Desertas Islands Birding Trip

Birdwatcher's experience of Desertas, Madeira. Ideal for Sea birds: Petrels and Storm-Petrels Night and Day. Reviews...

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Detailed Description

Finally a sea trip for birdwatchers! This trip aims to find the sea birds present in Madeira Islands from April to October, such as Fea’s and Bulwer’s Petrels, Cory’s, Manx and Macaronesian Shearwaters (these last only April and May) and, if you are one of those lucky birders, we can even get a Madeira Storm-petrel. Vagrant birds as Great Skua or Great Shearwater may make this trip even greater...

Starting at 3:00 pm we will ride the sea looking for birds, dolphins and whales. The Mediterranean Monk Seal is also on the aiming list but this one is not so easy. Opposite to other tourist boats, we do not go directly to Deserta Grande, we leave the marina and head South or Northeast of Desertas, depending on the wind conditions, then we put some chum on the water for better chances of observing petrels, shearwaters and storm-petrels. This means we will sail about 2 hours and then chum and drift for about 2.5 hours. Just before sunset we will head to Deserta Grande bay to have dinner on board while the sun sets down and wait for the seabirds to start coming into land, for their nests. This is the magical moment of the trip, when the seabird?s orchestra plays just for us. Around eleven the show gets weaker and so is time to head back to Madeira for a certainly good night sleep. Be aware that we will be sailing in the North Atlantic and that seabirds are much easier seen in rough sea.

Dates for 2010:
Wednesday, 7^th July (Full)
Thursday, 15^th July (Full)
Thursday, 29^th July
Wednesday, 25^th August
Wednesday, 8^th September (Full)

Other dates on request.

Tour days: Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday (Specific)
Departure times: 3:00pm
Typical duration: 10 hours

Space: maximum 10
Staff to Guest ratio^?: 1:5
Tour Languages: English and Portuguese

Pick up location: Caniçal
Return details: Caniçal

Friendly advices: Take appropriate footwear, warm and impermeable jumper and trousers, sun protector and hat.
Photography: Allowed and recommended. There is a possibility of your equipment getting wet with salt water spray.

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