Birding Corvo 2009

Last full day :(

2009-11-15T21:34:00.020-01:00

Soooooo... last time I update this blog from Corvo (if my flight leaves as it's supposed to tomorrow). Feels strange and a bit sad, but I won't stand much longer here now so best to leave before I go (totally) insane!

Still somewhat windy today but no rain in the morning so Manuel took me up to the Caldeira. Did the walk down there but didn't find anything new. Nice walk though since I didn't get one single rain shower!

Walked back towards the village and decided to have a look around the reservoir as well. Walked up there and had lunch together with the two Red-throated Pipits.

Red-throated Pipit

As I walked around the reservoir itself I saw a Blackbird with a very long tail, but the bird jumped out of sight - Ring Ouzel? Went after it but got distracted as I stumbled over this beauty instead.

White-rumped Sandpiper

Anyway, as my photo session with the rump was over I went to the thrush and pinned it down as a Ring Ouzel. Still there after two weeks! Another guy that was still there was the Pale-bellied Brent.

Pale-bellied Brent

Had the Buff-bellied Pipit briefly a few times as well and a lonely Snow Bunting. On the way down I decided to have a look in Ribeira da Lapa. As I walked there I passed my secret snipe marsh and despite scanning the area first I flushed a snipe as I went closer - Common Snipe. Continued walking and flushed another snipe, a dark one! The same snipe as I called Wilson's Snipe the first time I saw it and "dark snipe" the second time I saw it. This time it looked like a Wilson's Snipe again and as I saw where it landed I went after it. Couldn't find it on the ground so had to flush it again, but didn't get any good views this time either. Was fortunate enough to see wereit landed again so went after it a second time. Of course I couldn't find it on the ground that time either so by mistake I flushed the bird. This time I was a bit luckier since the bird flew around me a few times before it settled again. Managed to get some pretty good record shots that I think pins the ID as a Wilson's:

Note the heavily and evenly barred flanks, axillaries and under wing coverts.

Note the very thin white edge on the back of the arm.

Note the back of the arm again, the Jack Snipe-ish look of the back and most important, the barred outermost tail feathers.

As I was chasing the Wilson's Snipe I flushed the Blue-winged Teal that went back to its favourite pool as usual. Birded my way through da Lapa in the heat from the sun(!!!) but didn't find anything except the B-w Teal again.

Blue-winged Teal

Walked back to the village and checked the rubbish dump, beach and airfiels before ending the day with some seawatching. The Ring-billed Gull was still on the airstrip and the sea was still pretty empty.

End of the day and over to a quick analysis. What conclusions can I make after spending to months here?

1) Go here! This is the place to look for American land bird vagrants in the WP!

2) DON'T go here for two months, it's too long!

3) Don't just follow the stream of birders and go here around the standard date 20th of October. Spread out over the season instead! Passerines turned up from late September (Yankstart and BO BO Link) to early November (Sick dick-all and Dark-eyed Junkie on Flores) this year.
4) Hmmm... Aaaaah, I'm getting too tired for this! If you have any additional thoughts, just visit Darryl's "Azores FAQs" on gwentbirding.blogspot.com.

Tomorrow I'm flying to Sao Miguel (I hope) to spend two days there looking for Pied-billed Grebe, the Double-crested Cormorant at Mosteiros and hopefully do some other birding as well. On Wednesday I fly to Terceira for two days birding before I go back to Lisbon-Copenhagen-Malmö on Friday. Will make a last update of the blog when I'm back in Sweden on the 21st!

Birds

Grey Heron 2, Mallard 15, Pintail 1, Common Teal 15, Tufted Duck 1, Ring-necked Duck 2, Pale-bellied Brent 1, Common Snipe 15, Wilson's Snipe 1, White-rumped Sandpiper 1, Great Black-backed Gull 4, Lesser Black-backed Gull 6, Black-headed Gull 2, Ring-billed Gull 1, Red-throated Pipit 2, Buff-bellied Pipit 1, Ring Ouzel 1, Snow Bunting 1

Two months!

2009-11-14T22:39:00.007-01:00

That's how long I've been here now. TWO MONTHS!

Today I went up on the higher parts of the island again. First took a ride with Manuel up to the reservoir as he was prospecting one of the other hills for a new reservoir he's planning to build now that he's mayor again. We never got out of the car but still managed to see a White-rumped Sandpiper up there! His conclusion about the hill was that it was too small so he'll have to move a part of it...

Continued down to Fojo where I planned to do some sheltered birding and down there the wind was acutally not so bad. As usual flushed the two American Great Whites with the car on the way there. Birding inside Fojo was pretty OK with good activity on Blackcaps, Chaffinches, Canaries and Blackbirds. But not much else. Since it was good activity I walked up to Cancelas and birded around there for a while as well. So much more enjoyable than last time when it was all noisy due to the water filled stream. After noon the wind picked up again and it started to rain. And that's how the weather was the rest of the day, further comments not needed I guess. Walked back and had afterwork with a few cuppas and four episodes of Simpsons on TV, that's the way to do it on a Saturday!

If weather allows me I'll do the Caldeira tomorrow again since I am pretty fed up with shaking trees and windy fields.

Birds
Grey Heron 1, American Great White Egret 2, White-rumped Sandpiper 1

Booooring

2009-11-13T21:28:00.005-01:00

Wind, wind, wind, wind, wind, wind, wind, wind, wind, wind, wind, wind. I wonder if there is a low pressure somewhere in the north Atlantic making this island practicly unbirdable at the moment...

Skipped morning birding today and did half a days seawatching in the afternoon instead. Saw the Ring-billed Gull flying by a few times, a few Bottle-nosed Dolphins and a shitload of Common Dolphins. Only tubenoses out there were about 50 Cory's.

Rain looks best from a distance!

Hope I have found some motivation to go up to the valleys again tomorrow.

Birds

Ring-billed Gull 1, Black-headed Gull 1, Great Black-backed Gull 1

Wind!

2009-11-13T00:50:00.003-01:00

Problems with the Internet connection here tonight.

It's been windy today! About 17 m/s west in average according to the forecast and a lot more from time to time... Tried to bird some sheltered places around Pico and da Ponte but didn't do vere well. Saw the Black-and-white Warbler as usual but apart from that only swaying trees everywhere!

Decided to try some seawatching in the afternoon but as I got down o the village it started to rain as well and that continued until dusk so I chilled back at the guesthouse instead. Some important government people visiting were supposed to leave to Flores today, but of course all planes were cancelled here because of the winds. Let's hope I can get off on the 16th as planned...

Birds
Black-and-white Warbler 1

B-b Pipit and new Ring-billed Gull!

2009-11-11T22:17:00.007-01:00

Clear sky in the morning so I did the Caldeira today. Buff-bellied Pipit and all the ducks were still there. New birds were a flock of Teals which I spent a few hours studying in search for my 130th Azores tick. Couldn't see anyone looking like a Green-winged though, they were all Common ones.

Common Teals (Anas crecca)

The Tufted Duck (Aythya fuligula) and Ring-necked Ducks (Aythya collaris) are still going strong.

After six hours in the Caldeira I went back to the village and ended the day with a two hour seawatch. Strong wind, big waves and few birds. A nice surprise was this young Ring-billed Gull flying by, a new individual!

1st winter Ring-billed Gull (Larus delawarensis)

The last days constant westerlies are a result of low pressures in the NW and a high pressure in the SW creating a corridor of winds straight to Corvo. I wonder if such a high pressure has the potential of wipping stuff up and out from further south in the States... maybe thats what brought the Myrtle Warbler (if it hadn't already been there for some time)?

Birds

Grey Heron 2, Common Snipe 10, Mallard 20, Common Teal 15, Pintail 1, Tufted Duck 1, Ring-necked Duck 2, Great Black-backed Gull 2, Lesser Black-backed Gull 4, Black-headed Gull 2, Ring-billed Gull 1, Buff-bellied Pipit 1

Myrtle magic!

2009-11-10T20:49:00.018-01:00

Alright, here we go again! Today I planned to go to the Caldeira since it is November (duck month) and I haven't been here since the 1st! BUT, as we came up on the mountain with the pickup the fog was thick and low, very thick and very low. So Manuel dropped me off at Cantinho instead...

It had apparently been raining a lot during the night and early morning since loads of water was flowing in the ribeiras, thus making a lot of noise. And that means that you don't hear shit inside the ribeiras, so searching for passerines is a bit (more) difficult. Anyway, birded the easy-to-reach open spots in Cantinho, Cancelas and Fojo during the first half of the day. Saw the American Great Egrets and their homie the Grey Heron in the fields but as usual didn't see anything of interest inside the valleys. Weather was OK today though, so life was pretty uncomplicated. Pretty strong winds from west (sheltered in the valleys) and only one shower in the morning.

