Corvo!

Arrived yesterday afternoon on Corvo and immediately took a walk in the Ribeiras along the lower road. Got back exhausted and hung out with Norwegian birder Jan Kåre Ness, who had had a nice day in the Caldeira with Citrine Wagtail (1st for the Azores), Least Sandpiper and other goodies.

Today we went to the Caldeira again as it was really nice weather. Best to take the opportunity as it can be foggy up there for many days in a row! Here's what we saw:

Juvenile Citrine Wagtail, the first for the Azores, found yesterday by Jan Kåre Ness. Nice one and quite unexpected!

Caldeirão, the crater lakes in the middle of the island.

Two Ring-necked Ducks. The right one probably an adult bird (pale iris) and maybe a male since it had at least one big, grey feather on the flank. It also had quite contrasting head pattern.

Here the same dudes with the presumed juvenile to the right. Much less contrasting head pattern and darker iris.

The American Great Egret that arrived in October last year seems to like the crater!

A blury juvenile Least Sandpiper with some White-rumped friends (saw totally five).

For a few days Jan Kåre had heard a Lapland Bunting in the crater as well, bot not been able to see the bird properly. Bu we managed today and of course he was right, it was a Lapland Bunting, the fifth for the Azores! Now I'm gonna go to bed and fall asleep to the sounds of singing crickets and Cory's Shearwaters - life could be worse :)

Birds

Grey Heron 3, American Great Egret 1, Mallard ~15 (a few dark types need to be further checked), White-rumped Sandpiper 5, Least Sandpiper 1 1st cy, Whimbrel 1, Ruddy Turnstone 2, Common Ringed Plover 1 1st cy, Citrine Wagtail 1 1st cy