Birding Day Trip in Alentejo with Pat and Bob / January 2026
I meet with Pat and Bob at 8am. They travel in their beautiful motorhome, spending weeks every year birding all around Europe. This year they wanted to explore more of Portugal, focusing on less known regions of the country. They reached out to do a private birding tour in Baixo Alentejo, and we agreed to spend the day exploring around Serpa and Moura. In this region there are many bird species, as there is a great combination of drylands, ponds and lakes, streams and rivers, and agricultural fields. Nevertheless, the area is facing a great challenge now when it comes to nature and biodiversity, as the intensive olive groves are taking more and more space, growing olives in monoculture and using most of the time a lot of pesticides and herbicides, which is an immense threat to the birds.
I designed the itinerary to spend the morning in the county of Serpa and the afternoon in the county of Moura, optimizing distances and discovering many different birding hotspots.
We ended up seeing no less than 72 bird species!! In just one day! And we did not even see a Red-legged Partridge, which is usually a rather easy species to spot.
There is a lot to say about this memorable birding tour in Alentejo, but here the main highlights.
By a lake located between Serpa and Moura, we saw a Purple Heron fly by and land in the reeds quite close to us. The Purple Heron is extremely rare in the area in winter. Trying to see it again, we spotted a pair of Western Swamphens (a first for this location) with a Common Kingfisher perched above them, when suddenly 3 Otters ran by the edge of the lake and dove in the water. Wow! Just on this one single hotspot we observed 35 bird species.
Throughout the day we have seen more than 10 different Black-winged Kites!
We discovered a Red Kite roost, seeing a minimum of 38 Red Kites coming to land on the trees at sunset.
Right before dusk, we spotted an Eurasian Eagle-Owl on its nest! Which was another great discovery.
Lunch in a delicious traditional local restaurant in Alqueva was included in their private excursion. We all loved the food and the service.
It was such a fantastic day out there birding in the counties of Serpa and Moura, I felt very lucky to be able to show Pat and Bob around and observed so many wonderful birds together. Pat and Bob are lovely people and great birders, and I wish them all the best for the rest of their trip.
If you are interest in going birding with us in Alentejo, feel free to contact us.
Salva Fauna