Algarve update

Yesterday we helped with the ICNF monthly count of the wetland birds in the Cerro do Bufo sector of the Castro Marim Reserve.  Who would have thought that on 5th June there would be 1,482 non-breeding Greater Flamingos there?  Who would have predicted that the second-most numerous species would be Black-tailed Godwit (570) or that there would be 135 Curlew Sandpipers?  We were also a little surprised to see how many species there were that we regard as ‘winter birds’: Cormorant, Mediterranean Gull, Red Knot, Grey Plover, Turnstone, Caspian Tern, Dunlin and Ringed Plover were all there, albeit in very small numbers.  The only ducks were the breeding Shelducks, which continue to multiply; another surprise was a single Glossy Ibis.  In total there were 3,250 birds of 27 species.  As usual we took some time to read a few colour-rings, including a Caspian Tern from Sweden and a Lesser Black-backed Gull from Scotland.

Little Tern

Common Shelduck

Although we have continued to spend time at Castro Marim and at various sites within the Ria Formosa, as usual at this time of the year the main focus of our birdwatching has moved away from the coastal wetlands and increasingly in the past few weeks we have been heading inland.  Of course we are always frequent visitors to the Castro Verde / Mértola area in the Baixo Alentejo but recently we have also been exploring again in the interior of the Algarve.

Our travels inland have been taking us to parts of the Serra de Alcaria do Cume that we haven’t seen much of before.  That’s the area we’ve agreed to cover for the latest Portuguese breeding bird atlas project that started this year.  One of the things we like about atlas survey work is that we get to see places that we probably wouldn’t otherwise have a reason to visit.

 Common Redstart

Spotted Flycatcher

We’ve also been looking at other parts of the Eastern Algarve and trying to find some of the scarcer breeding species.  Some of these, such as Common Redstart, Spotted Flycatcher, Nuthatch and Robin don’t perhaps sound very exciting but it’s been fun seeking them out in areas where they are not common but where Nightingales are abundant and where Golden Orioles are common and regularly seen.   At the same time, we’ve found Iberian Chiffchaffs, Short-toed & Bonelli’s Eagles, Black-eared Wheatears, Rufous-tailed Scrub-robin and White-rumped Swifts, any of which would go a long way towards making the day for many birders we know.

 White-rumped Swift

 Rufous-tailed Scrub-robin

 Bonelli's Eagle

Unfortunately, time is running out before we leave here and head first to the UK and then to Tanzania but there are still lots of new places in the Algarve to go and surely more birds to be found!  

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.