Birding Southern Portugal

European bee-eaters—freshly arrived spring migrants —n southern Portugal following a winter in Africa.

At the start of April I found myself on a plane flying from Tel Aviv, Israel, to Istanbul, Turkey. Ataturk Airport in Istanbul was just a short layover stop before flying to my eventual destination of Lisbon, Portugal. I had been in Israel for the Champions of the Flyway bird race in which teams of birders from all over the world compete during a 24-hour period to see the most species. Our team, the Way-Off Coursers, sponsored by Bird Watcher's Digest and Carl Zeiss Sports Optics, didn't win the birding competition, but we did win prizes for doing the most to promote the event and for raising the most money (our team raised more than $12,000!) to support the efforts of BirdLife International in combatting the illegal killing of birds in Greece. I'll post more about Champions of the Flyway in the future here on BOTB.

I was a tad weary from a week of heavy birding in the desert, and now I was headed (and happily so)  to another week of birding, but this time in Portugal—a new country for me.

My friend João Jara, of Birds & Nature Tours in Portugal, had invited me a few times to visit his country, but our schedules had never meshed. This past spring they did, and what a trip it turned out to be!

I was looking forward to a relaxing week of birding in warm, sunny Portugal. Little did I know, my spring 2016 streak of bringing crappy weather with me wherever I went was to continue for at least another month. And I was about to get the mother of all colds from a sneezing seatmate on the flight. But enough of my whining!

João met me at the airport at mid-day and we drove in the rain, across the Tagus Estuary to a small town opposite Lisbon known as Alcochete. I settled in to my charming room in a small hostel and then we headed out for a bit of afternoon birding on the Tagus Estuary. What followed was a week of stunning looks at amazing birds delivered by the expert guiding skills of João. While many of the birds were not lifers (in other words, I'd seen them before, elsewhere) most of the looks I got were the best ever. And there certainly were a number of ossum life birds, including blue rock thrush, azure-winged magpie, Iberian imperial eagle, rock bunting, and little bustard, to name a few.

João Jara at our first birding stop, a cork oak grove on a farm along the Tagus Estuary.ã

The week passed in a happy blur, despite my horrible cold and the windy, rainy, unseasonably cold April weather. João kept apologizing for the weather but there was no need. The birding, the food and wine, the people, the landscape, and the cultural history kept me enthralled with Portugal.

We birded three main regions in southern Portugal: The Tagus Estuary, the Alentejo, and the Algarve. We started with the Tagus Estuary, which is just a 30-minute drive across the river from Lisbon. The Tagus is one of Europe's most important bird habitats, lying as it does, along the primary Eurasia-to-Africa migratory flyway. We saw huge flocks of greater flamingos, all manner of shorebirds, ducks, and wading birds such as storks, herons, egrets, ibises, and bitterns.

View of the Tagus Estuary at dawn from Alcochete.

Mixed habitats along the Tagus include farm fields, riparian areas, and salt pans with a rich variety of birds.

After spending two days birding the Tagus Estuary region, we drove about an hour south into the rolling plains habitat of Alentejo. This massive steppe region is home to some of Portugal’s most sought-after birds: the great bustard, little bustard, black-bellied sandgrouse, plus a spectacular guild of raptors.

We soon found ourselves in the wide-open spaces of the Alentejo, scanning the wildflower-adorned fields for great bustards. 

Great bustard habitat in the Alentejo. The white dots are displaying males.

We found more than 20 of them, mostly males, displaying in a low swale, out of the wind. This fantastic bird stands more than three feet tall, and when a male is displaying for watching females, he lowers his head and flattens his tail along his back, exposing and flaring his undertail feathers. He then walks around slowing in this jouncy, foamy-looking display mode hoping to impress the ladies.

Male great bustard.

While in the Alentejo, we toured a large ranch where the crops are being planted and managed to attracted bustards and other special birds of southern Portugal. Joao's friend George specifically caters to birders and bird photographers by putting up nest boxes for European rollers, little owls, and Eurasian kestrels, and putting up hides (blinds) near lekking areas for bustards and near feeding areas for vultures.

Speaking of feeding, I probably gained 10 pounds in Portugal. But it was worth it, because the food was that good. The Portuguese people put great emphasis on food and I felt it was only polite of me to sample as much of it as I could, being an invited foreign guest.

Our breakfast most days was some fantastic baked pastry and a serious cup of coffee.

