Madeira, April 2015

Madeira,  april,2015

A little birding break with an endemic lizard.

It was time to change the scenery for a week and a chance to see the Zino's petrel (Pterodroma madeira), the rarest breeding bird of the entire western palearctic. And to see this bird reliably one has to climb the highest mountain of the island (1800+ meters) at night, when it returns to roost. A truly haunting experience as they are called the ghosts of the shepherds. Their flight calls resemble a ghost calling you out. Listen for yourself:

http://www.xeno-canto.org/145490

It was almost wiped out by a disgruntled firefighter in 2010, when the breeding location was set on fire, killing all hatchlings(over 30) and 1/10th of all adults and destroying the breeding location.  Luckily a new breeding location was established, but it was a close call.

The herpetofauna of madeira is very meager. The madeiran wall lizard (Teira dugesii) is the only non exotic species to be found. But it is an endemic, so to not see one when on madeira would be a shame. but that is not very difficult. They can be found almost anywhere. they are part insectivore, part herbivore and part frugivore with virtually no natural enemy.

Other herps on the island are all introduced and include Perez's frog (Pelophylax perezi) all over the island where there is water and the others only in Funchal, the capital of the island:  Common wall gekko (Tarentola mauritanica), Tropical house gekko (Hemidactylus mabouia), Canarian lizard (Gallotia galloti) and a flower pot snake (Ramphotyphlops braminus).

sipping on the sweet sweet nectar, Madeiran wall lizards (Teira dugesii).

a couple of Perez' frog (Pelophylax perezi)

 Monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus)

Clouded yellow (Colias croceus)


Pea blue (Lampides boeticus)

Berthelot's pipit (Anthus bertheloti) An atlantic islands endemic.

Common kestrel of the madeiran race, notice the heavy streaking on the breast.

The local race of common finch (Fringilla coelebs maderensis)


Rare passage migrant: the ruddy shelduck (Tadorna ferruginea)

perfectly calm and serene.

There is plenty of water on the island. And almost all of it is channeled throuth these levada's, there are hundreds of kilometers of these channels all over the island, to manage the flow of water, for agriculture and safety. Today it is a popular passtime (among tourist at least) to hike along these channels.

A pod of over 100 common bottlenose dolphin's (Tursiops truncatus)

what year is it?

One pan to feed the entire island. It was used by the whalers stationed on madeira to cook for the village.