Don’t kill our national bird: Dutch object to new Lisbon airport

Wednesday, 19 Feb 2020 10:21 AM MYT

LISBON, Feb 19 — Thousands of people in the Netherlands have signed a petition objecting to the construction of an airport in Portugal that could threaten the black-tailed godwit, the Dutch national bird.

The new airport will be located on the south bank of Lisbon’s Tagus estuary, a nature reserve where the godwits, a threatened species, stop off on their way from Africa to the Netherlands.

“What is the point of protecting the godwits in the Netherlands if they are weakened or even die in Portugal?” says the petition, which has so far been signed by 26,000 people.

Portugal’s environment agency gave the green light for the airport in Montijo last month but said it must take steps to protect wildlife. The project has been heavily criticised by environmentalists at home and now abroad.

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Common Quail elected as Iberia's bird of 2020

07/02/2020

Birdwatch 

In the first cross-national vote of its kind, Portugal and Spain have elected Common Quail as Bird of the Year 2020.

The online poll was organised by the Portuguese Society for the Study of Birds (SPEA) and the Spanish Society of Ornithology (SEO/BirdLife), with Common Quail (7,390 votes) fighting off stiff competition from Montagu's Harrier (6,130) and Iberian Grey Shrike (5,156).

Although Common Quail remains a numerous species in Portugal, it has declined by an alarming 30% over the last decade alone, largely due to changes in agricultural practice.

The story is a familiar one: the overall intensification of farming, including expansion of monocultures, disappearance of fallow land and the removal of hedges and field margins leave less and less available habitat for this and other typical farmland birds. Quails feed on seeds, cereal grains and small invertebrates, so the species has also suffered from the increased use of herbicides and insecticides.

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Millions of birds ‘sucked out of trees and killed’ during vacuum olive harvests

May 16th 2019 8:08AM

Millions of birds are being vacuumed up and killed during nocturnal suction olive harvesting in Spain and Portugal.

In Spain, 2.6 million birds die every year from being vacuumed, and in Portugal, 96,000 birds die per year.

Birds from northern Europe winter in these countries, and are at risk while roosting at night, according to BirdGuides.

The noise and light of the machines dazzle the birds, which are then sucked into suction olive harvesting machines and killed.

Olives are vacuumed at night when it's cool, to preserve their flavour.

Some local governments have already stopped the practice, but countries such as Italy and Portugal have not taken action

Domingos Leitão of the Portuguese Society for the Study of Birds (SPEA), said: "They should not be subject to disturbance in the rest period.

"If the birds in one row of olive trees are frightened, they fly to another; the Birds Directive says that they should not be disturbed during the rest period."

Nuno Sequeira added: "When negative impacts like these are detected, the authorities must act swiftly and accordingly. We are talking about hundreds of thousands of dead birds.

"The lack of regulation allows birds to die as well as other environmental impacts, such as soil erosion and contamination and pollution of aquifers with synthetic chemicals used in intensive and super-intensive agriculture."

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Hand-reared godwits from Norfolk found safe and sound in Portugal

PUBLISHED: 14:39 08 February 2018 | UPDATED: 17:03 08 February 2018

Andrew Stone

Two black-tailed godwits from Norfolk that were among the first ever British wading birds to be released into the wild under a new conservation technique have been spotted alive and well – 1,200 miles away in Portugal.

The birds were among 26 that conservationists hatched and reared by hand before releasing under a process known as ‘headstarting’.

After release the birds joined wild flocks and this is the first time any of them have been outside the UK.

Dutch ornithologists reported seeing the birds among a flock on the Tagus Estuary near Lisbon.

The team from RSPB and WWT behind “Project Godwit” has welcomed the news that their protégés have migrated safely.

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Vulture poisoners silently killing other wildlife

Early this month a member of the public alerted the police in Portugal for a dead fox near a public footpath near Pinhel, just outside the LIFE RUPIS intervention area. Upon inspection, a dead fox, and a dying azure-winged magpie, were found, near some baits (rests of meat and pork ears). 

All signs pointed to poisoning: the magpie was found with seizures, with contracted feet and muscles, while the fox was in a good condition. Subsequent post-mortems realised at CERVAS, a Wildlife rehabilitation centre in nearby Gouveia, indeed suggested poisoning, probably by carbamates, notably because of haemorrhages in several organs and contracted mouth and mandibles. 

Samples from the key organs were then sent to the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine in Lisbon, for further analysis, to try to determine the poisoning agent, under the LIFE RUPIS project. 

The use of poison continues to threat vultures and other wildlife in Portugal. The LIFE RUPIS is expected to give new impetus and capacity to fight this threat, with establishment of an anti-poisoning dog team in this region, that is now under training and is going to be deployed soon.

Vulture Conservation Foundation
1 February 2016

Source 

BirdLife in Portugal publishes atlas of national seabirds

By Sanya Khetani-Shah, Tue, 17/11/2015 - 17:27

Compiling data from eight years of boat-based surveys, five years of coastal censuses, the national coastal bird count and a citizen science project, the Atlas of Marine Birds of Portugal is finally here to guide us through Portuguese waters, roughly one quarter of the European seas.

The atlas, prepared by SPEA (BirdLife in Portugal) and its partners, covers the entire national territory and the status of 65 marine species. For 50 ‘main’ species, the atlas gathers detailed factsheets on their distribution, movements and phenology, abundance and population trends, ecology and habitat and threats, and conservation through more than 500 modelling species distribution maps or by time of year and geographic region. Both the Madeira and Azores archipelagos are included in the maps.

This book also compiles information about the historical aspects of marine ornithology in Portugal and bird conservation, and presents a broad outline of the composition and dynamics of seabird communities and their breeding colonies in Portuguese territory.

