Ria Formosa during winter

A perfect place for a walk and to look for some waders... marches, salt pans, desert beaches, no boats or even stressed people. Just Nature and fisherman's villages.
Find more information about tours in the barrier islands of Faro and Olhão in here.

About seabirds…

Gannet (Morus bassanus) courtesy of Mar Ilimitado

Seabirds are considered those birds that spend most of their time in ocean, coming to land only for nest.
They feed on sea, capturing fishes on the surface normally associated with schools of larger pelagic. For the fisherman they can be a good indicator of fish, for example tuna fish.
In this group you can find, for example the gannets, petrels and shearwaters.

Shearwaters are superb flyers and travel large distances on sea. On the other way, are unable to walk well on land. In a way to avoid predators, they return land during the night and spend their time on burrows.
Gannets are among the most spectaculars sights in European bird watching. Breeding in small number, but in large colonies, normally choose small offshore island to put their eggs.
You can find more information about these birds in Portuguese coast in here.

Source: Hayman, P. , Hume,R. , 2007. Bird, the ultimate illustrated guide to the birds of Brittain and Europe.

Hume, P. , 2006. Birds of Britain and Europe.

Unusual number of Glaucus gull and Iceland gull

Glaucus gull (Larus hyperboreus) and Iceland gull (Laurus glaucoides) were observed in Portuguese coast in an uncommon number. Normally we only see one or two individuals of this species, but this winter, were registered 7/8 of each specie.
There’s still no scientific explanation for this behaviour.
Source: Fábrica de Conteúdos

Children observe the first arrivals of migratory birds

On 1 February 2009 the annual Spring Alive Campaign has been launched by the Partnership of BirdLife International in Europe. ‘Spring Alive’ invites children of the age of 8 to 12 to enjoy and marvel at the return of some of the most fascinating migratory birds to Europe. Through the Spring Alive website, children from all over Europe are asked to record their first sightings of the White Stork Ciconia ciconia, Barn Swallow Hirundo rustica, Common Swift Apus apus and Common Cuckoo Cuculus canorus.
By attracting and uniting European children and their relatives in experiencing nature, Spring Alive aims at contributing to citizen science. Through the observations - which the children and/or their teachers communicate through the Spring Alive website - scientists hope to see whether these four bird species arrive earlier in Europe than previously, thus indicating an increase in temperature in European countries. That way, Spring Alive could contribute to raising awareness for climate change amongst Europe’s youth.

Ask for more information in here and join this large campaingne.

Source: BirdLife European Division, OTOP (BirdLife in Poland)

Bird of the year in Portugal

Every year are elected “birds of the year” by several organizations around the world in a way to call for attention to real facts for wildlife conservation and their habitats.
In 2009 SPEA (Portuguese Society for the Study of Birds) has chosen the Woodchat Shrike Lanius senator as the “Bird of the Year 2009”. This decision will be associated with another project “Semear o Futuro II – uma agricultura com biodiversidade” in a way to join biodiversity with farming.
The woodchat shrike is very easy to find in Alentejo, Portugal, during the summer, but is also distributed along the Portuguese territory and also in the inner Algarve. It’s very easy to identify, being mostly black and white but with a broad red patch on the crown and nape. Normally stands on top of bushes, trees and fences, feeding of insects and small lizards.

In this new year of 2009 we wish to those that enjoy the Nature, a lot of birds in the sky, on marshlands, saltpans or inland and good opportunities to do some bird-watching!
Visit our webpage and find new ideas for bird-watching all over the Algarve: in Ria Formosa, Tavira, Castro Marim, Sagres, you can do a trip by boat or during a pedestrian trail.
Join us and learn more about some specific characteristics of these extraordinary animals.

Evidence of a new specie of storm-petrel in Azores

The first time that they talked about the evidence of a two seasonally breading populations of Oceanodroma storm-petrel in the Azores Islands was in 1996. Recent mtDNA and microsatellite analysis from storm-petrel populations has considerably advanced the understanding of their taxonomic relationships.
The investigators concluded that the hot-season Azores population should be considered a new specie. The species is both genetically distinct and genetically isolated from the cool-season population of Madeira Storm-petrel Oceanodroma castro.
The name suggested for this species is Monteiro strom-petrel Oceanodroma monteiroi.
Differences in the vocalizations permit species recognition, and the extent of primary feather wear and stage of moult aids to the separation of this specie, especially in during August. Monteiro's Storm-petrel is thought to be confined to the Azores archipelago, where it is currently known to nest on just two small neighboring islets. The total population size was estimated at 250–300 pairs in 1999.
For more detail, please consult:
Monteiro's Storm-petrel Oceanodroma monteiroi: a new species from the Azores. MARK BOLTON, ANDREA L. SMITH, ELENA GÓMEZ-DÍAZ, VICKI L. FRIESEN, RENATA MEDEIROS, JOËL BRIED, JOSE L. ROSCALES & ROBERT W. FURNESS