Portugal Special Protection Area for birds
Caldeira e Capelinhos - Ilha do Faial
55 bird species recorded; the most in January and in October.
Unukorno · CC BY 3.0
This month here
27 species in January.26 species in February.25 species in March.26 species in April.23 species in May.23 species in June.21 species in July.22 species in August.21 species in September.29 species in October.24 species in November.23 species in December.
The birds you are most likely to see in the month you choose, those that come for the season first. It opens on today's month.

































































































































































































































































- Resident all year
- Summer visitor comes to breed
- Winter visitor comes for the winter
- Passage migrant in spring and autumn
In numbers
55 species, counted.
Our own rating, from the records only: species (50 points), threatened species (20), migrants (20) and protected status — Ramsar, IBA, SPA, observatory (10).
- 55Speciesrecorded more than once
- 19Migrantssummer, winter or passage visitors
- 1ThreatenedVulnerable, Endangered or Critically Endangered (IUCN)
- 13,090Recordsopen records within 6 km
- 600 mAltitudeabove the sea
- 3Raptors
- 1Owls
- 6Waders
- 11Gulls & seabirds
- 10Ducks & geese
- 1Herons, ibises & grebes
- 19Songbirds
- 4Other birds
From open records (eBird and others, through GBIF, licensed for any use). More birdwatchers mean more records: a quiet place may have more birds than it shows.
The checklist
All 55 species.
By group, with the year in twelve cells: the darker the cell, the more often the bird is recorded that month.
Raptors3 species
- Common BuzzardButeo buteo
- OspreyPandion haliaetus
- Peregrine FalconFalco peregrinus
Owls1 species
- Long-eared OwlAsio otus
Waders6 species
- Eurasian WoodcockScolopax rusticola
- Common SnipeGallinago gallinago
- Jack SnipeLymnocryptes minimus
- Eurasian DotterelCharadrius morinellus
- Spotted SandpiperActitis macularius
- Semipalmated PloverCharadrius semipalmatus
Gulls & seabirds11 species
- Yellow-legged GullLarus michahellis
- Scopoli's ShearwaterCalonectris diomedea
- Common TernSterna hirundo
- Lesser Black-backed GullLarus fuscus
- Barolo ShearwaterPuffinus baroli
- Great Black-backed GullLarus marinus
- American Herring GullLarus smithsonianus
- Black-headed GullChroicocephalus ridibundus
- Roseate TernSterna dougallii
- Leach's Storm PetrelOceanodroma leucorhoaVU
- Audubon's ShearwaterPuffinus lherminieri
Ducks & geese10 species
- Lesser ScaupAythya affinis
- Greater ScaupAythya marila
- Blue-winged TealSpatula discors
- Ring-necked DuckAythya collaris
- Tufted DuckAythya fuligula
- Eurasian WigeonMareca penelope
- Eurasian TealAnas crecca
- Northern PintailAnas acuta
- Hooded MerganserLophodytes cucullatus
- MallardAnas platyrhynchos
Herons, ibises & grebes1 species
- Grey HeronArdea cinerea
Songbirds19 species
- Grey WagtailMotacilla cinerea
- Eurasian BlackbirdTurdus merula
- Atlantic CanarySerinus canaria
- European RobinErithacus rubecula
- BlackcapSylvia atricapilla
- Eurasian ChaffinchFringilla coelebs
- House SparrowPasser domesticus
- GoldcrestRegulus regulus
- Common StarlingSturnus vulgaris
- Fringilla morelettiFringilla moreletti
- European GoldfinchCarduelis carduelis
- Snow BuntingPlectrophenax nivalis
- Northern WheatearOenanthe oenanthe
- European GreenfinchChloris chloris
- FieldfareTurdus pilaris
- Buff-bellied PipitAnthus rubescens
- Common House MartinDelichon urbicum
- Barn swallowHirundo rustica
- White WagtailMotacilla alba
Other birds4 species
- Common Wood PigeonColumba palumbus
- Rock DoveColumba livia
- Common QuailCoturnix coturnix
- Eurasian Collared DoveStreptopelia decaocto
Monthly presence relative to all bird records that month, so a busy month does not inflate every species.
When to go
The most species in January and in October.
Species recorded in each month, with the usual temperature and rain.
- Jan17°/15°87 mm
- Feb16°/14°84 mm
- Mar16°/14°85 mm
- Apr16°/15°66 mm
- May18°/16°66 mm
- Jun20°/18°46 mm
- Jul22°/21°29 mm
- Aug24°/22°38 mm
- Sep23°/21°70 mm
- Oct21°/19°92 mm
- Nov19°/17°75 mm
- Dec17°/16°113 mm
- Bar: species recorded that month.
- Temperature: average maximum / minimum (NASA, 1991–2020).
- Rain: monthly total.
The place
Caldeira e Capelinhos - Ilha do Faial.
Special Protection Area (Birds Directive) in Portugal
Caldeira e Capelinhos - Ilha do Faial is a Special Protection Area under the EU Birds Directive in Portugal, 600 m above the sea.
55 bird species have been recorded here more than once, in 13,090 open records.
The most recorded are the Grey Wagtail, the Eurasian Blackbird and the Atlantic Canary.
9 species come for the summer, 10 for the winter and 0 only pass through.
1 are threatened worldwide, including Leach's Storm Petrel.
The most species are recorded in January and in October.