In the afternoon I birded Ribeira do Poso de Agua since it's one of my favourite places. Don't know why I like it really, I haven't seen anything there. But Pierre's Chestnut-sided Warbler prooves that it's worth visiting! Since it hadn't rained during the day the water had stopped flowing in the ribeiras and now it was birdable for real again. Began in the upper parts and when I got down in the lower part, to the small orchard with orange trees I heard a sound that made me freeze in an instant - SOFT BILL SNAPPING! This is how you find Canada Warbler, Yellow Warbler, Black-throated Green Warbler and other goodies on this island so now it was game on again! At first I couldn't see the bird but I could hear it catching insects all the time. After I while I had glimpsed it a few times, being able to tell that it was a small warbler with pale underparts - my pulse was rising! After a minute of glimpses the bird suddenly flew out and sat in the open - FINALLY! Now I could see what it was, and it was a... chiffchaff. (&#="(¤!=?(¤=)(/?="?`*>!)(("¤/"&&!%!%!&#=!)!!!!!! Why? WHY!? Why did it have to a piece of shit common European bird instead of a cool Yank!? That was REALLY annoying!

Finished birding the ribeira and then started to walk back towards the village. Had a banana stop on the bridge over da Ponte, but nothing in the Indigo tree today either. As I came to the small and almost unknown Ribeira do Cerrado das Vacas I looked up towards the bushes where we saw the Blackpoll Warbler last year. Wind was pretty strong in the fields but somehow I decided to go up there and have a look anyway. After checking some Canaries my bins stopped on a Yellow-rumped Warbler sitting out in the open - YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLER - YES! Immediately noted the flank streaks and contrasting cheek - Myrtle Warbler. The bird was a bit flighty and hard to follow as it flew very fast in the wind, but I got decent views of it for half an hour before it flew out into a field, feeding among some herbs.

Yellow-rumped (Myrtle) Warbler (Dendroica coronata coronata)

This was probably one of the most expected new species for me here now, even though the date is a bit late even for a Yellow-rump. I wonder when it came in... This bird prooves that there is still stuff to find on the island! And maybe more is coming in? Prett strong westerlies have been blowing all day.

Birds

American Great White Egret 2, Grey Heron 1, Myrtle Warbler 1, Chiffchaff 1

Village day

2009-11-09T20:37:00.007-01:00

Today was field kick day. Had decided to give all the fields around the village a proper bash since birds have apparently moved down here from the fields higher up on the volcano. Ten minutes after I left the guesthouse it started to rain, and it rained a lot for about half an hour, soaking me as usual. This is one of the things that gets on my nervs the most - the unpredictable rain showers soaking you all the time! A month ago I would have thought: "Oh rain, maybe a system coming through, maybe it'll bring new birds!" It's almost starting to feel as if I've been here for eight weeks or so... ;) Lucky for me the sun came out half an hour after the rain and was then shining more or less the rest of the day.

This is how funny it is to get soaked for the 50th time out here. As you can see tamarisks isn't the best cover!

Worked my way from field to field scanning hundreds and hundreds of Canaries, House Sparrows, Chaffinches, Starlings and very ugly Feral Pigeons. After 7 hours of doing that, seeing two Goldfinches and a fly-over 1st winter Ring-billed Gull (nice one!), I gave up and quit for the day.

The wind turned from south to west during the afternoon and picked up somewhat in strength during the evening. Maybe the Juncos and Kinglets will start to arrive soon? They are numerous on Newfoundland now!

Birds

Ring-billed Gull 1, Lesser Black-backed Gull 3, Great Black-backed Gull 2, Black-headed Gull 2

Cold

2009-11-08T20:40:00.005-01:00

Have a cold spooking in my body so energy is at its lowest. Southern winds and almost clear sky today. Started with a short visit on Pico and then kicked fields on my way back towards the village. Checked every field that looked somewhat interesting but hardly found any birds at all. Most crops have been harvested now and birds have moved elsewhere, probably down to the fields around the village that will get a proper check tomorrow!

After a powernap did some seawatching in the evening. Only saw a few Cory's and Yellow-legged Gulls. Are the Cory's already leaving these waters? The juveniles have just left their nests!

Grey Wagtail (Motacilla cinerea)

Birds

Grey Heron 1

129!

2009-11-07T21:37:00.007-01:00

Questions anyone? Here are the answers!

Azores FAQs
Part 1: http://gwentbirding.blogspot.com/2009/10/azores-faqs-part-first.html
Part 2: http://gwentbirding.blogspot.com/2009/10/azores-faqs-part-two.html
Part 3: http://gwentbirding.blogspot.com/2009/10/azores-faqs-part-three.html
Part 4: http://gwentbirding.blogspot.com/2009/11/azores-faqs-part-four.html

Today was twitch day. Took the boat to Flores at 9 to give the Dickcissels a try!

Lifting the boat into the sea. The harbour here is very small and unprotected so no boats stay in the water overnight.

Good weather today and the sun was shining over northwestern Flores!

Nico and Ans de Vries as well as Urs and Edith Maienfisch met me in Santa Cruz harbour and together we drove to the old football field in Ponta Delgada where Nico and Ans saw the Dickcissels yesterday. On the way there they showed me their pictures of one of the birds from yesterday. Good pictures of an adult f*cking Dickcissel!!! This is only the second record for the Western P following a summer record of one bird in Norway almost 30 years ago.

Searched in the area for five hours but could only find a Lapland Bunting among the hundreds of Canaries, Chaffinches and House Sparrows.

Lapland Bunting record shot

Took a taxi back to Santa Cruz and got a place on the boat back as well despite not having pre-booked tickets either way. And well, that's the end of the story.

What about the 128th-129th? I had forgotten to update Great Egret and Goldcrest :)

Birds

Little Egret 1, Grey Heron 1, Common Tern 1, Whimbrel 1, Lapland Bunting 1

DICKCISSEL!!! ...on Flores :(

2009-11-06T21:21:00.006-01:00

Dark-eyed Junco in Fajã Gande yesterday, two Dicksissels in Ponta Delgada today. Nico de Vries and Flores is ON FIRE! Saw a big boat pass towards east south of Flores, don't remember if it was yesterday or today. Maybe that's why they score...?

I started on the mountain today since it was calm and clear. Soon the fog came and it was not very clear anymore. Still I managed to see a Buff-bellied Pipit, two Red-throated Pipits, 30 Snow Buntings and a Pale-bellied Brent. B-b Pipit hasn't been seen on the site since 21st October despite quite a few birders running around in the area since then. Still the same bird or a new one?

Buff-bellied Pipit

Pale-bellied Brent

Snow Bunting

Red-throated Pipit

Fog!

Did some bushy areas on the hill closer to the village for a while before I heade towards Ribeira da Lapa. Flushed some snipes on my way there, and judging from pictures at least one of them is dark (but seems to have thin white trailing edge). In da Lapa the Blue-winged Teal was still in as well.

Pale and dark Snipe

Blue-winged Teal

Birds

Grey Heron 1, Blue-winged Teal 1, Common Snipe 2, Lesser Black-backed Gull 1, Pale-bellied Brent 1, Red-throated Pipit 2, Buff-bellied Pipit 1, Snow Bunting 30

127!

2009-11-05T23:25:00.002-01:00

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

No birds today

2009-11-04T20:48:00.003-01:00

Slept long, birded the village all afternoon and early evening, didn't see anything. Even the cuckoos seem to have left now. Back to the valleys tomorrow to look for Grey-cheeked Thrush and Evening Grosbeak.

Interesting weather for the weekend?

Birds

European Whimbrel 2, Lesser Black-backed Gull 2

Mixed grill

2009-11-03T21:17:00.003-01:00

The weather today wasn't relly what I hoped for. Got three hours of good weather and did Cancelas as good as I could. Nothing there,and when I was done it started to rain. Walked back down through Fojo where I got short views of the Ovenbird. It was calling a lot though so it's easy to locate.

Walked back to the village in the rain and got pretty cold and soaked, but what else can you expect when you are on a volcano in the middle of the Atlantic in November!?

As I got down the rain was a bit lighter and I had a walk around the airfield. The usual Turnstones and Yellow-legged Gulls were accompanied by two European Whimbrels, a Grey Plover and a Lesser Black-backed Gulls among others. Also found this giant in the shoreline.

This 1,5 m(!) dude was lying on the beach relaxing after his lunch snack.

Lesser Black-backed Gull (Larus fuscus)

Grey Plover (Pluvialis squatarola) feat. Ruddy Turnstone (Arenaria interpres)

European Whimbrel (Numenius phaeopus)

As I have to much spare time now when all the other birders are gone I spent part of the evening adding my Azores list to the Club100 section on the Birding Azores website: http://azores.seawatching.net/index.php?page=xlist&s=0 Hopefully I will pass Darryl in the next few days! :)

Number two in the rankings is this handsome guy.

If you come here in October next year you might be fortunate to meet him!

Birds

European Whimbrel 2, Grey Plover 1, Lesser Black-backed Gull 2, Great Black-backed Gull 2, Ovenbird 1

Another delicata

2009-11-02T23:25:00.004-01:00

Today Bosse, David and the Swiss couple left Corvo which means I now have the whole island to myself again. The others went to reservoir to look for the Ring Ouzel but didn't find it. Instead they found a flock of ~35 Snow Bunting! Now I'm the only birder here...

I went to the lighthouse in the morning and birded that area for the first hours of the day. Beautiful weather, beautiful place, but no birds. Continued through Cantinho on my way back and then decided to have a walk in da Lapa as last site of the day. Flushed the Blue-winged Teal in the same pool as usual. Surprised that it is still there since it is saying in a shallow 3x1 m pool! Continued to my Snipe place, a marshy area where I've flushed three Common Snipes on every visit so far. And after a minue on sie I had flushed three Common Snipes today as well. Continued through the area when suddenly Snipe no 4 flew up. It looked dark in the upperwing so I got my bins on it quickly and got good flight views of the bird. No white edge at all and evenly, dark barred underwing - Wilon's Snipe! Flushed the bird once more before I left the area.

