The final day of our birding trip was spent near Lisbon, thanks to a free layover offered by Air Portugal. We arrived in Portugal late in the evening on May 5, found our Air B&B, and hit the hay. The next morning we met our guide, Bernardo, at 7:15 am and were off. As we were driving through a residential area on our way to pick up coffee and pastry, we came across a Crested Myna and, shortly thereafter, a White Wagtail.
We then headed to our first birding stop at Salinas do Brito, a wetland including a series of impoundments that is part of the Tagus estuary system. In less than 30 minutes we had 27 species. Many were too far away to photograph but could still be identified. Still we got a good look at a Little Egret and a European Serin.
We continued on, with Bernardo taking us to various areas. We found a little Owl roosting in an opening of a farm building, and not too much further we found some Iberian Magpies.
Bernardo then drove through several other areas, including along the Targus Estuary and some nearby farms and forests. Here are some of the other bird species we observed.
For the day, we had 91 species, including 12 life-birds during our day with Bernardo. After our long day birding, we returned to our Air B&B, then headed to a restaurant for a nice mean consisting of Tuna in a tasty tomato broth with potatoes and peppers.
The next day we’d be getting up early to catch our flight home. We had birded 13 days, seeing 186 bird species, 126 of those life birds.