Baixo Alentejo Bird Watching Trip

Clive & Sharon Jones, Hampshire UK

Date: 3rd April 2009

Guide: Georg Schreier

The day started at 08:00, when Georg, our Bird guide for the day turned up at Casa Rosa where we were staying. The day was cold with a clear sky, holding the promise of a good days birding. As this was our first trip to Portugal, we gave Georg carte blanche to show us what the Alentejo region had to offer. We headed for Mertola, our first stop was before Mertola, where we saw Crag Martins and Bee Eaters. Then just outside Mertola we stopped to see Lesser Kestrels near the old castle. This was already shaping up to be a great day. We headed on through Mertola into the rolling plains of the Alentejo which looked wonderful carpeted in the spring flowers. Here, we were introduced to the Callandra, Thekla and Greater Short toed Larks, also a pair of Great Spotted Cuckoo’s and a great sighting of a Black-eared Wheatear. The time was now late morning and the temperature was rising, which brought out the raptors riding on the thermals. We had many sightings of raptors throughout the day; the highlights were the Griffon Vulture, Black Vulture, Short-toed Eagle, Montagu's Harrier, Spanish Imperial Eagle and a young Golden Eagle.

We managed good sightings of Great Bustards after an initial poor distance sighting. In the same area we also encountered Little Bustards flying by and a good sighting of a pair of Black Bellied Sand-Grouse. Late afternoon Georg took us to an area where there might be Collared Pratincoles. We were fortunate enough to be treated to a pair sharing a pond with a group of Bee Eaters, a Southern Grey Shrike and several Red-rumped Swallows. We ended the day in the Alentejo with Georg determined to find a Black Shouldered Kite. A single distant sighting was our last bird before we headed back to Casa Rosa. To top off a great day we spotted a Little Owl sitting on a power line near Casa Rosa.

The day had been a great success with 28 lifers for us. Without Georg we would never have had such a great day. The Alentejo region is so vast that you need the services of an expert like Georg who possesses a good knowledge of the region and the ornithology. On a personal level Georg was very easy to get along with, very patient and most importantly for a bird guide, just as enthusiastic as we were.
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Bird Report
26th June 2009

By Max Herbert and David Rayner

Introduction

We have been visiting the Algarve (Quinta Do Lago and Vale de Lobo) for the past 30 years for golf and family holidays. Increasingly over the last few years we have been walking on the Rio Formosa reserve to see the birds; my long term low level interest in birds stimulated by Dave’s interest in bird photography and my wife’s enthusiasm for walking. Having seen a previous report on the Casa Rosa web site from an experienced bird watcher telling of a guided day trip he had to the Alentejo region as being one of the best days birdwatching he had ever had we booked the same trip with George Schreier.

The Trip

We met at Vale Do Lobo reception at 7.00am and set off for a 90 minute drive into the Alentejo. It was motorway at first and then good roads. Gradually as the terrain became more rural so did the roads and we were in good birdwatching territory by 8.45. The first location was a nesting colony of Spanish Sparrows on the roadside. We then stopped at a bridge to see Swallows and Martins, this included Crag Martins and Red-rumped Swallows. We had good views of these.
We moved on to Mertola where we stopped above the bridge to see the breeding colony of lesser kestrels and kestrels. We had excellent views of these and a few spotless starlings.
After this we went to another site that George knew where he thought we might be able to see the Rufous Bush Robin. This was an excellent sighting with the bird by its nest and we were able to watch it (from a secondary road bridge – G.S.) for some 10 mins from relatively close quarters. It is a lovely bird and this was a highlight.
We then seemed to move into even more rural farmland areas where we had distant views of birds of prey. However we soon got closer sightings of Black Kites, Booted Eagles and Short-toed Eagles on telegraph poles. But then we caught sight of a larger bird of prey on a hill side. In fact it was one of about 30 vultures feeding at a carcass. They were mainly Griffon Vultures but there were two Black vultures. There was also a Raven watching them. This was like something out of the Masai Mara as they squabbled just like on the Safari programmes. We watched them for a good half an hour and then watched them soaring. (Highlight).
Moving on after this we started our quest for the Great Bustard and Little Bustard. We again stopped by the roadside to catch a glimpse of two Great Bustards and a Black kite quite close and again to see two Montague Harriers hunting, flying low across the fields with slow wing beat in a very sinister way. We were above them so got really good views. We saw this scene on four or more occasions during the day and it is was a fascinating sight. (Highlight)
As we travelled the roads on to our next sight we got many good views of Stonechats, Black eared Wheatears, Bee Eaters, Woodchat Shrikes and Southern Great Grey Shrikes. Another pleasing sight was the great number of occupied storks’ nests by the road side, some with Spanish Sparrows sharing the nest site in the lower branches. There were Little Egrets and Cattle Egrets in the fields.
We stopped for lunch on a very high site with a great view of all the surrounding region. This afforded a very distant view of a Great Bustard. In the afternoon we went after the bustards. Having stopped by the road side to observe a feeding frenzy of swallows, martins and swifts on some insect swarm, we saw Swifts and Pallid Swifts and an Alpine Swift. There were good views of all these as they swooped overhead. These were accompanied by Kestrels and Lesser Kestrels with Black Kite and Montague Harriers patrolling an adjoining field below us. Then we saw two Great Bustards, this was a very good view of a male and female as they walked slowly but purposefully away from us. The male’s unusual tail feathers clearly visible. This is an extraordinary bird and well worth seeing.
Shortly after and on our way to a reservoir we saw a Green Sandpiper and Little-ringed Plover. At the reservoir we had great views of swifts and 10 or more Bee Eaters hunting and perching close by. But we also saw what George was looking for, several Collared Pratincoles. These were flying with the swifts and were an elegant bird. We also saw a Kingfisher which roosted in a nearby tree. A Tawny Pipit was sighted but I missed it.
Onwards to a reserve, where we saw more Montague Harriers and also a couple of Little Bustards and a European Roller. Although this flew around us it for a while it was some time before it roosted to give us a better view.
On the way back to Vale Do Lobo we stopped at some salt water lagoons near Albefueira to see the Flamingoes (40) Blacked Winged Stilts, Little Grebes, Great Crested Grebe and Kentish Plovers.
Conclusion.

