Birds in Portugal 6

On a drive to the center of Lisbon we stopped at a few towns and regularly came across buildings with lots of mud nests under their roofs. Most House Martins are done raising their young in August, but some could be seen with a 2nd or maybe 3rd batch

House Sparrows sneak in when the original tenants are gone.

Back in Lisbon I noticed these Rose-ringed Parakeets in an abandoned building site

The city parks were crowded with tourists seeking refuge from the heat and there were no birds to speak of

At the same place: 2 Collard Doves

And a juv Black Redstart 

Other very common birds, but a bit unusual for me after all these years on the other side of the globe:

House Sparrow, female and male

White Wagtail

And of course the Blackbird, male

and a young female

Last our neighbors in the harbor, female Mallards

And the tenants of the pond across the road

Birds in Portugal 5

Towards the end of the day, at the south side of the estuary we saw this special bird,
the Squacco Heron. It looked for a while as though we were going to miss out on it, but we did get lucky after all

It was in that farm area and I looked for Cattle Egret doing their thing like riding a cow...

...but all I got was one on a horse...

Below 2 Iberian Grey Shrikes.

 There was a Woodchat Shrike as well. Unfortunately I didn't get a good picture.

And that was the end of a long birding day with thanks to local guide Helder

Bye bye 

Birds in Portugal 4

The dirt roads were dry and dusty. A flock of Sand Martins gathered here and obviously found something to eat.

 

Barn Swallows

Small birds in the reeds and dry bush included Common Linnets (left) and African refugee Yellow-crowned Bishop (right)

 

And the Spotless Starling

Perfect for the Common Buzzard

And, seen from far: Black-winged Kite

Towards the greener pastures : a small number of  Gull-billed Terns