[Ruby]

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....

[John Cantelo]

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!

[Ruby]

...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.

[Ruby]

As promised, here's a few pics - the butterfly is a Long-tailed Blue (leastways that's what I think it is....)

[Ruby]

First day away from Tavira was Wed, when I had a trip to Castro Verde in mind... I had heard a lot about this place but had only visited the once, following a horrendous storm in late Oct 2006 which turned out to be a complete waste of time, as all of the side roads were completely impassable, and we only managed to crawl along the main N123 thanks to the diligent efforts of a couple of crews of chainsaw-wielders who went before us to clear all of the trees that had blown across the road!

Much better this time and dawn found me leaving Castro Verde along the N123 heading East, on what promised to be (another!) hot and bright day.

Slight warning to anyone thinking of going along this road in the near future - There is extensive road works in progress at the moment, particularly at the CV end.... They are largely complete from about halfway to Mertola, but the finished article now has substantial storm-culverts at either kerb, so stopping the car (always problematic) is now pretty-much impossible except where you can find some side-tracks etc.

Anyway.... first stop for me was the first of the two bridges just E of CV - luckily with a handy pull-in just past the bridge and upon opening the car door, I was greeted by the sound of several Corn Buntings jangling away and the whistful fluting of Crested Larks. Archetypal Iberia!

I could hear Yellow Wags calling down by the river and the distinctive 'V' flight pattern of a Black-shouldered Kite was seen over a nearby farm.

Cattle Egrets flew overhead and I disturbed a flock of A-w Magpies as I approached the bridge, and duly flushed a pair of Green Sands as I came into view. These flew a little way up the river and settled beside a Common Sandpiper.

Now, here's a tale....... I saw some movement and a bird dropped out of one of the river-side trees. I could see it well enough, and the 'dropped wings, cocked tail' pose immediately made me think of a Robin..... Rufous-tailed Bush Robin, in fact (or even White-throated, were I not in the wrong country!). Only snag being, that when I got the BINs on it, it clearly wasn't, having none of the striking face markings (just a small pale eye-ring) and (crucially I thought!) no rufous tail!

Ooo-er. Only thing I can come up with is Nightingale - it was a warm chestnut brown all over, but my experience of Nightingales are usually 'heard-only' or a partial glimpse of something hiding in the depths of a blackthorn bush or something - I certainly can't recall ever seeing one prancing around out in the open doing impersonations of far more exotic birds!

Question is... If not a Nightingale, then what??

I lingered for an hour or so - it was a great place, but the construction lorries thundering past my ears was a bit wearing - and added Stonechat, Sardinian, Cetti's and Fan-tailed Warbler, Red-rumped Swallow and Red-legged Partridge to the list, along with many of the normal Iberian birds.

As I walked back to the car, the first of many Southern Grey Shrikes flew up onto a wire nearby.... As mentioned, saw many of these but no Woodchat Shrikes at all during the week. I guess they must have all gone, as they are normally pretty commonplace.

I stopped at the 2nd bridge, but it had no water and had fewer birds than the first bridge, so didn't linger.

Shortly afterwards, I took the road heading S, signposted to Rolao and no sooner off the main road (great relief to be leaving the construction traffic behind and also to now be able to pull off the road more-or-less at will) than I saw a large raptor perched on a post ahead. Sneaked a bit closer (sneaked! - in a citeon C3!!) and it turned out to be a very attractive Booted Eagle. As usual, attempts to surrepticiously exit car for pics just led to bird disappearing into middle distance - heigh-ho...

Stopped at stand of trees to have a scan about and flushed a Kestrel up onto a fence-post, and a good way further off, the first Great Bustard. Over the course of the next couple of hours, I saw several more small groups - totalling 16 birds in all - including one very close pair that I flushed from a small boggy area.... extremely impressive to see such massive birds up close in flight - seems to defy logic that they can get up at all, bit like watching a jumbo-jet take of!!