This atlas is thus the most comprehensive compilation to date of data on the distribution and abundance of seabirds and shorebirds that use Portuguese waters. It is a considerable leap forward in our knowledge of European seabirds and helps plug our information gaps on life in our seas.

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Twitcher's double 1,500 miles apart: Birdwatcher tags same blackcap during Portuguese holiday weeks after he spotted bird close to his Staffordshire home

Dave Clifton had tagged the small bird near his Staffordshire home

Weeks later on holiday 1,500 miles away in Portugal he captured same bird

Mr Clifton was part of a group catching migrating birds to check tags to see where they had flown from in Europe while making their way to Africa

Chances of catching the same bird twice are almost incalculable 

By JAYA NARAIN FOR THE DAILY MAIL

PUBLISHED: 00:28, 25 November 2014 | UPDATED: 00:29, 25 November 2014

A British birdwatcher enjoying a sunshine holiday in Portugal thought he was experiencing a case of deja vu when he captured a tiny bird.

When Dave Clifton examined the identification ring on the leg of the blackcap he thought it bore an uncanny similarity to the one he had ringed weeks earlier.

But that was 1,500 miles away close to his home Staffordshire and the chances of capturing the same bird twice are almost incalculable.

Read more:

Major Portuguese wetland still under threat from hotel development – Help needed urgently

Environmental Impact Assessment was commissioned by the developers

July 2013. Before tourism came to the Algarve in the 1970's there were several lagoons similar to Salgados along this coastline and they were used as migratory fuelling stops, over-wintering sites and breeding habitat for many bird species, but all the other lagoons have now been "gentrified" out of existence and Salgados is the last one left.

Standing half-way between two of the Algarve's most urbanised areas, Albufeira and Armação de Pera, Salgados has always been under extreme threat and severe pressure for many years but the proposed development of the area surrounding it may well prove to be the last nail in the coffin. 

The area surrounding the Lagoon is pretty well the last intact piece of countryside adjoining the coast and ANY further building nearby will be hugely detrimental to the wildlife that uses the lagoon itself and the area surrounding it. The lagoon is used by thousands of birds on migration, as well as an over-wintering and nesting location, and there are various rare species that use it and that the Portuguese Government is under an obligation to preserve. 

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White storks have stopped migrating - New project to discover why?

Portuguese white storks now rely on rubbish dumps instead of migrating

February 2013. A new project to find out why storks are changing their migratory patterns has been launched by the University of East Anglia. In folklore, storks' strong white wings would carry babies to parents around the world. But since the mid 1980s increasing numbers of storks have stopped their annual migration from Northern Europe to Africa for the winter. Instead, many are living in Spain and Portugal the whole year round - feeding on ‘junk food' from rubbish dumps.

Climate change?
The project will track 15 adult white storks for a year using GPS loggers to investigate why they have changed their migratory behaviour. Researchers will investigate the link between climate change and feeding habits to predict future distribution of the species.

The birds have been caught in Portugal and tagged with loggers which will transmit five positions every day. This data will allow researchers to track the storks' movement between roosting and feeding areas and detect long and short distance flights. Each tracker will also collect information about how much time the birds spend with their heads down, foraging for food.

Dr Aldina Franco, from UEA's school of Environmental Sciences, is leading the project. She said: "These birds have changed their behaviour very radically. The number of storks spending their winter in Portugal has increased hugely from around 1,180 birds in 1995 to more than 10,000 in 2008 and numbers continue to grow."

Continued:  http://www.wildlifeextra.com/go/news/white-stork-migration.html

Crucial Portuguese wetland gets last minute reprieve from developers

Lagoa dos Salgados development halted, for now

January 2013. An on-line petition that has gathered 21,000 international signatures has stopped a mega-tourist complex from destroying a unique wetland bird sanctuary in southern Portugal. The bird sanctuary, Lagoa dos Salgados, has been given a last minute reprieve while an Environmental Impact Assessment is carried out.

Despite this unique coastal lagoon being of prime importance to many breeding, over-wintering or passage species and despite being internationally recognised as a bird watching hotspot that brings in many hundreds of thousands of tourist dollars every year - as well as being a study area for schools and universities throughout Europe - it has never had any official protection, and has been threatened with development throughout the last 15 years.

Huge hotel complex

This threat was dramatically highlighted six months ago with the grant of building permission over an area of 247 hectares, (more than 600 acres), bordering the lagoon. The building permission allowed for a luxury mega-tourist complex of hotels, resorts, and golf courses that were scheduled to break ground in April 2013, but the developers had used loop-holes to sidestep regulations and steam-roller through the permission.

This was enough to galvanize local feeling and an on-line petition was started by a local bird watching guide, Frank McClintock, to provide a voice for those opposed to the plan and to highlight the continuing lack of any protection for the lagoon's unique habitat.

Continued:  http://www.wildlifeextra.com/go/news/salgados-lagoa.html

Sign petition: stop wild life sanctuary destruction

A recent decision by the Portuguese government to develop parts of Lagoa dos Salgados, a lagoon in the Algarve area, is likely to have a detrimental impact on the wildlife in the area, including a vital nesting and migration sanctuary for birds.

Some of the species of birds that can be found at the site include Grebes, Gulls, Little Terns, Coots, Flamingos, the rare Purple Gallinule, Black Terns, Peregrines, Black Winged Kites, and Collared Pratincoles, amongst many other wild life species.

A petition has been launched to stop the development and if it reaches 40,000 signatures the issue will be raised in the Portuguese Parliament.

http://www.birdlife.org/community/2012/09/sign-petition-to-stop-development-of-portuguese-wild-life-sanctuary/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=sign-petition-to-stop-development-of-portuguese-wild-life-sanctuary