Free Birdwatching Guide to the Algarve PDF (1 Viewer)

[AC Lig]

A Lapland butting? When and where?

Lapland Bunting was at Lagoa dos Salgados, 30 September at 15.50 hrs. Flushed from roadside 50 metres north of restaurant near the marsh.

(Lesser Yellowlegs and White-winged Tern still there today.)

 

[Pedro Ramalho]

Lapland Bunting was at Lagoa dos Salgados, 30 September at 15.50 hrs. Flushed from roadside 50 metres north of restaurant near the marsh.
(Lesser Yellowlegs and White-winged Tern still there today.)

Ok, Lapland bunting from a Portuguese perspective is a much more important bird than lesser yellowlegs and the tern, it´s a pity that news of the bird just come out now.

But a great find!

 

[Mick Sway]

Rare Bird Alerts

Ok, Lapland bunting from a Portuguese perspective is a much more important bird than lesser yellowlegs and the tern, it´s a pity that news of the bird just come out now.

But a great find!

Pedro, might it be an idea to start a separate annual thread on Birdforum for scarce , migrating and unusual bird sightings in Portugal, under one umbrella thread?
I know that there are many other forums, including some on Facebook, for reporting sightings, but not everyone is keen on using them.
just a thought.

 

[Simon Wates]

Booted Warbler still present at circa 17.45 (in same bush with two Zitting Cisticola) Tues 6th.

BTW Simon, have not forgotten about Lap Bunting pic and will send a description next week when I return home.

Unfortunately the Booted Warbler hasn't been seen today.

Re; Lapland Bunting, it would be great to see any photos - even poor ones, which I think you said they were. As Pedro urges - its a pity you didn't have a contact to alert folk down here. If you find anything else it would be great if you could even post a thread on the Portuguese bit of Birdforum - enough folk are looking and will get the alert out pretty fast. I know you had found it quite few days ago - when was it exactly? - it may still be worth a look.

Alternatively, there is an email rare birds group on Yahoo groups for Portugal that most are signed up to....its called; raridades. Also, all of us get the word out by phone if its something like the Booted Warbler! So that's always a possibility if you have a contact. There aren't that many rarities found in the Algarve by visitors so phoning would never be an overload for anyone. Its the best way for urgent news like yesterday with the Booted Warbler - if the phone wasn't used only 5-6 people would have seen it as it was at the end of the day - as it happened some 10 more enjoyed it because of the calls.

 

[AC Lig]

Unfortunately the Booted Warbler hasn't been seen today.

Re; Lapland Bunting, it would be great to see any photos - even poor ones, which I think you said they were. As Pedro urges - its a pity you didn't have a contact to alert folk down here. If you find anything else it would be great if you could even post a thread on the Portuguese bit of Birdforum - enough folk are looking and will get the alert out pretty fast. I know you had found it quite few days ago - when was it exactly? - it may still be worth a look.

Alternatively, there is an email rare birds group on Yahoo groups for Portugal that most are signed up to....its called; raridades. Also, all of us get the word out by phone if its something like the Booted Warbler! So that's always a possibility if you have a contact. There aren't that many rarities found in the Algarve by visitors so phoning would never be an overload for anyone. Its the best way for urgent news like yesterday with the Booted Warbler - if the phone wasn't used only 5-6 people would have seen it as it was at the end of the day - as it happened some 10 more enjoyed it because of the calls.

OK, a few points here:

1. Apologises that the word did not reach a wider audience sooner.

2. I don't have any contact details of anyone in Portugal but thanks for the information.

3. I did mention the sighting to you the following day at Cabronsa but you appear to be inundated with various reports/assisting people so maybe the report slipped by.

4. As mentioned above, I will send you the pics next week when I return home.

5. I was not aware that Lap Bunt was such a rare bird in Portugal - they are not that rare where I normally watch.

6. Re the Booted Warbler, I was not aware that it was there when I saw it (I had seen the Ortolans previously, thanks to you, and was looking for the Richard's and Tawnys).

7. I think Mick's idea is a good one.

8. If I am fortunate enough to find something, I will get the news out as soon as I can.

All the best

 

[Mick Sway]

Vale Santo and Cabranosa,Sagres Peninsula 8th Oct
I would be lying if I said that today was great for new Passerines to our list though we did see good numbers of common species .
On the other hand we ran into a tremendous migration of raptors that continued to drift around the coastal plain all day.
This morning a mixed flight of 30 odd raptors wheeled around our heads with the highlight being 2 first year bonellis Eagles, short toed and booted making up the greater number. Amongst them 2 black kites, 2 common and a single high flying honey buzzard.
We continued to witness their struggle against the high winds pulled in from the expiring Hurricane Jaoquim ?
Later on in the day a single goshawk, hen harrier, red kite and merlin, added to the raptor count.
Late afternoon, ironically over our accommodation but a few of miles away from where we were watching, 86 griffon vultures kettled in the distance, a huge spiral of wheeling raptors.
Two raven and a single woodlark were also new additions to our list , this visit.

