Showing posts with label Portugal. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Portugal. Show all posts

Saturday, 3 August 2013

Myna dip

Crested Myna... sadly not..

Too busy before my recent brief trip to Portugal to get to grips with the range of exotic species breeding in and around Lisbon, I was unaware until too late that there is an easy Crested Myna roost just across the Tejo estuary at Barreiro. Galling, especially since I had driven past the area at the right time of day. Ah well, can only blame myself for not doing my research thoroughly enough. Anyway, on last morning of the trip I decided to combine some gull photography along the Lisbon shoreline with a check of a few shoreline parks to see whether any of the mynas has make it across the water for the morning.
Its a Common Myna
Amazingly, in the very first area that I checked, the row of palms along Rua Arameiros just East of the Praça do Comércio, I heard the distinctive voice of a singing myna. At first I assumed that the bird was captive and that I could hear it through an open window (there is plenty of birdsong to be heard this way in Lisbon), but after a careful search I found a Common Myna singing its heart out. Well, not a Crestie but a myna nevertheless, and as soon as it is upgraded to Category C in Portugal (not sure how likely this is...) I'll be popping it on my WP list!
Singing away in Lisbon

I'd seen a few species of mynas earlier in the month with Common Myna, White-vented Myna and Hill Myna regular species in Singapore and Malaysia.

Common Myna in Malaysia earlier in the month
White-vented Myna in Singapore Botanic Gardens
Hill Myna on Pulau Tioman, Malaysia - big, noisy, but shy birds

Friday, 2 August 2013

Mediterranean Gulls in Edinburgh and Lisbon

Unringed adult Mediterranean Gull at Seafield, Edinburgh, 2 Aug 2013
Well, I hadn't seen a Mediterranean Gull this year so was pleased that a few were loafing on the sloping front at the Monument to the Discoveries in Lisbon earlier in the week. Just like buses, of course, as soon as I am back in Edinburgh another one pops up with this nice adult at Seafield today. That's my ninth species of gull at the site this year (GBBG, LBBG, HG, CommonG, BhG, Glauc, Kittiwake, Little Gull & Med) – here's to the tenth, whatever it may be!

Today's Med Gull (centre) enjoying the delights of the Seafield shoreline
Juvenile Mediterranean Gull in Lisbon on 28 July 2013 - not a Portuguese breeding species as far as I know... I wonder how far this one has travelled since fledging...
First summer (2CY) Mediterranean Gull in Lisbon on 28 July 2012
Mediterranean and Black-headed Gull comparison

Wednesday, 31 July 2013

Ring-billed Portugull, Lisbon 30 July 2013


Having just returned from a two week family holiday in Spain and Portugal I thought that I would post this beauty first - a moulting first summer to second winter Ring-billed Gull on the seafront at the Praça do Comércio in Lisbon. This unexpected transatlantic bonus was pretty much the last bird that I saw on the whole trip and was the successful conclusion to a short gull photographing stroll along the front.

This individual seemed quite large, so presumably is a male as it did not seem that much smaller than a nearby lusitanius Yellow-legged Gull, more of which in a future post...