127!

Oops, it's getting late again and I'm getting up in seven hours. So here's another pretty short one:

Got a new Azores tick today as I walked back down towards the village in the afternoon - Merlin! A female flew over but unfortunately continued straight towards Santa Cruz on Flores. Raptors seem to fly back and forth between the island. Yesterday they probably saw the same bird at Lagoa Branca on Flores where they apparently had better views as they could tell it was an American one - Taiga Merlin. Too bad the bastard left the island!

Before the Merlin I had birded Ribeira do Vinte, the fields around Pico and Ribeira da Ponte for about six hours. A full days work that gave the usual Black-and-white Warbler and not much else.

New stuff is apparently still waiting to be found on the islands as a Dark-eyed Junco was seen today on neighbouring Flores! (see all Azores observations on http://www.birdingazores.com/) I still have ten full days of birding out here so I hope I have the time and energy left to kick around until I find a new Yank.

Birds
Grey Heron 1, Great Black-backed Gull 1, Black-and-white Warbler 1, Merlin 1