SOUTH-WEST PORTUGAL September By Neal Warnock. Cabo St Vincent, Sagres Peninsula

Transcription

1 SOUTH-WEST PORTUGAL September 2013 By Neal Warnock Cabo St Vincent, Sagres Peninsula

2 Introduction This trip was aimed at enjoying all aspects of migration this underrated and under watched location has to offer. I was particularly keen to experience raptor migration for the first time. Only the Azure-winged Magpie was a guaranteed lifer, with others most likely at the raptor watch point at Sagres. I split my time checking various wetlands along the coast and visiting the Sagres Peninsula to see what I could find. The trip ended with a total of 153 species recorded, 5 of which were lifers. My base for the week was an apartment on the edge of Alporchinhos near Armacoa de Pera and a hire car was picked up at the airport. Itinerary Day 1 Alporchinhos, Armacoa de Pera Day 2 Pera Marsh (Lagoa dos Salgados), Arade Estuary, Vilamoura Day 3 Sagres, Alvor Estuary Day 4 Monchique, Pera Marsh Day 5 Sagres, Alvor Estuary Day 6 Rio Formosa (Ludo area), Pera Marsh Day 7 - Sagres Resources I must admit, I did very little pre-trip reading or planning. I did download and print sections of the Algarve Birding Guide (available here) for reference and maps. I spent a fair bit of time searching Google earth looking out for any good spots to check along the coast (the famous Sagres hedge stands out like the proverbial). I kept a close watch on wind predictions before departure and picked the days I would visit Sagres accordingly. Notes on sites and weather Apart from arriving at Faro airport during heavy rain, the weather throughout the trip was glorious, with daytime temperatures of degrees. A northerly airflow persisted for much of the week. I was mightily impressed with Pera Marsh which was only 10 minutes from the villa, there was a real turnover of birds each time I visited, but on my last visit it had been drained for some reason and was likely to dry up and become devoid of birds very quickly. All sites were within an hour or so drive from the apartment and the main motorway was very good though I m not looking forward to seeing my toll bill when it arrives in a few months. There was enough light for birding between 07:30 and 19:30 and that s pretty much what I did! Diary Day 1 The first bird of any note was a male Redstart perched on the fence as I pulled into the apartment complex in Alporchinhos mid morning. I spent an hour checking the hotel grounds and was amazed to find that Pied Flycatchers, Wheatears and Whinchats are garden birds in Portugal! The only Common Swift of the trip was also seen passing overhead.

3 Map of Sagres birding locations mentioned in the text A short drive to the coast and a quick bash through some coastal scrub produced Woodchat Shrike, Fan-tailed Warbler, Red-rumped Swallow and Sardinian Warbler. A small number of distant Cory s Shearwaters were milling about offshore. There is a well known gathering of gulls at the fisherman s huts on the beach at Armacoa de Pera at the western end of the marsh, so I headed here to check through the gulls and scan the marsh. Amongst the throngs of Yellow-legged Gulls were good numbers of Lesser Black-backs but little else. The marsh itself (part of Pera Marsh really) held little in the way of surprises but it was promising to note 12 Common Sandpipers and 2 Green Sandpipers in the small seaward pool. I found myself taking a detour through some coastal scrub and soon flushed a Stone Curlew! Yellow Wagtails were very common here but hard to get a look at. Trip List = 38 species Day 2 I made the short drive for my first visit to Lagoa dos Salgados (better known to UK/Irish birders as Pera Marsh) for first light and was rewarded by the first bird seen being a ringtail Montagu s Harrier serenely making its way across the track. I stopped the car at one patch of weeds which held 25+ Willow Warblers/Chiffchaffs WOW. Around the car park near the boardwalk were Crested Larks and several Whinchats. Red-legged Partridges tried their best to get me to run over them at every turn. I eventually found my way to the parking area and summer seat overlooking the marsh, then walked the boardwalk to the far end and climbed the observation tower. After about 4 hours this is just some of what I saw at this awesome site:

