Unless you were put off when we nipped over to Calais together a few years back!As some of the hoarier BF members will know, I am a bit of a fan of birdwatching in the Algarve..... only slight snag is that all previous visits have been with Mrs R and/or other non-birdwatchers, so birding opportunities have been limited to a few early morning trips and the odd sneak out etc. All very well, but obviously quite frustrating as there is so much excellent habitat (& birds) to be seen.....
I hit on a cunning plan. This time I would travel out early for a few days of dedicated bird-time before being joined by the Mrs later.... so Monday 7th found me on the way to Faro for a bit of quality me-time and sunshine.
I based myself at Tavira - mainly because this is where we usually stay and I wanted to explore some of the little local tracks etc that have often intrigued me in the past - but I did also intend a couple of full days out: one to the Castro Verde area and another to some of the well known birding areas 'out West' ie Quinta do Largo and Salgados/Pera.
So...... For the rest of Monday and Tuesday, I was in the Tavira area - I'll lump both days into one report....
First thing to say is that, last time I was out (early June) the pools and salinas in the 4-aguas area were very quiet, so I was slightly on pins as to what I would discover ths time. Needn't have worried, as the pools were crowded with much the usual suspects of waders and waterbirds....Curlews, Whimbrels, Sanderling, Dunlin, BW Stilts, Redshank and Turnstones were numerous - I encountered a mixed flock of Black-tailed Godwits and Avocets... I counted the Avocets (207) and I reckon there was twice that number of BT Godwits.
There were many Ringed, Kentish and a few Grey Plovers and a couple of Greenshanks were picked out, along with Common and Green Sandpipers and several Curlew Sands. In fact, just about the only wader that I might have expected to see (but didn't!) was Little Stint, of which there are usually quite a few at Tavira.
Gulls were good too (had been worried not to find any Audouin's in June) with many LBB, BH and YL and a peak count of 29 Audouin's Gulls round by the big hotel immediately to the W of the 4-aguas area. No sign of any Slender-billed this time, which I have seen in the past.
Pleased to see 3 Caspian Terns.... These are birds that don't often get seen round my way, so have only seen them a few times and that was always in flight. Seeing them just roosting, I was struck by their size - absolutely dwarfing the waders that were feeding around them! .... also quite a few Little Terns and 2 Sandwich Terns.
Had a peak count of 81 Spoonbills and 41 White Storks (this latter I thought quite a lot!) plus numerous Grey Herons, Little Egrets, Flamingos and a few Cattle Egrets. No Glossy Ibis this time, but did flush a Stone Curlew, which was a personal first for me at Tavira.
Talking of firsts.... I also saw a single Marsh Harrier which I'm pretty sure is the first large raptor which I'd ever seen at Tavira (odd!)
Passerines were well represented with Common Waxbill, Sardinian Warbler, Crested Lark, Stonechat, Wheatear, Goldfinch, Fan-tailed Warbler all commonplace, and a few Spotless Starlings and Cetti's Warblers.
Migration status seemed to be that many Summer visitors had already gone (ie no Purple Herons, Bee-eaters, GS Cuckoos etc) and also (bizarrely I thought) didn't see a single Serin, which are normally perched up on just about every TV aerial in Tavira! Autumn Migrants were by and large thin on the ground.... Quite a few Yellow Wags, but only a few Willow Warblers, Spotted Flys and a single Garden Warbler.
A few lingering Common Swifts, Swallows, Red-rumped Swallows and House Martins, plus a single Hoopoe, Little Owl and a flock of Azure-winged Magpies.
Oddments included a Magpie, Song Thrush, Great Tit, few Jays and a couple of Kingfishers....and ducks included Shoveller, Coot, Moorhen, Mallard, Gadwall plus 2 Cormorants.
Very pleased to see that Tavira had plenty to offer again, which bodes well for future visits....
To finish off on the Tuesday, I drove a few km along the coast to visit Altura Tank (never been there before). First thing to say is that there is now a nice shiny new fence around the water, which prevents you actually getting onto the site now. Not that this makes too much difference though, since you can see readily enough from the roadside verge - in my case mainly Coots (lots of, but no Red-knobbed!) Little Grebes and Shoveller.
Bonus was a pair of pale-phase Booted Eagles overhead towards Villareal...
Better bet actually was the sewage plant on the other side of town that held 37 Cattle Egrets, a juvenile Night Heron and 3 Black Terns.
...Bit pushed for time right now, but I'll stick some pics on later....
Lovely place Tavira .... but there's a lot more birds further east in Cadiz province! When am I going to persuade you to pop out there with me one day for a bit o' real birding Unless you were put off when we nipped over to Calais together a few years back!
...Oh, nearly forgot....
There has been some talk in other forums of one or more peculiar grey Egrets that have been seen from time to time in the Tavira area, and I bumped into one of them myself....
I must admit that I had expected these to be maybe just off-white, but the one that I saw was actually mid/darkish grey pretty much all over (about mantle colour of YL Gull) with just white under the 'chin'. Legs appeared very dark/black, and feet looked if anything to be a slightly greener shade than the yellow in a 'normal' Little Egret, with black claws. Size and structure appeared on par with Little Egret....
There has been talk of gularis/gazetta hybrids etc - no idea what it was, but a striking and attractive bird nonetheless... Shame I couldn't get any pics.