Nice birding weather!

Tomorrow I'll go back to the valleys to have another look for the one.

Birds

Grey Heron 1, Blue-winged Teal 1, Common Snipe 3, Wilson's Snipe 1,

A first for the Azores, a Buff-bellied Pipit and two Wilson's Snipes!

2009-11-01T23:56:00.007-01:00

OK, it's late and I'm very tired now, so I'll have to keep this short. Started in the Caldeira today with Bosse and the Swiss couple. Beautiful weather thanks to a high pressure over the Azores!

Classic picture of Caldeirão, the crater

Found a Buff-bellied Pipit down there, no 3 for Corvo this autumn. Beautiful creatures they are!

Buff-bellied Pipit (Anthus rubescens rubescens)

The number of Snipes had increased and we had almost 40 of them down there, including two Wilson's Snipes! This is a very poor picture of one of them.

Wilson's Snipe (Gallinago delicata). Note the lack of white trailing edge on the back of the wing.

After spending more than six hours in the crater me and Bosse went back towards the village and I decided to have a walk around the reservoir mountain for a few hours before heading back. One of the Dotterels was still in.

Dotterel (Charadrius morinellus)

Up there I also found a Ring Ouzel, an adult bird judging from the clear white on the breast. What I didn't know when I found it was that it was a first for the Azores!

Ring Ouzel (Turdus torquatus)

Let's hope the weather is good tomorrow as well!

Birds

Grey Heron 2, Great Black-backed Gull 3, Lesser Black-backed Gull 3, Mallard 15, Pintail 1, Garganey 1, Common Teal 1, Common/Green-winged Teal 1, Tufted Duck 1, Ring-necked Duck 2, Common Snipe 35, Wilson's Snipe 2, Dotterel 1, Ring Ouzel 1, Buff-bellied Pipit 1, Snow Bunting 1

Rain, again :(

2009-10-31T19:59:00.004-01:00

Not much to say about today. As we went up towards the valleys we met the rain. And then it rained all day. I was soaked after about an hour... Still managed to see the Black-and-white in da Ponte, the Brent flying by the power plant, the two American Great Whites flushed by the car as usual and the Ring-billed Gull chillin' on the airfield. No new birds though. There HAS to be something new here! They are getting Pied-billed Grebes, Ruddy Duck, Chimney Swift, mixed American Gulls and other stuff on the other islands. HAVE TO KEEP LOOKING!

Ring-billed Gull (Larus delawarensis)

Tomorrow we are going to the Caldeira. And tomorrow we ARE going there! Had planned to go today but didn't do it because of the weather...

Birds

Pale-bellied Brent 1, American Great White Egret 2, Ring-billed Gull 1 1cy, Black-and-white Warbler 1

Ring-billed Gull!

2009-10-30T21:00:00.008-01:00

As decided yesterday most of us kicked around the village today. Not much was found but I finally saw the Turtle Dove and the others saw two Yellow-billed Cuckoos that are still around. Saw the rubbish car driving around picking up trash so I went up to the rubbish dump and waited for the car to dump the trash (which attracts the gulls). Found two Great Black-backed Gulls but nothing else among the 100 or so gulls that came in to eat.

Atlantic Gulls (Larus michahellis atlantis)

Spent some time around the airport since eight of the remaining 13 birders were leaving. Now we are only five left on The Rock! A man approached me and asked if I was Olof Jönsson. He said he was reading my blog on a regular basis and that a lot of people in Corvo and the Azores was following it. He had gotten the address from the authorities he said! A big suprise for me and very funny to hear of course.

Ingvar, Fred, Vincent and Keijo about to board the plane.

After the others left me, Bosse and David continued our birding around the village. After doing the shore and some fields for a few more hours I decided to go seawatching. On my way down I saw a small flock of gulls over the airfield and among them a small one - Ring-billed Gull! Managed to get a few record shots before the bird flew out to sea. Refound it soon in a flock of a few thousand Cory's feeding about 2 km out from the harbour. Not the best views as you can understand, but a new Yank and actually the first Yank I find in several weeks - good for my stamina!

Record shot of 1st w Ring-billed Gull (Larus delawarensis)

Flores continues to produce and today they had Ruddy Duck, Pied-billed Grebe, Great Blue Heron, Laughing Gull and some other good stuff. See all observations on http://www.birdingazores.com/ We tried to get boat tickets to go there tomorrow but we failed since the boat was cancelled. Perhaps best that way since I think the weather is going to be pretty crappy tomorrow.

Birds
European Whimbrel 3, Ring-billed Gull 1 1cy, Great Black-backed Gull 2, Turtle Dove 1

More wind

2009-10-29T23:27:00.006-01:00

This is what the wind meters have been looking like for a week now, maiking birding really difficult:

This is the path along the shore south of the airfield. As you can see the waves and wind has produced a little bit of foam over the week:

Me thinking about having a foam bath.

Even if it was windy it wasn't raining this morning so I went up to the valleys to have a look in Cantinho. As usual flushed the two American Great Egrets with the car close to Fojo before stopping at Cantinho. Wind was shaking around the tree tops every now and then and due to rain during the night there was a steady flow (and thereby constant noise) in the stream in the valley. Spent four hours in there, doing it carefully, but didn't even see the Ovenbird that has been present in there for some time.

After lunch took my usual powernap but woke up as I got my face washed by a rain shower - have had more pleasent happenings in my life, I guarantee you! Did Poso de Agua for a few hours on my way back. I really, really like that place! But I haven't seen shit there... yet. Had a look for my buddy the juvenile Cory's in the bamboo stands and it was still there. It should leave any day now!

Juvenile Cory's out in the open on the ground.

On my way back I checked out the Savannah Sparrow that has moved down from the reservoir mountain to the "pig fields" / "bean fields" or whatever you wanna call the place. Had great but brief views of this nice bird. While watching it a local stopped next to us with his car and told us that he'd seen a duck in the harbour earlier the same day. He desribed it as a small duck, mostly grey, with black on top of the head, and pointed at a female Common Scoter in the Collin's guide. Went down there to have a look for it but didn't find it. Only two Turnstones were hanging around.

Turnstone

The Black-and-white wasn't seen today despite search. That goes for the Parula as well. One Yellow-billed cuckoo was seen in the village and tomorrow all of us will try to clean up the village together since that hasn't been properly done by a big crew for a few days (because of the wind). Let's hope that weather allows us to at least have a look around!

Sunset

Birds

American Great Egret 2, Grey Heron 2 juveniles, Grey Plover 1, European Whimbrel 2, Savannah Sparrow 1

Seawatching

2009-10-28T22:07:00.008-01:00

Had a slow morning today with loads of sleep and after that loads of coffee. Worked my way through a big bunch of emails before I went out seawatching by the windmills. Fred joined after a while and in the evening we were five seawatchers. Result? Pretty good, thanks to Fred's sharp eyes! Bonxie, Leach's Petrel and Purple Sand best birds of the day. Fred had also seen a Grey Phalarope in the morning. By the windmills we also got company by this dude from Greenland:

Northern Wheatear

Today winds were somewhat (but not much) nicer than the previous days and allowed five birders to leave the island. The crew is getting smaller and I think we are 13 left here now. The people who birded more seriously than me saw Ovenbird, Black-and-white Warble, Indigo Bunting and Savannah Sparrow. Nothing new though :( Maybe tomorrow!

Birds
Great Shearwater 4, Gannet 1 1cy, Leach's Petrel 1, Great Skua 1, Purple Sandpiper 1, Common Tern 6, Northern Wheatear 1

S.O.S. Cagarro

2009-10-27T22:15:00.008-01:00

Started in a windy Ribeira do Vinte with Fred today. Despite it had been light for an hour itwas almost impossible to bird in the beginning. That wood is DARK! Anyway, we birded the place for a few hours and, as usual, found absolutely nothing of interest. Walked to da Ponte and had lunch at the chat bridge before going into da Ponte. The Black-and-white was still in as usual but nothing else.

Somehow (don't ask me why) we decided to walk up to the reservoir in the afternoon. The place looked birdable since there weren't very many clouds in the sky and the hill wasn't covered in fog (as it usually is). When we got up there only one thing could happen of course - weather change! Storm winds and RAIN! Despite lousy weather we saw a Snow Bunting, a Red-throated Pipit and a White-rumped Sandpiper. Walked back to the village and only minutes after we entered the guesthouse the skies opened up. Full metal rain! Despite the late hour and the weather people were still in the Caldeira to look for the Indigo Bunting that Bosse found earlier (new pointfor Sweden Pete!). Due to the weather I asked Manuel if I could take the pickup and go up to get the poor people that were still out in the rain and it was OK. Met five VERY wet persons along the road that seemed to appreciate getting a lift down. It seems like this weather will go on for a few more days...

After dinner we found a juvenile "Cagarro" (Cory's) in the street, as we do most nights now. The birds are out flying for the first time in their life and many of them crash in the village on their way down to the sea.

