Photo: Mikaela Botelho

Spring officialy arrived almost a month ago, even if it does not seem like it. The weather is not making it any easier, but the first Spring sounds already started to appear along with the scarce sunbeams that iluminate Porto

 NaturPorto visited the Palácio de Cristal gardens and heard this tweet:

The harmonious sound that you just heard is a common nightingale, or simply nightingale, a specie that, despite being quite common in Portuguese territory, is not very abundant in the north coast. It usually appears in the north interior and centre of Portugal, and it is quite profuse in the south region.
Spotting this little birds is not an easy task. To start, they are not really big (they grow up to 15-16 cm) and they usually hide in the trees and by the vegetation, rarely landing at sight.

At NaturPorto we didn't manage to catch sight of these small creatures long enough to show them to you, but we promise to use the sunny Spring days to come to look for them at the Palácio de Cristal gardens. You can heard them sing from April to July. After that, they are off to Africa, in August. Their singing is quite characteristic, so be alert!

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Author: José Volta