Another early venture out to a different part of the Portuguese coast. I drove West to the other side of Albufiera to Praia dos Salgados, which is the equivalent of a nature reserve, Portuguese style. The area is a mixture of dunes, lagoons and reed beds, and respectably a wide boardwalk takes you over the dunes and even a couple of hides. At first there seemed to be little on the water, with a few
Little Grebe, Moorhen, Coot and
Pochard. More
Crested Lark and
Corn Bunting were in the dunes and
Cetti's Warblers were very vocal with one even showing itself briefly, the reedbed area also held a single
Reed Warbler and couple of
Zitting Cisticolas. There was a small gathering of large Gulls and amongst the
Yellow-legged Gulls were
4 Audouin's Gulls, later increasing to 8, and group of
Med Gulls and
Lesser Black-backed Gulls also dropped in. I belatedly latched onto a flyby
Caspian Tern and managed to ID it before it just became a rear view. A scope would have been handy due to the size of the lagoon, but the baggage situation would not have been conducive to the extra equipment, but more visible were
Black-winged Stilts and
Avocets and
2 Dunlin, Redshank and a
Sanderling were the only other waders.
3 Spoonbill were at the back of the lagoon and
3 White Stork also dropped in. A distant
Marsh Harrier and a
Kestrel were the only raptors present. I walked over the dunes on the boardwalk but only saw a
Hoopoe and more Crested Lark. A single
Barn Swallow, 4 Pallid Swift and
8 Common Swift were hawking over the lagoon on the return walk and 2 distant
Purple Swamphen were in the reeds at the back of the lagoon. The skies started to cloud over as I returned for a late breakfast with the others.
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| Praia do Salgados overlooking lagoon at first light. |
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| Reedbeds around the edges were large |
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| Cetti's Warbler |
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| Cetti's Warbler |
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| Zitting Cisticola |
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| 3 Audouin's Gulls with a Yellow-legged Gull (second from left) |
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| male Pochard |
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