4 Pera Marsh: Greater Flamingos, 15 Curlew Sandpipers, Avocets, Black-winged Stilts, 7 Little Stints, Kentish Plover, 2 Whiskered Terns, 12 Spoonbills, 1 Caspian Tern, Purple Swamphen, 2 Marsh Harriers, White Storks, 2 Green Sandpiper, 2 Ruff, 1 2ndw type Audouin s Gull and Azure-winged Magpies (tick!) Azure-winged Magpie and Curlew Sandpipers I made my way to the Arade Estuary for high tide to check the Salinas and shoreline and added the likes of Little Ringed Plover, Grey Plover, Whimbrel and Sandwich Tern to the trip list. A red-tailed passerine seen flying into the edge of the saltmarsh here was most likely a Bluethroat but I never managed to confirm my suspicions. As I passed through a local village a pale phase Booted Eagle soared overhead. I spent the afternoon getting completely lost trying to find the sites at Vilamoura and when I eventually did, they weren t really worth the effort anyway but Pochard, Red-crested Pochard and Cetti s Warbler were all seen here, as was a cracking male Black-headed Wagtail with a massive flock of flava wagtails flitting around a large stubble field and perching on hay bales. I returned to the apartment to find a Spotted Flycatcher snapping at insects from the top of the football posts. There was still time to have a wander around the scrub and farmland on the edge of town which produced another Redstart, umpteen Pied Flycatchers, Whitethroats (I found these scary looking the whole trip they looked massive in Mediterranean light!) and the first of many attempts to separate female type Spectacled and Subalpine Warblers on limited views. Not easy. Trip list = 82 species Day 3 An early start to make it over to Cabo St Vincent in Sagres for first light was rewarded with great views of a Montagu s Harrier near the farm and a brief Tawny Pipit on the road. I found my way to the lighthouse and got set up for a seawatch on the west facing cliffs in a spot sheltered from the F3-4 NNW winds.

5 Seawatch 07:40 09:40: 94 Cory s Shearwaters, 17 Balearic Shearwaters, 5 Manx Shearwaters, 7 Great Skuas, 1 Arctic Skua, 8 Sandwich Terns and 1 Arctic Tern passing south. Three Pallid Swifts flew overhead and Black Redstarts hopped around the seawatch point. I made my way up the single lane track towards the farm and checked the farmland around here and towards Villa de Bispo and saw numerous Stonechats, a flock of Linnets, a Peregrine, a Corn Bunting and a flock of 37 Chough. I found what I thought was the track to the raptor watch point at Cabronosa only to turn back a few times thinking this couldn t possibly be it. But it was. Easily the worst track I have ever driven in a car. The track runs along either side of the hedge before eventually reaching a trig point at the edge of a pine forest. Not at all obvious. I spent a couple of hours here looking to the skies but the only raptors seen were a juvenile Goshawk and yet another Montagu s Harrier. Several Thekla Larks were noisily bombing around the forest edge and a walk into the forest itself revealed numerous Pied and Spotted Flycatchers. The small wetland and barranco at Martinhal had caught my eye during my Google searches and I was pleased to find a small pool still holding water that was attracting some waders. These were 3 Little Stints, 6 Dunlin, 6 Sanderling, 1 Ringed Plover, 1 Turnstone and 2 Kentish Plovers. This looks a great spot for a Pectoral or Buff-breasted Sand. Nothing of note was seen around the barranco edge. A visit to the dune boardwalk at Alvor failed to deliver anything unexpected but the first Oystercatchers of the trip were seen. Trip list = 101 species Juvenile Kentish Plover, Martinhal, Sagres

6 Day 4 Following a disappointing day raptor wise at Sagres I made the decision to head to the Monchique area to try for Bonelli s Eagle; a species which as managed to evade me despite various attempts to see it in its breeding range. I made it to the summit of Foia for 08:30 and had the place to myself for an hour and it was obvious there had been an overnight fall of migrants that included 40+ Spotted Flycatchers, 10+ Pied Flycatchers, 10+ Whinchats and a Tree Pipit. A large flock of Red-rumped Swallows were also present. More expected birds here were Rock Bunting, Dartford Warblers and a Blue Rock Thrush. I scanned the skies and surrounding valleys for an hour and the only raptor I saw was a Kestrel. View from Foia and Blue Rock Thrush Another botched raptor watch was made from the summit of Picota which my hire car really struggled to reach. From here I saw Kestrel, Sparrowhawk and Common Buzzard. After scrambling over the rocks to the summit, I got a real fright as in what I assumed to be an old disused observation tower; a swivel chair creaked into life revealing a man sitting in it. My wave and hello was greeted by complete ignorance. Just the man for the job I thought. On my way back down the mountain I stopped off several times as there was some nice looking cork woodland with some paddocks and small cleared areas. I saw most of the regular woodland species here including Firecrest, Short-toed Treeceeper, Serin, Great Spotted Woodpecker and Nuthatch. An hour later and I was sat on the summer seat overlooking Pera Marsh where I remained for the next 3 hours! I just loved this spot. Eventually a number of birds not seen on the previous visit began to appear. This include 2 Lapwing, 1 White Wagtail, 2 adult winter Curlew Sandpipers, 3 Redcrested Pochard, a male Pochard, 3 Greenshank, 28 Spoonbills, an adult Audouin s Gull and 4 female type Pintails. I then picked up a small tern feeding along the far shore beside the golf course. The heat haze made zooming in on the bird and seeing finer details difficult, but my immediate instinct told me it was a juvenile White-winged Black Tern! Over the next hour and a half I kept a close watch on it as the strong light and heat haze weakened. The rump was bright white, leading to grey tail; a pale panel on the upper wing was highlighted by a black saddle and it had clean white breast sides. As I watched the bird a couple of UK birders arrived and I pointed it out for them to enjoy. The day was completed by the arrival of 150+ Glossy Ibis into the reedbed. I then got to thinking how similar this site is to Tacumshin in Ireland I m not surprised it s one of the foremost rarity hotspots in