Juvenile Cagarro

Picked the bird up and walked down towards the sea. Along the way we found another one and then bumped into the SPEA guy who was glad to take the Cory's. Went back with him to their (he's got two nice female collegues as well) place and put the both shearwaters there over night. Tomorrow they will ring the birds and release them in the sea. Visit their blog here: http://lifecorvo.blogspot.com/

Cagarro boxes provided by the government

Birds
Black-and-white Warbler 1, Red-throated Pipit 1, Snow Bunting 1, White-rumped Sandpiper 1 1cy

Rain and wind again

2009-10-26T20:59:00.007-01:00

Decided to do the lighthouse valley today. Got a lift about 800 m during my walk, but did the remaining 5 km or so by foot! And i got totally SOAKED before I even got to the valley. Wet and cold I birded the place for more than three hours. Result? Wet feet!

Walked back slowly and had lunch below do Vinte. Lunch includes powernap nowadays so after an hour I was ready to go birding again. Kicked around in da Ponte for a few hours in the afternoon. Only a few rain showers and not very much wind made the place quite birdable actually. Bumped into the Black-and-white Warbler two times. It has been there 22 days now! Walked over the fields close to the cliff edge on my way back but only found the common breeding birds, a lot of cows and the odd horse. Still waiting for a Cliff or Tree Swallow to turn up there!

Me about to be struck by a BIG wave yesterday. Picture by Vincent Legrand.

Six birders left and five arrived today. Ten should have left but the wind was to strong for the plane to land on Flores (winds are from W and the airstrip on Flores is S-N) so people had to stay here. Winds will settle somewhat tomorrow I think so then it's time to find a new, good bird again! Stuff must have arrived with the last days minor storm. I'm gonna hit Ribeira do Vinte with Fred!

Birds
Black-and-white Warbler 1

REALLY crazy winds!

2009-10-25T21:17:00.006-01:00

AZORES THE MOVIE 2009 by Simon:

Go to http://www.youtube.com/user/Waderwatcher and click on the links to the right.

Good stuff - WATCH IT!

Today was a relax day for me. Had a really good nights sleep, continued with a 1½ hour long breakfast with loads of coffee and finally finished my chill with a few hours computer work so now I have almost cought up with my harvest of emails. The winds was super ultra mega strong today so birding was very difficult, accept deep in the valleys on the sheltered eastern side of the island.

STRONG westerlies today!

Took a walk with Vincent around the village during late afternoon and managed to see a Yellow-billed Cuckoo despite the wind. Continued down to the western shore to have a look at the great scenery with the waves crashing against the lava beaches. Very impressive stuff!

A big wave hitting Corvo. The water is splashing about 50 m up in the air!

Vincent spotted a young White-rumped Sand with the Turnstones on the airfield and we watched it together for an hour or so. All the waders had some difficulties moving in the very strong wind. Tomorrow I'll get back to work in the valleys after this much needed rest!

Birds

Lesser Black-backed Gull 1 adult, White-rumped Sandpiper 1 1cy, Yellow-billed Cuckoo 1, Willow Warbler 1, Whimbrel 3, Grey Plover 1

Crazy winds!

2009-10-24T22:57:00.010Z

Nice weather in the morning, calm and sunny = passerine search. Crap weather in the afternoon and evening, really windy and a few showers = seawatching.

Flushed two American Great Egrets (and a juvenile Grey Heron) in the morning at Ribeira da Poso de Agua. Two new birds or has the bird from the Caldeira gone out? It was in the Caldeira yesterday...

American Great White Egrets

Also saw the Chimney Swift hunting over around Poso de Agua and Fojo during the first half of the day.

Chimney Swift

Birded Fojo below the lower road and after some pisching I heard a very sharp and loud "ZIPP!" close to me. Out from a bush popped an Ovenbird, at the exact same place where Rafa found it a few weeks ago! Probably the same bird that has spent some time in Fojo during the last two weeks and that now has found its way back to its first home on Corvo, or...?

Ovenbird

Continued birding Cancelas and Cantinho below the road and also checked the middle parts of Cancelas before I started walking back in the very strong wind. Tried to bird da Ponte but it was to windy there, even in the very bottom of the valley! Also slipped as usual in da Ponte but this a bit harder than normal. Lost grip totally with both feet at the same time and slided down the slope for a bit before hitting a small tree with my groin - ouch! =/

Ended the day at the windmill with some seawatching that produced a Gannet and some Great Shearwaters. Tried to string a Manx for a while but it turned out to "just" be a Great.

Tomorrow we are getting a new hit from a pretty deep low pressure (see below). Hope it isn't to windy for birding just... the waves are supposed to be about 9 m high!

Mmmmmmmmmmmmm! :-)

After eating at the windmill yesterday (don't ask me why we went there!) we were back at the Bandits' today! Home sweet home! No chocolate pudding thugh :(

Birds
Gannet 1 1cy, Great Shearwater 7, Pale-bellied Brent 1, American Great White Egret 2, Grey Heron 1 1cy, Chimney Swift 1, Ovenbird 1

New Yank landbirds!

2009-10-23T22:41:00.010Z

Check out the Eurovision Rare Bird Contest on Petes blogg: http://peteralfreybirdingnotebook.blogspot.com/2009/10/eurovision-rare-bird-contest.html Today Sweden got one new point (Yellow-rumped Warbler) and Finland its first point (Chimney Swift). Two days ago Italy got its first point (Savannah Sparrow) and yesterday Denmark its first point (Indigo Bunting).

Started in the Caldeira today with Fred, Rene, Jacob, Daniele and Hannu. On our way there we saw the newbie American Great White Egret on a field below Fojo in the morning. Found a new species for Corvo in the crater, but not a very exciting one; Garganey.

Garganey

Other ducks in the crater included a bunch of Mallars, the Pintail, a Black Duck hybrid, the two Ringnecks and their new homie a male Tufted Duck. About 20 Common Snipe kept us alert as did a Grey Heron. The American Great Egret (the oldie) was also still around as usual.

Tuftie and Ringnecks

When we got out of the crater we found out that a Chimney Swift had been found over Fojo and was now flying around Pico/da Ponte somewhere. Walked towards the place and scanned but got interrupted by the news that a Yellow-rumped Warbler had been found by the reservoir! Walked there as fast as we could but the bird had disappeared in the flock of Canarys that it was feeding together with. Many of us searched the area but the bird wasn't seen again :( Some people saw the Savannah Sparrow again though. I only managed to see the Dotterels and a Red-throated Pipit :( Anyway, a good sign that birds are still arriving! Hopefully the winds that are blowing will bring even more stuff! Would LOVE to see an American Swallow for example!

Kicked a few fields on my way back down to village and ended the day with an hour of seawatching which produced the regular ten or so Great Shearwaters and a bonus juvenile Gannet. Tomorrow me and Fred will search the island for the Great Blue Heron that everyone except us seems to see.

Birds

Gannet 1 1cy, Great Shearwater ~10, Grey Heron 2, American Great Egret 2, Mallard ~20, Black Duck x Mallard 1, Pintail 1, Garganey 1, Ring-necked Duck 2, Tufted Duck 1, Great Black-backed Gull 1, Lesser Black-backed Gull 1, Common Snipe 20, Dotterel 2, Red-throated Pipit 1

New systems on their way

2009-10-22T22:44:00.009Z

Pretty quiet day today. The westerlies keep blowing pretty strong over the island so hopefully more stuff is coming in. Saw the Pale-bellied Brent flying over the village this morning while waiting for Manuel to take us up. Birded my way up through Cancelas slowly and carefully during the first half of the day, but found absolutely nada. Went down again through Fojo and continued to Pico where I spent a few hours at the White-eyed Vireo place. Walked back through da Ponte where I bumped into the Black-and-white Warbler again. That bird has been there for ages now! I wonder what it's gonna do... winter there maybe!?

Weather is looking promising. Thanks to a low pressure moving out a few days ago we've been getting westerlies for the last three days. And more is on the way...

This is what the weather was today.

On Saturday a new system is coming in and it is coming from southwest!

The system is moving pretty quick as well, this is on Sunday.

Tomorrow we'll try to go to the Caldeira!

Birds

Brent Goose 1, Black-and-white Warbler 1

Savannah Sparrow!

2009-10-21T23:09:00.008Z

Started in the village today to look for the Grackle, but no sign of it. Also did some seawatching but found nothing but Cory's. Kicked some fields with Pierre and then went back to the guesthouse and had a break after seeing a Yellow-billed Cuckoo. In the village Eric heard something on the radio that sounded like someone had found a Sparrow, a probable Savannah Sparrow. We couldn't find out anything more about the bird so we decided to head up towards the valleys and try to radio the others. After a sweaty walk we managed to get through to Daniele who had seen a Savannah Sparrow, just like we suspected, up by the reservoir. Everyone went up there pretty soon but the conditions were horrible with very strong wind, fog and a little bit of rain just to mess up all optics. Thanks to this noone saw the bird :( We did hear and see a Red-throated pipit though, the fifht for the Azores.

A wet and cold group of birders sheltering behing a "Cat" for lunch.

Went down to the village to say bye to Simon, Eric, Pierre and the others before I went up to the mountain again to gie the Sparrow another try. When I got up there the fog disappeared and I got about an hour of clear weather which produced two Red-throated Pipits and the two Dotterels.

