São Jacinto ducks: a Lesser Scaup and more… (December 19 – 21)

Back from three days of duck related work at the São Jacinto reserve (Portugal). Ducks were abundant and our catches were very reasonable and diverse; enough to keep us very busy. Most remarkable catch was this Lesser Scaup Aythya affinis, a North American species, certainly not very common in Portugal.  

Lesser Scaup Aythya affinis male

Tufted Duck Aythya fuligula female

Male Lesser Scaup Aythya affinis. More photos will appear on the pt-duck website in the near future (http://www.pt-ducks.com)

Tufted Duck Aythya fuligula female

Little Grebe Tachybaptus ruficollis; we always catch at least one.

Remember this bird? It’s an adult Common Moorhen Gallinula chloropus with poorly developed primaries in its wings. We caught this particular individual earlier on November 26, 2012, while it was still in its first year (http://www.timvannus.blogspot.pt/2012/12/good-times-november-26-30-sao-jacinto.html).  It appears that flying is not a necessity for a Moorhen...

The ponds were packed with ducks.

Chiffchaffs Phylloscopus collybita were extremely abundant during our stay. It's a common wintering bird in Portugal.

During observations there’s always this panic moment, usually involving a Goshawk...

After a failed attempt to grab a Wigeon this Goshawk decided to join me in the observations for a while.

Reservoir ducks, cormorants and a daytime bat in Matsuyama, Japan

On December 2 a few freshwater reservoirs on a hill a few kilometers north of our place in Matsuyama were visited, in the hopes of finding some new duck species. The first bird to get my attention there was an adult Cormorant (the bird on the left of the two above) that managed to catch a big Pumpkinseed (Lepomis gibbosus), a North American freshwater fish. I’m not sure whether this is a Temminck’s or a Great Cormorant Phalacrocorax capillatus/P. carbo. Its white facial patch is not as pronounced as I’d expect from a Temminck’s. The bird on the right is an immature Temminck’s.












While scoping out the cormorants’ successful catch, there was a bat foraging above the same pond. For about half an hour it appeared to be catching prey from the water surface, possibly with its hind legs, as the third photo shows. In between foraging flights it regularly perched against the side of a concrete wall adjacent to the water.










There were plenty of ducks present at two of the four reservoirs. Besides 17 Eurasian Teals Anas crecca and a single Mallard Anas platyrhynchos, I recorded 11 Common Pochards Aythya ferina, 17 Tufted Ducks Aythya fuligula, 30 Northern Shovelers Anas clypeata and (the highlight of my visit) a single Mandarin Duck Aix galericulata male.














Red-eared slider Trachemys scripta elegans. Native to the southern United States and northern Mexico, but also present in impressive numbers in all freshwaters I’ve seen in Japan thus far.




My borrowed bike.

São Jacinto ducks: February 6 – 8

During these three days I assisted David Rodrigues (http://www.pt-ducks.com ) again in trapping and marking “patos” at the São Jacinto duck pond. Our captures were reasonable, at least in my opinion, with about 40 or so new Common Teals Anas crecca in our traps, as well as a few recaptures. Additionally, two Little Grebes Tachybaptus ruficollis and two Common Moorhens Gallinula chloropus ended up in our traps, of which only one Moorhen carried a ring. Considering the number of Little Grebes and – Moorhens that have been ringed at the pond during the last months, it was a bit surprising we only got only one recapture among these four birds. I suspect that most of our previously ringed birds were migrants and these are now elsewhere (although some Moorhens may have ended up as Common Genet Genetta genetta food it seemed)  

Most of the Mallards have dispersed by now, which considerably reduced the amount of time we needed to spend on our captures. This gave us to opportunity to clear up the trails from numerous fallen trees and other storm damage. I also trimmed some Acacia longifolia, a fast growing invasive, which after a recent forest fire has almost completely taken over the reserve (https://estudogeral.sib.uc.pt/bitstream/10316/18181/1/HeliaMarchante%20PhD%20thesis.pdf).  Its flowers are very nice, however… 

Although there was not much diversity in our captures, the number of duck species present at the pond was large; especially Eurasian Wigeons Anas penelope and Gadwalls Anas strepera are abundant at the moment, but we also observed an interesting number of Northern Shovelers Anas clypeata, as well as a few Tufted Ducks Aythya fuligula. Unfortunately, none of these ended up in our traps.

A marked Tufted Duck on the left and on the right my first observed marked Gadwall.

 

Eurasian Coots Fulica atra are common in São Jacinto’s ponds and nest there. David informed me their first clutch usually is succesful, but later layers will face low water levels and eventually the stray dogs.