A Dissimulation of birds

My apologies to all my nature followers out there as it has been over a month since I last shared a birding post. You can thank MrB for this one today as he found for me this week another fabulous book on collective nouns and one of the first I came across was ‘a dissimulation of birds’.

Ripples as the tide comes in
Such big birds!
Coming into their summer plumage
And the legs of a Black Winged Stilt behind!
All coming into their summer plumage
They dart in front of us as we walk through the saltpans

The first gallery were all spotted in a couple of hours in the saltpans near our apartment. These saltpans are a favourite birding location for us because of the ease for visiting, and the range and numbers of birds seen. However the increase in tourists who use it for running and walking is beginning to have a negative impact. For example last winter the number of flamingos visiting dropped significantly because they were continually disturbed by tourists.Dunlins

The second gallery was taken a day or two later in one of the most popular locations for birders РLagoa de Ṣo Louren̤o. Again it only took a couple of hours to see all of these. You can visit anytime, but get here early if you wish to avoid crowds in the hides and have a chance of seeing the Little Bittern or Water Rail. It was late morning by the time we visited, which is why we saw neither on this occasion. For their names simply hover your mouse over the photographs, but to enjoy them in full I recommend clicking on the gallery.

To discover more on these birds search Sultana Bird on my blog
Just look at those legs
again I have written in-depth posts on these amazing birds
She had two
They have a yellow tip compared to the white on a baby coot, plus no yellow ruff or red head
Busy preening
Once an exotic now resident in the Algarve
Might be brown but just look at that shading
Glorious
Looking the wrong way!

We did actually see more than I have shared here, but the variety and the odd rarity in these photographs I hope gets across why the Ria Formosa is considered a bird-watching hotspot. For more information on bird-watching in the Algarve I’d recommend picking up a copy of this 2012 publication produced by the Algarve tourist board, alternatively do explore my blog as over the past few years I have shared quite a few bird posts!Slender Billed Gull and Dunlins

Author: BeckyB

It had been a good life walking, cooking, photographing, volunteering, blogging, and best of all spending time with MrB, family, & friends. Sadly it is no longer what it was, as suddenly and unexpectedly I became a widow.

25 thoughts

  3. Beautiful birds, and great photos capturing them as well. I’ve not been good at spotting them myself, although there are good places to spot them here. I think you’ve inspired me to try harder!

    1. If you delay hopping on board that a plane for a couple of weeks you will then have the opportunity to bump into restless Jo as well as seeing all the birds!

  7. Such wonderful bird photos – makes me quite envious. I can’t tell you just how much I have enjoyed these, and I have shown them to all my friends who’ve called round.

    1. oh thank you so so much 🙂 we are just so lucky where we go that there are so many and so many of them are happy to be photographed

  9. You’ll have to find a new location, but this isn’t bad if you’re quick off the mark. 🙂 🙂
    Hope yesterday went ok. Sending hugs!

        1. yay!!! have to make it happen then xxx

          Must dash now out into the rain – boring morning in town but hopefully fun with Mum this afternoon

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