Birding mostly around Tavira

For much of the last week or so our birding has been restricted to our local patch - the Tavira and Santa Luzia area.  With most of the time spent around the saltpans and along the edge of the Ria Formosa it’s not surprising that we have seen mainly wetland birds.

 Tavira saltpans

 Santa Luzia saltpans

Estrada das 4 Aguas - roadworks are still unfinished and

birding here will never be quite the same again

There are only relatively few Greater Flamingos here now and Spoonbill numbers have also dropped as birds have continued their migration south into Africa.  However, after a period of absence, White Storks are now quite numerous and there are plenty of Little Egrets and Grey Herons to be seen.

Little Egret

Wader numbers have also fallen but there continues to be a good variety of species although for some reason, Golden Plovers have been conspicuous by their absence.

Common Greenshank

Numbers of Stone-curlews seem to be fewer than in some previous years but at least 20 birds are regularly present.  Sadly, the area that they have usually favoured continues to be subject to disturbance and disruption.

Stone-curlew

It’s still easy enough to find six species of gulls in the area but the flock of 500 Mediterranean Gulls that we were seeing earlier in the month seem to have moved on.  However, we counted 50 Slender-billed on the 18th November, which is an increase.

Slender-billed Gull 

We expect to find Caspian Terns and Sandwich Terns at this time of year but a Little Tern has also been seen on a couple of occasions.  A few Little Terns usually spend the winter in the mouth of the Guadiana River but otherwise they are normally gone from the Algarve by the end of October.

Even more surprising was the Whiskered Tern that we found, also on the 18th and seen for at least the following two days.  This is easily our latest ever record and only our second in November.

Whiskered Tern

The low bushes around the saltpans provide insect food for numerous Chiffchaffs, Zitting Cisticolas, Sardinian Warblers; Stonechats are common and it’s not hard to find a Bluethroat or two.

Sardinian Warbler

Raptors seen in the last few days have been Black-winged Kite, Hen Harrier, Marsh Harrier and Common Kestrel. 

Yesterday, by way of a change, we spent a couple of hours in the morning at the wastewater lagoons near Faro, tempted by a report of a Terek Sandpiper being seen there the previous day.  A light northerly wind has dropped the temperature here in recent days (to a maximum of about 18ºC) but it was a very pleasant, sunny morning.

 Northen Pintail

 Peregrine Falcon

 Eurasian Wigeon

We didn’t find a Terek Sandpiper but can hardly say we came away disappointed when we saw Peregrine Falcon, Marsh Harrier, Glossy Ibis (20+), Spotted Redshank, Greenshank, Green Sandpiper, Common Snipe (c.6), Common Sandpiper (c.12), Black-winged Stilt (c.15), Spoonbills, Greater Flamingos, Water Pipit, Bluethroat and Audouin’s Gull, plus hundreds of Gadwall, Shoveler, Pintail and Wigeon and more than 50 Cormorants.  We particularly enjoyed watching the Peregrine as it flushed more and more ducks from unseen ponds in the surrounding area.   

Back for the autumn migration

It’s great to be back in the Algarve!  The months of June, July and August in the UK didn’t seem to include summer but now at last we’re warm again.

It’s also good to be back in Tavira - nearly all of the guide books describe it as the most attractive town in the Algarve and we wouldn’t disagree with that.

The Gilão River in the centre of Tavira

Already we’ve spent a few hours checking out nearby areas of the Ria Formosa and it’s wonderful to have this huge wetland virtually on our doorstep.  Those saltpans around Tavira and Santa Luzia that aren’t being used to produce salt are currently attracting hundreds of birds: Greater Flamingos, Grey Herons, Little Egrets, Spoonbills, more than 20 wader species, at least five different gulls as well as various ducks. 

Santa Luzia saltpans

September and October are months when we can expect a few rarities to show up amongst the huge numbers of migrant birds that pour in here and already there have been a couple of Pectoral Sandpipers further west at Lagoa dos Salgados.  It can’t be denied that rarities add a bit of spice to our birding but there’s a great deal of interest and pleasure to be had from watching almost any birds especially those waders!

 We hope to share photographs here in the coming weeks of at least one or two rarities but in the meantime here are a few taken this week just down the road in the area we like to think of as “our office”.

