Madeira Press Kit - Associação de Promoção da Madeira

BIRDWATCHING BIRDWATCHING BIRDWATCHING IN IN IN MADEIRA MADEIRA
MADEIRA
Bird Watching is an activity which has more than 80 million adepts over the world. In the
last years, this activity has developed greatly in Madeira, due to the excellent conditions
for its practice.
In Madeira archipelago there are 42 breeding species and three of them are endemic to
Madeira Island: the Zino’s Zino’s Pe Petrel Pe
trel trel (Petrodroma madeira) the most threatened seabird of
Europe that only breeds on the highest mountains of Madeira; the Madeira Madeira Laurel Laurel Pigeon
Pigeon
(Columba trocaz) that is strongly associated with Laurel Forest where it feeds from the
Laurel berries; and the Madeira Firecrest (Regulus ignicapillus madeirensis) the smallest
bird that occurs on the archipelago. Besides these species there are also four birds that
only exists on Macaronesia (bio geographic region which includes Madeira, Azores, Canary
and Cape Verde archipelagos): the Feae’s Petrel (Pterodroma feae) seabird that only
breeds on Desertas Islands, in Bugio, and Cape Verde; the Canary Canary (Serinus canaria) one of
the most common birds on Madeira that also exists on Azores and Canaries; the
Berthelot’s Berthelot’s Berthelot’s Pip Pipit Pip it (Anthus berthelotii) and the Plain Plain Swift Swift (Apus unicolor) both only occur
in the archipelagos of Madeira and Canaries.
But the total number of birds that could be observed here is much higher, probably
around 220 species.
The numbers of European birdwatchers that visit the Madeira archipelago have increased
in recent years and one of the reasons is the excellent opportunity for watching seabirds
from the mainland or boat crossings between the nearby islands. In Madeira it is possible
to find several seabirds that are not use to be found in other European regions such as
Cory’s Shearwater (Calonectris diomedea), Little Shearwater (Puffinus assimilis) and
Madeira Storm Petrel (Oceanodroma castro). Madeira Archipelago offers excellent
conditions to birdwatchers, not only in terms of breeding birds but also vagrants. Here is
our breeding species and subspecies:
Madeira Madeira Endemic Endemic SSpecies
S
pecies
Zino's Petrel (Pterodroma madeira)
Trocaz Pigeon (Columba trocaz)