Portugal part 1: Faro

My daughter's school was having their mid-term break and we wanted to visit someplace sunny before winter really set in.  We were looking at various places when I saw a post on Portugal from the Birdchick's blog. That pretty much made the choice for me and I told my wife to book it.  Doing a little more research online I found the website for a local guide, Georg Schreier, and booked a day of guided birding. This would be my first paid for birding trip and I was really looking forward to utilizing my one day of the holiday set aside for birding.
Saturday morning came and I drove from our hotel in Albufiero west towards Faro before dawn. Georg and I had a funny moment when we were both in a filling station drinking coffees side by side while waiting for the other to show up. It was 5 minutes before we said something to one another.
Something else interesting about Portugal was that everyone drank shots of espresso, almost all of the time.  And the tiny filling station served coffee in ceramic cups and food on real plates with real silverware, not a very busy culture.
Our first stop was some very fragrant sewage ponds for waders and whatever else we could see.  First we saw some Spotless Starlings and heard some Common Waxbills and then saw a Marsh Harrier circling out over the fields around the ponds. When we finally reached the ponds I saw lifer Black-Winged Stilts and Glossy Ibis. And then a small, pale bird. It was a lonely Sanderling, and another lifer for me.

Sanderling (L) and Common Sandpiper (R) - Faro, Portugal

We would see some White Wagtails and even a Yellow Wagtail, both different from the Pied and Grey Wagtails of Ireland.

White Wagtails - Faro, Portugal

We also spotted some rare for the area Wood and Green Sandpipers along with Ruff and Common Sandpipers. Small birds were all around too, Water Pipits, Black Redstarts, Crested Larks, Zitting Cisticolas, Sardinian and Cetti's warblers, plus some others common to Ireland.  A Spoonbill made an appearance too.  We saw a brown shape with black and white wings fly by us and land behind some reeds, it could only have been a Hoopoe!  A bird that I really wanted to see on this trip. Unfortunately for me, I never saw it again for a photo and I wouldn't see another while in Portugal.

We left the ponds with a list of 44 species and 18 lifers in less than an hour of birding.  

Our next spot was closer to Faro and the Aeroport. A mixed forest which led to some salt ponds, a golf course and finally sand dunes, lagoons and the ocean. 

We walked through some trees to a spot over-looking a wide forest valley.  Our targets here were raptors.  It started off quiet.  A solitary Booted Eagle was roosting in a tree, which my guide somehow spotted.  And then a white bird in a tree turned out to be a Black-Shouldered Kite through the scope.  And then far off in another tree was a grey bird, a surprise Northern Goshawk.  All too far or any sort of photo, but great spots.  And then three Booted Eagles were in the air at one time and one of them came close enough for a good shot.

Booted Eagle - Faro, Portugal

Having spotted the targets, with a bonus Goshawk, we went to drive along the salt ponds.  These were rectangular ponds where seawater was held until it evaporated and the remaining salt collected into giant piles. Here we saw more waders, some sandpipers and plovers.

Kentish and Ringed Plovers - Faro, Portugal

We spotted our first Kentish Plovers, a local specialty, along with some Ringed Plovers and a few Little Stints, a bird that I had just missed seeing in Ireland.
Another of the birds that I really wanted to see were all around, Flamingos.  We had seen some in Lisbon while driving down in the car, but I wasn't keeping track and was driving instead.  But now they were everywhere, at least 30 were on both sides of the road.

Flamingos - Faro, Portugal

It was amazing to see them in the wild and not in a zoo for once.  There were still other sandpipers and ducks around too, mainly Eurasian Wigeons and the usual Mallards.
We left the last of the salt ponds and parked the car near the San Lorenzo Golf Course and continued on foot.  Another bird to see in Portugal is the Iberian Magpie, a much more colorful cousin to the, mainly, black and white magpies that I have seen before.  We were able to see a few along the fairways.

Iberian Magpie - Faro, Portugal

We also saw lots of songbirds about.  Goldfinches, more Sardinian Warblers and we added tiny Serin to the list, although more heard than seen.
We eventually arrived at a 2-story hide overlooking some impressive wetlands alongside the course.

Wetlands at San Lorenzo Golf Course - Faro, Portugal

 Immediately Goerg noticed the white rump of a Ferruginous Duck among more Wigeons and now Shovelers too.

Ferruginous Duck - Faro, Portugal

And nearby was another odd duck, a female Garganey.

Garganey - Faro, Portugal

You can see the small size when compared to the Shoveler in the background, and the bill is fairly distinct.  An unexpected find.

The target birds for the marsh were Purple Swamphens, Kingfishers and maybe a Little Bittern. Purple Swamphens where plentiful, with 5 or 6 at various places on the wetlands.

