It's Wind Birds' 17th anniversary and to celebrate it in these times of furlough and lockdown Catarina & Hugo decided to run a Big (birdwatching) Day to count the most number of species possible on this 2nd of February 2021. Madeira is in lockdown between 19:00 and 5:00 am during weekdays, so we started at sunrise (8:00am) at the westernmost point of Madeira, Ponta do Pargo, and finished at 18:00 at Ponta de São Lourenço, on the easternmost tip. In these 10 hours around Madeira, we drove about 230 km and observed a total of 41 bird species from which 26 species are breeders to the island (below in bold) and 15 are vagrant species:
28th of February 2021 seawatching from Porto Moniz - observed by Michel (NED)
2 Northern Gannet Morus bassanus
19th of February 2021 at Airport's gardens
Grey Plover Pluvialis squatarola - a juvenile bird
White Wagtail Motacilla alba alba
2nd of February 2021 at Ponta do Pargo
Common Buzzard Buteo buteo
Eurasian Collared Dove Streptopelia decaocto
Common Blackbird Turdus merula cabrerae
Common Linnet Carduelis cannabina guentheri
Atlantic Canary Serinus canaria
Red-legged Partridge Alectoris rufa
European Goldfinch Carduelis carduelis parva
Yellow-legged Gull Larus michahellis
Berthelot's Pipit Anthus berthelotii
Meadow Pipit Anthus pratensis
Spectacled warbler Sylvia conspicillata orbitalis
Common Chiffchaff Phylloscopus collybita
Canarian Kestrel Falco tinnunculus canariensis
Eurasian Blackcap Sylvia atricapilla heineken
At Porto Moniz
Trocaz Pigeon Columba trocaz
Madeira Firecrest Regulus madeirensis
Madeiran Chaffinch Fringilla coelebs maderensis
Rock Dove Columba livia
Grey Wagtail Motacilla cinerea schmitzi
3 Cory's Shearwater Calonectris borealis - our first birds of this season, in 5 minutes seawatching from Porto Moniz!
At São Vicente
3 Whimbrel Numenius phaeopus phaeopus
Common Sandpiper Actitis hypoleucos
White Wagtail Motacilla alba alba
Eurasian Coot Fulica atra
At Ribeira Brava
Muscovy Duck Cairina moschata
Lesser Black-backed Gull Larus fuscus
6 Ruddy Turnstone Arenaria interpres
At Funchal
3 Black-headed Gull Chroicocephalus ridibundus
At Águas mansas reservoir, Camacha
6 Northern Shoveler Anas clypeata
2 Eurasian Teal Anas crecca
At Santo da Serra
Common Starling Sturnus vulgaris
European Greenfinch Carduelis chloris
European Robin Erithacus rubecula rubecula
3 Grey Heron Ardea cinerea
Eurasian Wigeon Anas penelope
Tufted Duck Aythya fuligula
At Machico
Common Waxbill Estrilda astrild
Mallard Anas platyrhynchos
Common Moorhen Gallinula chloropus
At Ponta de São Lourenço
Rock Sparrow Petronia petronia petronia
Manx shearwater Puffinus puffinus puffinus - while seawatching for about 20 minutes
There were 3 breeding species we were expecting to watch but did not find them today: Plain Swift, Eurasian Siskin and Eurasian Sparrowhawk
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