 

[Mick Sway]

Cabranosa, Yesterday Fri 09/10

The movement of griffons appeared over the hill yesterday , with I'm told some 200 odd birds, including a ruppell's vulture, kettling over Cabranosa Hill.
Unfortunately we were a little late on the scene and only caught the laggers as the main flock moved away.
Nice to see migration still ongoing in terms of passerines, with a big fall of warblers, redstarts and flycatchers on practically every bush.
A small flock of woodlark flitted amongst the pines.
Managed to spot a single turtle dove at Vale Santo, near the Ortolans site.
We also picked up on 4 little bustards in the same spot on the way back at about 4.00 pm.
Other raptors seen from the hill, presumably the same birds were doing a circuit, so I'm not counting:
Short toed,booted and bonellies Eagles, honey and common buzzards ( all at different stages of development.
peregrine, marsh harrier, hen harrier, a kettle of a dozen or so black storks, including 3 Egyptian vultures.
A lovely day out all in out.
Today's weather proves a big contrast.

 

[Mattias Ullman]

Yes, 1 rueppells yesterday with a group of 89 griffons! Came over us twice then heading east. The bird was very worn (2nd or 3rd calender year bird !?). Does it require a rare bird form here? Also, at least 5 bonellis, 8 black storks, 7 egyptians and a juv pallid/montagues. In the area around the cape/. Vale Santa also 3-4 subalpine and 5 dartford warblers. 2 richards pipit at the Cape in the morning. 2 days ago, the lesser yellowlegs, moulting into 1st winter was still at Salgados. Today saturday just rain and rain so far.

 

[Mattias Ullman]

Pretty good movement from the Cape Vincent in the morning, 7.30 - 9.30: cory's 2200 (feeding and moving south), sooties 41, balearic 44, great shearwater 2, manx 1, grey phalarope 3, arctic skua 3, etc. Very few nocturnal passerines around the bushes though.

 

[Mick Sway]

Sabres/Cape peninsula

Pretty good movement from the Cape Vincent in the morning, 7.30 - 9.30: cory's 2200 (feeding and moving south), sooties 41, balearic 44, great shearwater 2, manx 1, grey phalarope 3, arctic skua 3, etc. Very few nocturnal passerines around the bushes though.

I met a number of birders who concurred with your report this morning, Mattias
Unfortunately we didn't arrive at Vale Santo, until 11.30 ( too late for a Cape visit)and found it pretty dead, except for the usual stonechats, an odd whinchat,thekla larks and many,many will low warblers. Later on 6 yellow wagtails.
At Cabranosa, we didn't have much luck with raptors though this was partly due to catching up with aquintances , during the couple of hours we were there, possibly the worst part of the day, a couple of high flying bonellis and boots. Though I understand a couple of black kites and short toed passed through earlier.Passerine wise still. good numbers of redstart,pied and spotted flies, a couple of sub alpines and the odd white throat. Willow warblers and stonechats which ever direction you care to look. The former always much more confiding at the time of year, creeping up to a couple of feet without fear.
Early this morning we had 4 griffons , a hobby, two crested tits and a European nuthatch at the house near Barau wind farm.

 

[Simon Wates]

AC - thanks! I've just come on here and in a hurry - so will answer some of your points. Firstly though - writing stuff on a forum can easily lose its meaning and in no way was I crtiticising - in a foreign conutry it can be tough to know how to report stuff and to know what is interesting to us - for example a Redpoll would be fabulous to us down here!

3. I did mention the sighting to you the following day at Cabronsa but you appear to be inundated with various reports/assisting people so maybe the report slipped by.

Yes - exactly right! So sorry about that but I did take your observation seriously and somehow forgot to mention to others - very understanding of you. I don't remember the date..? 5th Oct?

4. As mentioned above, I will send you the pics next week when I return home.

I'd love to see them - and if you don't mind will pass them on to the rarities comittee here. It would be a great record if accepted, lets hope so and as you mentioned, your photos are recrod shots - lets hope they show enough to clinch it!. Look here and the dozen records in Portugal are mjuch further north - it would be a first for the Algarve:http://www.avesdeportugal.info/callap.html

6. Re the Booted Warbler, I was not aware that it was there when I saw it (I had seen the Ortolans previously, thanks to you, and was looking for the Richard's and Tawnys).

Don't know if I understand you correctly that you managed to see the Booted Warbler - hope you did as it was a cracking bird and only known to be around between about 15.30 and sunset on 6th October. The ID was made after 17.00 and only then was there a scramble of phone calls and about 15 folk got to see it - despite much searching the bird was unfortunately not found the following morning. The 2 Richard's are still in the general area - not seen Tawny for a few days.