Fresh-caught fish on display for dinner in Mértola.

Small fried fingerling fish, a delicious appetizer in Tavira.

Our home base while in the Alentejo was the ancient river town of Mértola. This town has been home to Phoenicians, Carthaginians, Romans, Visigoths, Moors, and Christians and the architecture, culture, and people reflect this history. Dig a foot or so into the earth anywhere in town and you're almost certain to find some of the town's past. 

A view of Mértola.

We toured ancient ruins being excavated and restored  inside the citadel, a combined church and castle that looms on the mountain high above the town. While touring we encountered lesser kestrels, blue rock thrushes, white storks, little owls, pallid swifts, and many other birds—perhaps the modern-day relatives of birds that nested here thousands of years ago.

Walking up the road to the church in Mértola.

Our final day was spent in southernmost Portugal in a coastal region known as the Algarve. It was here that Portugal's close relationship with the sea was most evident. Salt pans, where seawater is drawn in and evaporated off to gather the salt left behind, were everywhere. Those pans not being worked by humans were full of shorebirds and waders. A brief drive along the oceanfront got us a number of new species including great skua.

Our lodging near Tavira in the Algarve, was in a former tuna-canning factory now transformed into a luxury hotel. The hotel was surrounded by salt pans and a small tidal river basin with both working and pleasure boats swaying in the tide.

Alas, we soon had to head back north to Lisbon for my return trip home. João treated me to a short city tour of Lisbon the morning of my flight, further impressing me with the rich history and culture of his native country. I was only in southern Portugal for a week, but those days were ample time to land this country on a short list of places I am eager to visit again.

Here are a few other images and birds from Portugal...

Birding the mountains outside Mértola.

The hoopoe is the one bird most of João's clients wish to see.

Little bittern in a wetland complex in the Algarve.

The landscape in Portugal is incredibly alluring. This is from the Alentejo.

Blue rock thrush digiscoped at the Wolf's Leap near Mértola.

BT3 and João Jara, along the Guadiana River, near Mértola.

If you've read this far and are interested in taking a tour with me and Bird Watcher's Digest to Portugal in 2017, please visit this link at the top of our Reader Rendezvous page to sign up for our events notifications. We're planning four to six Rendezvous in 2017—one of which is an 11-day birding tour of southern Portugal with João Jara. Registration details will be available soon, so please add your name to the notifications list so we can keep you in the loop! 

Events Swirlwind

As you can see from the embarrassingly long time gap between my last BOTB post (other than son Liam's birthday salute) and this one, I've been otherwise occupied, mostly with events.

Going back to August... first there was the Rain Crows' weekend-long tour of Columbus, Ohio. We played the fabulous Birds, Bands, and Beer fundraiser event for the Grange Insurance Audubon Center. It was a glorious night of music under the stars. The next night we played a private party at the Columbus Zoo for our pals Kim & Amy. It was a combined birthday/retirement party for these gals and the riverfront pavilion was jammed with their friends. We jammed, too, as black-crowned night herons flew overhead in the evening glow. Our favorite fiddle player Jessie Munson joined us for these two shows, flying in from Memphis for the occasion. It was heaven on a stick.

The Rain Crows on stage at the Birds, Bands, & Beer event.

Next for me was the British Birdwatching Fair at Rutland Water Reserve in central England. I've posted about the BirdFair before here on BOTB. But you can also get a feel for it from several of my podcast episodes. The BirdFair is a great event—the largest of its kind in the world. Every major birding destination, all the optics and gear and feeder and clothing and content and tour companies are there, along with artists, organizations, much more. Plus there's beer. My good buddy Tim Appleton is one of the co-founders of the event and seeing him is always a highlight. These days I go to see my friends from around the world as much as I go to do actual business. My main mission for the 2015 BirdFair was to let exhibitors know about the American Birding Expo which was coming up just two months later. More on that in a moment.

Visiting with my friends at BirdFair from INGUAT Guatemala.

The BirdFair raises funds for important bird conservation causes.

A day after returning from the BirdFair, I was on my way to Jamestown, NY for a board meeting of the Roger Tory Peterson Institute. I've just started my second board term for RTPI. This is something I do to help repay in some small part the incredible support and many contributions Roger Peterson made to our family business, Bird Watcher's Digest. He was an early mentor to us and, later, a regular columnist for our magazine. RTPI carries on his legacy of sharing the joys of birds and nature. Supporting RTPI by becoming a member is a fantastic way of "paying it forward" to the next generation of birders and naturalists.

