This species can quite easily be found in the Algarve, notably at the S. Lourenço Golf course hide, (the one that faces north). Officially a migratory species, but one that is increasingly over-wintering in Portugal; those that still migrate arrive in early April, and by mid May the chicks have fledged, though still dependent upon the adults for food, which they call for incessantly. Normal clutch size is 3-4 and they stay till late September before migrating south.

As well as aquatic insects , fish and animals, they habitually predate the Black-headed Weavers' nests - and indeed any other reed-nesting species - and prefer thick reed beds in which they are particularly difficult to find.