Red-throated Pipit

After a while I heard a car coming and out jumped about eight other birders who had decided to give the Sparrow another go. It didn't take long before David had relocated the bird, but then the fog started to come in again and only Hannu got to see the bird. NOT good! Anyway, after another 15 minutes or so of nervous waiting we all had gotten good views of the bird in the fog. Jadang!

Savannah Sparrow!

On the way back we bumped into Staffan Rodebrand and Rich Bonser who were looking for the Northern Parula at the power plant. The bird gave som absolutely excellent views at dusk. Definately the best looking bird out here so far this autumn!

Northern Parula again, what a bird!

Birds
Northern Parula 1, Yellow-billed Cuckoo 1, Whimbrel 2, Savannah Sparrow 1

Norsern Parula

2009-10-20T23:39:00.007Z

Went birding with Simon today since he's leaving tomorrow. Did Pico all morning but once again without finding the White-eyed Vireo. It has to be in there somewhere! We were supposed to meet at the bridge over da Ponte for lunch at 12 and so we did. But instead of lunch we got a message with German touch on our Walkie Talkies: "Norsern Parula at se Power Station"

Simon immediately tried to phone Pierre (but failed) and started to walk towards the place. Since I had seen one last year in Cantinho I walked back a few hundred meter and radioed out the news to the others in the northern valleys before I left. Soon we met Swedish birder Stefan Ettestam who had found the bird (new point to Sweden Pete!!!) and he explained where the bird was and even showed me some pictures of it. Moments later a car passed us and we got a lift all the way to the site - perfect! It didn't take us long before Martin relocated the bird. And what a bird! And what views! Birders continued to drop in and soon everyone had seen the bird - fantastic since we are almost 30 birders here now!

Swedish birders Per Forsberg and Jan-Michael Breider also managed to get a lift to the Parula.

Photo battle!

Northern Parula!

Fred, Ward and other happy people going back up to the valleys after a successful twitch.

Went back up to Ribeira da Ponte with Simon and kicked it all afternoon without seeing anything at all. But still it felt really exciting to bird today! New birds have apparently come in and all valleys are worth checking carefully again.

Many of the birds that have been seen the last days were seen today. A new bird was a Great Blue Heron that Daniele saw flying over the villege towards the Caldeira, so hopefully I'll have to make a visit there soon again. A very interesting fact is that two birders independently saw a bird that might have been a GRACKLE(!!!) around the village today! Tomorrow will be an interesting day for sure! To see all observations, visit http://www.birdingazores.com/

Birds

Northern Parula 1, Whimbrel 1

What!?

2009-10-19T23:01:00.010Z

Did it rain today or did it rain today? Ask David who first spent two hours in a cave(!) in one of the ribeiras and then another two hours in the public toilet in Fojo sheltering for the rain. What a nightmare!

I started the day on Pico to look for the White-eyed Vireo. Got about 1½ hours of birding before the rain came, which produced biref views of an American Redstart. After sitting in the rain for almost three hours we all walked back, totally soaked, without any sign of the Vireo. During my lunch brake in the village Pete and Darryl found two Yellow-billed Cuckoos of which I got to see one. Stunning birds they are! Hope we get one with black bill soon for comparison. These two birds were new in thanks to a low pressure moving out from Newfoundland, bringing westerlies (and rain) yesterday and today. And that's not all that was found today...

Yellow-billed Cuckoo

Pete and Darryl left today, as did Dominic and his group. In came Team Scandinavia with two Swedes, four Danes and two Finns and also Daniele from Italy. Now the big photo battle is ON Vincent! Went up with all of them and Manuel and did another try for the White-eyed. After one or two hours Eric brought the news to us that Pierre had did it again, found a mega that is, this time a Yellow-throated Vireo. He's in the zone! As I was fortunate enough to see last years bird in Cancelas I stayed on Pico until dusk without seeing the White-eyed, while everyne else went to Cantinho and dipped the Yellow-throated. Hopefully we'll all have a bit more luck tomorrow!

Another lowpressure seems to be moving out around Wednesday in a somewhat more southerly orbit... what will come then?

Birds
American Great Egret 1, American Redstart 1, Yellow-billed Cuckoo 1, Whimbrel 1

Flores!

2009-10-18T23:14:00.006Z

Got news yesterday evening that there was a Killdeer and an Upland Sand on Flores, so 12 of us decided to twitch Flores today. Simon chartred a boat for us from 12 to 19 and we agreed to meet in harbour at 11:30. At about 11:20 news broke that the French machine Pierre had found a White-eyed Vireo on Pico. Third for Corvo and third for the Western P! After a few minutes of panic (at leat for me) everyone agreed on sticking to the plan and doing the Flores trip no matter what. So at 12 the twelve of us we left on our chartred boat.

Corvo

Parts of the crew!

In Santa Cruz we had two taxis waiting for us and immediately went up to Lagoa Rasa and the Killdeer. Small lake and easy to scan so we found the bird fast. What a stunning wader! Enjoyed it on ground and in flight for half an hour or so before we continued to Ponta Delgada and the Upland Sandpiper along the road out to Ponta do Albarnaz. The Upland Sand was soon giving excellent views in flight, but was a bit tricky to spot on the ground as it was really flighty and nervous.

Killdeer!

Killdeer again!

Upland Sand!

After enjoying the bird for an hour we walked back to Ponta Delgada and had lunch at a bar. Some of the guys walked over the old soccer field and bumped into a White-rumped and a Least Sandpiper. While we were having our very late lunch we got news about a Double-crested Cormorant in Lajedo on the other side of the island. Being short on time we never went for the bird as we would never have made it to the harbour in Santa Cruz to 18:00 :( Instead we had a look at the waders before our taxis came and took us to Santa Cruz.

Least Sand!

In Santa Cruz harbour, close to the boat, we had two Semi-p Plovers and another White-rump giving stunning views. Other stunning views there was Vincent Legrand showing how you do to get the best pictures of whatever might turn up.

White-rump

Semi-p Plover

Vincent Legrand in action

On the way back we got company by some dolphins aound the boat for a while. Stunning creatures and amazing to get to see them just a few m away! That was one of the absolute highlights during the day for me!

Dolphin with Flores in the background

Tomorrow we will try to relocate that Vireo on Pico. Wish us good luck!

Birds

Killdeer 1, Upland Sandpiper 1, Semipalmated Plover 2, Least Sandpiper 1, White-rumped Sandpiper 1, Grey Heron 1, Northern Wheatear 2

Buff-bellied Pipits

2009-10-17T23:09:00.009Z

I didn't see any B-b Pipits today, but Pierre found two on the mountain south of the Caldeira. One more pont for France!

Birded slowly in Fojo, Poso de Agua, do Vinte and over some fields during the day. Saw the Ovenbird in Fojo. Had a seawatch for an hour in the evening which produced about ten Great Shearwaters.

Remarkably fresh juvenile atlantis. These bastards vary a lot and most of them are already very worn and have moulted a lot.

Ovenbird in Fojo.

Will probably have a calm day / half a day off tomorrow and recharge for the next possible influx of birds when the lowpressure enters the Atlantic.

Birds

Ovenbird 1, Great Shearwater 10, Common Snipe 3

Marsh Hawk!?

2009-10-16T22:15:00.012Z

Had a really nice day today! Started at the Lighthouse valley with Fred, Stewart, Vincent, Pierre and Pete. The thought was to do a quick hit and then get out and back to mobile reception as quick as possible. That plan didn't last very long. After a few minutes Pierre picked up a harrier over the mountain that turned out to be a Hen Harrier, but was it a European or an American? We ran up the mountain after the bird but only got distant views. Managed to get some bad record shots and what you can see looks pretty good for a juvenile Marsh Hawk (North American race of Hen Harrier); most important is the dark hood strongly contrasting to the plain body. Pete went crazy and continued running up the mountain after the Harrier while the rest of us kicked around the valley instead. Pierre found a Red-eyed Vireo, probably the same bird me and Simon saw a few days ago. After a while Vincent heard a contact call that reminded him of Common Yellowthroat and after some searching Fred found the bird in a hedge, a young male Common Yellowthroat! Those Yellowthroats are extremely skulky! I only saw the head, but that was pretty cool actually. Good looking birds the males!

Marsh Hawk?

When we had walked back for a while we got news that the Baltimore Oriole was seen again in the village. We were about 5 km away! So guess if we were glad when a car came by and me and Vincent got a ride down to the village! Half an hour later we had gotten good views of the Oriole and went back to the guesthouse to have a chill lunch and wait for the arriving birders; three Swedes, a Belgian and four Brits. Now we are 26 birders on the island!

Baltimore Oriole!

Went up and kicked around Pico and da Ponte in the afternoon which resulted in nice views of the Yellow Warbler. After that had a slow walk back with Vincent. When we got to Ribeira da Lapa a Blue-winged teal came flying out of the tiny valley! Maybe I should add that the biggest pool of water in there is about 5 m long and 1½ m wide. Anyway, the bird appeared to land again so we went in to have a look for it and then Vincent picked up a Red-eyed Vireo instead! Excellent finish to the day!

American Yellow Warbler

Red-eyed Vireo

Follow the Eurovision Rare Bird Contest on http://peteralfreybirdingnotebook.blogspot.com/ and also check out Darryls amazing Yellowthroat and other stuff on http://gwentbirding.blogspot.com/.