 Juvenile Greater Flamingo

 Black-tailed Godwit

 Ruff

 First-winter Slender-billed Gull

 Common Redshank

Hoopoe

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.       

Good timing...or bad?

The Algarve can be pretty warm at this time of the year which is one of the reasons why in August we can expect an influx of tourists and why Tavira becomes rather more crowded than we like it to be.  Fortunately, the Birdfair at Rutland Water gives us an excuse to get away for a while and already we are in the UK.

We congratulated ourselves on the timing of our departure – we left on what was the hottest day of the year so far and a sign of things to come.  Of course, we knew that the weather in the UK might not be to our liking either but in fairness it hasn’t so far been too bad, although only a poor imitation of summer! 

The day after we left Tavira serious fires broke out in the hills to the north of the town and around São Bras de Alportel.  For three days almost 1,000 local firefighters battled hard to get the situation under control but were hampered by the hot and breezy weather conditions.  As many as 165 vehicles were reported to have been involved and a specialist aircraft from Spain was brought in to help in the struggle by dumping large volumes of water from the air.  In the end something like 5,000 hectares have been burned including large areas of cork oak trees.  The effect on the local economy and environment will no doubt be severe and likely to be long term.

Although the fires were far enough away from Tavira not to affect us directly, again we thought that we had done well to time our departure so as to miss them.

Subsequently, we have had to reconsider!  Firstly came news of a Broad-billed Sandpiper at Castro Marim, only the third ever record for Portugal and the second in the Algarve.  We spend countless hours at Castro Marim and have seen lots of good birds there over the years but still it was a bit frustrating to miss this one.  It’s a species that we have long predicted would turn up there and one we have often talked about seeing in the Algarve.

At least we have both seen this species in the past, most recently at Drayton Bassett Pits in Staffordshire in June 2004. 

 Broad-billed Sandpiper - Drayton Bassett Pits, Staffs - June 2004

We were just getting over the Broad-billed Sandpiper when there was more news from Castro Marim.  In what was presumably a classic instance of the ‘Roadside Rest Effect’, a Marsh Sandpiper was found there by Pedro Ramalho.  Of course, we have seen lots of Marsh Sandpipers and in fact we found one ourselves at Castro Marim in September 2009 but we do love those Tringas and were sorry to not to see this one.   

 Marsh Sandpiper - Uganda, February 2007

Incidentally, the expression ‘Roadside Rest Effect’, refers to the situation in which the discovery of one rarity leads to more rarities being found in the same location, usually because of the arrival of more birders and it originates in Arizona where the Patagonia Roadside Rest has been the scene of several twitches that have resulted in the finding of additional rarities.

So, we escaped the heat and missed the fires but we also missed out on a couple of rare waders.  Maybe our timing wasn’t that good after all!

Castro Verde, Castro Marim and more

March is a month when we expect to spend a lot of time in the Castro Verde area and we’ve had two more trips up there this week, making three visits in the past eight days. The number of species recorded on each visit has averaged 76 but these days in the Alentejo are more about quality than quantity. During these trips we have not just seen but had really great views of 16 species of raptors with Golden Eagle, Bonelli’s Eagle, Peregrine Falcon, Common Buzzard, Griffon Vulture and Black Vulture now added to the list that was included in our last report. We’ve watched countless Great Bustards displaying, almost seeming to turn themselves inside out and looking like big white powder puffs; some Little Bustards are also displaying now but many still seem to be in flocks. Other popular species have been Calandra Larks and Great Spotted Cuckoos, Black Stork and the numerous nesting White Storks.

Golden Eagle

Short-toed Eagle

Of course, we’ve also visited several of our favourite sites in the Algarve. At Quinta do Lago, we were pleased to get good views of a Purple Heron and a Little Bittern and once again a couple of Sacred Ibises were seen alongside the more familiar Glossy Ibises. At Ludo, we expected to find Booted Eagles and we weren’t disappointed.

Little Bittern

At Castro Marim, we had several encounters with noisy Great Spotted Cuckoos and at Aldeia Nova there was a Common Cuckoo. Last year we sponsored ‘Chris’, one of the Common Cuckoos that the BTO tagged and have been tracking by satellite throughout the winter months. It’s interesting that we have Cuckoos returning here now to the Algarve but ‘Chris’ and the other BTO Cuckoos, that are presumably going to return to the UK, are still in West Africa.

