Near the mouth of the Côa River, the rugged valley with large rocky outcrops is classified as an 'Important Bird Area' by BirdLife International.

Fauna

The Douro region has two Special Protection Areas (SPAs) for birds: the Vale do Côa SPA and the Douro Internacional e Vale do Águeda SPA.

Some of the region's symbols

The following birds are symbols of the region: the Egyptian vulture, the black stork, the griffon vulture, the scops owl, the black wheatear, the red-billed chow, and the golden oriole.

Some critically endangered species can also be found in the region, such as:

Cinereous Vulture (CR)
Aegypius monachus
Red-kite (CR)
Milvus
Northen-harrier (CR | VU)
Circus yaneus
Black wheatear(CR)
Oenanthe leucura

Mammal species are also abundant in the region, some of them also endangered, such as:

The Iberian wolf (EN)

Canis lupus

The Cabrera vole (VU)

Microtus cabrerae

The Pyrenean desman (VU)

Galemys pyrenaicus

Schreiber's bent-winged bat (VU)

Miniopterus schreibersi

The lesser mouse-eared Myotis (CR)

Myotis blythii

The greater mouse-eared bat (VU)

Myotis myotis

Natterer's bat (VU)

Myotis nattereri

Please note, your browser is out of date.
For a good browsing experience we recommend using the latest version of Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Opera or Internet Explorer.