These were the only steppe-specials that I saw ie no Little Bustards or Sandgrouse. To be honest, I wasn't over-bothered about seeing these species and I do know that they are generally better seen at dawn or dusk, and it was by now getting towards late morning and pretty hot, so I wasn't intending to waste loads of time diligently searching every hillside.

I was more interested in exploring the countryside, and spent the next few hours just following my nose around the network of small roads and tracks S of the N123, and very pleasant it was too....

I saw a couple of Common Buzzards, one perched on a rock and one in flight and a 2nd Booted Eagle. Don't know enough about this species to know the answer, but all of the booted Eagles that I saw were pale-phase.... I wonder why? ..anyone know??

Wheatears were commonplace, but I only saw Northern - not sure whether there maybe shouldn't have been some Black-eared mixed in amongst them but all I saw were (probably 50+) Northerns.

Another large raptor on a post (ho-hum, another Booted Eagle I'm thinking) but get a bit closer and no, it's a Short-toed Eagle instead, the big fluffy head and stripey breast being a very easy identifier.... Photo attempts went much the same way as previous ie finishing with Eagle flying off into middle distance!

A bit further along and a large flock of Egrets suddenly went up in a panic with a very large raptor in amongst them. Screech to a halt, out of the car and just enough time to see excellent close views of a juvenile Spanish Imperial Eagle before it disappeared over the nearby hillside - this was turning out to be an excellent day for raptors (but no Red or Black Kites,interestingly enough...)

I stopped at a small bridge over a tiny stream and saw a single Crag Martin.

By now it was early pm and I re-joined the N123 again and continued heading E, taking a side ride N, signposted to Salto.

Must say that this didn't look to be as promising habitat as S of the road, and so it proved with few birds being seen, and not much of interest, even though it was now the hottest part of the day (35c!) and birds with any sense were probably tucked away somewhere a bit cooler!

I continued back onto the N123 and headed off to Mertola, just adding Crow and Jackdaw to the list as I drove, but also seeing many more of the previously mentioned species, particularly Stonechats, Wheatears and SG Shrikes.

While I was in the area, I thought I'd do a quick diversion to the mines at Sao Domingos, which is (apparently) a bit of a spot for exotic Swifts. I had seen a few Swifts around Tavira, so was holding out a slim hope for the mines, but in my heart-of-hearts I knew it was too late in the year really, and so it proved, with not a single Swift to be seen anywhere. It was an interesting and impressive landscape however, and would probably repay another visit - just at a sensible time of year!

Anyway... back to Tavira now for a well-earned beer and a dip in the pool!

[wolfbirder]

Hi Ruby, i reckon your bird at the 1st bridge was Rufous Tailed Scrub Robin. That is eaxctly where I saw them earlier this year, as you may have read. A bird I saw showed on the ground and on a bush and hopping around rocks to the right hand side of the bridge. You got all the top targets, i too dipped on sandgrouse and little bustards but you have the added bonus of spanish imperial eagle ! Its such a relaxing area to bird and i love it there.

You probably were a bit late for WR Swift, tho you do have to drive to the twin towers i believe, two miles along the track.

[Ruby]

Originally Posted by John Cantelo

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!

Thanks John - I really fancy a trip out to your neck of the woods... I'll drop you mail and we can discuss options...


All the best... Ray

[Ruby]

Originally Posted by wolfbirder

Hi Ruby, i reckon your bird at the 1st bridge was Rufous Tailed Scrub Robin. That is eaxctly where I saw them earlier this year, as you may have read. A bird I saw showed on the ground and on a bush and hopping around rocks to the right hand side of the bridge. You got all the top targets, i too dipped on sandgrouse and little bustards but you have the added bonus of spanish imperial eagle ! Its such a relaxing area to bird and i love it there.

You probably were a bit late for WR Swift, tho you do have to drive to the twin towers i believe, two miles along the track.

It was a great trip alright... in fact (easyjet S2010 programme has gone on-sale early) I'm already booked up for June 2010!! How's that for future planning!!

