Friday, March 19, 2010

Bee-eaters are back !

Spring is here now. Since the rain stopped about 10 days ago, it has been getting warmer continuously. The south-easterly has brought in several birds back from Africa over the past days and particularly today - when I saw (or heard) my first Bee-eaters, Reed Warblers, Yellow Wagtails and a female Montagu's Harrier of the year. The dates:

Black Kite (Milvus migrans) 15-03-2010 - Faro - 1 Ind. around a previous years nesting site.

Montagu's Harrier (Circus pygargus) - 19-03-2010 - Faro - 1 female Ind. soaring in a thermal together with White Storks.

Common Swift
(Apus apus) - 18-03-2010 - Faro - 4 Ind. above a salt pan.

(European) Bee-eater (Merops apiaster) - 19-03-2010 - Faro (Gambelas) - 1+ Ind. heard in the early afternoon.

Sand Martin
(Riparia riparia) - 15-03-2010 - Loulé - 1 Ind. at a Golf-course reservoir.

Red-rumped Swallow (Hirundo daurica) - 13-03-2010 - Faro (Gambelas) - 1 couple around their previous years nesting-site.(Besides some wintering-records)

(Iberian) Yellow Wagtail (Motacilla flava iberiae) - 19-03-2010 - Faro - several Ind. heard in different locations, only males seen (next to the airport, for instance).

(European) Reed Warbler (Acrocephalus scirpaceus) - 19-03-2009 - Faro - 2 Ind. singing in a reed bed.

Next week I am going to do some field-trips to the eastern Algarve and hopefully "get" the first Collared Partincoles, Spectacled Warblers and perhaps Short-toed Larks and early Slender-billed Gulls there... but let's see. A trip into the Serra should produce Subalpine Warbler and Iberian Chiffchaff by now already.

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