Caspian gull at Monte Gordo

This winter a Caspian gull (Larus cachinnans) has been reported several times on the Algarve coast. The first sighting was at a pelagic organised on 17 December by a group of Spanish birdwatchers, where two Caspian gulls were seen, one ringed in the Czechia, white ring with the code 948:U, and the other without a ring. 

The ringed gull was then rediscovered on 28 December on Cancela Velha beach and after a month's absence it was discovered again on 30 January on Monte Gordo beach.

On 5 February Susana and I went to Monte Gordo to try and find the gull because it was a species we had both never seen before and once we reached the fishermen's area on the beach it was relatively easy to find.

Then at home I searched the European colour-ring Birding website for the contact details of the project responsible for ringing and reported the sighting. The next day I received an e-mail with all the information about it.

With the sighting  of this immature Caspian gull, the first new species of 2024,  I have now seen 320 species of birds in Portugal. 

Another Rosy starling in Sagres

A few weeks ago I went to Sagres to twitch an immature Rosy starling (Pastor roseus) found by Edward Morgan on the 25th January.  The bird was found at Ponta da Atalaia near the Pousada de Sagres.

Throwback Thursday: an unexpected american

This Sora (Porzana carolina) was found near Silves by Luisa Sequeira on January 2017 and was the first record of the species for mainland Portugal.

The lifers of 2023

This year I was lucky enough to see nine new species of birds, making my grand total for continental Portugal 319 species.

The first new specie were three Marbled Ducks (Marmaronetta angustirostris) at Faro / Olhão sewage treatment tanks. A few weeks later I was able to see the species again at Quinta do Lago were I made this video.

The second new species was a West African Crested Tern (Thalasseus albididorsalis) at Ria de Alvor, a recent split from the Royal Tern. 

The next lifer was a mega rarity for Portugal, the third record of a Pacific Golden Plover (Pluvialis fulva) for Portugal at Lagoa dos Salgados.

The next lifers were from a seawatching trip with Alexandre and José to Pontal da Carrapateira, probably the best spot in the Algarve too search for seabirds. The three lifers were a single Murre (Uria aalge), seven Puffins (Fratercula arctica) and a Sooty Shearwater (Ardenna grisea)

Didn't managed to get any good photos of the birds because I was mostly using my binoculars but you can see the eBird list here, with Alexandre's photos.

Pontal da Carrapateira

The next one was a Red-throated Diver (Gavia stellata) at the Guadiana river mouth across Vila Real de Santo António. The bird stayed always at the spanish side of the river so I only managed some distant photos of the diver.

The last two new birds of the year, were both on the 27th December, when I lucky enough to twitch the fifth record for Portugal of Rustic Bunting (Emberiza rustica) near Silves and later a Lesser scaup (Aythya affinis) in Vilamoura.

I wrote a full post about the day on a separate post, and if you want you can read it here.

Now let's see what 2024 brings!

A day full of lifers!

Today was a special day to say farewell to 2023 with two new species of birds seen. 

The first lifer was a Rustic bunting (Emberiza rustica), the fifth record for Portugal, that was found yesterday by Uwe Norra near Silves.

After the lunch I went to Vilamoura sewage tanks to look for a Lesser scaup (Aythya affinis) that was found there by Georg Schreier.

On the way back from Vilamoura my Whatsapp was floded with messages saying that there were in fact four rustic buntings! So we went back there and managed to see at least three birds.