Showing posts with label Alvor estuary. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Alvor estuary. Show all posts
27th Dec 2009: Monchique and Ria De Alvor, the Algarve, Portugal
Monday, January 4, 2010
Our last full day in Portugal, so a group of us set off to reach the highest point in the range of hills which runs along the north edge of the Algarve. This proved to be a mistake, as they were shrouded in thick cloud all day!
We did come across three White Storks hanging around a sizable nest some way from the road.
And a small flock of Crested Tits investigating a Cork Oak stump near a layby.
Seeing that the weather was much better at the coast, we decided to revisit the Alvor Estuary, our favourite spot in our brief tour.
Though the weather was better than our first visit, the tide was out, which meant fewer birds on the saltmarsh.
The Greater Flamingo flock had increased from 17 to 26. We met long-time Algarve birder Colin Key, who told us that these birds come from Coto Donana in Spain, the Camargue in France, and even from as far away as Iran. Somtimes the wintering flock gets up to 400 birds!
Two young birds having a tussle.
We spotted one colour-ringed bird. Perhaps someone reading this might know where it's from...?
Colin pointed out to us a distant Black-shouldered Kite - a major rarity in Western Europe. I mentioned that I was from Malaysia where they are pretty much the commonest raptor, and that actually I was far more interested in species like Common Ringed Plovers and Northern Lapwings. He must have thought there's no pleasing some people! You can see some much better pix of all the birds I photographed in the Algarve on his blog, Algarve Birder, and his pbase photo galleries. Thanks for all your help Colin! On our way back along the sea wall, I was surprised to flush a pair of Common Quail. They flew over into the saltmarsh and landed out of sight before I could record the moment with the camera however.
Ah, now here's a real cracking good bird - Northern Lapwing - to finish off with!
Read more »
We did come across three White Storks hanging around a sizable nest some way from the road.
And a small flock of Crested Tits investigating a Cork Oak stump near a layby.
Seeing that the weather was much better at the coast, we decided to revisit the Alvor Estuary, our favourite spot in our brief tour.
Though the weather was better than our first visit, the tide was out, which meant fewer birds on the saltmarsh.
The Greater Flamingo flock had increased from 17 to 26. We met long-time Algarve birder Colin Key, who told us that these birds come from Coto Donana in Spain, the Camargue in France, and even from as far away as Iran. Somtimes the wintering flock gets up to 400 birds!
Two young birds having a tussle.
We spotted one colour-ringed bird. Perhaps someone reading this might know where it's from...?
Colin pointed out to us a distant Black-shouldered Kite - a major rarity in Western Europe. I mentioned that I was from Malaysia where they are pretty much the commonest raptor, and that actually I was far more interested in species like Common Ringed Plovers and Northern Lapwings. He must have thought there's no pleasing some people! You can see some much better pix of all the birds I photographed in the Algarve on his blog, Algarve Birder, and his pbase photo galleries. Thanks for all your help Colin! On our way back along the sea wall, I was surprised to flush a pair of Common Quail. They flew over into the saltmarsh and landed out of sight before I could record the moment with the camera however.
Ah, now here's a real cracking good bird - Northern Lapwing - to finish off with!
Labels:
Algarve,
Alvor estuary,
colour ring,
flamingo,
lapwing,
Monchique,
Portugal,
Ria de Alvor,
stork,
tit
27th Dec 2009: Monchique and Ria De Alvor, the Algarve, Portugal
Our last full day in Portugal, so a group of us set off to reach the highest point in the range of hills which runs along the north edge of the Algarve. This proved to be a mistake, as they were shrouded in thick cloud all day!
We did come across three White Storks hanging around a sizable nest some way from the road.
And a small flock of Crested Tits investigating a Cork Oak stump near a layby.
Seeing that the weather was much better at the coast, we decided to revisit the Alvor Estuary, our favourite spot in our brief tour.
Though the weather was better than our first visit, the tide was out, which meant fewer birds on the saltmarsh.