7 Portugal. It is nothing short of disgraceful that it appears to be doomed due to development. Concreted over for more hotels and a new golf course just what the Algarve needs! Once back in the apartment, I noted from the distribution map in my Collins guide that White-winged Black Tern was probably a rarity in Portugal, so happy days... Trip list = 121 species Day 5 Another day trip to the Sagres peninsula was made today and my first stop was back at the small pool at Martinhal to see if anything had arrived since my last visit. Today it held 3 Little Stints (pictured right), 3 Kentish Plovers, 1 Common Sandpiper, 4 Dunlin, 2 White Wagtail and c15 Yellow Wagtails. Definitely worth a daily check if visiting this area. I was set up and scanning at Cabronosa by 08:15 and had barely set my scope down when an Osprey appeared low over the woodland. It then drifted around overhead and made its way south towards the lighthouse. It wasn t long until I was joined by one of a team of ecologists who record raptors at several locations daily between August and December. Unless I have got this completely lost in translation, this is so they can warn wind farms of oncoming raptors so that turbines can be stopped. For me this meant having someone on hand who could help me ID raptors! They were also in close contact with colleagues positioned some 25kms to the NW of Cabronosa and birds seen passing there and heading towards us were radioed through and usually appeared over our heads about 20 minutes later. The next few hours would be the highlight of the entire trip and without going into blow by blow accounts of each bird, feast your eyes on this: Cabronosa 08:15 13:00: Osprey 1 Kestrel 4 Hobby 2 (adults) Booted Eagle 16 Sparrowhawk 3 Montagu s Harrier 1 Spanish Imperial Eagle 1 (juv) Short-toed Eagle 4 Common Buzzard 1 Black Stork 2 Goshawk 1 Bonelli s Eagle 1 (2 nd Cal-yr) Honey Buzzard 4 Eleonora s Falcon 1 (juv) The Spanish Imperial Eagle left the three of us at the watch point dumbfounded and speechless for 5 minutes as we all just gawped at this stunning specimen. What a bird. After a while the Portuguese ecologist shouts out IMPERIAL EAGLE! Then wait what s that, it s being mobbed by a Montagu s Harrier get me a seat. From mid morning on we were joined by several more birders and tour guides and part of the magic began to wear off as things became a bit of circus. Birds were being called left, right and centre,

8 often with no directions and often, as far as I could see, erroneously. Nevertheless, I did finally see my first ever Bonelli s Eagle and Honey Buzzards. An Eleonora s Falcon made a few brief passes low over the woodland edge to the delight of the assembled crowd. On land around the watch point were Spectacled and Subalpine Warblers, the distinguishing call of the later being pointed out to everyone by one of the tour guides. I was also shown a perched Little Owl by the ecologist. Black Stork, raptor watchers, Egyptian Vulture, Short-toed Eagle and Bonelli s Eagle, Cabronosa I made my way down the track and decided to have a good check of the hedge which held 4 Spotted Flycatchers, 8 Pied Flycatchers, 7 Willow Warblers, a Woodchat Shrike, a Hoopoe and a Melodious Warbler. A silhouette seen briefly within the hedge itself appeared to match that of a Nightingale, complete with cocked wings and pumping tail but as this would be a lifer; I needed better views than this. I checked in and around the farm where a number of Skylarks and Short-toed Larks were seen today. A large plover was seen in flight but once again views were not sufficient to identify the bird. It did not call and I failed to see where it landed. I did manage to identify a lone juvenile Egyptian Vulture though, soaring down the headland towards the lighthouse. On my way home, I called in at a different site on the Alvor Estuary and yet again made a complete hash of identifying a bird and managed to get eaten alive my mosquitoes in my attempts to get better views. It went down in my note book as an unidentified large buff warbler, most likely a Reed Warbler. I did manage to safely ID the first Great Tit of trip though, which was joined in the same bush by a Melodious Warbler. Another Osprey was also seen at this location. I arrived back at the apartment for 7pm and reflected on what had been a spectacular day which added 3 new birds for my life list. Trip list = 136 species

