Incidental birding in Lisbon

08.10.2024 17:28

Sciencebase.com

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.

Rose-ringed Parakeet, one of many around the Portuguese Naval Museum in Belém

Black Redstart outside the Portuguese Naval Museum, Belém

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.

These three Blue-crowned Parakeets seem to be sharing a joke…probably at the photographer’s expense

Perched, it looks like a shabby Blackbird with a white bill, but this is actually a Crested Myna, also known as the Chinese Starling, Acridotheres cristatellus, an introduced Asian species now present in Lisbon and environs. Obvious white patches on the wings in flight are a giveaway.

Slightly more obvious in this photo: Crested Myna

A couple more of the Rose-ringed Parakeet

Blue-crowned Parakeet in flight, Lisbon Botanical Gardens

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.