Text supplied by Frank Mclintock who is the owner of Quinta do Barranco da Estrada
A blend of guided bird watching throughout southern Portugal with a centralised location in a sparsely populated region of unique beauty.
Your stay in this friendly country is hosted at Quinta
do Barranco da Estrada, a small family-run hotel in a stunning lake
side location. The Quinta has an international reputation for good food,
company and service, and its size, with a maximum of fourteen guests,
ensures that all guests feel welcome from the moment they arrive. Moreover,
the Quinta is ideally suited to those guests whose numbers include
couples of whom only one is a dedicated birder, as there are plenty of
facilities for a relaxing holiday away from all the hustle and bustle of
a normal destination.
There is a wide variety of bird life in the Quinta’s vicinity, notably
one of Europe’s most interesting ornithological enigmas, the Azure Winged
Magpie (Cyanopica cyana). (This species only occurs in the southern Iberian
Peninsula and South East Asia and nowhere in-between. It was commonly supposed
that an early traveller had brought back a pair that had subsequently
escaped, but in 1999 a skeleton was radio-carbon dated in Gibraltar at
44,000 years old, which switched the line of enquiry to climate change.)
Also present near the Quinta are a wide variety of Warblers, Stonechat, Woodchat Shrike, Bee-eaters, three varieties of Woodpeckers and three of Eagles, (Short toed, Booted and Bonelli’s), as well as other raptors. The area also has one of the highest densities in Europe of Nightingales, and during the Spring one is rarely out of earshot of their beautiful song. There are four areas within an hour and a half’s car journey from the Quinta which are ideal for Bird watching.
1. To the north west of the Quinta are the Sado Estuary and the S. André Lagoon, both areas a haven for marshland birds, notably Squacco Heron, Purple Heron and Spoonbill. Raptors include Marsh Harrier and Black winged Kite.
2. To the south West is the migratory route along
Portugal’s rocky coast, where, outside the autumn migrating season, the
specialities are Blue Rock Thrush, Peregrine Falcon, Rock Bunting and Cattle
Egret amongst others. During the Autumn the raptors migrating
south along the coast towards Sagres for the onward journey to Africa are
a sight that few forget.
3. To the south east of the Quinta lies
the Rio Formosa Estuary, which has extensive salt pans. Subsequently it
has a wealth of wading birds, such as Avocet, Spoonbill, Flamingo, Black
and Bar-tailed Godwit, Black winged Stilt, Snipe, Redshank and Greenshank,
as well as divers and ducks such as Shoveler, Pochard, Red crested Pochard,
Teal, Pintail, Widgeon and Gadwall. It is also famed for its population
of Purple Galinules, and Little Bitterns are much in evidence.
4. To the north east of the Quinta are the wide-open Plains of the Alentejo. The bird life here is truly stunning with specialities including Great and Little Bustard, Black Bellied Sandgrouse, Stone Curlew, Lesser Kestrel, Montagu’s Harrier, Red rumped Swallow, Callandra, Thekla, Crested, and Song Larks, Spanish and Tree sparrows, Black eared Wheatear, Roller, Collared Pratincole and Black and Red Kites amongst others.
The bird watching is organised in a personal manner and its strength
lies in its subsequent ability to cater for its guest’s requirements.
Thus it can be as “full-on” or as relaxed as they wish. There can be daily
outings by car or relaxed walks in the vicinity during your stay,
and prices vary on the travelling required, and the time of year of your
stay.
Please note that not all the species mentioned above are resident
throughout the year, and to avoid disappointment it is always best
to check with Birding-in-portugal.com’s resident guide, Frank McClintock,
to make sure that the birds you wish to see are likely to be present during
your proposed visit. Obviously there is also no guarantee that you will
see all those species mentioned above, as one of the true wonders of nature
is that it is largely outside man’s control.
Birding-in-portugal.com is run to a non-intrusive, eco-friendly and
informative format, and is a member of the RSPB, (Royal Society
for the Protection of Birds), SPEA (Sociedade Portuguesa para o Estudo
das Aves), and the LPN (Liga para a Protecção da Natureza).