All the best

Hope to meet you again out here

 

[Simon Wates]

Pretty good movement from the Cape Vincent in the morning, 7.30 - 9.30: cory's 2200 (feeding and moving south), sooties 41, balearic 44, great shearwater 2, manx 1, grey phalarope 3, arctic skua 3, etc. Very few nocturnal passerines around the bushes though.

Nice movement indeed - rather large numbers of Cory's for early-mid October, at least in my experience they seem to be normally much reduced by now.

I think a lot of passerines flew south last night, my impression anyway.

 

[Simon Wates]

There were still a few Ortolan's at the same field this afternoon - maybe a dozen or so. After seeing a possible brief juv. Pallid Harrier a bird was reported late on by experienced folk so everyone look hard! There are few juv. Hen Harriers around inc. a spooky orangey one which could potentially complicate things on a distant view.

 

[Mick Sway]

couldn't find any ortolans yesterday afternoon but did stumble across a turtle dove , while looking. Worth a mention found a first year cuckoo at Quinta do Lago today and a late Squacco at Salgados.

 

[AC Lig]

AC - thanks! I've just come on here and in a hurry - so will answer some of your points. Firstly though - writing stuff on a forum can easily lose its meaning and in no way was I crtiticising - in a foreign conutry it can be tough to know how to report stuff and to know what is interesting to us - for example a Redpoll would be fabulous to us down here!



Hope to meet you again out here

Hi Simon,

Agree with you regarding the written word but I can say that I did not think you were being critical in your response and apologises if my response appeared to be reactionary as I was trying to clarify things.

Point 3 - it was the 1st October, the firsts day of the Bird Fare

Point 4 - I have returned home now and will send you the pics tomorrow night. Thanks for the information regarding its occurrence in Portugal. It is a rare bird but not a difficult one to identify and, for what it's worth, I am certain of the identity of the bird that I saw.

Point 6 - Not a very well written piece of text was it! The point that I was trying to make was that I saw the Booted while looking for Richard's and Tawny Pipits (managed to see one Tawny). When I saw the bird, I was not aware that it had been seen earlier and so it was a bit of a surprise to say the least. It was in the northern-most bushes (with two Citting Cisticola) about 50 metres south of the junction of the track with the metalled road. I must have just missed the people that made the ID (although there was a group of four guys further south whom I assumed were looking for the Ortolans - maybe it was them?).

Cheers

 

[Mick Sway]

13/10/15
I understand that a couple of yellow browed warblers were reported today ( photos with a finder) in the general area of Cabranosa and with a large flock of rock sparrow?
For the record there were two caspian terns at Alvor along with two osprey,several blue throat and half a dozen med gulls - the best that I can do, sadly!

 

[Mick Sway]

Can confirm that the rock sparrows were popping up in little parties from Vale Santo to Cabranosa, they were in my experience very flighty. Also found an adult wood-chat near where the juvenile was last week, sadly it scarperdand and we couldn't re- locate it. The pines were buzzing with passerines , flycatchers, warblers, redstarts and a few yellow wags. From the hill,STRIX forewarned us that 25 griffs and 2 Egyptian s were on the way, eventually seen over Raposeira some distance way. As the hill became partially shrouded in mist late afternoon, a few high flying raptors were recorded, including: booted eagle, honey buzzard, common buzzard,hen harrier, marsh harrier, goshawk,peregrine, red kite and black shouldered kite.

 

[Simon Wates]

Hume's Warbler

A bird found yesterday along the pine hedge on the way up to Cabranosa raptor watchpoint has been confirmed today as a Hume's Warbler (not a YB as first reported) - it is a another first for Portugal I believe!

Here is a link to the approx location.

Good luck to anyone looking!

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/dir//Unnamed+Rd,+8650+Sagres,+Portugal/@37.0318002,-8.9709219,3509m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m13!1m4!3m3!1s0xd1b4c31ed0b8f77:0xacce40e3c13602f6!2sUnnamed+Rd,+8650+Sagres,+Portugal!3b1!4m7!1m0!1m5!1m1!1s0xd1b4c31ed0b8f77:0xacce40e3c13602f6!2m2!1d-8.9621672!2d37.0318002

PS: around 80 Rock Petronias along the back track to Vila do Bispo about 1km after the radar tower - feeding on thistles along track edges - very approachable in a vehicle

 

[Gonçalo Elias]

yes it is the first record

 

[Mick Sway]

Sub alpine warbler , Cabranosa 06/10/15

Sub alpine warbler , Cabranosa 06/10/15
I was wondering if there was any prospect of this being, Moltoni’s Warbler (Sylvia subalpina)/
Pictures not great as this was a very unconfiding bird.