Roger Tory Peterson.

 Also part of the weekend was the opening of the Society of Animal Artists show at RTPI. I was a judge for the show, along with fellow board member Lee Peterson (Roger's son). We debated the merits of a huge array of works, with the assignment of choosing a handful to be awarded special recognition and prizes. It was tough, but enjoyable work.

My fellow judges for the SAA show included Lee Peterson (left), son of RTP.

The works submitted for the show were inspired.

Two weeks later, my events team was off to the Midwest Birding Symposium in Bay City, Michigan.

 

BWD was partnering with Michigan Audubon, the Saginaw Basin Land Conservancy, and the Great Lakes Bay Region Conventions & Visitors' Bureau, to host the 2015 MBS in this charming town on the Saginaw River. This was the first time the MBS had been back in Michigan since 1991 and a good time was had by all.

The opening night festivities at the MBS were a lot of fun.

Visitors to Bay City's Stein Haus.

Brian "Fox" Ellis came alive as John James Audubon in an MBS keynote talk.

Two weeks after the close of the MBS, I loaded the birdmobile full of all manner of stuff and headed to Columbus, Ohio to prepare for the first-ever American Birding Expo.

Through the week, nearly the entire BWD staff arrived at the Grange Insurance Audubon Center/Scioto Metropark in downtown Columbus, Ohio to get things ready for the Expo. Just prior to the Expo, we helped host the American Birding Association's first-ever Members Summit, which went very well, according to our ABA friends. The ABA, Grange Insurance Audubon Center, the Columbus Metroparks, and BWD served as Expo host organizations, but the bulk of the organizing rested on the wide shoulders of the BWD events team and I couldn't be more proud of how they performed. We also had a small army of volunteers who saved our bacon more than once.

Attendees visiting exhibitor booths in the main Expo tent.

Maven Optics was an Expo exhibitor.

BWD Events Director Wendy Clark interviews Alvaro Jaramillo for the Expo video.

Saturday night we had live music from The Hip Replacements.

José Miguel Fernández Ramírez (right) was the lucky winner of the Zeiss Victory SF binocular, being presented by Zeiss' Rich Moncrief.

The Expo featured more than 80 exhibitors from all over the world. In fact we had 46 countries and 43 U.S. states represented among the exhibitors, sponsors, and attendees. The event was met with nearly universal praise from attendees, exhibitors, and hosts. Despite two days of cold, rainy, windy weather (with most of our exhibitors in a large tent) we all survived, did some good business, and made a lot of new friends and connections from the worldwide birding community.

New friends at the Expo Mary Warren of Ohio and Herbert Byaruhanga of Uganda.

More new friends: Simon Thompson (left) of Ventures Birding and Andrew Sebastian of Tourism Malaysia and  the Asian Bird Fair.

 * * * * *

Here it is now, in mid-November, and I'm just starting to get my legs under me again. That was a whirlwind three months, but I loved (almost) every minute of it. We're already planning next year's events and it would be great if you could join us.

You can keep in touch with what's going on here at Bird Watcher's Digest by signing up for BirdWire our bi-weekly e-newsletter (it's free). BirdWire is an award-winning digital publication that's full of timely content, fun bird quizzes, and special offers from our marketing partners. More than 30,000 people receive BirdWire in their e-mail In Box every other week. Do you?

A recent issue of BirdWire.

Coming up in 2016 we have three Reader Rendezvous (special birding weekends for BWD subscribers), the second annual American Birding Expo, and I'll be participating in a neat new event in November: the Honduras Birding for Conservation Tour. I'll be leading a team in a week of birding, competing for a cash prize for a conservation cause in Honduras. It's going to be fun and we're going to see amazing birds.

So I'm taking my chewable vitamins, getting plenty of rest, and stretching my body, mind, and spirit in preparation for a 2016 that is even busier than 2015!

I'll see you out there with the birds, amigos y amigas!

A Postcard from Space Coast.

Birders on a field trip for the Space Coast Birding Festival.

Though I was late to the party this year, thanks to an overlapping event out west, the 2015 Space Coast Birding & Wildlife Festival was its usual spectacular self. A lot of trade-show activity, catching up with friends, seafood meals, and a bit of birding and photography were crammed into the 3.5 days I was in Titusville, Florida, home of this annual winter festival.

