For our fourth day of birding we travelled close to the border with Spain. We started birding at Castro Marim and visited the Castro Marim Nature Reserve visitors centre. The highlights here were a Spanish Imperial eagle and a short-toed snake eagle. There were more saltpans at Santa Luzia and then a study in gulls as we ate our picnic lunch beside the river ar Santa Luzia near Tavira.
On the way home we stopped off near Vilamoura to search for small birds in the pine forests which border the Atlantic coast.
In the pine forests near Vilamoura, as well as views of the golf course, we saw siskins, more marsh harriers across the marshes and a glimpse of the beautiful beaches here.
A black-winged kite from the coach near the hotel neatly finished off our day
Another very full day and again a very rewarding one.
72 species observed
Greater Flamingo; Little Grebe; Common Woodpigeon; Collared Dove; Common Moorhen; Eurasian Coot; Stone-curlew ; Black-winged Stilt; Pied Avocet; Eurasian Oystercatcher ; Grey Plover; Common Ringed Plover; Northern Lapwing; Kentish Plover; Whimbrel; Black-tailed Godwit; Common Redshank; Spotted Redshank; Common Greenshank ; Ruddy Turnstone; Ruff; Sanderling; Dunlin; Little Stint ; Black-headed Gull; Audouin’s Gull; Yellow-legged Gull; Lesser Black-backed Gull ; Caspian Tern; Sandwich Tern ; White Stork; Great Cormorant; Little Egret; Western Cattle Egret ; Great White Egret ; Grey Heron ; Glossy Ibis; Eurasian Spoonbill, Osprey; Black-winged Kites; Short-toed Eagle; Booted Eagle; Western Marsh Harrier; Common Buzzard; Eurasian Hoopoe ; Common Kestrel ; Iberian Magpie; Common Magpie; Crested Tit; Great Tit; Crested Lark; Zitting Cisticola; Barn Swallow; Western House Martin; Common Chiffchaff; Sardinian Warbler ; Short-toed Treecreeper; Spotless Starling; Eurasian Blackbird; European Stonechat; House Sparrow; Spanish Sparrow; Pied Wagtail/White Wagtail; Yellow wagtail; Water Pipit; Common Chaffinch; European Greenfinch; Common Linnet; European Goldfinch; European Serin ; Eurasian Siskin; Corn Bunting
Martin's Bird Blog & Nature Photos 
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