Swamp-hens and Little Bitterns there are always popular and the Black-headed Weavers frequently come as a surprise to first-time visitors.  The hide there provides an opportunity to sit and actually watch birds and also to show them to the non-birders who regularly look in.  Who knows when helping someone see a Kingfisher through our Swarovski 'scope will add another recruit to our hobby/obsession!

Little Bittern

Greylag Geese

After our previous disappointing trip to Doñana we waited before going again until there had been rain.  We were rewarded this time with good numbers of birds, particularly at Dehesa de Abajo.  We failed to locate the dozen or so Common Cranes that had been reported but we did see our first Greylag Geese of the season, which were also very recent arrivals.  The adult Spanish Imperial Eagle that we saw last time was again perched on a pylon in the same area.

Both ends and some in the middle

We chose to make our base here in Tavira not just because it's the most attractive town in the Algarve but also because its geographical location gives us easy access to quite a number of good birding sites not too far away. We can also easily make trips to the Alentejo to the north and to Doñana across the border in Spain.  However, it’s a long way from Sagres and at this time of the year there's no denying that it is the Sagres area in the extreme west of the Algarve that has the greatest potential when it comes to seeing migrating raptors and it is also the place to see Red-billed Choughs, Dotterels and scarce passerines such as Ortolan Buntings.

On Wednesday of this week we made our first trip of the autumn to Sagres.  The lighthouse at Cape St. Vincent is the southwesternmost tip of mainland Europe and to get there from Tavira requires a drive of 150km each way.  It's a journey that we will no doubt be making on several occasions in the coming weeks.  We are grateful for the A22 Via do Infante de Sagres, the motorway that takes us most of the way there although like most people here we do rather resent paying the tolls that were introduced in 2011!

Our first birding of the day was in a small wooded area not far from the town of Sagres where in the trees we quickly found both Pied & Spotted Flycatchers, a Subalpine Warbler and several Chiffchaffs, while overhead a pale morph Booted Eagle circled.  This was certainly a promising start and we were encouraged to think that there might be more migrants to come as we made our along the peninsula towards the lighthouse.

Just then the phone announced the arrival of a text message!  At times like this when you are in a remote part of the Algarve you hope it's going to be a message urging you to shop at one of the local supermarkets, Jumbo or Continente, but no, instead it was news we didn’t really want.  A rarity, a Marsh Sandpiper, had been found at Castro Marim, a two-hour drive away near the border with Spain.  What could we do about it?  There was only one thing to do - ignore it!

We carried on birding, checking out the coastal bushes and finding a Wryneck, a couple of Whinchats, more Chiffchaffs and a Willow Warbler. A Blue Rock Thrush was perched on a ruin.  We saw Rock Doves and Black Redstart on the cliffs, an Iberian Grey Shrike and a couple of Ortolan Buntings but sadly there was little in the way of seabird passage other than some very distant Gannets and Cory's Shearwaters.

Eventually we made it to Cabranosa, the popular raptor watch point, where a small group of birders were gathered, some of them well known to us.  Apparently there had been a few Honey Buzzards earlier and it wasn't long before we saw two or three more Booted Eagles and a Common Buzzard but clearly it wasn't looking like a great day for raptor passage.  We stopped there for half an hour or so during which time we were rewarded with a Short-toed Eagle directly overhead, an Egyptian Vulture and briefly a Honey Buzzard but then we decided that our time would be better spent elsewhere.

Lagoa dos Salgados

We headed for Lagoa dos Salgados, one of the Algarve’s best birding sites, confident that we would find more birds there.  It is a much more reliable area these days but in spite of all the work that has been carried out in the last year or two there is still room for further improvement.  In particular it would be nice to see better control over the water level which was somewhat higher than we might have wanted with little or no muddy margins showing.  However, there are some small pools of shallow water suitable for waders and we soon found the two Pectoral Sandpipers that have been there for two weeks or more. With them were Curlew, Green & Wood Sandpipers, a Little Stint, Dunlins and several Ruffs.  On the islands there were hundreds of loafing Yellow-legged Gulls and a few Cormorants; Spoonbills, Glossy Ibises, a Greater Flamingo and a couple of Purple Swamp-hens were also soon found. A Northern Wheatear flew down the track ahead of us, perching from time to time on a fence post.

