Sal Island, Cape Verde- 11^th – 18^th June 2007

by Rob Miles

This was a family holiday to a new destination, the Cape Verde island of Sal. Lying 1000kms southwest of the Canary islands, Cape Verde is the most westerly part of Africa, Senegal being the closest mainland country. The Cape Verde islands are an ex-Portuguese territory that achieved independence in the mid-1990’s.

Sal means "salt" as the only natural resource on this barren island is sea salt evaporated in the "Salinas" outside Pedra Lume.  There is no natural water supply on Sal, all human needs being met by one desalination plant. The landscape is arid, windswept and looks like a film set from Total Recall set on Mars. No water = little wildlife so this is a short report on the few birds seen.

Day 1, Santa Maria

Lots of Iago Sparrows (Passer iagoensis); a close cousin of the House Sparrow but smaller. These were busy feeding newly fledged young and apart from the scraps gleaned from the hotel, were seen feeding on ants and moths throughout the week. 

Day 2, Santa Maria

Same crowd of Iago Sparrows and a pair of House Martins hawking for insects within touching distance; I’m guessing they were using me to flush flies from the agave plants growing alongside the hotel paths, much as birds fly around cattle in English meadows.  No sign all week of the endemic Cape Verde Swifts. There were lots of brightly coloured wasp like insects and some exotic spiders in the hotel gardens, shown below: 

Day 3, Sal Island by taxi

You can see Sal Island in two hours including stops at various points of interest so we found an English speaking taxi driver outside the hotel complex and negotiated a price for the tour. On the coast at Palmeira I was lucky enough to see an Intermediate Egret, much like a Great White Egret but not so big. At an oasis outside Espargos there were a few gaudy brown and orange butterflies flapping around but I didn’t know the species. Driving back to Santa Maria my son James pointed out an island speciality, an Alexander's Kestrel, a race of our own common kestrel, showing really well on an exposed branch of a roadside tree. Later that afternoon I saw another Alexander’s Kestrel in the hotel grounds and was lucky to get a photo.

Day 4

A quiet day by the pool relaxing and reading/swimming; lots of Iago Sparrows for company. 

Day 5 Santa Maria to Ponta do Sino

A taxi ride into Santa Maria was followed by a leisurely walk back to our hotel along the golden surf washed beach.  Taking a short cut across the small sand dunes I was amazed and delighted to come across a family group of Kentish Plovers, a breeding pair with one tiny chick that skittered across the hot sand like a clockwork toy. I left them in peace but was determined to explore the dunes again the next day with my camera. 

Day 5, Ponta do Sino dunes

An afternoon exploring the dunes was richly rewarding. I found a brackish pool and gracing the middle was a resting Whimbrel.

All around the pool was a feeding group of six Kentish Plovers, these were quite approachable and I took several pictures.

Better still, all over the dunes were several foraging Black-crowned Sparrow Larks which completely ignored me so I was able to grab some more photos.

This brought my island bird watching to a satisfactory conclusion; I wasn’t expecting to see many birds and Sal is a birding desert in both senses of the word. The beautifully clear sea was supporting no sea birds at all, no terns, no gulls and the dry and arid nature of this island meant that most of the birds here were probably getting most of their water from their food. There are greener islands in the Cape Verde archipelago, but unless you really want to see the few endemics you’d be better off going somewhere more productive.  I would recommend "Birds of the Atlantic Islands" by Tony Clarke, a Helm field guide, as it covers the Canary Islands, Madeira and the Azores as well as Cape Verde. 

Rob Miles, 20^th June 2007