Unfortunately, definitely not a R-t Bush Robin in my case... I could see it very close and no trace of a pale supercilium, which would have been very striking in the excellent morning light. I have seen them before though, so not too downhearted....

Yes, I made it along to the old mine workings and the twin chimneys - an impressive landscape allright (but no swifts)


All the best... Ray

[Mick Sway]

Good reporting & pics yet again Ray
Will be back there myself begining Oct.
Nice one Ray
Mick

[wolfbirder]

Originally Posted by Ruby

It was a great trip alright... in fact (easyjet S2010 programme has gone on-sale early) I'm already booked up for June 2010!! How's that for future planning!!

Unfortunately, definitely not a R-t Bush Robin in my case... I could see it very close and no trace of a pale supercilium, which would have been very striking in the excellent morning light. I have seen them before though, so not too downhearted....

Yes, I made it along to the old mine workings and the twin chimneys - an impressive landscape allright (but no swifts)


All the best... Ray

Ah sorry for the wasted journey to the mines Ruby, if it was based on advice from my report. Maybe next year if they return!

[Ruby]

Last day for me before being joined by the Mrs, and popped along to Quinta do Largo for the morning... Should mention that the car-parking arrangements are now different, with a barrier at the entrance, and fees now on a pay-as-you-go basis - not too bad though, I was there for about 4-5 hrs and it still only cost me €5...

First good bird was a (presumably Iberian) Green Woodpecker seen along the manicured verges whilst driving through 'roundabout-land'.

Upon arriving at the car-park, I turned left and immediately started picking up all of the expected waders - much the same as Tavira in fact, so I won't bother listing them all again. Truly impressive numbers of gulls out on the mud, I showed a certain amount of commitment and gave many hundreds a reasonable grilling, but could only see LBB and YL....

Little Terns were numerous, with 33 roosting on the mud (plus another 15 feeding on the golf course lake when I got there later) and there were also 2 each of Common Terns and Sandwich Terns. Didn't see any Caspians this time, which I have often done in the past...

A few Red-rumped Swallows and some Barn Swallows and House Hartins zoomed about and a Hoopoe flew over, bizarrely keeping on going and heading out towards the sea - not many leatherjackets out there, I'm thinking!

I had now reached the lake by the golf course and started counting ducks - Gadwall, Shovellor, Coot, Moorhen, Pochard, Red-crested Pochard, Little and Great Crested Grebe all being immediately to hand. I then saw a bit of movement close-by and a Glossy Ibis crept out of the reeds - excellent!

Tried the new hide and very excellent it is too - I wonder why there are no seats at the downstairs level though...maybe they didn't want to encourage people to stay for too long...

Anyway, I settled down upstairs and spent an hour or so and added Black Tern, Kingfisher and Purple Gallinule to the list - this latter performing very well right in front of the hide, pulling out and eating the reed-stems.

I did walk a bit further, past the ruins and to the edge of the open ground, pools and salinas. Not too much going on, just a group of A-w Magpies, Goldfinch, Greenfinch, Willow Warblers and a single Spotted Fly. Upon reaching the open ground, I was able to see sizable numbers of Flamingos, Spoonbills, Grey Herons and Little Egrets. This is a good place to visit if you like Coots!!

By now it was mid-afternoon, so back in the car to try to find the elusive Salgados and its famous golfcourse!!

I elected to go back onto the A22, exiting at J8 as the route from there to my destination looked pretty straightforward. Have to say that it didn't prove to be quite as easy as I had hoped, but couldn't have been too bad as I managed to follow my nose around Pera town and then started to pick up signs saying 'golf' which led me there eventually.

No sooner had I arrived than I saw a few Ibises wandering about - quite excited, but a better view proved that they were 'only' Glossy Ibises, plus more than a few Cattle Egrets

I thought that a cunning plan would be to return at dusk to try for the Bald Ibises, so set off again to try to find the wetland variously known as Pera Marsh and Salgados Lagoon (leastways, I believe them to be one and the same)

In the event, this was quite easy to find and I got there no probs...

