Madeira has the reputation of having the best pelalgic birding in the Western Palearctic. The island boasts a couple of endemic species and plenty of endemic subspecies. Although I visited the island on a family holiday I did do the three day pelalgic trip run by Madeira Wind Birds - a trip for hard-core birders if there ever was one. The remainder of the time I did virtually no birding at all.

To see all the seabirds, and see them well, there is no real alternative to the three day pelagic trip (not actually three days at sea but three day trips returning to land each evening). However, birders unable to take the trip for whatever reason could take one or more "half day" whale and dolphin" trips - these produce at least some of the birds - Cory's, Bulwer's and Fea's Petrels are all possible on these trips. Indeed, it was on a dolphin trip after the three day pelalgic I obtained my best views of the Fea's - four birds in a fight with Cory's over a fish.



Very many of the hotels overlook the sea and if there is one regret other than taking the next pelalgic trip, when a Black-bellied Storm Petrel was seen, it is that I did not take a telescope. Seawatching from the balcony outside our hotel room was quite productive even with just binoculars. On the mornings I tried seawatching from the balcony I "only" had hundreds of Cory's - even when using the extender to turn my bins into a scope. With a bit more wind and / or effort both Fea's and Bulwer's Petrels would no doubt have been possible.



The Pelalgic Trip
The birding highlight of the holiday (and the only real reason for visiting Madeira) was the three day pelalgic trip run by Madeira Wind Birds. During this trip all the expected species were seen - and seen well. Zino's and Fea's Petrels were naturally the highlights. The supporting cast consisted of White-faced, Madeiran and Wilson's Storm Petrels with the latter species being seen daily.

The commonest species on these trips were Cory's Shearwater and Bulwer's Petrel which were seen in good numbers each day. Small numbers of Arctic Terns and a lone Arctic Skua were also seen.




Funchal
The marina and harbour at Funchal are a good place to bird - the area attacts huge numbers of gulls, which with some effort and / or a scope would no doubt produce results. All I saw in the very little time I spent birding the area were about 1000 Yellow-legged Gulls and a few Lesser Black-backed Gulls.

The highlight here was the long staying but often elusive Yellow-crowned Night Heron. I got the bird at 07:00 before it was even light. Other stuff in this area were several Little Egrets, Turnstones, a few Common Sandpiper, Common Terns and the ubiquitous Grey Wagtails.

The parks produced the usual selection of Madeiran birds - Plain Swifts, Blackcaps, Canaries and Blackbirds.

For birders who still have families taking the cable car is a worthwhile trip - I spent about half an hour in the area around the top of the cable car route in the late morning and had plenty of birds including many Madeiran Firecrests, Robins, Chaffinch, Sparrowhawk and a larger raptor - probably a buzzard. Walking through the gardens there or taking a walk further towards the tops would no doubt have produced more.