From Salgados we went to spend the last hour of the birding day at Quinta do Lago. From the hide there we watched Little Bitterns, Purple Swamp-hens, Black-headed Weavers, Kingfishers, Little & Great Crested Grebes and a flock of gulls that included a few Meds and a dozen or more Audouin's.  We were in the hide watching a dispute between two Little Bitterns when one of them broke away and flew a short distance landing in the lagoon.  It then proceeded to swim to the nearest stand of rushes about 20/25 metres away.  We have never before seen a Little Bittern take to the water and swim like this and it isn’t something that we can find recorded in the literature.  We have found a report of a Little Bittern swimming on a canal near Exeter in the UK in March 2002 but that was a bird that was said to be in very poor condition and it died the following day after being taken into care.  Our bird appeared to be perfectly healthy and as far as we could tell resumed its normal activity once out of the water.

 Great Crested Grebe

 Little Bittern

Marsh Sandpiper

The following morning there was only one place we were going to be and that was Castro Marim where the Marsh Sandpiper was easily located in a mixed flock of waders that included Black-tailed Godwits, Avocets, Common Redshanks, Dunlins and Ringed Plovers.  Although it’s classed as a rarity, Marsh Sandpiper occurs here most years and Castro Marim is the most likely place to find one.  It must be possible that some records have involved birds returning in successive years although that’s hard to prove.  An Osprey and several Caspian Terns were also present.

Easter birding in the Algarve

This last week our birding time has been spent mostly around Castro Marim and in the Ludo / Quinta do Lago area.  Both have been full of interest and some days it has been difficult to decide in which direction we should set off! 

 Castro Marim Reserve

Quinta do Lago

In a week which saw temperatures rise to almost 30º and a change in the wind direction, it has been great to see a variety of migrants at last arriving in numbers including Common Cuckoos, Bee-eaters, Nightingales, Northern Wheatears, Purple Herons, Woodchat Shrikes and Reed Warblers as well as the first Golden Orioles and Collared Pratincoles.  There have been Garganeys at several sites and among the Yellow Wagtails birds of the flava and flavissima races have joined the earlier arriving iberiaes.

 Woodchat Shrike

 European Bee-eater

Garganeys

The main attractions currently at Castro Marim have been the Little Bustards, which are now displaying and easy to see.  Spectacled Warblers and Great Spotted Cuckoos have also been popular and there has been a nice selection of passage waders that has included Spotted Redshank, Ruff, Black-tailed Godwits and Greenshank.  On Good Friday we saw a Short-toed Eagle there and the wintering Osprey with the red ring on its left leg seems reluctant to leave.  Marsh Harriers are also displaying and from time to time a pair of Ravens appear.

Spectacled Warbler

Although we have found Little Bitterns, Glossy Ibises, Red-crested Pochards and Purple Swamp-hens around Castro Marim in the last few days, these are species that are definitely easier to see In the Ludo / Quinta do Lago area.  Black-headed Weavers are now busy building nests and are also fun to watch in front of the hide that overlooks the Lagoa de São Lourenço.  The long-staying Red-breasted Flycatcher seems to have left and the Little Crakes didn’t stay very long but we have seen Wryneck, Booted Eagles, Osprey, Black Kite and Black-winged Kite as well as a few Mediterranean & Audouin’s Gulls.

