Piscivore party

An unusual concentration of fish trapped in one of the salt pans here in Tavira has been attracting numerous birds these past few mornings. Up to 80 Spoonbills and about 50 Little Egrets have been joined by smaller numbers of Cormorants, Grey Herons, White Storks and a single Great Egret.

The fish seem to have been of a size to suit these larger birds but both Caspian & Sandwich Terns have been joining in and have presumably been able to find some smaller ones. Gulls, too, have been looking for a cheap meal, a few Lesser Black-backs but mostly Slender-billed and Black-headed.

It’s not an ideal site for photography but it has been hard to resist trying to get some images. I used a Canon EOS 7D Mk ll with a 100-400mm lens and a 1.4x extender but would have liked to get closer.

It was no surprise to find that some of the Spoonbills were colour-ringed but the depth of the water made it difficult to record the details. As so often, taking the ring details from the photographs was the best plan.  Full details are still awaited of the five birds reported but it looks as though three were ringed in The Netherlands and one each in France and Portugal.  One of the Dutch birds we have actually seen here before in 2011 and 2013; it's a female ringed in 1999.

No doubt some of these Spoonbills will stay in the Algarve for the winter but many will find their way to Mauritania and Senegal.

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.

Another Day in the Alentejo

It was another really good day’s birding in the Alentejo yesterday.  With an almost cloudless sky and hardly any wind, the weather was only a little on the cool side of perfect and there was plenty to see.

At this time of year it is almost worth the trip just to see and hear the White Storks.  They’re busy nesting now and it’s fun to watch their displays accompanied by loud bill-clattering.  In bright sunshine, their white, black and red colours make a fine sight against the clear blue sky.

Of course, we also looked for Great Bustards and probably found close to 100 in total.  Some were quite distant but eventually we had reasonably close views of a group of about 40 that included several males that were displaying – they’re much easier to find when they turn themselves into big white powder puffs!

Little Bustards were fewer but even closer.  From the car we were able to watch some that were only a short distance from the road.  The males are already moulting into breeding plumage, showing their distinctive black neck with two white collars.

Most of the Black-bellied Sandgrouse were also quite distant but we did at least have a flock of six pass almost overhead so that we could see some of the plumage details and hear their characteristic flight call.  As they went away from us, the flock split into three pairs that went their separate ways – it’s that time of the year!

It’s because spring is arriving that most of the Common Cranes seem to have left the area and headed back north.  We found only a handful remaining although in previous years we have seen them well into March.

Among the many raptors it was pleasing as always to see Spanish Imperial Eagles, three immature birds putting on a bit of an aerial performance.  It’s fair to say that we are now very disappointed if we don’t see these birds when we visit this area.  And it was good to find that Lesser Kestrels have not only returned but are already occupying nest sites.

We saw only one Great Spotted Cuckoo.  The larvae of processionary moths (Thaumetopoea pityocampa) are among their favourite foods and there are lots of those about the place now.  As usual there have recently been newspaper articles here warning the populace to avoid contact with these caterpillars which in humans can cause reactions ranging from mild itching to anaphylactic shock, yet the cuckoos seem to love them!

It was dusk by the time we got back to Tavira – just right to see a Short-eared Owl flush about 30 Stone-curlews from a field on the outskirts of town.

Castro Marim

We’ve spent three mornings this week at and around the Reserva Natural do Sapal de Castro Marim e Vila Real de Santo António, which not surprisingly we tend to refer to simply as Castro Marim.  Not only is this one of the most productive birding sites in the Algarve but it also has the attraction for us that it is reasonably close to our base in Tavira and can be reached fairly quickly without incurring road tolls.

It’s getting to be quite warm here now with temperatures rising to 30ºC and higher by mid-morning, so early starts have become an essential part of our routine.  Breakfast has been accompanied by the ‘cut-ock, cut-ock’ song of Red-necked Nightjars and the calls of Little Owls, two birds that get the day list off to a good start before leaving home.

Castro Marim is primarily a wetland area and we have mentioned before that we recently counted almost 1,600 Greater Flamingos there.  We haven’t counted them this week but have no reason to think that there are any fewer than that number.  There is more to the reserve than just saltpans but they are a major attraction and already many Spoonbills and waders are returning, birds that have been north to breed or perhaps have suffered a failed breeding attempt.  Most numerous of these are Black-tailed Godwits but Dunlins, Grey Plovers and Ruddy Turnstones have also been seen and we were particularly pleased to see and hear the return of our favourite, Greenshanks and Green Sandpipers.

The local breeding waders, Kentish Plovers, Avocets, Black-winged Stilts and Stone-curlews all have young, some of them now well-grown.  A month or so ago, we saw a pair of Little Ringed Plovers with young on the reserve and it seems likely that Common Redshank have also nested in the area.

Gulls seen this week have been just the usual Yellow-legged, Slender-billed and Audouin’s.  Little Terns are numerous but it seems that they may not have had much breeding success.  Up to three non-breeding Caspian Terns have remained in the area and a flock of 18 Black Terns passed through on Tuesday.  Sightings of Collared Pratincoles have been popular and several pairs are assumed to be breeding.

