Another Glaucous Gull

Hot on the heels of the recent juvenile Glaucous Gull was another one. Based on how pale it is, I guess it's a second-winter. It was first seen in the roost at Draycote Water and then I saw it distantly at Cotesbach Landfill site last Thursday. It showed a little closer on Saturday when I managed some poor record shots. This makes it six now for the year and 31 in total at Shawell since 2012.

Glaucous Gull

A juvenile Glaucous Gull, the first 'white-winger of the winter season, was at Shawell today. It frequented the sandpit off Gibbet Lane for much of the morning.

Due to the distance I wasn't able to get any photos of it on the deck, but I did record some video:

In addition to the big 'white-winger', at least five Caspian Gulls were present.

Great White Egret

I couldn't make it out first thing this morning, so Adey went over to Brascote without me. Around 09:30 he sent me a message to say he had found a Great White Egret. Not quite the rarity it was but still a good bird for the South-West Leicestershire list. In fact it is only the third record for the area.

We still await a Cattle Egret but in the meantime this will do.

I managed to get over about an hour later and it was still there.

It was wary and easily scared. At one point it flew towards Cadeby Quarry, but returned after just 10 minutes.

Great White Egret, Brascote Pits, 11th November 2018

Caspian Gulls at Shawell

I'm pretty sure my Caspian Gull haul today was my best day count so far at Shawell. Herring Gulls were already the most numerous species. This is noteworthy as they generally don't take over from the Lesser black-backed Gulls until December.

In total I recognised 13 different Caspian Gulls: nine first calendar-years, two second calendar-years and two third calendar-years.

First Calendar-Year Caspian Gull - note how far its moult has progressed. Some tertials and greater coverts have been replaced with second-generation feathers.

Some of the gulls are photographable as they leave the sandpit and head off over Gibbet Lane. I struck lucky again when one of the colour-ringed birds flew over me. LU4T was ringed at Pitsea Landfill site on 20th November 2013. It has previously been seen in France.

LU4T

Gulls in the Sandpit

Back to the Algarve

I couldn't resist another visit to this great location. If you enjoy looking for your own birds then this is a great destination. Even in the seaside towns you can find interesting migrant birds such as Pied Flycatchers. Dawn and I managed a decent total of 159 species, which was just four short of our best total. I have now seen 229 species in southern Portugal. New birds included Red-breasted Flycatcher near Sagres and a Bullfinch on a wooded hillside.

One of the highlights of my October trips is the boat ride out of Sagres looking for seabirds. It wasn't a classic trip, but we did get really good views of Cory's Shearwaters. The wind was quite brisk, so we had to hold on. A couple of Sooty Shearwaters also put in an appearance, but Great Shearwater escaped me this time.

Cory's Shearwater

Cory's Shearwater

Cory's Shearwater

After the boat ride a trip to the raptor watchpoint at Cabranosa is a must. Luckily the raptors were arriving and they were relatively low over the watchpoint. The highlight was a wing-tagged juvenile Egyptian Vulture (2MW) that had been ringed near Jaca, Spain (The Pyrenees).

Juvenile, Egyptian Vulture

Booted Eagle

As you know, one of the reasons for my trips to The Algarve is for close up studies of gulls. We visited Quarteira a site I'd overlooked in the past. This site proved excellent with plenty of colour-ringed gulls plus a giant Great Black-backed Gull,. Oh and another Azorean Gull candidate.

Great Black-backed Gull

Presumed Azorean Gull, Second-Winter

Presumed Azorean Gull

The highlight for me of the colour-ringed birds was a first calendar-year lusitanius Yellow-legged Gull (A82:G) from the Basque Country in Spain.

First-Winter lusitanius Yellow-legged Gull

A visit to the Alentejo region between Castro Verde and Mertola is a must for birders visiting The Algarve. Not natural Steppe, but the man made Cereal Steppe is a home to many species found in the natural environment. Great Bustards are usually easy to find, but this time we struck lucky with a single Little Bustard as well. Large birds of prey come out on to the plains to hunt, but they can be very hard to find. The church called Ermida de Nossa Senhora sits on a hill side near Monte Salto and it's a great point from which to scan for large raptors. A little luck is needed to time your visit when raptors are close by, but this time we had got it right. Within a few minutes of arriving a group of Griffon Vultures appeared and amongst them were three Iberian Imperial Eagles - including one of this year's juveniles. Dawn and I watched the juvenile tussling with one of the older birds.

Iberian Imperial Eagles

At one point the juvenile flew down and landed in a tree below the hill.

Juvenile Iberian Imperial eagle

Iberian Imperial Eagles

We also saw Golden Eagle, Bonelli's Eagle and Egyptian Vulture.

Griffon Vulture

I haven't seen many Great White Egrets in The Algarve, so two over Olhao was a treat. The photo below looks more like an X-ray.

Great White Egret

I can't wait to go again...