The Greater Flamingo flock had increased from 17 to 26. We met long-time Algarve birder Colin Key, who told us that these birds come from Coto Donana in Spain, the Camargue in France, and even from as far away as Iran. Somtimes the wintering flock gets up to 400 birds!
Two young birds having a tussle.
We spotted one colour-ringed bird. Perhaps someone reading this might know where it's from...?
Colin pointed out to us a distant Black-shouldered Kite - a major rarity in Western Europe. I mentioned that I was from Malaysia where they are pretty much the commonest raptor, and that actually I was far more interested in species like Common Ringed Plovers and Northern Lapwings. He must have thought there's no pleasing some people! You can see some much better pix of all the birds I photographed in the Algarve on his blog, Algarve Birder, and his pbase photo galleries. Thanks for all your help Colin! On our way back along the sea wall, I was surprised to flush a pair of Common Quail. They flew over into the saltmarsh and landed out of sight before I could record the moment with the camera however.
Ah, now here's a real cracking good bird - Northern Lapwing - to finish off with!
Read more »
We did come across three White Storks hanging around a sizable nest some way from the road.
And a small flock of Crested Tits investigating a Cork Oak stump near a layby.
Seeing that the weather was much better at the coast, we decided to revisit the Alvor Estuary, our favourite spot in our brief tour.
Though the weather was better than our first visit, the tide was out, which meant fewer birds on the saltmarsh.
The Greater Flamingo flock had increased from 17 to 26. We met long-time Algarve birder Colin Key, who told us that these birds come from Coto Donana in Spain, the Camargue in France, and even from as far away as Iran. Somtimes the wintering flock gets up to 400 birds!
Two young birds having a tussle.
We spotted one colour-ringed bird. Perhaps someone reading this might know where it's from...?
Colin pointed out to us a distant Black-shouldered Kite - a major rarity in Western Europe. I mentioned that I was from Malaysia where they are pretty much the commonest raptor, and that actually I was far more interested in species like Common Ringed Plovers and Northern Lapwings. He must have thought there's no pleasing some people! You can see some much better pix of all the birds I photographed in the Algarve on his blog, Algarve Birder, and his pbase photo galleries. Thanks for all your help Colin! On our way back along the sea wall, I was surprised to flush a pair of Common Quail. They flew over into the saltmarsh and landed out of sight before I could record the moment with the camera however.
Ah, now here's a real cracking good bird - Northern Lapwing - to finish off with!
Labels:
Algarve,
Alvor estuary,
colour ring,
flamingo,
lapwing,
Monchique,
Portugal,
Ria de Alvor,
stork,
tit
23rd December 2009:Olhos De Agua and the Alvor Estuary, Algarve, Portugal
Wednesday, December 30, 2009
A rare moment of blue skies! By migrating south to Portugal, we found we had exhanged snow for rain. Only two days out of eight were rainfree during our short visit.
Lesser Black-backed Gull. This was a family holiday rather than a birding trip, so most of my pics were taken near where we were staying, in Olhos De Agua, just outside Albufeira.
A selection of Mediterranean Gulls. 'Med Gulls' were at times the commonest gull around, and on other days completely absent.
One of many sea stacks just offshore, beloved of cormorants as roosting and drying out places.
A subadult Great Cormorant.
We paid a short visit to the A Rocha field studies centre where we were treated to warm Portuguese hospitality by the couple who run the centre, Marcial and Paula. We also drove down to the marvellous Alvor Estuary nearby, though sadly the weather was awful!
A group of 17 wintering Greater Flamingos was an incongruous sight!
One of several Common Stonechats feeding along the edge of the saltmarsh.
And a Common (Greater) Ringed Plover feeding on the estuary side of the sea wall.
Crested Larks were numerous in the fields were cattle were grazing.
As were Western Cattle Egrets - looking much smaller-billed than their eastern counterparts.
A Black-winged Stilt (a male presumably) with an exceptional amount of black on the head and neck.
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