Purple Swamphen - Faro, Portugal

A few Kingfishers were darting about, and I was somehow able to get a shot of this one.

Kingfisher - Faro, Portugal

Although we didn't see or hear any Bitterns, we did spot this Snipe doing it's best to not be seen.

Common Snipe and Coot - Faro, Portugal

A few Little Grebes were also swimming in front of the hide, including this one.

Little Grebe - Faro, Portugal

We finally left the wetlands and the green of the Golf Course to take a look at some saltwater lagoons behind some sand dunes.  We spotted a Plover that looked a bit off.  Georg felt that it might have been an American Golden Plover. But after observing it for 10 minutes or so, we decided that it was a Grey Plover (aka Black-Bellied) who looked a bit off.

Grey Plover - Faro, Portugal

I was also able to get a better look at a Kentish Plover.  They lack the full rings of a Ringed Plover and instead have a bit of a horseshoe shaped ring around the neck.

Kentish Plover - Faro, Portugal

Not seeing anything else interesting, we turned back towards our car.  But before we got too far, we saw some large birds flying overhead, some White Storks.

White Stork - Faro, Portugal

I had seen some really large nests on the drive down to Algarve from Portugal and found out that they were Stork nests, but this was the first time seeing some.

It was time for lunch and to decide what we were going to do with the second half of our day.  Either head west to the Southwestern tip of Europe or north looking for the heaviest flying bird on Earth.  But by lunch we had already seen 83 species and 37 lifers, what a great day.

I'll conclude the trip with another post,

Thanks for making it this far,

Cheers.

County Wicklow Trip

Yesterday was a beautiful sunny day and I got to spend it in County Wicklow with a brilliant local birder and photographer, Brian Carruthers. We started at the East Coast Nature Reserve near the coast.
On the walk to one of the fabulous hides that they have here in Ireland, we passed lots of songbirds, the usual Tits, Robins, Wrens, Bullfinches, Chaffinches and Stonechats. The usual winter visitors weren't there yet and only some Mallards were on the water in front of the hide. But we were soon treated to a flock of a dozen or so Common Sandpipers that made a few laps around the refuge.  They never landed where we could see them, but we got some good looks as the passed in front of the hide. And then another bird flew in front of us and Brian said "Snipe!" A lone Common Snipe was spooked by something and circled a few times before flying off. This was a lifer for me.  And was later joined by a second one, also flying off for some unseen reason.
There was a steady stream of gulls and corvids flying over during this time too, but a group of swans caught our eye and we ran out to follow them as they flew behind us towards the north.

Whooper Swans - ECNR Co. Wicklow, Ireland

They were early Whooper Swans and some more lifers for me, but I'll come back to them later.

After a spell in the hide we decided to walk around and warm up a bit.  We visited another hide without much going on, but saw a Jay flying over on our way out, which was another lifer for me. I learned that a white-patch on the rump is diagnostic for Jays in flight.  We walked along some boardwalks and saw Stonechats everywhere.

Stonechat - ECNR Co. Wicklow, Ireland

We left the refuge proper and continued to see passerines flitting around the trees around us and made our way to a stretch of land between railroad tracks and a small airport along the coast. There was a small stream beside us, what I would call an irrigation ditch in New Mexico, that was part of the tidal flow.  Brian saw a blue flash and we crept up to the water's edge and saw a pair of Common Kingfishers a bit further upstream.

Kingfisher - ECNR Co. Wicklow, Ireland

They quickly flew off and we never located them again.  But we continued on our way and saw loads of Meadow Pipits and Linnets sitting along a fence which ran along the rail-line. There were still plenty of Stonechats around too.

The view from our walk - Co. Wicklow, Ireland

We eventually reached the Breech, which was where the ocean flowed in forming a small estuary.  We arrived just at low-tide and got to see some Common Redshanks and a pair of Ringed-Plovers among a hundred or so dozing Gulls, mainly Black-Headed with a few Herring and Lesser-Black Backed mixed in.  We were up on a bridge looking inland at some ponds when we spotted some swans way out in the distance.  We managed to set up my scope on a too-narrow strip of concrete on a railroad bridge.  Brian shortly got excited because he ID'd them as an early-season Whooper Swan. Which turned into 2 Whoopers, and then a third.  They moved out of sight and we decided to turn back to go looking for Red Kites.  But before we got too far we saw more swans and they were all Whoopers, seven in all.

Whooper Swans and Coot - Co. Wicklow, Ireland

Zooming in shows their diagnostic yellow and black bills.  There was a lone Mute Swan nearby, but I didn't get a photo of it.  But Mute Swans have a black bill near the base with a bulb near the head.

