Incidental birding in Lisbon
We spent a few days in Lisbon in early October, our first time in the beautiful and cosmopolitan capital of Portugal. Man, it was nominally a city break to celebrate our 32nd wedding anniversary, which was earlier in the year. There had been the notion of perhaps heading up to the Tagus Estuary Nature Reserve to see the flamingos, but we didn’t in the end. We kept our eyes peeled for birds in between more conventional city sightseeing in the city, as well as Belém, west along the river, and Oriente, to the east, as the name would suggest.
Didn’t spot any Black Kites, Azure-winged Magpies, nor Hoopoe, which I’d hoped for, but there were lots of Crested Myna, Black Redstart, and Rose-ringed Parakeets at the Mosteiro de Jeronimos in Belém. A couple of hours at the Edward VII park added a couple of Sardinian Warbler, Short-toed Treecreeper, and Serin to the list. Then another couple of hours in the Botanic Gardens added two species of parakeet Blue-crowned and Rose-ringed.
Photos to come: Serin…watch this space.
The hopefully complete bird list for our four-day ostensibly non-birding trip. Birds without a place were seen in various places or just around Lisbon/riverside in general.
- Black-Headed Gull
- Black-tailed Godwit – Oriente
- Blue-Crowned Parakeet* – Botanic Gardens
- Common Black Redstart- Edward VII
- Common Blackbird
- Common Buzzard
- Common Chaffinch
- Common Sandpiper – Oriente
- Crested Myna* – Monastery, Belém
- Eurasian Crag Martin* – Miradouro de Santa Catarina
- European Herring Gull
- European Pied Flycatcher – Heard only, Botanic
- European Robin
- European Serin* – Parque Edward VII
- European Starling
- Eurasian Blackcap – Parque Edward VII, Botanic
- Eurasian Blue Tit
- Eurasian Jay – Parque Edward VII
- Eurasian Oystercatcher – River
- Eurasian Wren
- Great Black-backed Gull
- Great Cormorant – River
- Great Tit
- Grey Heron – Monastery
- House Sparrow
- Long-Tailed Tit
- Rose-Ringed Parakeet – Monastery, Botanic etc
- Ruddy Turnstone – Riverside to Belém
- Sardinian Warbler – Parque Edward VII
- Short-Toed Treecreeper* – Parque Edward VII, Botanic
- Spotted Flycatcher – Parque Edward VII
- Spotless Starling* – Parque Edward VII
- Stock Dove
- Western Jackdaw
- White Wagtail – Belém
- Willow Warbler – Parque Edward VII
- Yellow-Legged Gull
*Bird, species we’d not seen anywhere previously.
Just to add, we saw a few Large White butterflies, presumed Speckled Wood, and a few Lang’s Short-tailed Blue, and also Velvet Carpenter Bee, and some fish in the river, but, that was pretty much it on other wildlife, as you’d expect from a city break.
Birds photographed with a Canon R7 mirrorless digital camera fitted with an appropriate adapter and an ancient Canon EF L 70-300mm f/4-5.6 IS lens.