Birds

Blue-winged Teal 1, Common Yellow-throat 1, American Yellow Warbler 1, Red-eyed Vireo 1, Baltimore Oriole 1, American Great Egret 1, Grey Heron 1, Hen Harrier 1 (ssp?)

Other birds seen today included: Ovenbird 2, Common Yellowthroat 2 (together in the village), Black-and-white Warbler 1, American Redstart 1, Turtle Dove 1, Yellow-billed Cuckoo 1, Rose-breasted Grosbeak 1 and Indigo Bunting 1.

Three lifers!

2009-10-15T22:46:00.018Z

1) Pictures of the Yellow Warbler can be seen on both Darryls (http://gwentbirding.blogspot.com/) and Peters (http://peteralfreybirdingnotebook.blogspot.com/) blogs.

2) Yesterday evening me and Vincent compared pictures of Black-throated Greens from Fojo and da Ponte and they turned out to be two different individuals without doubt! Number 4 and 5 for the WP that is!

3) Today...

...it's half time! I've been here 1 month and 1 day and will stay for another 1 month and 1 day. Today was also the best day so far with Common Yellowthroat, American Yellow Warbler, Black-and-white Warbler, American Redstart, Bobolink, Indigo Buntings, Yellow-billed Cuckoo, Ovenbird, Rose-breasted Grosbeak and Baltimore Oriole! IMPRESSIVE! I didn't see all that of course, but was pretty lucky anyway I think.

After breakfast Fred found an Indigo Bunting close to the Guesthouse. I was there within 30 seconds and got to see a small, brown bird fly away, but nothing more :(

Started birding around the village with Pierre and Vincent to look for the Cormorant from yesterday and kick some fields. No sign of the cormorant but Pierre found a Common Yellowthroat in the tamarisks south of the airstrip. Lucky for me I was only 50 m from him and got excellent views of the bird for about ten seconds before it dropped down into the tamarisk again and disappeared. Nice! Also saw the American Great White Egret that apparently is a new bird since the one from last year was seen at the same time in the Caldeira today.

Inhabitants of the fields.

Got a ride up to the valleys by Manuel and soon picked up Hugues below do Vinte. Found out that he had seen a Yellow-billed Cuckoo east of Pico so jumped out of the car and went down there. Within minutes I saw the cuckoo flying by pretty close - nice no2! Despite staying another hour I only saw it briefly in flight again. Went up to da Ponte and exchanged some bullshit with the lads up there for 15 minutes or so before Darryls Indigo Bunting came flying and landed in the Indigo tree. Nice no3! Quite cute actually, thought it would be a boring bird to be honest. After that birded the upper part of da Ponte and the small lousy and almost bird-empty forest between da Ponte and do Vinte before I went down to have a second look at the cuckoo. Saw the bird immediately perched in a bush pretty far away. I looked down for a second to grab my camera and when I looked up the bird was gone. Hope it stays so I can see it again.

On my way back I once again picked up heavy radio traffic as I approached the village. Pete had found a Baltimore Oriole! Ran all the way down to where the bird had been seen but missed it (just like everyone else who went for it). But with three ticks in one day I can't complain! Hopefully the bird will turn up near the village tomorrow.

Iceland seems to get the low pressure direct hits but we might get som kick-ass jetstreams after the weekend.

Birds

Common Yellowthroat 1, Yellow-billed Cuckoo 1, Indigo Bunting 1, Grey Heron 1, American Great Egret 1, Grey Plover 1, Whimbrel 1, Northern Wheatear 1

American Yellow Warbler

2009-10-14T22:41:00.003Z

Today everyone started in Ribeira do Poso de Agua and looked for the Chestnut-sided Warbler. Exactly zero of us saw or heard it! On our way there a few saw the Indigo Bunting in da Ponte from the car. I missed it of course :( After a few hours I left Poso de Agua to try the Indigo Bunting instead. When I had walked about 50 m people Simon called me back since they had seen an Indigo Bunting in Poso de Agua! I missed it and the bird was not seen again. Spent a few more hours in the valley but didn't see anything interesting. Got a few shots of a Woodcock on the ground.

Woodcock

In the afternoon I left to try the Indigo Bunting in da Ponte again. Not much happened. In fact it was really boring until Vincent arrived and I had someone to talk to. After a while Manuel came with some newly arrive birders. We thought just a few would arrive but they turned out to be nine! Vincent took them down inte da Ponte to look for some of the megas that are present in there. I stayed up by the road and continued to watch the boring non-Indigo tree. After two hours I was pretty cold and went for a short walk. Bumped into Pierre and had a little chat with him before our walkie-talkies went crazy. René had found a Warbler with all yellow underparts, a possible American Yellow Warbler. Pierre had already seen it in the WP so he went to radio the others while I ran down to where the bird was. Didn't take long before I saw it and soon everyone had seen it pretty good - an American Yellow Warbler! Really strange that it turned up in da Ponte since it is by far the most watched site the last week. Why do so many Yanks end up there? Apart from the Yellow Warbler the Black-and-white and two(!) American Redstarts were present in the same valley! Went back to the non-Indigo tree and spent another 1½ hours or so there getting aquainted with some of the new birders.

Back in the village we bumped into Simon who had just relocated the Rose-breasted Grosbeak. Got some good but brief views of the bird before it drapped down on the ground. Later had a look at the Great Egret that Pete had found in the fields behind "The Bandit's". Got great views of it as it was walking around along the stonewalls, waving its neck and catching insects. The Caldeira bird that is out sightseeing or a new bird in? Maybe we'll find out after tomorrow when some birders have been in the Caldeira.

Great Egret

As I was watching the Egret Pierre announced on the radio that a Cormorant was flying along the island towards the harbour. Picked up the bird pretty quick but it was to distant to see any details. Took my camera and got some crap shots of the bird but you can't see shit on the pictures either. Apart from these birds Fred also saw a Corn Crake and a Red-eyed Vireo around Pico. Probably the same crake as I saw four weeks ago.

Cormorant sp

Tomorrow I wont spend very much time at the non-Indigo tree.

Birds

American Yellow Warbler 1, Great Egret 1, Cormorant sp 1

Dipp day

2009-10-13T23:48:00.004Z

First a few things I forgot yesterday. The French team found a new (third!) American Redstart in Ribeira da Ponte where the Black-and-white and the Black-throated Green were still around to. Fred also found a Spotted Sand on the beach.

First half of today was quite calm, best bird was a Red-eyed Vireo by Pete in the bottom of Fojo. All I picked up on my walkie-talkie when he found it was "...eyed Vireo" so at first I got a bit excited, but unfortunately soon calmed down again. At lunch time Fred picked up an Alpine Swift over Fojo, a 1st for Corvo and 2nd for Azores. During early afternoon Darryl spotted an Indigo Bunting at Ribeira da Ponte. I was already on my way there and soon joined Darryl and Ferran who sat and waited for the bird to reappear. After ten minutes of waiting the walkie talkies went active again and soon the news broke that Pierre had found a CHESTNUT-SIDED WARBLER in Ribeira da Poso de Agua. 1st for Az and about 3rd for the WP - RUUUUUUUUUN! While we were running there news broke on the radios that Fred had relocated the Philadelphia Vireo in Ribeira do Vinte at the same time!

Alpine Swift

The French and Belgians saw the Philadelphia Vireo and in Ribeira da Poso de Agua all ten of us were looking for the Warbler until dusk but all we got was a few contact calls :( Maybe we'll have better luck tomorrow when we go there together in the morning. On my way back to the village I once again missed the Indigo Bunting since I stayed too long in Poso de Agua.

Winds today and tomorrow maybe can put some stuff out of course from Newfoundland...?

Birds

Alpine Swift 1

Darryl and his Canadian friend!

2009-10-12T22:34:00.008Z

Today it happened again! After kicking different valleys in the morning a few of us were going to have lunch at the picnic site in Fojo. As I was on my way there I picked up some intense radio traffic going on with directions on how to get to the bird so I started to run and try to find the right place - without knowing what species they were talking about! As I was almost there I radioed them and got to know that Darryl had found a Canada Warbler just north of the picnic site! Unfortunately the bird had disappeared and we had to search hard. After abut an hour Ferran picked it up and the look on his face was very similar to a childs on Christmas eve. Unfortunately the bird disappeared again before the rest of us arrived... Later Darryl saw the bird briefly again and after totally three hours everyone finally got excellent views as Pete refound the bird feeding in the middle of the wood. Absolute magic!

CANADA WARBLER!

Read about the discovery on Darryls blog: http://gwentbirding.blogspot.com/
Pete has put some film of the twitch (mostly showing my ass) on his blog: http://peteralfreybirdingnotebook.blogspot.com/

Eric celebrating his 703rd WP species.

On the way back me and Fred checked the lower parts of Ribeira da Poso de Agua. That place looks really, really good and I look forward to seeing something there... sometime... Found a Cory's nest down there with an almost fully grown chick in it. Soon we will be picking them up from the streets in the village but I decided to have a preview.

Juvenile Cory's Shearwater.

Me trying to pull out the Cory's chick that was doing its very best to fight back! Photo by Fred.

According to Pete the occurance of vagrants in Newfoundland correlated pretty good with what turned up in the Azores in autumn 2005, so you better take a look at Newfoundland Rare Bird Alert every now and then: http://groups.google.com/group/nf.birds/topics?lnk=srg&pli=1Thanks to Dave Brown for providing the link.