Little Bittern

Purple Swamp-hen

Of course, we have also managed to visit the wonderful Castro Verde / Mértola area where Great Bustards are now displaying and easy to see.  One morning we stood and watched about a dozen of them at the same time as there were also in view two Spanish Imperial Eagles, a Black Vulture, 30 Black-bellied Sandgrouse and several Calandra Larks.  It was hard to decide where to look first!  We saw 10 raptor species during the day, which really is the minimum number we would expect at this time of year.  The first Rollers are just arriving but our experience is that Black-eared Wheatears are so far slow making an appearance.

Great Bustards

 White Storks

Almost wherever we go but particularly numerous in the Baixo Alentejo there are White Storks nesting.  We rather take them for granted but their black, white and red colours seen against a clear blue sky make a fine sight and we love to hear them bill-clapping.  There’s a colour-ringed White Stork nesting near Aipo that was ringed as a nestling at nearby Navarro (Castro Verde) in 1999.  It has been using the same nest for several years which is typical of the species but has been seen feeding on rubbish dumps in Spain in the dry autumn months when frogs are hard to come by.

Déja vu!

Once again there are Little Crakes (Porzana parva) at Quinta do Lago.  One was first seen on 14th March and subsequently two birds have been seen, a male and a female.

We blogged here about the occurrence of Little Crakes at Quinta do Lago in March / April 2012.  Those birds were extremely difficult to see and, in fact, we don't know whether it was ever established for sure whether there were two of them or whether one might have been a Baillon’s Crake (P. pusilla).

Unfortunately, but unsurprisingly, the current birds are so far proving even more elusive with one observer yesterday claiming that he had seen one or other of them for a total of only about a minute during the ten hours that he was there watching for them!

Before the 2012 bird(s), there were only two previous records of Little Crake in Portugal, both of them juveniles.  Can you guess where they were?  The first was a long-staying bird from 9th August to 11th September 2008 and the other was seen on 20th September 2009; both were at Quinta do Lago!

So now we have records from this one site of juveniles in 2008 and 2009 and adults in 2012 and 2014.  Do we see a pattern emerging?  Of course, there is no suggestion that Little Crake has bred at Quinta do Lago, although there is thought to be a small population of these secretive birds not so far from here, in Doñana.  No, presumably, like so many other birds in the Algarve, these are simply migrants that are passing through on their way to and from West Africa; the pattern is just that they have all been seen from what is the most regularly used birdwatching hide in the country.  How many other Little Crakes there might be passing through here undetected in less popular localities, one can only imagine!

If you have the patience, there should still be time to go to Quinta do Lago to try and see the birds.  As far as we know, at least one of the 2012 birds remained there until at least 8th April.  However, be prepared to spend a few hours!  Of course, as always, there are plenty of other birds to see; Little Bitterns and Purple Swamp-hens are very active and Black-headed Weavers are building nests but don’t let yourself be distracted by them - you will need to concentrate hard if you want to see a Little Crake!

 Purple Swamp-hen - part of the distracting sideshow!

That was the week...

We’ve just spent a week with two friends from the UK who are keen and widely travelled birders but making their visit to Portugal.  It was a shame that their arrival coincided with a spell of unsettled weather, including a couple of days of rain, but we did our best to show them why it was that we decided to make our base here in lovely Tavira.

Sunday, 20th
Just a half day around the Tavira and Santa Luzia saltpans where the usual selection of waders included one or two Ruff but the highlight for us was seeing Common Redshank H19 for the first time this autumn.  We have written before here about this Dutch-ringed bird, which was back in its usual spot where it has been seen regularly through the last three winters.
There are lots of Audouin’s Gulls here still and we couldn’t resist jotting down a few ring numbers.

 

Monday, 21st
A full day in the Castro Verde area saw the best of the week’s weather - warm and sunny with just a gentle breeze.  With persistence and a little luck we were able to find most of the target species, including both Great Bustard and Little Bustard, Spanish Imperial Eagle, Black-bellied Sandgrouse, Griffon Vulture, Black Vulture, Stone-curlew and Calandra Lark.  A Hen Harrier was our first of the season, Red Kite numbers had increased from a week ago but the day’s only Black-winged Kite disappointed by quickly disappearing from view.

