What can be said about it… 17 days sat on a seat looking at the sky turned up 24 species of raptor. It should have been 25 – just the Lesser Spotted Eagle just didn’t come close enough to Sagres to be identified, but it was one as one of the other spotters further north nailed it!!! It was 25 for the trip though with a lone Black-winged Kite noted between Lagos and Sagres one morning. However, the number of birds seen was well down on last year, hence a lack of decent photographs, but 4 new species of BoP added to my hill list. It meant some good days, some bad days, a few surprises and bits of luck, and finding a Portuguese mega!
Here are the day totals from my notes (Please note these are my totals, not the ones used by the survey team)
Oct 2nd – 1 Osprey, 10+ Black Kite, 22+ Short-toed Eagle, 2+ Sparrowhawk, 3+ Buzzard, 5 Honey Buzzard, 15+ Booted Eagle, 3 Egyptian Vulture, 1 Marsh Harrier, 1 Hen Harrier, 1+ Hobby, 2+ Kestrel. Additionally, 1 Black Stork, 2 Ravens, 10+ flava Wagtail south
Oct 3rd – 4 Short-toed Eagle, 1 Sparrowhawk, 1 Buzzard, 6 Booted Eagle, Additionally 2 Black Stork. Also 10+ Pied Flycatchers, 4 Redstarts, 3 Black Redstarts, 6 Whinchat, 50+ Wheatear, Subalpine Warblers, Dartford Warblers, Wryneck in the area.
4th Oct – Dragonfly spotting – I’ll write it up later!
Oct 5th – 1 Red Kite, 4+ Black Kite, 2 Short-toed Eagle, 3 Sparrowhawk, 4 Buzzard, 7 Honey Buzzard, 1 Bonelli’s Eagle, 7 Egyptian Vulture, 4 Griffon Vulture, 1 Hen Harrier, 2 Peregrine, 4 Kestrel. Additionally 10 Black Stork, 2 Raven c20 Chough, 1 Bee-eater.
Oct 6th – 9 Black Kite, 3 Short-toed Eagle, 1 Goshawk, 5 Buzzard, 9 Honey Buzzard, 14 Booted Eagle, 2 Griffon Vulture, 2 Hen Harrier, 6+ Kestrel. Additionally 40+ Chough.
Oct 7th – 1 Black Kite, 2 Short-toed Eagle, 4+ Sparrowhawk, 1 Honey Buzzard, 3 Booted Eagle, 1 Egyptian Vulture, few Kestrel. Additionally 2 Black Stork. (Basically a horrible windy day – I spent most of it hidden behind a bush!)
Oct 8th – 3-4 Short-toed Eagle, 6+ Sparrowhawk, 1 Goshawk, 3+ Buzzard, 6 Honey Buzzard, 5 Booted Eagle, 6 Egyptian Vulture, 1 Marsh Harrier, 1 Peregrine, 7+ Kestrel.
Oct 9th – 2 Short-toed Eagle, 4+ Sparrowhawk, 1 Buzzard, 3 Honey Buzzard, 1 Bonelli’s Eagle, 6 Booted Eagle, 6 Egyptian Vulture, c320 Griffon Vulture, 1 juvenile/immature Ruppell’s Vulture, 2 Peregrine, 6+ Kestrel. Additionally 13 Black Stork, 2 Raven.
Oct 10th –3 Black Kite, 3-5 Short-toed Eagle, 6+ Sparrowhawk, 2+ Buzzard, 2 Honey Buzzard, 9 Booted Eagle, 1 Golden Eagle, 7 Egyptian Vulture, 2 Marsh Harrier, 1 Hen Harrier, 2 Peregrine, 1 Hobby, 7+ Kestrel. Additionally 16 Black Stork
Oct 11th – 1 Black Kite, 2 Short-toed Eagle, 4+ Sparrowhawk, 1 Goshawk, 2-4 Buzzard, 4 Honey Buzzard, 3 Booted Eagle, 7 Egyptian Vulture, 1 Marsh Harrier, 1 Hen Harrier, 2 Peregrine, 1 Eleonora’s Falcon, 8+ Kestrel. Additionally 3 Black Stork, 5 Spoonbill
Oct 12th – 2+ Black Kite, 3 Short-toed Eagle, 4+ Sparrowhawk, 1 Goshawk, 4+ Buzzard, 2 Honey Buzzard, 1 Bonelli’s Eagle, 1 Booted Eagle, 11 Egyptian Vulture, 1 Griffon Vulture, 1 Marsh Harrier, 2 Hen Harrier, 1 Montagu’s Harrier, 3 Peregrine, 6+ Kestrel. Additionally 4 Black Stork and 4 Raven
Oct 13th –2 Short-toed Eagle, 3+ Buzzard, 2 Honey Buzzard, 1 Bonelli’s Eagle, 3-4 Booted Eagle, 1 Spanish Imperial Eagle, 2-3 Egyptian Vulture, c162 Griffon Vulture, 1 Peregrine, 6+ Kestrel. Additionally 5 Black Stork, 3+ Raven
Oct 14th –1 Short-toed Eagle, 2-3 Sparrowhawk, 3 Buzzard, 1 Honey Buzzard, 5 Booted Eagle, 1 Griffon Vulture, 1 Marsh Harrier, 1 Hen Harrier, 1 Peregrine, 6+ Kestrel. Additionally 5-7 Black Stork
Oct 15th – 1-2 Osprey, 3 Short-toed Eagle, 2-3 Buzzard, 1 Honey Buzzard, 1 Booted Eagle, 1 Egyptian Vulture, 1 Hen Harrier, 1 Montagu’s Harrier, 3 Peregrine, 1 Hobby, 4+ Kestrel. Additionally 3 Black Stork, 1 Raven and c60 Chough
Oct 16th – 1 Red Kite, 1-2 Black Kite, 3 Short-toed Eagle, 1 Sparrowhawk, 2 Buzzard, 1 Honey Buzzard, 2-3 Booted Eagle, 1 Egyptian Vulture, 2 Marsh Harrier, 1 Hen Harrier, 2 Peregrine, 7 Kestrel. Additionally 3 Black Stork, 1 Spoonbill and 3 Raven.
Oct 17th –1+ Black Kite, 7+ Short-toed Eagle, 3+ Sparrowhawk, 4+ Buzzard, 2 Honey Buzzard, 5+ Booted Eagle, 175+ Griffon Vulture, 3 Ruppell’s Vulture, 2 Marsh Harrier, 3-4 Hen Harrier, 1 Montagu’s Harrier, 2+ Peregrine, 1 Hobby, 2 Merlin, 6+ Kestrel. Additionally 7 Black Stork, 1 Raven and 60-70 Chough
Oct 18th –1 Red Kite, 1 Black Kite, 6 Short-toed Eagle, 2+ Sparrowhawk, 1 Goshawk, 3-4 Buzzard, 1 Egyptian Vulture, 2 Griffon Vulture, 1 Marsh Harrier, 1 Hen Harrier, 1 PALLID HARRIER (2nd for Portugal), 2 Peregrine, 1+ Hobby, 1 Merlin, 6+ Kestrel.
Oct 19th –1 Short-toed Eagle, 1+ Sparrowhawk, 3+ Buzzard, 1 Egyptian Vulture, 2 Hen Harrier, 1 Pallid Harrier, 1 Peregrine, 6+ Kestrel.
Great people also help a lot – thanks to Nadine, Marco, Filipe, Nuno V, Alexandre, Nuno, Paulo, Estrela, Ricardo, Carlos, Susannah and the gang for the laughs, sharing some cracking birds and putting up with my incredibly bad table football skills!
No comments:
Post a Comment