Woodchat-Shrikes arrival

This male and female Woodchat-Shrikes Lanius senator were my first ones for this year, on a fence, just behind the house. I was kind of surprised - been reminded, that spring is coming - what ever the weather may look like (no further comment regarding this issue...)





Its normal, that first records of trans-Sahara migrants are made here in the Algarve, but this (06-03) is still quite an early date. Medium of first spring-records of the species in the Algarve between 2004 and 2009 has been the 14th of March (Source: SPEA/"Chegadas"-Project, Coordinator: Henk Feith). Some "odd" winter-records stand out - like this past winter, when one has been found around Christmas at the western Algarve coast, for instance. I also reported a male from the 28-12-2001 (already a while ago...) onwards, from Ludo, Faro here which has been an extreme early arrival in my opinion, rather than a wintering bird. Males of course do show up first usually. In 2009 I saw my first Woodchat-Shrike (male) on the 2nd of March near Salir, Central Algarve.