Get there and watch
- VisitingHours in OpenStreetMap: 24/7Official site↗
- Parque de Campismo Rural do Varadourocampsite · 2.9 km · 4 within 10 km
- Sabugo Houseplace to stay · 1.9 km · 102 within 10 km
- Castelo Branconearest town · 7.5 km in a straight line
- Horta Airport (HOR)nearest airport with scheduled flights · 8 km in a straight lineCar hire at HOR airport (Horta)Discover Cars · sponsored link↗
Plan the visit
A guided walk, a bed nearby, a car.
Some links above are affiliate links: if you book through them we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. It never changes what the data on this page says.
From above
The place and its surroundings.
The satellite image of the 6 × 6 km around the place, with the bird hides, towers and trails that OpenStreetMap shows.

Around, in OpenStreetMap
- 2observation towers within 6 kmVigia Baleeira
- 7marked trails within 4 kmPRC04FAI Caldeira, PR03FAI Levada, PR06FAI Dez Vulcões and 4 more
- 17viewpoints within 5 kmMiradouro da Caldeira, Miradouro do Piolho, Miradouro da Ribeira das Cabras and 14 more
- 19car parks within 3 km
- 7restaurants and cafés within 3 km
- 4campsites within 10 kmParque de Campismo Rural do Varadouro, Zona de Campismo do Porto de Castelo Branco, Azul Singular and 1 more
- 102places to stay within 10 kmSabugo House, Casa da Urze, Casa da Cisterna and 99 more
- bird hides within 6 km
- visitor centres within 6 km
Counted in OpenStreetMap, the map anyone can edit. A low number may just mean nobody has mapped it yet.
In our other atlases
Around Caldeira e Capelinhos - Ilha do Faial.
The lakes, beaches, islands, rivers and mountains around this place, and its night sky, in the family's atlases.
Figures from the sister sites' databases (Wikidata, HydroATLAS, GeoNames, OpenStreetMap). Links open when each site is online.
Photographs
The place, as people saw it.
Where these figures come from
| Name and type | Wikidata (Q63378432) · CC0 |
|---|---|
| Birds | 13,090 open bird records within 6 km (GBIF, CC0 and CC BY 4.0 only; mostly eBird, Cornell Lab of Ornithology) |
| See these records | gbif.org |
| Species | GBIF Backbone Taxonomy · CC BY 4.0; Wikidata (CC0); Wikimedia Commons |
| Altitude | Copernicus DEM GLO-30 · © DLR e.V., © Airbus Defence and Space GmbH, Copernicus/ESA |
| Temperature and rain | NASA POWER (CERES SYN1deg, 2001–2020; MERRA-2) |
| What is around | © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL |
| Images | EOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons |
| Sister atlases | Peakyas, Islandyas, Darkskyas |
Every figure is an average, an estimate or a count from a public dataset. Licences and methods: data sources.
The family
Do you prefer beaches, lakes, mountains, waterfalls, islands, rivers, canyons, caves, dark skies, viewpoints, birdwatching or forests?
Same idea, other landscapes: field atlases built on open data, in seven languages.






