Low Key Family Holiday to Portugal

As the title suggests, this was a very low key, non-birding, family holiday to Portugal. On such trips I always bring my bins and superzoom camera and like to see what birds I come across en passant. We were staying in a town house in Sintra, a mountainous region to the west of Lisbon and on the border of the Park Natural de Sintra-Cascais, a large national park. We didn't have a car as there were so many things to see and do just in the local area so we made use of Bolt (an Uber-like private hire service) which is very cheap in Portugal. Most of our trips were to local palaces (which abound in the area) and their associated gardens. These were good to see and I was expecting to see at least some birdage in these locations. However, the main theme of the holiday was just how birdless it all was. I don't know if it is the extreme drought conditions which have driven everything away but it was hard work to see anything at all. Each morning I would sit with a cup of tea on the balcony of our property which is in a nicely wooded area, looking to see what I might see. 

The "Tower of Mordor" (Pena Palace actually), viewed from the house balcony

 

The list was modest to say the least. The highlight in the garden itself was a nice Firecrest which I would see most days. We looked out onto the mountain top of Pena Palace which was a nicely wooded mountain top. I kept expecting to see raptors of some kind over there but saw nothing. In fact the only raptor I saw the entire visit was a Buzzard one day at the Palace of Monserrate. In terms of garden fly-overs it was mostly Wood Pigeons with a couple of Starling species which I assume were Spotless Starling from the Collins distribution maps (Common Starling is only a winter visitor and marked "rare" on eBird for the region). Short-toed Treecreeper were relatively common in the area as were Nuthatch. There was a Blackcap one day (apparently resident all year around in the area according to Collins), with Jays, Tits and Great Spotted Woodpecker also to be seen. At night we would hear Tawny Owls calling nearby

Walking around town I saw quite a few Black Redstart and one morning saw a couple of Crag Martins. There were a few Swifts still around including a pair of what looked like Pallid Swifts. Apart from that the only hirundines I saw were a couple of House Martins. In one of the parks there was a small pool where various birds were coming for a drink. In a short time there I saw a Nuthatch, a Black Redstart and a Serin.

Black Redstarts were relatively common

One day we went down to the coast to meet up with an old family friend from Oxford. There, I saw a few Yellow-legged Gulls and a single Lesser Black-backed type of gull. I didn't get a photo of it and the Collins distribution maps would seem to suggest that it is usually a winter visitor to this area. In one of the local parks I came across something that I didn't immediately recognise and had to look up. It turned out to be a Crested Myna. This is a species of Chinese Starling that has been accidentally released in some other areas, such as Portugal where it has now established a feral population. According to Wikipedia: "[Crested Myna] was discovered breeding around Lisbon, Portugal in 1997. They are now established on both sides of the Tagus estuary to the west of Lisbon and also on the Setubal Peninsula". In fact, terms of most interesting species seen on this holiday, this probably takes the award. Another feral species that was present in numbers were the Ring-necked Parakeets that were to be found in Lisbon.

A stock photo of a Crested Myna, copyright the original owner

There were a few Odonata around including some Willow Emeralds, a Southern Hawker by the House and a few Keeled Skimmer.

What I assume is a Willow Emerald

A Keeled Skimmer

All in all I managed a paltry 34 bird species on my holiday list and that was including some dodgy ducks in one of the ponds. So quite a remarkably birdless holiday! I would like to have a proper birding holiday on the Iberian peninsula at some point as there are lots of good species to be seen.