Tuesday, 22nd
A dark and dismal morning with persistent rain found us at Castro Marim birding just from the car.  We saw barely 30 species in the hour or so before we saw sense and headed back home!

Wednesday, 23rd
Most of the day was spent around Ludo and Quinta do Lago where early morning raptors included four Booted Eagles, an Osprey, a Marsh Harrier and a Black-winged Kite.  We saw what were probably three different Little Bitterns and as well as the usual Purple Swamp-hens it’s nice that a Water Rail has recently taken to appearing from time to time in front of the hide.  Several Red-crested Pochards, Glossy Ibises and Black-headed Weaver completed the area’s ‘must see’ species.  Two Cetti’s Warblers put on a memorable and uncharacteristic show for us, displaying and chasing about in open view, lots of White Storks were back on their nests, the wooded areas provided Crested Tits, Iberian Green Woodpecker and Great Spotted Woodpecker but for some reason not Short-toed Treecreeper.  Two Common Scoters off Praia de Faro at lunchtime were a bonus.
We rounded off the day back in Tavira where three Bluethroats in view simultaneously could hardly have been bettered.

Thursday, 24th
When the forecast shows wet and windy weather approaching from the west, it’s best to head east!  We went to Doñana for the day and although we didn’t see much sun we did stay dry.
At La Dehesa de Abajo there were fewer birds than we saw on our last visit there two weeks ago mainly because Glossy Ibises and White Storks were mostly absent.  There were still 1,000 or so Greater Flamingos and probably twice that number of Northern Shovelers.  Among the hundreds of Black-winged Stilts, one with a colour-ring obligingly walked past the hide two or three times.  Two Black Terns, two Pallid Swifts and several Red-knobbed Coots were also notable and there were large numbers of hirundines feeding over the water.  After all that we enjoyed an excellent lunch in the visitor centre.
In the afternoon, we headed off to explore other parts of Doñana where the numbers of Marsh Harriers, Great Egrets, Grey Herons and Common Kestrels were particularly impressive.  We saw Griffon Vultures and Calandra Larks, on several occasions we had good views of Black-winged Kites but the highlight was probably seeing four Black Storks at close range, birds that we don‘t often see on the ground in the Algarve.

Friday, 25th
Heavy overnight rain continued into the morning and we decided not to venture out birding until after lunch.  The afternoon was no better; we managed half an hour or so around Tavira, birding from the car but it was no fun and we did the only sensible thing, we packed up and went home.

Saturday, 26th
During a week’s birdwatching tour in the Algarve it would be unprofessional not to go to Sagres, particularly at this time of the year when there is a chance to see some raptors and other migrants.  The weather had improved and we enjoyed a mostly sunny day with very little wind.  Unfortunately, it wasn’t a great birding day - the birds just didn‘t turn up! 
We saw a few Cory’s Shearwaters, a tired-looking Garden Warbler and a Pied Flycatcher, Shags, Rock Doves and Crag Martins and a flock of what must have been 100 or more Red-billed Choughs but the only raptors were a Booted Eagle and a Common Buzzard.

On the way back to Tavira, we called in at Lagoa dos Salgados but it wasn’t a pretty sight.  Work is currently being carried out by Águas do Algarve, which it is said should provide enhanced nesting and feeding areas for birds, enable the water levels to be controlled and generally increase the lagoon's appeal to migrating birds to stop over, rest and feed.  If it sounds too good to be true, then it probably is!  We should remember that the head of  Águas do Algarve is that same person who was previously mayor of Silves council and was instrumental in granting permission to Finalgarve for the tourist development adjacent to the lagoon that has been the subject of an online petition and a complaint to the European Environment Commissioner.

So, that was the week - some very good days, one that was not so good and two that were washed out by the weather.