Wednesday 23 April 2014

The Portuguese Roundup

As ever, my recent trip to Portugal was a blinder. I love the relaxed atmosphere, the warm welcome I always receive, the tasty grub, agreeable temperature and the fantastic birds.

On this occasion I was invited to speak at and run urban birding workshops at the 2014 Portuguese Birdfair  Observaria Estarreja some two hours north of Lisbon.
 TUB waxing lyrical
I also spent some time in the Alentejo region - my favourite part of Portugal where I indulged in all sorts of avian goodies such as displaying Great Bustards and surprisingly large numbers of Black-bellied Sandgrouse.

The Birdfair was a success and despite the grey clouds and occasional dim light we still managed to see a host of great birds. I even had a lifer in the aural shape of a singing and calling Iberian Chiffchaff.
 Purple Heron
 Red-rumped Swallow
 European Bee-eaters
 Female House Sparrow
 Black-eared Wheatear
 Male Western Subalpine Warbler

Calandra Lark


Complete bird list


Great Crested Grebe
Dabchick
Cormorant
Cattle Egret
Little Egret
Great Egret
Grey Heron
Purple Heron
White Stork
Glossy Ibis
Spoonbill
Greater Flamingo
Mallard
Gadwall
Griffon Vulture
Black Vulture
Osprey
Golden Eagle
Iberian Imperial Eagle
Short-toed Eagle
Booted Eagle
Bonelli’s Eagle
Black Kite
Marsh Harrier
Montagu’s Harrier
Common Buzzard
Sparrowhawk
Black-winged Kite
Kestrel
Lesser Kestrel
Red-legged Partridge
((Quail))
Moorhen
Coot
Great Bustard
Little Bustard
Black-winged Stilt
Stone Curlew
Collared Pratincole
Little Ringed Plover
Ringed Plover
Kentish Plover
Grey Plover
Turnstone
Dunlin
Common Sandpiper
Greenshank
Black-tailed Godwit
Whimbrel
Black-headed Gull
Yellow-legged Gull
Lesser Black-back
Little Tern
Black-bellied Sandgrouse
Feral Pigeon
Wood Pigeon
Collared Dove
Turtle Dove
Great Spotted Cuckoo
Little Owl
Swift
Pallid Swift
Hoopoe
Kingfisher
Bee-eater
Roller
((Green Woodpecker – sharpie))
Great Spotted Woodpecker
Skylark
Crested Lark
Thekla Lark
Calandra Lark
Sand Martin
Crag Martin
Swallow
Red-rumped Swallow
Tawny Pipit
White Wagtail
Yellow Wagtail – iberiae?
Grey Wagtail
Wren
Robin
((Nightingale))
Black-eared Wheatear
Whinchat
Stonechat
Blackbird
Blackcap
Sardinian Warbler
Western Subalpine Warbler
Dartford Warbler
Zitting Cisticola
Savi’s Warbler
Cetti’s Warbler
((Reed Warbler))
((Great Reed Warbler))
Common Chiffchaff
((Iberian Chiffchaff))
Great Tit
Blue Tit
Long-tailed Tit
Iberian Grey Shrike
Woodchat Shrike
Azure-winged Magpie
Black-billed Magpie
Jay
Jackdaw
Carrion Crow
Raven
Spotless Starling
House Sparrow
Tree Sparrow
Spanish Sparrow
Chaffinch
Linnet
Goldfinch
Greenfinch
Serin
Reed Bunting
Rock Bunting
Corn Bunting
Common Waxbill
Yellow-crowned Weaver

Species list – 128
Lifers         - 1

((heard))

1 comment:

StourbridgeRantBoy said...

Nice stuff, good birds, great area brings back memories from last year.

Laurie -