Berlengas: Cory's shearwaters calling over the island at night
Cory's shearwater (Calonectris borealis, c. 1,000 pairs), band-rumped storm petrel (Farilhões), European shag, yellow-legged gull colony, common guillemot (a handful). Reserva Natural das Berlengas, Peniche, Leiria, Portugal.
Best time: 15 Jun – 31 Aug (June to August). Where: Berlenga Grande (campsite above the Carreiro do Mosteiro landing), Cabo Carvoeiro, Peniche, Peniche harbour (Portugal). Time of day: Shearwaters raft offshore in the last hour before sunset and start calling over the island about an hour after dark.
- Partly on your own
- Entry fee
- No binoculars needed
- Sound 5/5
Open it in the interactive calendarSunrise and sunset listening times for the day you pick, and the map.
When is the best time?
Peak: 15 Jun – 31 Aug. Mid June to end of August: adults come in to the burrows every night, loudest on moonless nights; by day the island is a gull colony
Active from 15 Apr to 15 Oct (April to October) in a typical year.
Time of day
Shearwaters raft offshore in the last hour before sunset and start calling over the island about an hour after dark; the chorus runs until 02:00–03:00 and again before first light. Day visitors leave on the last boat (late afternoon) — the night belongs to the campers.
- Rafts offshore: 1 h before sunset → sunset
- Night chorus over the colony: 1 h after last light → 03:00
- Pre-dawn calls: 90 min before first light → first light
What will you hear?
Hundreds of Cory's shearwaters wailing and sobbing over the island in the dark — the Atlantic's strangest chorus — with the yellow-legged gull colony grumbling, shags croaking on the ledges and the swell in the sea caves. On the mainland, the same birds raft silently off Cabo Carvoeiro at dusk.
Binoculars?
No binoculars needed. At night the birds pass overhead unseen — this is ears only; binoculars for the dusk rafts and the shags on the rocks.
Where to go
- Berlenga Grande (campsite above the Carreiro do Mosteiro landing) — The only island you can land on; the campsite (33 people max, 14 pitches, summer only) is the way to be there after dark. Daily visitor cap 550. Map
- Cabo Carvoeiro, Peniche — Mainland headland facing the islands: dusk shearwater rafts, gannets and seawatching; free. Map
- Peniche harbour — Boats to the island (May–September, about 30–40 min); Berlengapass registration required. Map
How to go on your own, and what it costs
Register on the ICNF Berlengapass platform (€3 per day, half for 6–18 and over-65s, 2024), then buy a return boat ticket from Peniche harbour (May–September; landing only at Carreiro do Mosteiro). To stay the night, book the island campsite through the Peniche council (reopened 2024: 33 campers, max 5 consecutive nights; €20.60 per night for a 2-person tent, 2024). Day trips cannot hear the chorus. Free mainland option: Cabo Carvoeiro at dusk.
Cost: Berlengapass €3/day (2024); boat return check current prices; campsite €20.60/night for 2 people (2024).
Free or no-guide alternative: Free and land-based: walk to the Cabo Carvoeiro lighthouse at Peniche an hour before sunset in June–August and scan the sea towards the islands — Cory's shearwaters raft in their hundreds before flying in after dark. No night chorus, but a scope and a calm evening give the colony's whole evening commute.
Field-recording notes
Night recording on Berlenga needs a camping booking (Peniche municipality) and the ICNF Berlengapass; the island is a nature reserve — stay on the paths, no lights on the burrow slopes, no playback (SPEA's LIFE Berlengas project restored the colony with artificial nests and rat eradication; biosecurity matters, check your bags). Generators at the restaurant and the lighthouse are the man-made noise; the gull colony never fully sleeps. Band-rumped storm petrels are on the Farilhões, closed to visitors. Mainland alternative: Cabo Carvoeiro at dusk for rafts (no calls).
Sources
- LIFE Berlengas (SPEA/ICNF) – project summary
- Observador – Berlenga campsite reopens, visitor cap and fees (2024)
- ACAP – Berlengas support a thousand pairs of Cory's shearwaters
Similar spectacles
Shearwater colonies at night, Lastovo archipelagoScopoli's shearwaters wailing and cackling overhead and from burrows — the 'crying baby' chorus of Mediterranean islets; Yelkouan's higher nasal calls; waves on rock, cicadas fading at dusk.
Balearic shearwater & storm petrel islandsHoarse, cackling Balearic shearwaters arriving to cliff burrows after dark, storm petrels purring in cave crevices, Audouin's gull colonies and Eleonora's falcons screaming over the sea in late summer.
Raso and Branco — Cape Verde shearwater islets and the Raso larkA Macaronesian petrel night in the tropics: thousands of Cape Verde shearwaters wailing and cackling as they come in off the sea, the rush of wings down the canyons close overhead, geckos chirping into the small hours, tropicbird screams by day. No people, no engines, no lights.
Manx shearwaters returning at nightHundreds of thousands of birds crashing in, with cackling, choking, hoarse calls from the air and burrows all around you.
Scopoli's & Yelkouan shearwater coloniesScopoli's 'crying baby' wails from thousands of birds arriving over cliffs — one of the Mediterranean's strangest sounds.
Cory's shearwater colonies of the CanariesThe wailing, sobbing 'pardela' chorus from thousands of birds over sea cliffs — the sound behind the Canarian mermaid legends — with the Atlantic swell and Bulwer's petrels' soft barking.
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