9 Day 6 I travelled towards Faro today and spent 8am 14pm walking around the various paths in the Ludo area of this vast wetland. New birds for the trip were seen from as soon as I got out of the car Curlew, Knot and Black (pictured left) and Bar-tailed Godwits. A scan with the scope along the edge of the reeds saw a Water Rail scuttling about, giving nice views. Elsewhere, an albino House Sparrow, 3 Caspian Terns and up to 30 Mediterranean Gulls were seen. An Osprey flew overhead carrying a fish. In the main channel I spotted some Great Crested Grebes and 2 male Wigeon. The area where a road crosses the main channel was full of birds including Purple Swamphens, Black-headed Weavers and a Kingfisher. I stopped for some lunch in the shade of some trees running alongside the golf course and some Crested Tits moved through the trees beside me. I eventually made it to the hide overlooking the golf course lake and here I had great views of Glossy Ibis and Gadwall. The afternoon was spent back at Pera Marsh, which I found to be bone dry as it had been drained for some reason. From talking to other birders over the next few days this is apparently done from time to time as a build of algae in the lagoon and the associated insects and bad smell this creates offends the golfers! I still managed to see 2 Little Stints, 6 Curlew Sandpipers, 1 Ruff, 3 Marsh Harriers (at the same time), 1 Caspian Tern and 2 Whiskered Terns standing on the mud. Trip list = 145 species Day 7 The entire day was spent around Sagres, starting off with a seawatch from Cabo St Vincent. Seawatch 07:45 08:45: 60 Cory s Shearwaters, 2 Balearic Shearwaters, 4 Arctic Terns, 45 Sandwich Terns, 2 Great Skuas and a Shag. Around the lighthouse complex were at least 6 Black Redstarts and a Pallid Swift. As I was getting into my car a large raptor appeared over the lighthouse. I watched as it flew out to sea only to turn back and head north along the coast. It turned out to be an Egyptian Vulture. I pulled in off the main road to make my way to Cabronosa but was stopped in my tracks when I spotted a female Redstart in the hedge from the car. I then decided to give the hedge a good check and I m glad I did as the birds present were completely different to the last time I checked.

10 Sagres Hedge (pictured right): 2 Redstarts, 3 Spotted Flycatchers, 3 Whinchats, 4 Woodchat Shrikes (all juvs), 6 Willow Warblers, 4 Turtle Doves, 3 Pied Flycatchers, 1 Grasshopper Warbler, 1 Hoopoe, 1 Ortolan Bunting and a Whitethroat While I was checking the hedge the following raptors were milling about on either side of the trees -2 Booted Eagles, 1 Black Kite, 1 Honey Buzzard and juvenile Marsh Harrier! Absolutely awesome. I eventually dragged myself up to the raptor watch point where the following were seen. Cabronosa 10:15-12:15: Booted Eagle 22 Peregrine 1 Egyptian Vulture 7 Short-toed Eagle 5 Honey Buzzard 6 Common Buzzard 1 Goshawk 1 I had been told about a good place to check for passerines on the edge of Sagres town itself by local guides and when the ecologist present at Cabronosa said it was a good place for Bonelli s Warblers I was off like a shot (this would be another lifer, I don t know what I did to offend Mr Bonelli). The site is a small pine shelter belt on the edge of town close to a ceramics factory. It too was swarming with migrant passerines including 5 Pied Flycatchers, 5 Willow Warbler, 5 Spotted Flycatchers, 4 Turtle Doves, 1 Melodious Warbler, 1 Subalpine Warbler and singles of Whinchat and Whitethroat. Bird of day however was when I finally nailed one of those skulking birds that had given me the run around so far on the trip. Some movement from within a bush beside me was quickly followed by a thrush like bird bolting out, showing a nice fanned red tail in flight. Only this time I managed to get the bins on it and follow it as it landed on some bare branches at the base of another bush. It paused in side on profile, turned its head and looked at me; my first ever Nightingale, then off it went into the undergrowth. I spent the rest of the day walking the dry barranco at Martinhal in search of yet more passerine migrants. The small pool here had much the same waders present as on the last visit, but was beginning to dry up. Here are the totals of birds seen in the sheltered river valley: Martinhal Barranco: 7 Whinchats, 4 Spotted Flycatchers, 1 Wren, 3 Woodchat Shrikes, 1 Blue Rock Thrush, 4 Whitethroats, 4 Pied Flycatchers, 3 Subalpine Warblers, 3 Redstarts, 1 Spectacled Warbler, 2 Turtle Doves, 2 Willow Warblers, 1 Melodious Warbler, 1 Wryneck and a Tree Pipit This brought the trip to a close as I had to be back at the airport very early the following morning. So does this area deserve the growing hype? I think the answer is clearly yes. It was fantastic for once to be in the thick of some real visible migration. The raptor watch point may not be as famous as its