Birds

Canada Warbler 1!

President Manuel

2009-10-11T20:32:00.014Z

Not very much happened for me today despite hard work in the Ribeiras. Me, Vincent, Eric, Pierre, Rafa and Ferran tried Ribeira do Vinte for a few hours in the morning, but couldn't find either the Catharus or the American warbler sp. Best bird was a Willow Warbler... Rain was pretty heavy though, and it was slippery like hell today! Had approxiamately ten falls during the day - a new highest daily count for me and my butt without doubt! Ouch! After do Vinte the others went back to the village to twitch a Bobolink that Peter had found. See pics on either his (http://peteralfreybirdingnotebook.blogspot.com/) or Darryls (http://gwentbirding.blogspot.com/) blog. I decided to stay up in the valleys and birded the upper half of da Ponte, a small part of Pico, the upper parts of Cerrado das Vacas and the lower parts of da Lapa, but found absolutely NADA! Just to keep on looking. Was fortunate enough to get a lift down to the village by Manuel as it started to rain during early evening. Speaking of Manuel; Today there were mayor elections in all Azorean towns, including Corvo, and Manuel was one of two candidates here. A few hours ago we found out that he had gotten 65% of the votes and will be mayor the coming four years, starting in early November. Congratulations Manuel!

Apart from the Bobolink the others saw the Rose-breasted Grosbeak, a Merlin of unknown race, the Pec and some other more common stuff around the village. Hopefully more people will be up in the valleys again tomorrow looking for the small magic ones!

Lunch break in Fojo a few days ago. In order of appearance: Me, Rafa and Ferran. Filmed by Simon.

Birds

Willow Warbler 1...

Ovenbird!

2009-10-10T22:35:00.004Z

Started at upper Ribeira da Poso de Agua and upper Fojo with Simon but strong from south made birding hard. During late morning the Spanish clown Rafa (Rafael Armada) found an absolutely stunning Ovenbird in Ribeira da Amoreira below Fojo. He found the bird as he was taping Blue Tit(!) along the road and everyone could twitch the bird successfully. A very much wanted species for me!

Ovenbird!

Birded my way back and had an odd looking bird I thought could be a Baltimore Oriole near the lower parts of Ribeira da Poso de Agua, but only got crap views of it on big distance in bad light. Maybe it was just a Chaffinch.

Two hours later at Ribeira da Ponte I got to know that there was a Rose-breasted Grosbeak and a Baltimore Oriole in the village! Walked down as fast as I could but missed the Oriole. Found out that Eric was the only one who had seen it as it rapidly moved up towards the village. Probably a newly arrived bird looking for a nice place to hang out, hopefully someone will find it the coming days. Also got to see Pete's Grosbeak in the evening.

Rose-breasted Grosbeak. Visit Peters blog for better pictures: http://peteralfreybirdingnotebook.blogspot.com/

Black-and-white and Black-throated Green are still hanging around in Ribeira da Ponte and in Ribeira do Vinte Eric flushed a Catharus thrush and Pierre heard the (still!) unidentified American Warbler today again. We're thinking about making a hit there together first thing in the morning tomorrow to nail the bastards!

Birds

Grey Heron 1, Ovenbird 1, Rose-breasted Grosbeak 1

More yanks and more birders

2009-10-09T23:14:00.006Z

Me and Simon started at the lighthouse valley today while Team Spain went to look for the Red-eyed Vireo by the Camping area and Staffan went to Cancelas to look for the American Redstart. Me and Simon hit the jackpot as there was both a Red-eyed Vireo and an American Redstart (new bird judging from photos) in the lighthouse valley! Beautiful place, but far away and lacks mobile signal...

Red-eyed Vireo

Got picked up by Manuel at noon and dropped of at da Ponte with Staffan who we picked up along the road. After a brief lunch we split up to try to find and stake out the Black-and-white Warbler for the arriving birders; Pierre, Eric, Vincent, Fred, Peter and Darryl. Simon went down and I went up (as usual) and the Black-and-white was still around in the same area as usual. Surprisingly it was soon joined by a Black-throated Green Warbler (maybe same as in Fojo)! This island is without doubt on fire! Most of the arriving birders saw Black-and-white Warbler, Black-throated Green Warbler and American Redstart during their first afternoon - what a start! The grand finale of the day was a hunting Common Nighthawk above the power station that Eric picked out at dusk!

Birds
Red-eyed Vireo 1, American Redstart 1, Black-and-white Warbler 1, Black-throated Green Warbler 1, Northern Wheatear 1, Grey Heron 1, Bar-tailed Godwit 1

Red-eyed Vireo

2009-10-09T00:08:00.006Z

We had planned to go to Flores today with the boat at 11:20, so at 9 I went to the ticket shop and settled everything. At 10:30 Simon got a call that the boat was cancelled... So we headed up to Cantinho and Cancelas instead. After 10 minutes the rain started and the first half of the day was a total failure. After boosting up at Fojo I went down and kicked the lower part of Ribeira da Poso de Agua as hard as could for a few hours, but nada. After walking back scanning fields I took a short walk around the village before I settled on some rocks by the sea and enjoyd a fantastic sunset. On my way back I passed a few bushes by the beach and a Blackcap flew by me. Very odd place for a Blackcap so I checked the bird and soon saw a Red-Eyed Vireo feeding in a small bush 5 m in front of me - yes! Unfortunately it was late and not much light left, so none of the others got to see the bird. Maybe it arrived today as a new system hit us or maybe it flew off the boat that passed the island yesterday? Anyway a good indication that new birds are here! Also saw the small white Egret flying by near the beach. Staffan successfully twitched the Philadelphia Vireo in Ribeira do Vinte today but unfortunately couldn't find the Black-and-white Warbler in Ribeira da Ponte despite a 4 h search :(

Birds
Red-eyed Vireo 1, Bar-tailed Godwit 1 adult female, Little/Snowy Egret 1, Northern Wheatear 1

Ship-assists coming in?

2009-10-07T23:20:00.004Z

Not very much happened today. Started in Ribeira do Vinte to look for the American warbler from yesterday, but didn't find it. Saw the Philadelphia Vireo good for a few seconds again though. Saw a Willow Warbler by the road, a first for Corvo found yesterday by Team Spain. Me and Simon worked Pico and the lowest parts of Ribeira da Ponte while Rafa and Ferran were looking for the Black-and-white Warbler. Unfortunately none of us saw anything of interest. Since we had seen a ship going east between Corvo and Flores in the morning we decided to bird the village in the afternoon and evening in search for newly arrived ship-assists.

On our way down we met a newly arrived Staffan Rodebrand who was on his way up. After trying to explain to him where the birds had been he went up and successfully twitched the Black-throated Green Warbler.

The only interesting we found around the village was the usual Pec on the airfield and two Wheaters in the lower fields (among those the flying peach). Rafa also found a Willow Warbler in the tamarisks by the shore.

Weather is continuing to look interesting with a new system hitting us tomorrow and another system moving out from America on Friday. More birds soon?

Birds
Philadelphia Vireo 1, Willow Warbler 1, Pectoral Sandpiper 1 1cy, Whimbrel 1, Grey Heron 1, Northern Wheatear 2

Philadelphia Vireo!

2009-10-06T22:53:00.003Z

Good harvest today again! Team Spain went looking for yesterdays birds while me and Simon hit Ribeira do Vinte. After scanning the outer parts of the valley we went inside it to have a look. Pretty soon i noticed something small moving around in the tops of some trees and alerted Simon but he didn't see it as the bird had dropped down among the trees. I was pretty sure that it was one of the pale vireos (Philadephia/Warbling) but the bird was gone. After an hour of rain and wind we glimpsed the bird again, but again only from below. Now we were sure that it was a Vireo, but which one of them!? The hours passed and we just couldn't find the bird again! While searching for the Vireo we heard a sharp call and Simon also had brief views of a small bird in the tree tops. We heard the bird several times again but never got any views of it - VERY annoying! After looking for the Vireo for almost five hours getting soaked by shower after shower we had a short lunch break and then tried to find it once again. And then suddenly, there it was! A beautiful Philadelphia Vireo! 2nd for Corvo and 5th for the WP! On our way out of the valley we heard the American warbler again, but didn't see it this time either. Happy to have nailed the vireo but PISSED-OFF about the warbler we left the valley and headed towards new adventures. Didn't see very much else of interest that day. The Bar-wit and the Pec still around the village but no small Egret or Eider today.

This beautiful picture was taken by Ferran Lopez Sanz.

Team Spain had a great first full day and managed to twitch all three megas present on the island; Black-and-white Warbler, Black-throated Green Warbler and Philadelphia Vireo! Now they are in the game and tomorrow the four of us will do our very best to find whatever might be out there.

Birds

Philadelphia Vireo 1, unidentified American Warbler 1, Pectoral Sandpiper 1 1cy, Bar-tailed Godwit 1 adult female

BANG! And BANG!

