Next to the Atlantic Ocean and at the western tip of Europe, Portugal sits at the centre of a favouredight path for many species of migratory birds - theEast Atlantic Flyway, which links the birds’ breeding grounds in northern Europe with their wintering areas in the Mediterranean basin or on the African continent. At the same time, its location at one of the geographic extremes of the Mediterranean Sea, where is it easiest to cross this broad body of water, means that it is possible to observe on Portuguese soil thousands of birds that seasonally use another important migratory corridor - the Mediterranean and Black Sea Flyway. This is an important route for gliding birds that depend on the thermal currents that form over the land, such as birds of prey or storks.
In addition to this, the climate of the Iberian andMacaronesian regions (such as the archipelagos ofthe Azores and Madeira), during the autumn and winter, is much milder and/or more humid than the other potential wintering locations, providing ideal conditions for shelter and a greater availability offood (such as late berries and fruits such as olives)for many species that winter here, in particular small- and medium-sized birds such as passerines. In this issue, we celebrate the diversity of migratory passerine birds, living links between European territories and countries as distant as Iceland,Norway, Russia and Portugal. In each iconographicgroup, we have selected a species that shows migratory populations in a European context, and another with populations that are markedly resident, or even endemic, in certain Portuguese regions, with both species occurring in the landscapes depicted.
AZORES
From the plateaus and mountains to the east of the island of São Miguel, the coastal pastures of the southern slope of the island can be seen, with hedges and meadows where it is possible to observe a rare migratory bird in these Atlanticislands, the eldfare (Turdus pilaris). Here, it shares the habitatwith a small resident bird, the goldcrest (Regulus regulus),which, although it is more common in scrublands and forestareas dominated by heathers and juniper (Juniperus brevifolia), can also appear hopping through the branches of hedgerows and thickets associated with pastures.
The eldfare is a large passerine migratory bird that typically breeds in central and northern Europe, migrating southwards with the arrival of winter. On Portuguese soil, they can be observed between October and March, although they are not commonly found wintering; in the Azores archipelago their arrival is regarded as rare, although they can be seen in the hedgerows of the semi-natural pastures and peat bogs of the central plateau of the island of Pico, or on the Graminhais Plateau on the island of São Miguel.
The goldcrest is the smallest bird in Europe. Although in mainland Portugal it only winters infrequently, observed mostly in the forested areas of the north and centre of the country, on the Azores archipelago it is a resident species,with three endemic subspecies identi ed: the Santa Maria goldcrest (Regulus regulus sanctae-mariae), the São-Miguelgoldcrest (R.r. Azoricus) and the Western Azores goldcrest(R.r. inermis).