11 close neighbour and certainly gets less traffic, but the number of birds and range of raptor species seen was good enough for me. I was pleased with my 5 new life birds and had managed some good finds along the way. The trip ended with a total species list of 153. Now back to Rathlin... Systematic Species List 1. Shelduck 2. Mallard 3. Gadwall 4. Pintail 5. Shoveler 6. Wigeon 7. Teal 8. Pochard 9. Red-crested Pochard 10. Red-legged Partridge 11. Little Grebe 12. Great Crested Grebe 13. Cory s Shearwater 14. Manx Shearwater 15. Balearic Shearwater 16. Gannet 17. Cormorant 18. Shag

12 19. Cattle Egret 20. Little Egret 21. Grey Heron 22. White Stork 23. Black Stork 24. Glossy Ibis 25. Spoonbill 26. Greater Flamingo 27. Egyptian Vulture 28. Osprey 29. Spanish Imperial Eagle 30. Short-toed Eagle 31. Booted Eagle 32. Bonelli s Eagle 33. Black Kite 34. Marsh Harrier 35. Montagu s Harrier 36. Common Buzzard 37. Honey Buzzard 38. Sparrowhawk 39. Goshawk 40. Kestrel 41. Hobby 42. Eleonora s Falcon 43. Peregrine Falcon 44. Water Rail 45. Moorhen 46. Coot 47. Purple Swamphen 48. Oystercatcher 49. Avocet 50. Black-winged Stilt 51. Stone Curlew 52. Little Ringed Plover 53. Ringed Plover 54. Kentish Plover 55. Grey Plover 56. Lapwing 57. Knot 58. Sanderling 59. Turnstone 60. Dunlin 61. Curlew Sandpiper 62. Little Stint 63. Green Sandpiper

13 64. Common Sandpiper 65. Redshank 66. Greenshank 67. Black-tailed Godwit 68. Bar-tailed Godwit 69. Curlew 70. Whimbrel 71. Snipe 72. Ruff 73. Great Skua 74. Arctic Skua 75. Black-headed Gull 76. Mediterranean Gull 77. Yellow-legged Gull 78. Audouin s Gull 79. Lesser Black-backed Gull 80. Sandwich Tern 81. Arctic Tern 82. Caspian Tern 83. White-winged Black Tern 84. Whiskered Tern 85. Rock Dove 86. Collared Dove 87. Turtle Dove 88. Little Owl 89. Swift 90. Pallid Swift 91. Hoopoe 92. Kingfisher 93. Great Spotted Woodpecker 94. Wryneck 95. Skylark 96. Crested Lark 97. Thekla Lark 98. Short-toed Lark 99. Sand Martin 100. Swallow 101. Red-rumped Swallow 102. House Martin 103. Tawny Pipit 104. Tree Pipit 105. White Wagtail 106. Yellow Wagtail 107. Nightingale 108. Redstart

14 109. Black Redstart 110. Wheatear 111. Whinchat 112. Stonechat 113. Blackbird 114. Blue Rock Thrush 115. Whitethroat 116. Sardinian Warbler 117. Spectacled Warbler 118. Subalpine Warbler 119. Dartford Warbler 120. Fan-tailed Warbler 121. Grasshopper Warbler 122. Cetti s Warbler 123. Melodious Warbler 124. Willow Warbler 125. Chiffchaff 126. Firecrest 127. Wren 128. Spotted Flycatcher 129. Pied Flycatcher 130. Great Tit 131. Blue Tit 132. Crested Tit 133. Nuthatch 134. Short-toed Treecreeper 135. Woodchat Shrike 136. Azure-winged Magpie 137. Magpie 138. Jay 139. Jackdaw 140. Chough 141. Raven 142. Spotless Starling 143. House Sparrow 144. Chaffinch 145. Linnet 146. Goldfinch 147. Greenfinch 148. Serin 149. Ortolan Bunting 150. Corn Bunting 151. Rock Bunting 152. Common Waxbill* 153. Black-headed Weaver*

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