After months of preparation and installation of surveillance cameras in their nest boxes, the environmental association Vita Nativa were really hoping that at least a couple of ‘love birds’ would choose to start a family in one of their carefully created accommodations. And in early March - it happened!

For two weeks, a couple of ‘estorninhos-pretos’ (spotless starlings) slowly but surely, straw by straw, worked diligently to make their new home comfortable and ready to receive the eggs. They are now being incubated by the mother, and since this usually takes 10 to 14 days in this species, hopefully very soon (in the next few days) the babies will be born!

Vita Nativa says this is a moment that nobody will want to miss! And so, to follow along (a little like ‘Big Brother’ - but with birds) click on the link to watch the birdnest live:

https://videocast.fccn.pt/live/fccn/estorninho_pret

Additional information

The “Alojamento Local para Aves” (Local Housing for Birds) initiative won the National Participatory Budget of 2018 and is in its second year of implementation. It is a project that results from a collaboration between the Associação Vita Nativa and the Instituto de Conservação da Natureza e das Florestas (ICNF).

During the 2021 nesting season, nearly 600 nest boxes were monitored, about 40% were occupied by one or more species of birds and around 1000 offspring were born in them. At the moment, Vita Nativa has more than 1500 nest boxes installed all over the Algarve.