Great Spotted Cuckoo

Yesterday, during the high tide period, we were at Castro Marim again to carry out a count of the waders and other birds, mostly Greater Flamingos and Spoonbills, on the saltpans there. Avocets, Dunlins, Grey Plovers and Ringed Plovers were the most numerous species but the job wasn’t made any easier by a male Montagu’s Harrier that spooked the birds on a couple of occasions. Normally we love to see Montagu’s Harriers but when we’re half way through counting a flock of several hundred birds and they all take off in panic…well that does tend to change our views! It recalled occasions at Belvide Reservoir years ago when a Peregrine Falcon would often be the culprit that disrupted wildfowl counts.

Meanwhile, here in Tavira we’re starting to see a few more migrants. This morning we came across several Woodchat Shrikes, Greater Short-toed Larks and a Subalpine Warbler and heard the familiar calls of Bee-eaters. Our ‘bird of the morning’, however, was probably a lovely Black-necked Grebe in fine summer plumage. We have still been seeing Bluethroats this week but they will soon be on their way north. The Slender-billed Gulls that have wintered here will also soon be leaving; there are currently 14 of them. Only three years ago this species was classified as a rarity in Portugal but in the south-east of the country we go out most of the year almost expecting to see them and maybe it won’t be long before they join Audouin’s Gulls and breed here.

Woodchat Shrike

Bluethroat

Slender-billed Gull

The Birding Week

Two trips to the Castro Verde area this past week have demonstrated again how much more difficult it can be at this time of year to find even those species which we think of as reasonably common there. Sure we’ve seen Great and Little Bustards, Black-bellied Sandgrouse, Griffon Vultures, Short-toed Eagles, Calandra Larks, Lesser Kestrels and plenty more but for some of them we’ve really had to work hard! On one visit we had great views of a juvenile Black Vulture but our best bird was probably a Rüppell’s Vulture. We say ‘probably’ because, in all honesty, we couldn’t be 100% sure of the identification; we both saw it briefly and came to the same conclusion but the bird quickly got mixed up in a flock of about 50 Griffons and was soon no more than a silhouette disappearing into the distance.

We’ve also spent a day around Ludo and Quinta do Lago where Little Bitterns, Purple Swamp-hens and Black-crowned Night Herons continue to be among the most popular birds. We had so many sightings of Little Bitterns it was difficult to come to any conclusion about the actual number of individuals that were present. We were also pleased to see both a Black-winged Kite and a Booted Eagle in an area where we have regularly seen them in the past and where we hope they will now remain through the autumn and winter.

Quinta do Lago - the familiar view from the hide

Around the Tavira area, we have been keeping an eye on the saltpans and adjacent areas. As well as Greater Flamingos, Spoonbills and increasing numbers of gulls and waders, there are now a few passerine migrants to be found, including Spotted and Pied Flycatchers, Northern Wheatears, Chiffchaffs and Tawny Pipits. There are many Red-rumped Swallows and House Martins in evidence currently and we are seeing plenty of Kingfishers. The increasing number of Stone-curlews probably explains why we couldn’t find any in the Alentejo!

Adult Greater Flamingos...

...and a juvenile

Black-winged Stilt

Stone-curlew

Black-headed Gull

Today, for a change, we crossed the border into Spain and met up with friends, Stephen and Julie, for a look around the Marismas de Isla Cristina. The birds there were much the same selection that we would probably have seen here in the Algarve but it was nice to have a change of scene. We also looked in at El Pintado Mill Ecomuseum, one of more than a hundred tidal mills that were constructed in Spain and Portugal in the second half of the 13th century and were an early example of the use of renewal energy. It’s definitely worth a look if you’re in the area.

El Pintado Mill Ecomuseum

Rain in Tavira

Back in Tavira, it was disappointing that our first morning's birding was interrupted by rain. As if we hadn't seen enough rain in the UK these last few weeks. That's definitely not what we came back for! Thankfully, the difference here is that even when it's wet, it's still warm.

Tavira saltpans

We managed a couple of hours around the town during which we saw about 50 species, the majority of them wetland birds either on the saltpans or tidal channels of the Ria Formosa. On cultivated land adjacent to the saltpans, there were two or three Northern Wheatears and nearby we found an Iberian Grey Shrike.

Curlew Sandpiper

There are lots and lots of Greater Flamingos here now and a good proportion of them are juveniles. As usual, it was no time at all before we were reading their colour-rings. Although we occasionally see Flamingos that have been ringed in France or Italy, most of those we have reported have originated in Spain, particularly Laguna de Fuente de Piedra near Malaga. Not surprisingly, there were also a couple of colour-ringed individuals among the Audouin's Gulls. Almost certainly they will have come from the Ebro Delta.

Greater Flamingo

Audouin's Gull

This was a second outing for the newly acquired Panasonic Lumix DMC FZ-100. Not too many opportunities to really test it but we're reasonably pleased with it so far.

Hot Summer Days

It’s hot! It has to be expected in the Algarve in June but you can’t ignore the fact and early starts to the day’s birding are highly recommended.

This morning we walked the local saltpans and by 9.00am we were back home seeking refuge from the heat and the humidity. Avocets and Black-winged Stilts have now been joined in the deeper water by returning Black-tailed Godwits, most of them still in their brick-red breeding plumage. There were about 100 of them in the relatively small area that we covered and they made a fine sight. They were, though, completely eclipsed by a stunning Spotted Redshank in full summer plumage. Now that really is a smart bird!

Black-tailed Godwit

Numbers of Greater Flamingos continue to increase and we were quickly into our routine of reading colour-rings. Earlier this week we reported three birds which we knew from their ring numbers to have been reared at Laguna de Fuente de Piedra, near Malaga and this morning we found two more. One of the three earlier birds was one we had seen here in Tavira last November, so we’ll be interested to hear whether it has been reported anywhere else since then.

Other excursions in the last week or so have mostly been half-day affairs and with specific birds in mind. We’ve been to three different sites to check on breeding White-rumped Swifts and at one of these Rufous-tailed Scrub Robins¹ were another target. Collared Pratincoles continue to be in demand and so we’ve been to see them; we’ve checked out a breeding pair of Black-winged Kites in the Eastern Algarve and, of course, we’re keeping an eye on the local European Bee-eaters which are always popular. Two different ‘Grey Egrets’ (hybrid Western Reef x Little Egrets) have been seen around Tavira and the number of Audouin’s Gulls here is slowly increasing.

White-rumped Swift

For a recent trip to the Baixo Alentejo we left Tavira at 4.30. However, this wasn’t one of our early starts – it was actually 4.30pm when we set out! Accepting that what was actually a rather late start would give us relatively short birding time in the Castro Verde area, still we set out to find as many as possible of the ‘key species’. Needless to say, there were some we missed but Golden Eagle, Short-toed Eagle, Little Bustard, Great Bustard, Black-bellied Sandgrouse, European Roller, Great Spotted Cuckoo, Griffon Vulture, Eurasian Black Vulture², Black Kite, Black-winged Kite, Lesser Kestrel, Calandra Lark, Stone-curlew and Red-knobbed Coot were all seen before bad light inevitably stopped play. It just goes to show that you don’t have to be out for sixteen hours to see a decent number of birds. The Red-knobbed Coot was, of course, the bird that we have reported on previously and we were pleased to see that Coot Jnr had more or less doubled in size since our last visit.

Eurasian Black Vulture

Finally, of particular interest to us, we found a Blue Rock Thrush singing from the roof of a church in the town centre here in Tavira. We’re always pleased to have some bird interest on those occasional days when a trip to the local shops becomes essential!

¹ Rufous-tailed Scrub Robin is the name recommended by the International Ornithologists' Union for Erythropygia galactotes, otherwise known as Cercotrichas galactotes, Rufous Bush Chat, Rufous Bush Robin or Rufous-tailed Scrub-robin. Take your pick!

² Eurasian Black Vulture is not the name recommended by the International Ornithologists' Union for Aegypius monachus. They prefer Cinereous Vulture; others call it Monk Vulture, a translation of its German name Mönchsgeier.