Emerging from the car, I saw a nice boardwalk along the edge of the lagoon, but it was very hot and I chickened out of carrying scope and camera, adopting to go native and just take BINs. Soon changed my mind though, as (after 200m of so) first decent bird that I saw was a Roller, which sent me scurrying back to car for photo-gear. Not quite sure why, but this is the first Roller that I've ever seen in the Algarve and they don't seem to appear much in other's trip reports either.

Anyway.... it obliged and was still there when I came back and I managed to get some close pics... a juvenile I reckon, but beggars can't be choosers!

The only Little Stint of the trip was seen on the lagoon here, and also lots of Wheatears, some of which were still in very attractive plumage, but largely escaped my pathetic attempts to get photos.

Other than that, it was pretty much the usual suspects around the lagoon, but I did enjoy spending a few hours making my leisurely way around this excellent area.

At the Salgados end of the boardwalk I did a brief seawatch (more of a sea-glance really, as I was a bit uncomfortable using my scope so near the busy beach!!) but could see lots of birds out to sea... Light and heat haze were appalling, but there were lots of gulls (LBB and YL I would guess) and also some large Shearwaters (Cory's I imagine)

It was now late in the pm (I have been watching quite a few Ibises leaving the lagoon and heading over to the golf-course!) so decided it was now time to head back there for another crack at the Bald Ibises. Sadly it was not to be - gave it 30 mins or so, before needing to leave for the airport but all Ibises were the non-bald variety. Not quite sure if I was just unlucky or whether they have moved on somewhere else now - shame really, as this would have been a new bird for me.

Anyway... all-in-all a great trip, and I now had to gird my loins for a few days having long lunches and lounging on the beach.....


All the best.... Ray

[John Cantelo]

Originally Posted by Ruby

Thanks John - I really fancy a trip out to your neck of the woods... I'll drop you mail and we can discuss options...


All the best... Ray

You'd be welcome - I was vaguely considering a jaunt at the end of October, but I probably won't be out again until next February ......

[pandachris]

Originally Posted by Ruby

.

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....

Possibly this one?


http://avengerpenguins.com/gallery2/...2_itemId=18773

Pics 3 & 4 - click on them for full sized image. Rather distant I'm afraid but this had us going for a while. This was at Tavira in Feb.

I'm astonished that you missed all those Glaucous and Iceland Gulls though There were tons earlier in the year.

[Ruby]

Originally Posted by pandachris

Possibly this one?


http://avengerpenguins.com/gallery2/...2_itemId=18773

Pics 3 & 4 - click on them for full sized image. Rather distant I'm afraid but this had us going for a while. This was at Tavira in Feb.

I'm astonished that you missed all those Glaucous and Iceland Gulls though There were tons earlier in the year.

That looks very much like the one - any thoughts on what it might be?

Gulls - b*gger!

[Andrew]

Nice one Ruby.

Went in spring and the roadworks were all along the Castro Verde to Mertola road and it is disappointing that they have not yet finished. I also found the storm culverts depressing in that they reduced the 'pull off at a whim' points but it is heartening to know they have not ventured towards the Rolao complex of lanes.

You have gripped me off big time with the Spanish Imperial Eagle!

Hopefully the car park charges are only a summer season thing. I am back there in winter! I must try an autumn trip one day though.

You got some nice pictures.

Thanks for sharing.

I hope you will be able to have a few minutes to tell us about the minor sites you know of in the Tavira area as I only know the Quatro Aguas road there (which is very nice though).

[pandachris]

Originally Posted by Ruby

That looks very much like the one - any thoughts on what it might be?

Gulls - b*gger!

The view of the locals is that they're Little Egrets.
http://aves.team-forum.net/forum.htm is quite a good site and I asked on there for their views.

Those gulls at Sagres were fantastic. We also got a single Little Gull and loads of Kittiwakes and were a few minutes late for a petrel (Leach's I think) which had been eaten by a large gull.

The Icelands and Glaucous's were all coming to bread, hence the ok pics. We blew our cheap bread budget in a matter of minutes, though.

