Southern Portugal & SW Spain Tripreport February 2016

Portugal, Spain, Andorra

Re: Southern Portugal & SW Spain Tripreport February 2016

Postby Thomas Bader » Mon Mar 07, 2016 10:18 pm

Excellent Bob (between boobs),
I really like the Pelodytes, Excellent shots. And the emys is a highlight, so rare there, and the purple hen... Perfect.
Love to see a glimpse of spring in snowy Austria
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Re: Southern Portugal & SW Spain Tripreport February 2016

Postby Thomas Reich » Tue Mar 08, 2016 10:42 am

Once again a pleasure to read your excellent report, Bobby. The list of species you found is really impressive. Did you find a significant number of snakes out on the ground or mostly by turning stones? That second natterjack looks great!
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Re: Southern Portugal & SW Spain Tripreport February 2016

Postby Jeroen Speybroeck » Tue Mar 08, 2016 3:14 pm

Very nice, guys!

Strange that there was no Salamandra about in December around the sandy area ponds, while you found two. Maybe we were too focused on all those other species back then...
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Re: Southern Portugal & SW Spain Tripreport February 2016

Postby Martti Niskanen » Tue Mar 08, 2016 9:09 pm

Great stuff!
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Re: Southern Portugal & SW Spain Tripreport February 2016

Postby Rob Andriessen » Tue Mar 08, 2016 9:43 pm

Cool, looks like a great trip!
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Re: Southern Portugal & SW Spain Tripreport February 2016

Postby Niklas Ban » Wed Mar 09, 2016 4:14 pm

Good start and many snakes for this time of the year. I hope the season starts soon in my area.
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Re: Southern Portugal & SW Spain Tripreport February 2016

Postby Bobby Bok » Thu Mar 10, 2016 5:38 pm

Thanks again for the nice comments everyone!

Frank Paul Fietz wrote:Very nice pictures that bring sun and warmth to us.
I´m looking forward to similar findings in autumn.


I am sure in autumn you will be able to find plenty of interesting animals around even tough the amphibians will be tricky. A great area for herping!

Thomas Bader wrote:Excellent Bob (between boobs),
I really like the Pelodytes, Excellent shots. And the emys is a highlight, so rare there, and the purple hen... Perfect.
Love to see a glimpse of spring in snowy Austria


The Emys was definitely a highlight for me! On several trips I have been trying to see this subspecies but never managed to get more than a brief glimpse. To be finally able to observe them on close range (and even photograph!) was great. Also the density of Emys was quite high. Between the basking Trachemys I saw at least five Emys and only one (!) Mauremys.

Thomas Reich wrote:Once again a pleasure to read your excellent report, Bobby. The list of species you found is really impressive. Did you find a significant number of snakes out on the ground or mostly by turning stones? That second natterjack looks great!


Most snakes were flipped but several were out, 2 out of 3 Malpolon were seen crawling around and at Carrapateira we found more snakes basking between small shrubs than under the magic stone pile I photographed. And the natterjacks are so variable at this site, really great!

Jeroen Speybroeck wrote:Very nice, guys!

Strange that there was no Salamandra about in December around the sandy area ponds, while you found two. Maybe we were too focused on all those other species back then...


I think it might be the latter, we found larvae of Fire Salamander in those ephemeral puddles, as we did in December. So surely the animals must have been out before. Also conditions were far from what you would call ideal. Very, very windy, quite cold and only a bit of rain.

Cheers everyone!
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Re: Southern Portugal & SW Spain Tripreport February 2016

Postby Jeroen Speybroeck » Thu Mar 10, 2016 9:28 pm

Bobby Bok wrote:The Emys was definitely a highlight for me! On several trips I have been trying to see this subspecies but never managed to get more than a brief glimpse. To be finally able to observe them on close range (and even photograph!) was great. Also the density of Emys was quite high. Between the basking Trachemys I saw at least five Emys and only one (!) Mauremys.

WIth Menorca in mind (compare the reports on Bobby's website), I wonder how that situation will evolve... :?
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Re: Southern Portugal & SW Spain Tripreport February 2016

Postby Ronald Zimmerman » Sat Apr 09, 2016 5:16 pm

Same trip, different perspective.. Here is the link to my report:
http://ronaldzimmerman.nl/southern-port ... pain-2016/

Moorish Gecko (Tarentola mauritanica)
Image

Southern Smooth Snake (Coronella girondica)
Image

Stripeless Tree Frog (Hyla meridionalis)
Image

Mediterranean Chameleon (Chamaeleo chamaeleon)
Image

Western Montpellier Snake (Malpolon monspessulanus)
Image
Website: http://www.ronaldzimmerman.nl
Feel free to follow/Like my Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/ronaldzimmerman.nl/
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Re: Southern Portugal & SW Spain Tripreport February 2016

Postby Matthijs Hollanders » Mon Apr 11, 2016 9:09 am

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