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Advice for Faro area please (1 Viewer)

2520years

2520years

Lurking in the bushes is wrong.
We'll be staying 30 minutes NW of Faro airport in a few weeks.

I can see Parque Natural da Ria Formosa on the map and found a boat trip for 20 Euros each.

Could anyone tell me if this is the best thing to do, or offer an other advice?

I'll have a wife and two kids with me (not interested in wildlife), but could take them or leave them by the pool. I will have a car.

Thanks very much.
 
It's a long time since I was there, but there are some pools very close to the airport which had Azure-winged Magpie, Purple Gallinule, and lots of other stuff too. Not too far away is the salt pan area just before the Spanish border. Good for Waders etc. There's a Gosney guide to the area, which has all site details.
 
Quinta de Lago is a great site, looking at Pedro's link they've upgraded the hide since I was there in 2004. There's a footpath close by that leads down by the saltpans giving good views of waders etc.
 
I posted a trip report here for the Algarve:- http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=156431 It isn't the greatest ever report and you will see I am a pretty bad birder, but has some details of locations. If you search the trip report section you will find lots of reports for this area.

Quinta Do Lago now has two hides. But the new one overlooking the salt pans really needs some more screening as the birds stay far away. The one at the pool is very good though and you are gauranteed to see Purple Gallinule and good chance of little bittern. Also last time I was there I saw black headed weaver (which I am led to believe is an excapee from captivity). http://www.flickr.com/photos/alan-photos/4688112910/ In summer you may have to pay for the car park there. Leave the car park and head East along the shore and the edge of the golf course and you will come to the first hide. From the car park there is a bridge out to th ebeach if the family want to go there instead. But beware - take sandwiches and drinks and the beach bar/cafe is very expensive.

Re Boat trip. I took a trip in May that went out to one fo the islands. This was not great as it is a fairly big boat and sticks to the main chanels so difficult to spot much from the boat. It gives a few hours on the Island to sit on the beach or walk around the island on a board walk. There were a good opportunities for spotting from the board walk but no cover or hides. On the harbour in Faro there are other trips advertised which go in smaller baots and they claim to be able to go down the small chanels and get closer to the wildlife. But I haven't tried them yet.

If you go to the East of Olhoa the Parque headquarters are signposted. There are a few hides there but you need a good few hours to walk around. There is a fee to get it and it shuts at 4.00.

I have a Word document with driving directions to several sites. Send me a PM if you are interested and let me have your email address and I will send it to you.
 
Wow, thanks very much everyone!

I'm going to study those replies now and print off the bits I want to take with me...can't wait!
 
I have done the boat trip around the islands in the Ria formosa,although enjoyable it was not very productive birdwise, the guide accompanying us replied to any query about which species of wader or waterfowl always replied "thems Coots"
Alvor estuary can be good,further afield is Sagres which was great in February
 
Well, I only managed to get to Rio Formosa (a week is too short when you've got a young family), but this is what I saw:

Azure-winged magpie
Great egret
Little egret
Turnstone
Sanderling
Sardinian warbler
Whimbrel
White stork
Grey plover
Little tern
Purple swamp-hen
Common waxbill
Fan-tailed warbler
Black-tailed godwit
Common sandpiper
Willow warbler
Blackbird
Rock dove
Collared dove
Swallow
Black-winged stilt
Coot
Moorhen
House sparrow
Grey heron
House martin
Redshank
Black-headed gull
Great black-backed gull
Ringed plover
Gadwall
Hoopoe
Pochard
Mallard
Shoveller
Great-spotted woodpecker


I'm certain I saw a nightjar in the same place on consecutive evenings, but couldn't be sure if it was a red-necked or not.

Also, I saw a smallish black and white heron but wasn't quick enough to get an i.d.

Anyway, I'd heartily recommend the area for birders. I think it's the best place I've been to.

Cheers.
 
Last edited:
It's most likely that your nightjar was Red-necked. Your "smallish black and white heron", presumably seen briefly in flight before it disappeared into a reedbed or similar, may well have been a Little Bittern.
Great Egret and Great Black-backed Gull would both be very unusual in the Ria Formosa in August.
 
pdedicoat said:
It's most likely that your nightjar was Red-necked. Your "smallish black and white heron", presumably seen briefly in flight before it disappeared into a reedbed or similar, may well have been a Little Bittern.
Great Egret and Great Black-backed Gull would both be very unusual in the Ria Formosa in August.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the help. There were loads of GBB Gulls, maybe 100, when the tide went out. I'm pretty sure that's what they were.

The others would be great spots (e.g. little bittern). It's a shame I didn't get time to take pictures.
 
Sorry but your birds were almost certainly Lesser Black-backed Gulls. See www.avesdeportugal.info for details of the status of Great Black-backed.
They are rare winter visitors, usually November to February, mostly in the north of the country and seldom in 'flocks' of more than three.
 
As I said in an earlier post, Rio Formosa was the best place I've been to and I'm thinking of going again.

However, I have the opportunity to go anywhere in Europe for a week in September (within a reasonable budget!)

Can anyone recommend where I could go, as I'm fairly new to birding?

Please bear in mind I have an illness that limits what I can do physically, so I can't go anywhere too demanding.

So:
Europe (excluding Spain or Canaries please)
Superb for birds in September
Not too demanding physically


Any suggestions would be welcome. :t:
 
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