[Ruby]

Originally Posted by Andrew

You have gripped me off big time with the Spanish Imperial Eagle!

Hopefully the car park charges are only a summer season thing. I am back there in winter! I must try an autumn trip one day though.

You got some nice pictures.

Thanks for sharing.

I hope you will be able to have a few minutes to tell us about the minor sites you know of in the Tavira area as I only know the Quatro Aguas road there (which is very nice though).

Doh! Sorry about the Eagle, but you can content yourself with the thought that it was pretty distant... at least 200m away

As rgds the parking at Quinta do Largo.... someone reminded me that it is often on free vend outside of the main summer season, so maybe it will be again - there are barriers going both in and out though, so I guess they'll need to just raise them up permenantly....

Tavira:

As you say, the 4-aguas area is pretty good, particularly for spotting birds from the old mobile-hide.... I've noted that Iberian birds are often easily spooked (must be something to do with the shotguns!) and to be able to just sit in the car sometimes helps to get nice and close. Just before the pay car-park on the right, there is a track signposted Tome Mariscos (from memory!) which can be driven for a few hundred metres and walked for a bit more. There are numerous other paths between the pools that can be followed, but note point about birds being easily spooked.

Another good area is across the water immediately E of the 4-aguas, where there is a large hotel. To get there, so back over the new road bridge towards the N125, turn right at the roundabout at the end of the bridge, straight on past the new shopping centre (what's all that about!!) and then right at the next roundabout, helpfully signposted 'hotel'. Follow the road for a km or two which eventually ends in a large dirt car-park. On the way, there are numerous tracks off between the pools to be explored, although parking can be a challenge as the road is more-or-less single track.

When nr the hotel, try to find a gap in the hedge to peer through at the pool which would be roughly N of the hotel - this is the area that seemed to be most favoured by Audouin's Gulls, and also where I saw the peculiar Grey Egret.

Santa Luzia is a nice little town just along the coast (particularly if you are partial to octopus!) where you can often get close views of Plovers, Dunlin and the like if the tide is right. There is also a building where they land the fish etc, so popular with Gulls I would think at the right time of day and year.

To get there, you need to go over the new bridge (again! but this time heading AWAY from the N125) past the large covered market on your left, and then turn right at the roundabout at the end. Go up hill, past another 1 or 2 roundabouts (beware police station) and turn left at the T-junction you eventually reach. Follow the road straight ahead past the college and you will come to Santa Luzia after about 2km. NB On the road between the outskirts of Tavira and Santa Luzia, there are several rough tracks that lead toward the Rio Formosa marshland - I had hoped to explore these but ran out of time.

There were a couple of good spots just a bit inland....

Back to the N125 and head E, and about 1-2km outside Tavira the N125 crosses a stream with a decent sized bridge. There are various roads off to the left here, taking any of which will lead you to some areas of reed-bed, damp meadows, farmland etc. Good for Sandpipers, Waxbills, Cattle Egrets etc when I was there.

On the N125 heading back the other way, just before you cross the main river Gilao, there are a couple of roads heading N, signposted to Moinhos da Rocha, which is a well-known cascade and beauty spot (and quite good for birds) To get there follow the signs but you need to go over a novelty bridge, which is just concrete slabs with no side rail etc. It is actually easily wide enough for the average hire car, but quite disconcerting if the river is full... I remember we were there a couple of years back and I was berating myself for being a big girls's blouse "Plenty of room etc etc" - only to come back an hour later and see a car face-down in the river!! Take Care!

Hope you have a good trip anyway - great area, we are already booked up for next June, and I may well sneak over in the interim.


All the best.... Ray

[Ruby]

Oh, forget to mention.... I reckon it would be a good idea to take a scope over onto the Ilha de Tavira for a sea-watch. I had just BINs once and could easily see loads of Cory's Shearwaters quite close in - I reckon with a scope you might be able to pick out a fair bit....Every time a fishing boat goes past, the birds just seem to appear from nowhere...

