Close to Lisbon, the Nature Reserve of the Tagus Estuary is one of the most important wetlands for birds in Portugal. The mosaic-like landscape comprising of wetlands, natural pastures, saltmarshes, saltpans, farmland and stone pine woodlands, make for a birdwatcher's paradise.

Your tour includes a visit to Ponta da Erva, a vast farmland north of river Sorraia (a tributary to the Tagus estuary), covered with natural pastures (where bulls feed before bullfights) alongside different cultivations. Purple Herons fly continuously over the fields coming back and forward between farmlands and a big colony nearby.

You may also see Collared Pratincoles, whose colonies are annually settled in ploughed parcels of land. Fields are patrolled by Marsh Harriers and it is possible to find a day roosting Barn Owl in an old rural building. In this area, you will visit saltpans and saltmarshes where Black-winged Stilts breed and Red-crested Pochards are frequent. In winter, the landscape may change dramatically, as parts of the area become flooded. Likewise, bird species are also different, and include over a thousand Greylag Geese, variety of waders and waterfowl, and some considerable flocks of Little Bustard. Raptors are amazingly abundant, and include Hen Harriers, Peregrines and Merlins.

The next part of the tour crosses the extensive montados of Pancas, where colorful species, like Hoopoes and Bee-eaters, are common during spring. From a high spot, appreciate the whole estuary and watch hunting Black-shouldered Kites, Booted and Short-toed-Eagles and Black Kites. Spotted Eagles have been regularly overwintering in the same area. You will visit another salpans (Vale de Frades and Belavista), used by Kentish Plovers to breed before you head to Hortas, near Alcochete. Here, during the low tide, you may observe wader and waterfowl species, plus Flamingos, Spoonbills, Herons and Egrets. In some periods, it seems the birds cover all parts of mud uncovered by the tide!

Your tour ends at Barroca d'Alva, a ricefield area, surrounded by montados. At this site, it is common to see large numbers of White Storks, Egrets and Glossy Ibis flying very high. Many well adapted introduced exotic species help to make up the scenery.