Whooper Swans - Co. Wicklow, Ireland

We trekked back to the car and swung back through the refuge again.  Just before we left we heard a pheasant call very close by and spotted it in some very thick brush.  We thought that it was a regular Ring-Necked type, but it was actually a blue variety.  Unfortunately, it never gave us a good photo.

Our next stop was the small Irish village of Avoca. Apparently some TV show was filmed there ages ago, but not one that I was familiar with. But our target were Red Kites. Red Kites became extinct in Ireland in the 19th century, and almost in the UK too. But some work was done to let the species recover, and a scheme to reintroduce them to Ireland was started a few years ago with a number of Welsh Kites released in Co. Wicklow.
We parked near a stone bridge in the middle of town and walked out onto it.  Brian said that we'd wait for a half hour and see if we could see some Kites.  It wasn't more than 5 minutes when we spotted our first one.  We were following a Raven when we spotted a Kite shape even further off cruising by off towards the coast.  We waited a bit more and spotted another one in the opposite direction passing behind a tree line and doing some slow circles.  Still too far to really see.  And then behind where we were looking we saw one, and then two.  One chased the other off and then circled our way.  We both had our cameras firing away while it got closer and closer, finally passing about 30-meters directly over our heads, it was awesome.

Red Kite - Avoca, Co. Wicklow, Ireland

Red Kite - Avoca, Co. Wicklow, Ireland

Tearing our eyes off of the Kite we saw a third one, so our count was three for sure, with maybe five total, all within 20 minutes of standing on the bridge. Having seen my 4th lifer for the day we left to head back towards Dublin and a quick stop to see some Jays.  And would you believe it, we saw another Red Kite from the car while driving on the carriage-way.

We wound up near the Powerscourt Waterfall at a stand of oak trees where he had seen Jays collecting acorns the previous day.  We saw a few flying over the car before we got there, but only one in the oak trees.  We waited and it finally flew into view before flying off to some pine trees where they were roosting.

Jay - Co. Wicklow, Ireland

Shortly after we parted ways and concluded a very good day of birding.  We got 50 species with 4 lifers for me. Plus I got to see some parts of Ireland that I would't have seen otherwise.  I plan on visiting the East Coast Nature Reserve again, especially once the geese show up.  But it would be a great place to take my kids to.
I'd like to thank Brian one more time and I'm looking forward to more trips.  Maybe I'll even learn to understand the Dub accent.

I'm not sure if I'll get out again birding in the next week, but the family is going to Portugal in two weeks for mid-term break and a bit of Sun.  But hopefully we get to see some wild Flamingos and Hoopoes too. 

Cheers and thanks for making it this far. 

Summer in Ireland

Let me start off by apologizing for not posting more often.  The reasons are a mix of not getting out birding as often as I'd like and also some dissatisfaction with the quality of my photos.  I really miss my DSLR and long lenses, something that I hope to fix in 2015.
But I have been out a few times these last months.  I'm going to post some of the better photos, or better birds, that I've seen.

Yellowhammer - Co. Fingal, Ireland

Willow Warbler - Carton Ave, Maynooth, Ireland

Browncap - Carton Ave, Maynooth, Ireland

Dipper - Rye Water, Leixlip, Ireland

Robin - Leixlip, Ireland

Swallows - Cork, Ireland

Black-Tailed Godwit - Cork, Ireland

Little Grebe and nest - Castletown Demesne, Ireland

Ruddy Turnstone - Sandycove, Co. Dublin, Ireland

Eurasian Oystercatcher - Sandycove, Co. Dublin, Ireland

Dunlin - Merrion Strand, Co. Dublin, Ireland

Sandwich Terns - Merrion Strand, Co. Dublin, Ireland

Ringed Plover and Oystercatches - Merrion Strand, Co. Dublin, Ireland

Escapee Black Swan and Mute Swan - Swords Estuary, Ireland

Meadow Pipit - Rogerstown Estuary, Co. Fingal, Ireland

Common Tern, Pre-dive - Rogerstown Estuary, Co. Fingal, Ireland

Reed Bunting (female) - Rogerstown Estuary, Co. Fingal, Ireland

Stonechat - Rogerstown Estuary, Co. Fingal, Ireland

Hopefully I can get better camera gear by next summer and get some better quality photos to post. Winter migration is well underway and the wintering ducks and geese should be showing up soon, I've already seen a Brent Goose.  And I've been trying to see a Northern Wheatear before they leave, but they have been my nemesis bird this Summer.  I've dipped on them at least 10 times.

I have other photos up on my Flickr Page, feel free to head over and see what else I've seen and some non-bird photos of Ireland.

Cheers,

Steve