It was a great day. (7am to 7pm). We were lucky for the time of year as it was cloudy and so we were not too hot. We consumed a lot of water and a packed lunch. George says the Alentejo is good all year round with different things to see throughout the seasons. We would certainly do the trip again at a different time of year although May would be interesting.


The following photos have been made by David Rayner during this day-trip :

Another Trip 30/6/09

By Max Herbert and David Rayner

We had such a good trip that we booked another half day trip with George to Castro Marim and the salt works near there. Again a good early start but a much shorter drive down to the Spanish border to visit the reserve there.
Immediately on arrival we saw a couple of little owls on the roof of the centre, an adult and a juvenile. They were there during the entirety of our stay (1 ½ hrs). We walked down from the centre to see a Great Spotted Cuckoo (juv). We observed this for some time and it was always about. We had some great views. (Highlight) In the distance we could see Flamingoes and then a flight of 40 or so circled round for some time. This is always an uplifting sight as they have such bright underwing colours. We saw Crested Larks and Yellow Wagtails (Iberian), Southern Great Grey Shrikes and also the more elusive Lesser Short-toed Lark. A Montagues Harrier was hunting a nearby field, always a good sight. We also saw a stone curlew in the distance but George quickly identified it from its call and got it in the scope. There were 15 or so black tailed Godwits and I saw a Little Bittern (Female or juv).There were, of course, Kentish plovers about.
We moved on to the salt pans where we saw a pair of Black Necked Grebes, obligingly swimming near a Little Grebe to aid comparison, an enormous flock of Flamingoes with Avocets and another siting of a Stone Curlew. There were a great number of Spoonbills. This was a really nice place to walk and have a more leisurely look at the birds. The usual Sardinian Warblers and Little Terns were about. We also had a good view of a Fan-tailed Warbler. Black tailed Godwits and black winged stilts with young were also about together with all the usual suspects again. We saw a colony of nesting Egrets, both Little and Cattle, with a Great Spotted Cuckoo possibly with its foster parent, a European Magpie closeby.
This was another fine morning of bird watching with more walking and more leisurely. Again George was able to point things out that we would never have seen on our own.
George was able to tell us where we could find some Red-necked Nightjars that evening at dusk and they duly obliged.

The following photos have been made by David Rayner during this day-trip :

Our Guide

George was an engaging companion for the day. He has a tremendous knowledge of birds, their song and habitats. He was great at spotting/locating birds and identification. He also was able to get his powerful scope on to the bird in question for all to have a better view. His interest and love of the birds adds to the day. He was able to point out things we would never have seen and take us to remote locations that we would never find. I can only repeat what I had read that the trip to the Alentejo was one of the best day’s birdwatching I had ever had and would thoroughly recommend it. But the second day was very good as we were out of the car walking much more. I would happily repeat both days and look forward to doing so next year.

Max Herbert and David Rayner

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(...) On the day of the guided tour Georg came to Casa Rosa right after sunrise.
We started our day trip near the Faro Airport, taking the road to Faro beach from the airport roundabout, and then a side road towards the golf courses. Our first stop was a small hill with pinewood, with a fine view over a wet march. Georg immediately spotted a black-winged kite, and after some time three were visible at the same time. In a few minutes, a booted eagle was soaring high, with typical colour pattern on the wings. A very familiar sight was the osprey (rather abundant at home in Finland).
We then drove past huge piles of salt towards the golf course. The ponds along the way were abundant with coots and moorhens. The first purple gallinule was sitting in a bush, and a kingfisher was in sight for a moment. The best species on that day was the purple heron. A large number of black-tailed godwits and a few avocets were waddling belly-deep in the saltpan. A couple of Mediterranean gulls were found, and Caspian terns were on flight. We proceeded through a small forest and entered the rim of the golf course. There is a birdwatching tower that yielded a very good view over the pond. A purple gallinule posed for some good pictures, and so did a glossy ibis, Little grebes, gadwalls, shovelers, wigeons, mallards, and a pintail were visible at a close distance. Georg heard the voice of a little bittern which we did not manage to see. The path went forward to another brand-new bird-watching tower that looked over the Ria. New species at this point were the bar-tailed godwit and spotted redshank.

In the afternoon we went to an estuary close to Pera (west of Albufeira). A number of herons, white storks and spoonbills, a heard of more than 10 glossy ibis, a Montagu’s harrier, Kentish plovers, and a black-necked grebe in winter plumage, but with read eyes that revealed its identity. Of smaller birds, a bluethroat (a nesting species in Finnish Lapland), meadow pipits, and fan-tailed warblers were seen. Georg’s best species that day was the common gull. This species is the most abundant gull at home in Finland, the nearest couple nesting just 300 m from my house. (...)

During one week, thanks to Georg, we saw much more than we expected, and during the one day of the guided tour, learned a lot of the birds and habitats of the area. We warmly recommend him and Casa Rosa for bird-watchers – including those with little bird-watching experience before.

Ilkka and Merja Kunnamo, Finland (October 2010).