Birdwatching became a worldwide activity during the last decades. In Madeira Island, the Ventura do Mar started getting a serious interest on this field since 2003, contributing to the knowledge of marine birds life on this archipelago promoting birdwatching trips, to Desertas Islands and Selvagens Islands, promoting contacts between birdwatchers, participated in meetings, and working together with SPEA-Madeira, Portuguese Society for the Study of the Birds, the portuguese partner of Birdlife International, allowing the presence of one of its members as observer onboard. The Ventura do Mar has friendly and experienced tours leaders and organizers responsible for this activity, being present on all of the birdwatching tours, and always helping birdwatchers on bird identification.
The birdwatching in Madeira has a large potential because of the unique ecosystems that exist in the Island, with 42 breeding species and subspecies of birds, including two endemic species for Madeira, others endemic for the Macaronesian (biogeographic region which includes Madeira, Azores, Canary and Cape Verde archipelagos), and is also the southern and northern limit for some bird species.
Therefore, some of the most interesting bird species that are possible to observe in Madeira are:
