Madeira Day 2

Palheiro Gardens

32.663554, -16.871306

For our second and third day we hired a car so that we could explore more of the island and see as many island endemics as we could. Our first port of call was the Palheiro Gardens, in northern Funchal, to try for Madeiran Firecrest and Trocaz Pigeon. We found both species to be quite abundant around the gardens. At first we found the pigeons quite flighty and difficult to connect with, but as the morning wore on we soon found birds waddling around the lawns. In addition to the species endemics, we also connected with a number of the islands subspecies; maderensis Chaffinch, cabrerae Blackbird and granti Sparrowhawk.

In addition to the birds, the garden had a lot of other wildlife to offer, including our only amphibian of the trip; Perez’s Frog. We also enjoyed a wide variety of butterflies on the flowering borders including Monarch and the endemic Madeiran Grayling. We moved on from the garden late morning, and headed off to the north side of the island.

-Madeiran Firecrest

-Perez's Frog

-Monarch

-Clouded Yellow

-Trocaz Pigeon

Species List:

Palheiro Gardens: Common Buzzard, Eurasian Kestrel, Eurasian Sparrowhawk, Trocaz Pigeon, Feral Pigeon, Plain Swift, Common Chaffinch, Eurasian Blackcap, Madeiran Firecrest, Common Blackbird, European Robin, Madeiran Wall Lizard, Perez’s Frog, Lang’s Short-tailed Blue, Clouded Yellow, Speckled Wood, Madeiran Grayling, Monarch, Small White,

Porto Moniz

32.867846, -17.169424

We headed north to the town of Porto Moniz for an afternoon of Seawatching. The drive took us through the mountains with some spectacular scenery where we had a handful of Trocaz Pigeons fly across the road, as well as flocks of Atlantic Canaries adorning the roadside wires.

Once we arrived in Porto Moniz We set up on the seafront near the outdoor swimming pool and spent a solid five hours staring out to sea. Cory’s Shearwaters and Bulwer’s Petrels made up the vast majority of the birds. Ruddy Turnstone and Sanderling were both welcome additions to the trip list, as was a young Peregrine that was watched pursuing a Whimbrel, the latter frequently ditching itself into the waves in an attempt to evade the predator. From beneath the waves we also spotted the protruding dorsal fin of at least three Scalloped Hammerhead Sharks. Due to the choppiness of the waves it was difficult to make out anything more than the fins, but from what we saw and what we have read about sharks in Madeira, we are confident that they were this species.

Around the town itself there were more birds; Atlantic Canaries were abundant in the fig plantations, and there were also Eurasian Blackcap and cabrerae Blackbird. The day took a rather unfortunate turn on the way back when our hire car broke down, but fortunately we were rescued by the company in fairly good time. We arrived back in Funchal early evening, in good time for the evenings stag do.

-Atlantic Canary

-Cory's Shearwater

Species List:

Porto Moniz: Cory’s Shearwater, Bulwer’s Petrel, Yellow-legged Gull, Ruddy Turnstone, Sanderling, Whimbrel, Peregrine, Plain Swift, Trocaz Pigeon, Feral Pigeon, Atlantic Canary, Common Blackbird, Eurasian Blackcap,