Gulls at the Eirol landfill, Portugal. February 26, 2014.

Due to other obligations and very poor weather conditions, the Eirol landfill had not been visited by me for a long while. Yesterday, there finally was a gap in the clouds. On this trip I got joined by Pedro Moreira. Pedro was particularly interested in the rarities that occasionally show up at the site, but as far as gulls went we did not record anything else then Lesser Black-backed -, Black-headed - and a few Yellow-legged gulls. There were plenty of gulls present; in particular the first two species were abundant. I was hoping to be able to visit the site before the first of this year’s Black Kites showed up, but we quickly found out that they were already there. We made a maximum count of 25 kites, which continuously flushed the gulls. According to personnel the first kites appeared around the 21st of this month. Between 7:15 and 16:45 Pedro and I managed to read 46 rings (44 LBBG and 2 BHG). This number could have been a lot higher if it weren’t for the dirt that covered many (about 40%!) of the rings, as well as for the time we spent talking with personnel of the site, and for the time we watched the impressive interactions between the gulls and the kites, making it a very nice day after all!

Here Fido, bring me the slipper.

 

São Jacinto gets flooded (February 21 – 22)

During these two days I assisted David Rodrigues with duck captures at São Jacinto, Portugal. The exceptional amount of rain that fell in Portugal during the past few weeks/months (as well as a dysfunctional drainage system due to the lack of proper maintenance) caused large parts of the Sao Jacinto reserve to flood. Reportedly, the water level has not been this high since 1995. Most of the lower trails around the pond were flooded, making our work very difficult. This is the main entrance to the reserve.

The trail to the field station, with a water level higher than my rubber boots.

Several of the oaks that I sowed near the pond last year were having a hard time too. Most will survive the flood, I suspect.

Following the rains is a massive outbreak of mosquitoes, making our work in the woods almost unbearable.

Due to the large amount of rainfall, surrounding areas currently are interesting for ducks as well, resulting in a relatively low number of ducks in the ponds of the reserve. At the same time the high water level caused the largest traps to largely disappear under water, meaning our trapping efforts were limited during this stay, as we could only operate a few of the smallest traps.
    

Common teals Anas crecca were most abundant; roughly 650 birds. We only managed to capture seven of these, which was a bit of a disappointment.

  

Regardless of the recent rains, the invasive acacia is currently flowering again as never before.

 

The ducks were still getting the attention of the Goshawks Accipiter gentilis. For them the breeding season has started, meaning the male now has to deliver prey to the female. I could enjoy several hunting hawks around the pond, flushing the ducks repeatedly. This made resighting teal saddles fairly easy, as many would otherwise remain hidden in the vegetation.

The puddles attracted large numbers of frogs; in particular Pelophylax (unidentified green frogs) were abundant, more abundant than there were ducks in the reserve.

During this stay I managed to record two new bird species for my São Jacinto reserve list: this Great Cormorant Phalacrocorax carbo was actively hunting and subsequently drying its wings in the pond, and a calling Carrion Crow Corvus corone, which flew over our heads at the field station.