It was Aletta’s Vleitinktinkie post which inspired this one as I promised her I would find out a little bit more about cisticolas. They are a bird MrB and I loved watching in southern Portugal, partly because of the name of the one seen in Portugal (Zitting Cisticola) and partly because they were not always easy to observe. We loved a challenge!
My research began with a search of my own photographic records. I wanted to remind myself what the Zitting Cisticola looked like, and immediately this fabulous shot came up.
It is one of my favourite photographs of a cisticola, and was taken in January 2022 on one of our favourite Algarvian hikes. It was the next photograph however that made me gulp. It was of a page in one of MrB’s Portuguese notebooks. I had taken a few photographs of some of the pages shortly before I moved just in case I lost the journals in storage or worse in a fire. He kept a journal when we were in Portugal. A valuable resource for us both when recollecting trips and wildlife sightings, and now a bittersweet memory of him and our Portuguese adventures.
I’ve added a second page above so you have the complete tale of our 5km walk and in a moment I will share my photographs from the day so you have a pictorial record as well as MrB’s words. First though I must answer the question that Aletta and I were discussing as his journal doesn’t answer it!
Cisticolas are found are widespread in Afro-Eurasia’s tropical and sub-tropical regions, but not the Americas. Africa is home to all but two of the species, and is considered the ancestral home of the group.
You may recall from my only post last year that we stayed in Alcaria Ruiva for a few days and completely fell in love with the village. The surrounding countryside offered huge opportunities for birding, and we had planned to return for a longer visit. We didn’t explore as much as we had hoped because within a few hours of our arrival the Saharan sands swept in which restricted what we could do. However we did manage a couple of short strolls and the gallery below are just a few of the photographs I took on the stroll that MrB describes above.
By the way if you are wondering where my photographs of the Egyptian mongooses are, there aren’t any!
After we spotted the tail of the first one as it ran across the path I stood for ages with the camera to my eye just in case it returned. Eventually we decided it had gone, and so I brought the camera down. At which point of course a second one followed! So up came the camera again in case they were more. We could hear them in the undergrowth but impossible to see them. We waited, and waited some more. Surely they would return or one of them would show enough of themselves as they moved in and out of the undergrowth to the left of us. Then all became silent, and eventually I brought the camera back down. After a few minutes we walked on and at the top of a short slope a few yards beyond we stopped again. The view were wonderful, and constantly changing sky so big.
As we stood there soaking in the world around us we heard some noises. It was the mongoose again. We looked back but no sign of them and the noises were lessening so I kept the camera down. Then suddenly the two of them ran back the other way across the path. I still didn’t get a photograph. Not even a blurred shot!
I do though have the memory of the incident, although in my two year old memory there were only two mongoose not three. So thank goodness I also have MrB’s journal notes. I also have photographs of various paw prints (which may or may not be of the mongoose), which bring back memories of our shared laughter at my frustration at how well the mongoose had avoided me and my camera.
It wasn’t a long walk as we had yet to sit down with the maps to figure a circular walk and were concerned if we kept following the road we might end up in Mértola. Not a problem going there, it’s a fascinating town, but it would mean a very long hike back! So we walked back to the village, with the plan of venturing out again in the early evening. And we are so glad we did as the sun came out properly later on.
It is the morning adventures though that are stronger in my memory. The short stroll taxed us both mentally, me with my photography (wasn’t just the mongoose, I had also been struggling with focusing on the raptors, later realised there were Saharan sands in air in the morning and it affects the camera) and MrB with his bird identification! Just look at his face when he was intensely pondering what we had been watching above us. I miss him so much.
Writing this post has not been easy, and looking through the journal and curating the photographs even harder. However I am so pleased I have somehow managed to do it, and I am hopeful that I will be able to return to the journal and albums another day to create another post later this year. Combining MrB’s words with my photographs would be a rather lovely way to ease myself back into posting on this travel blog.