After Vlieland, I still had some days off and was hoping to get away somewhere warmer. I had more or less decided on the Algarve anyway, when news of an immature Red-footed Booby hanging around Sagres harbour sealed the deal. I arrived into Sagres late in the afternoon with little time before it got dark so decided to check out the harbour quicky and there it was, sitting on a buoy. Of course, I didn't have my camera with me but at least it was still around. The following morning, I checked out the Ponta da Atalaia headland with its abundant Thekla Larks, and the very first bird I saw out to sea was the booby going off to fish, followed by lots of Gannets plus a few Balearic Shearwaters, which was a lifer for me earlier this year in Spain. By the time I got back to the harbour, this time with my camera, the booby had returned from its fishing foray and was back on its favourite buoy.
Not a lifer since I'd already seen them in Hawai'i, this was my second booby in the WP, the first being a Brown Booby I saw on the Jordanian side of the Gulf of Aqaba from Eilat's North Beach. The next two days were mainly spent at the Cabranosa migration watchpoint although the strong south-westerlies meant that little was migrating apart from Chaffinches. Once the wind changed, however, we did get a nice group of 65 Griffon Vultures, as well as two Black Storks. I created a bit of a stir amongst the local birders by relocating a juvenile Red-backed Shrike, apparently very rare in this part of Portugal, and some seawatching from the scenic Cabo de São Vicente, the south-western tip of mainland Europe, gave me my best-ever look at some Great Skuas. I had hoped for a Great Shearwater or two but I knew the chances were small so I had to content myself with a few distant Cory's and my only lifer of the trip being this Austaut's Blue, the southern Mediterranean equivalent of our Common Blue.