We read somewhere in one of the guide books to the Algarve that there are few raptors here other than those seen at Sagres during the autumn period and that seeing anything other than a Common Buzzard or a Common Kestrel could be considered a bonus.  Well, we must have been very lucky this week with seven species seen just at Castro Marim!  A Black-winged Kite near Tavira made eight species.

We are still finding one or two Glossy Ibises in unexpected places and Castro Marim is no exception.  Several Purple Herons are being seen around the reserve which may also be birds displaced from Doñana.

Other highlights of the week at Castro Marim have been a pair of Purple Swamp-hens, singing Golden Orioles, a pair of Spectacled Warblers feeding young, Bee-eaters going backwards and forwards in and out of nest holes, several pairs of White Storks with young, Woodchat Shrikes, Southern Grey Shrikes, Little Bustards and what appeared to be a family party of four Common Ravens.

It is disappointing that ICNB have found it necessary to stop access to the Cerro do Bufo sector of the reserve and we miss doing the circular walk there that was part of our weekly routine.  Still, we have adapted to the change and we hope that visiting birders will also respect the restrictions – there are plenty of birds to be seen without the need to trespass!  

Bustards, Raptors and Lots More

Yesterday we drove just a short way north for another great day in the Baixo Alentejo. It was mostly cloudy and a stiff breeze made it quite chilly at times, so from a weather point of view it could have been better but the birding was excellent.

Our aim, as usual, was to get good views of as many of the areas special birds as possible rather than go for a long list but we still managed to record 77 species during the day. Inevitably, some of them, for instance Quail and Wren, were only heard.

Great Bustard is of course the ‘flagship species’ of the Castro Verde area and at this time of year they’re not difficult to find. We saw about 120 of them during the day. Little Bustards, although more numerous in the area, are much more difficult to see but although we managed only a handful there were some good views.

Little Bustard

There were plenty of raptors as usual. Not only did we see 10 species but we saw all of them very well - Marsh, Hen and Montagu’s Harriers, Red, Black and Black-winged Kites, Short-toed and Spanish Imperial Eagles and both Common and Lesser Kestrels. It was a particularly good day for Spanish Imperial Eagles; twice in the morning we saw two birds together and later three birds gave great views. We saw them from below, we saw one sitting on a fence post and, when we were on top of a small hill we even looked down and saw them from above! It’s hard to say how many different birds were involved in our three sightings; they were some distance apart but it seems unlikely that we saw seven birds.

Red Kite

Although the extensive grasslands were the main focus of attention, the area does have a number of lakes/reservoirs and small ponds. As a result, we saw quite a number of species that most people probably associate more with the Ria Formosa rather than the Baixo Alentejo. Most notable amongst these and a surprise even to us were three Greater Flamingos which looked completely out of place. Others at the same location included Spoonbills, Common and Spotted Redshanks, Greenshank, Northern Pintail, lots of Northern Shoveler and Gadwall and even a female Red-crested Pochard.

Many White Storks appear now to be sitting on eggs but there are still lots of them in the fields and there was one point in the afternoon when we were able to look around us and count 70 birds!

White Stork

Corn Bunting

But the day wasn’t just about the big birds. Corn Buntings are now singing from every roadside fence and we lost count of the Southern Grey Shrikes! We were also quite taken with a Water Pipit that was well into its pink summer dress, a common enough bird but looking very smart indeed. Great Spotted Cuckoos were also among the day’s more popular species, but maybe that's just because of how English people feel about the Common Magpies in whose nests they lay their eggs!

Alentejo Day.

Our visit to the Castro Verde area yesterday was our first of the year. The morning was bright and sunny and warmer than we expected but cloud built up later and back here in the Algarve we ended up having some rain overnight.

Although early migrants such as Barn Swallow and Great Spotted Cuckoo may have led us to think that spring has arrived, we were still able to find Common Cranes and flocks of Corn Buntings, Meadow Pipits, Northern Lapwings and Golden Plovers all provided further evidence that it is still very much winter.

European Golden Plover

Great Bustards are easy to see at this time of year and during the day we counted at least 90 of them. In contrast, Little Bustards proved elusive and we managed to find only one small flock numbering 11 birds.

Great Bustards - as so often, with an unattractive wire fence behind them...

...and then unfortunately spooked by a passing truck just as they were coming within range!

It was a reasonably good day for raptors. Red Kites, another winter bird here, seemed to be everywhere and Common Buzzards and Common Kestrels were also numerous. Other species seen were Black-winged Kite, Hen Harrier, Marsh Harrier, Peregrine Falcon and Spanish Imperial Eagle.

Red Kite

Peregrine Falcon

Iberian Grey Shrikes (as some would have us calling them now) were also numerous. They're hard to miss as they perch on roadside power poles and cables but elsewhere it's often their far-carrying song that draws them to our attention.

Southern (Iberian) Grey Shrike

Black-bellied Sandgrouse are also birds that are very often heard before they are seen. We saw about two dozen of them during the day but all of them were flying and we didn't find any on the ground.

White Storks have been back on their nests for some time now. One day we must count the number of nests in this area!

A happy couple!

With so many waders on our doorstep here on the coast, we don't normally go out of our way to look for them in the Alentejo but still we recorded seven species, a list that included Ruff and Wood Sandpiper, two that we might not have predicted.

Wood Sandpiper

All in all, it was decent day's birding!

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...