[Andrew]

Thanks ever so much Ray. I shall print off the directions for the additional sites which should be enough to make a day of it in Tavira. I did consider a ferry crossing to Ilha de Tavira with the assumption that there would be less people on that side than the saltpans thus hopefully more birds to see or approach for photographs. A seawatch never entered my mind but good idea!

[Martyn Yapp]

Just a quick post regarding the parking fees at Quinta do Largo. I have just come back from the Algarve (second visit) and managed a couple of hours here (will post my findings later), we did not arrive until around five in the afternoon and did not exit the car park until near dusk. The barriers were open and the car park attendant had gone home.

Although it is nice to think that the car is on a secure car park so the fees are not so bad, besides if you want to avoid them it is possible to do the walk in from Ludo Farm...I think.

Originally Posted by Andrew

Thanks ever so much Ray. I shall print off the directions for the additional sites which should be enough to make a day of it in Tavira. I did consider a ferry crossing to Ilha de Tavira with the assumption that there would be less people on that side than the saltpans thus hopefully more birds to see or approach for photographs. A seawatch never entered my mind but good idea!

[Martyn Yapp]

I have posted a report on my blog (see link below) regarding a small amount of birding I did in the Algarve between the 13-20th Setember 2009. I am going back out there for a full weeks birding bash on the 10th October 2009 for a week. Very much excited about this and dearly hope to find some good rarities whilst there.

One question to you here is who would you call if you found an interesting bird, lets face it, it must get American vagrants from time to time.

Originally Posted by Martyn Yapp

Just a quick post regarding the parking fees at Quinta do Largo. I have just come back from the Algarve (second visit) and managed a couple of hours here (will post my findings later), we did not arrive until around five in the afternoon and did not exit the car park until near dusk. The barriers were open and the car park attendant had gone home.

Although it is nice to think that the car is on a secure car park so the fees are not so bad, besides if you want to avoid them it is possible to do the walk in from Ludo Farm...I think.

[Andrew]

Hi Martin,

I shall certainly read the report but for now you might be okay asking the webmaster of this website for a phone number to report rares. At the moment there is a Buff-breasted Sandpiper and a Long-billed Dowitcher on Lagoa dos Salgados. Wish I was there now!

http://raridades.avesdeportugal.info/en-index.html

Best of luck!

Cheers,
Andrew.

[Martyn Yapp]

I was there 19th September, 3 juvenile Ruff. few Dunlin, Sanderling, 1 Curlew Sandpiper, 2 Little Stint plus the usuals........damn damn damn.

Originally Posted by Andrew

Hi Martin,

I shall certainly read the report but for now you might be okay asking the webmaster of this website for a phone number to report rares. At the moment there is a Buff-breasted Sandpiper and a Long-billed Dowitcher on Lagoa dos Salgados. Wish I was there now!

http://raridades.avesdeportugal.info/en-index.html

Best of luck!

Cheers,
Andrew.

[Barred Wobbler]

Originally Posted by Ruby

That looks very much like the one - any thoughts on what it might be?

Gulls - b*gger!

What about Little Egret/Western Reef Heron hybrid. There are a number reported from various parts of Spain, including a long-stayer at La Tancada on the Ebro Delta (although I've not seen it on my visits) and other examples in Cadiz - not too far from Tavira.

More details and photos on this site;


http://www.rarebirdspain.net/arbsr908.htm


Interesting report by the way. I'm staying in Tavira for the first time for the first week of November.

[Ruby]

Originally Posted by Barred Wobbler

What about Little Egret/Western Reef Heron hybrid. There are a number reported from various parts of Spain, including a long-stayer at La Tancada on the Ebro Delta (although I've not seen it on my visits) and other examples in Cadiz - not too far from Tavira.

Yes, the gularis/garzetta hybrid theory is obviously a possibility, but I guess we'll never know unless someone catches it and does a spot of DNA testing.... It was certainly a handsome enough bird anyway, whatever it is..

Have a good trip out in Nov - be interested to hear how it goes...


All the best... Ray