The Portuguese Society for the Study of Birds (SPEA) challenges the citizens of Madeira and Porto Santo to look at the sky in search of mantas (buzzards) . The counts will take place over the next weekend, in a citizen-science initiative that has been running since 2006.
There are already two dozen citizens enrolled in this census, but more volunteers are still needed to prospect the best possible area and get the best possible estimate of how many mantas there are in the archipelago.
“Gather family and friends and go out into the street to count mantas. The methodology is very simple, just take one or more routes on foot, by car or by bicycle, noting how many mantas you have observed.”, says Cátia Gouveia, coordinator of SPEA Madeira.