Madeira - Day 2

Our second day in Madeira and we planned to get out into the island and start to work our way through the recommended birding locations. One of the most accessible (it's at sea level!) and smallest locations is a little pool, behind a cafe and bank as you head from Ponta do Sol to Madalena do Mar. This is home to a large collection of 'wild' Muscovy Ducks and it turned out a number of other birds too.

In terms of waders, we spotted a couple of (Ruddy) Turnstones, including this juvenile:














This Dunlin:














you can see him looking for food along the 'shore' in the pond area:














and the last wader we saw, this Sanderling:














The waders weren't alone however, in addition we saw a single male Mallard, Coots and Moorhens and this lone Little Egret on the water:

From the pond we headed along the coast to Prazeres, where the main road stops (they get really dodgy after that!) and headed to our ultimate destination of the day the circular walk from Ponta de Pargo taking in the lighthouse at the westernmost point of the island.

Circling high in the air was an unusual looking Falcon, which we have identified (thanks to both Roger and Mike from Northants Yahoo bird group) as a Peregrine Falcon, which is a vagrant to Madeira, you'll need to click on the photo and zoom in to see it more clearly:

Heading down the steeply descending path (this became a theme, wherever you walk it is either steeply descending or inevitably steeply ascending, usually in that order!). As you approach the lighthouse, it is obvious there are a large number of smallish birds around. The majority of them are either Canaries or Betherlot's Pipits. This snap is of a small group of the Pipits flying past, a closer look shows the bird in various stages of flight:

I snapped these two Berthelot's Pipits chasing around on top of a concrete structure off the road:














In addition to the Pipits and Canaries, there were a number of Common Kestrel's about, at least three we counted in the air at once, and a few lone birds, including this (Northern) Wheatear female:














The views from the lighthouse are stunning:
















Then after a pause for breath we had to get back up into the village and back to our car. En route we stopped for a very tasty lunch (fuel for the climb of course). A lone Common Buzzard settled on top of this communication tower:














And of course wherever we looked, were lizards. This one looks different to the first one, so does the one sticking his head out in the background, but then what do I know?

We took the car back to Prazeres, to explore around the Hotel Jardim Atlantico, however a very heavy rain storm appeared from nowhere and we got drenched just walking back to the car, which pretty much put an end to the exploring, though we did check back in on the pond on the way back to the hotel.