Space Coast has a lot going for it as a birding/nature festival. There's the amazing variety of birdlife present in central Florida in late January. There's the lure of warm weather, ocean beaches, palm trees, and sunshine. There's a huge auditorium full of vendors selling all manner of things birdy. And there's plenty of Florida-grown fresh fruit available to help fight off that case of scurvy you've been harboring all winter.

I'm always impressed with the number of field trips and talks that Space Coast puts on. And these aren't just for birders or about birds. There are events focused on manatees, tortoises, plants, and ecosystems, too, which makes this one of the most well-rounded nature events in North America—perfect for that non-birding spouse or friend who is interested in those aspects of nature that lack feathers. Also if interest is the fact that the region regularly lives up to its "Space Coast" moniker. This year there was a rocket launch of a satellite into space, which was quite the spectacle and easily viewed from anywhere in the area. Nearby Cape Canaveral hosts a huge NASA Kennedy Space Center complex from which most of our space-oriented launches and landings have happened through the last half-century. Interestingly this space complex is why there is so much undeveloped land in the Space Coast region—things like giant rocket launches require lots and lots of real estate to be conducted safely, not to mention all the design, construction, testing, and research that goes into such activity. We have the space program and its large footprint to thank for such magnificent natural places as Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge and Canaveral National Seashore, home to some very sought-after bird and animal species such as Florida scrub-jay, gopher tortoise, and Florida manatee.

This year I helped to lead two field trips at Space Coast. One was a relaxing walk around some of the the 400-acre Enchanted Forest Sanctuary, one of the largest in-shore patches of habitat along Florida's ancient coastal dunes. Even though the birds didn't cooperate so much (thanks to the rainy, blustery morning), we were treated to a tour of the native plants that thrive in the sanctuary by volunteer Elaine Williams.

On Sunday I was part of a team guiding a trip called Central Florida Specialties with Floridians Dave Goodwin, Jim Eager, and Mark Hedden. This trip left festival HQ at 5:00 am in order to make it to Three Lakes Wildlife Management Area in time for the morning stirrings of the red-cockaded woodpecker. Alas, despite our best efforts to get there, we somehow missed this endangered species (though it had been seen in the exact same spot two days prior). That was about the only miss in an otherwise amazing and full day of birding. Fifteen minutes after giving up on the woodpeckers, we were all looking at a Bachman's sparrow 50 feet away, then even close. Followed by a small group of brown-headed nuthatches in the slash pines nearby. Whooping and sandhill cranes, wood stork, every other eastern species of woodpecker, snail kite, merlin, American pipit, wild turkey (the smaller, darker Osceola/Florida subspecies), anhinga, caracara, osprey, Bonaparte's gull, white pelican, and a surprise vagrant Bullock's oriole from the West were among the day's avian highlights. Yes, it was a wow kind of day.

Wood storks.

Earlier in the week I got to spend a morning tooling around Viera Wetlands with my son Liam, who, despite never officially declaring himself a birder, seems to have picked up a lot of bird knowledge by osmosis from his mom and me. We saw loads of cool birds including a super-close loggerhead shrike, but perhaps Liam's favorite things were several sunning American alligators and an otter that galumped across the dike road in front of us. Liam ID'd it immediately, which made me really proud and happy.

American alligator.

 

Brown-headed nuthatch.

Male Bullock's oriole.

Loggerhead shrike.

 On Saturday night I was honored to be the keynote speaker for the festival. I gave a new version of my "Perils & Pitfalls of Birding" talk and the assembled crowd seemed to enjoy it. Afterwards Julie and Wendy Clark and I sang a few Rain Crows' songs to close out the show. You can hear an earlier version of my "Perils" talk in the archives for my podcast "This Birding Life."

If you've never experienced the Space Coast Birding & Wildlife Festival, you owe it to yourself to check it out. My kudos to Neta and Rhonda Harris and their fantastic festival team for putting on a can't-miss event. And to Brevard County for preserving wild places in this corner of the Sunshine State.

If you simply cannot wait to get to the Space Coast region of central Florida, there's a Bird Watcher's Digest Reader Rendezvous happening there in late February of 2015 (just three weeks from now as I'm writing this post.) We'll be visiting most of the nearby birding hotspots that the festival trips hit and seeing (we hope) all of the same fantabulous birds. More info is here on the Reader Rendezvous pages of our website.

Here's hoping our paths will cross again soon, somewhere out there with the birds.

Liam (right) and BT3 goofing off in the field.