2009-10-05T23:30:00.010Z

In the morning I couldn't find my Sibley guide (Birds of Eastern North America) and asked Simon if he could bring his instead. He just replied that bringing that stuff gives bad luck so we went up bookless today. Went back into the valleys after the last two days interesting influx of waders, hoping that new birds had arrived. Rain showers kept coming every now and then, among them the worst shower so far out here that got us both soaked and cold. Fortunately the sun came out shortly after that big shower so we sat on a field in the sun for a while trying to dry up a bit. Did Cantinho and Cancelas whole morning but didn't find any birds, not even the American Redstart, so maybe it's gone? Anyway, while we sat there trying to heat up Simon picked up a small white egret flying around looking lost over the sea. A new arrival since I haven't seen any small Egrets here during my three weeks. And coming in during the westerlies as well! The bird never came close enough to see any details but seemed to continue towards the village so we hoped to find it again.

Started to walk back and had lunch at Fojo. After that Simon walked up towards the picnic area and I went in to check the orchards in the forest. After a while in there I saw a bird feeding, hanging almost upside down in some twigs just over the path maybe 15 metres in front of me - BLACK-THROATED GREEN WARBLER! One of the most beautiful birds I've ever seen! Called Simon on the walkie-talkie, got my camera up and tried to take pictures of this absolute perfect, superb, mega good looking creature. But despite close range, good light and image stabilizer on my lens I couldn't get any pictures! I was so sky high on adrenaline that I was shaking like a leaf! I shit you not, this was probably the best rush I have ever gotten from a single bird! And as I'm writing this every single hair on my body stands up once more, I love it! Simon soon came and we got excellent views of this mega together (his 2nd on Corvo!) as the bird was feeding in the orchard for a few minutes before moving away from us. During that time I (almost) quit shaking and managed to get some decent shots of the beauty. This was the sixth record for the WP I think, so a relly good one!

Black-throated Green Warbler, 2nd for Corvo and about 6th for the WP.

This is what a big part of this game is about to me, getting that rush when finding a true rarity. And what a rush it was today! I'm glad we didn't bring any book out :) Now it was game on for us! What else could be out there!? After looking for the Black-throated Green for while we continued up to the picnic area and had a short break trying to decide what to do. The choice of site fell on Ribeira da Ponte to which we walked getting hit by another shower. After scanning the parts of the ribeira around the road I wanted to go down into the lower parts of the valley to have a look. We usually split up down there to cover as much as possible, me going up and Simon going down. I suggested to Simon that I could go down and he go up this time but he just replied that if I went down I would just find a good bird instead of him, so we went our usual ways. Afer only 20 meters I see something on a big tree, looking almost like a Tree Creeper in profile with a long, insect-eating-adapted bill. Got my bins one the bird and another dream came true - BLACK-AND-WHITE WARBLER! The bird was a bit tricky to see so I was really glad that Simon was right behind me and soon got onto the bird as well. It turned out he had heard the bird call as I got my eyes on it, the so far sharpest call I've heard from an American warbler as we got to hear it a few times more.

Black-and-white Warbler, 1st for the Azores and maybe the first for the WP since 1996?

What was happening? What birds were on the island today? When did they get here? And what had we missed? It was getting late so we went down to the village to have a look for the Egret. I went down to the harbour to scan that area and spotted an Eider lying there looking f*cked, proper f*cked! The jurney these vagrants do before hitting Corvo is impressive, so not strange they're tired when getting here. Apart from the general condition I think the bird had a really strange head- and bill shape compared to what we normally see back home. Have a look at it:

Common Eider. Look at that bill - American vagrant?

Went on to theck other spots for the Egret, and soon Simon found it! And it had a lot of yellow on the legs! Snowy?! When looking closer at the bird it unfortunately had grey lores and not yellow. But what about those legs? I think a juvenile Little Egret can look like this, but can a Snowy as well? I don't know. What I know is that the bird did fly in from the sea during a front passage from west with an apparent influx of American vagrants... Please comment! When watching the Egret we met Rafael Armada and Ferran Lopez from Spain who will be here for almost ten days. As soon as they heard about the warblers (or about the Black-and-white) they went up there to have a look for it, but didn't find it. Hopefully they will tomorrow!

Juvenile Little/Snowy Egret.

Birds

Black-throated Green Warbler 1, Black-and-white Warbler 1, Common Eider 1 female-type, Snywy/Little Egret 1 1cy, Whimbrel 1

A 1st for Corvo and more Yanks!

2009-10-04T19:27:00.011Z

Birded around the village all day today. Got a "bad" start by finding a first for Corvo - a House Martin. We do NOT want European birds, we want Yanks! After kicking the upper fields and scanning all the fig trees, stone walls etc. we went for a walk around the airfield. Things soon felt better as Simon picked up a juvenile Pec and a juvenile White-rumped Sand together, nice ones! Both birds looked like shit in the beginning to be honest, as you might expect after almost crossing the Atlantic... They both gave very nice views as they started to feed just inside the fence next to the airstrip. These two and the waders in the crater yesterday signal that new American birds are in fact coming in, let's hope that goes for warblers as well!

Yank wader video by Simon. Filmed by hand without scope!

Pec with W-r in the background.

White-rump and Pec.

When we got to the lower fields i bumped in to a Northern Wheatear that looked almost as a flying peach. I have never seen anything like it. Here, have a look at that rufous underpart colour. Beautiful, isn't it!?

I've never seen a Northern Wheatear with this rufous underparts. Has to be a leucorhoa, right?

Winds are really strong outside now from somewhere around west, so I really look forward to do another hit in the valleys tomorrow!

Birds

Pectoral Sandpiper 1 1cy, White-rumped Sandpiper 1 1cy, Whimbrel 1, Bar-tailed Godwit 1 adult female, Barn Swallow 3 adults, House Martin 1, Northern (Greenland?) Wheatear 1

Caldeirão!

2009-10-03T23:34:00.003Z

Made a new try to get to get to the crater today and managed to get in, even though it was a little bit foggy. Me and Simon split up and did one side each of the crater. I got the shit side and kept slipping and falling and only saw the Ring-necked ducks and the Pintail we saw in the fields the other day. Simon on the other hand had a nice walk and soon picked up a juvenile Spotted Sand on his side. A little while later he also found a very nice group of five juvenile Pectorals while I was pissed because I had slipped, again! All the waders from my last viit was gone and the new ones were feeding intensely all the time. When did they arrive? Simon also had a Wheatear, the fourth we see around the crater in just a few days. A little bit too many just to migrants, or...? After having a late lunch we walked back to the eastern side of the crater and decided to go around it one more time to really clean it up! Now Simon got the shit side :) I had lost the lens-cap for my scope somewhere in the crater and got annoyed everytime a shower came and made my scope wet (which happened quite a few times)... Anyway, when we met again Simon pulled up the lens-cap from his pocket and tried to explain that he's the man! Today I'm actually willing to agree with him. Thanks!

Probably my best photo so far of a Spotted Sand.

Pintail with Mallards.

After we had done the walk of hell up from the crater again it had gotten pretty late, it was almost 19, getting dark and the rain had increased... we weren't going to get back until LATE! So guess if we were happy to see a car coming up after only 30 s! Got a lift back down in the rain (by a maniac driver) and were pretty much soaked when we got back.
The winds are looking interesting the coming days, or what do you say about these jet streams coming from Newfoundland the next days?

Birds

American Great Egret 1, Grey Heron 2, Mallard ~20, Pintail 1 female-type, Ring-necked Duck 2, Common Snipe ~15, Spotted Sandpiper 1 1cy, Pectoral Sandpiper 5 1cy, Lesser Black-backed Gull 2 (adult+1cy), LENS-CAP 1!

Fog sucks

2009-10-02T23:51:00.004Z

Had a late morning since we we're only going to do the Caldeira today. Weather looked good and I started with a short walk around the village. Soon got on to the Barn Swallows which turned out to be three. Unfortunately they all are European ones, which is NOT good! We don't want birds coming from that side of the Atlantic!

Adult European Barn Swallows. Note small throat patches, broad breast-bands and white bellies.

As we got up to the crater it was foggy and rainy so we had to do plan B instead. Too bad we didn't have a plan B! We took a walked a bit we north along the western edge of the island. Saw very much fog and rain but not many birds. Let's hope the weather is better tomorrow!

Birds

Mallard 2, Bar-tailed Godwit 1 adult female, Common Snipe 1, Lesser Black-backed Gull 1 adult, Northern Wheatear 2, European Barn Swallow 3 adults

The lost Swallows!

2009-10-01T23:19:00.006Z

Like we decided yesterday me and Simon (the man!) did Ribeira da Ponte during the morning hours. As usual we found nothing, but we just have to keep on looking! It's out there somewhere. A few showers fell as we did the valley and that's pretty much how the weather was during the day. Either sunny and hot or windy and rainy. Waterproofs on, waterproofs off, waterproofs on, waterproofs off... Simon showed me some new spots for me. Good looking places! In the "Garden of Eden" I'm gonna find a Blackburnian Warbler after he's gone back home I think (since he talks about that species about ten times every day). We split up and did some different fields and small valleys on our way back down towards the village. A heavy showe came and I decided to get a lift down to the village, but after only 500m I met Simon and decided to get off. That nearly cost me a foot since the driver started driving again as I was getting off the car having my foot on one of the wheels!

Shortly after that I found an odd Starling flying over the Rubbish Dump. Starlings out here have a bad habit of looking like Swallows all the time, especially when they descend quickly from higher to lower altitudes. Anyway, this Starling soon turned out to be a Swallow as I saw the pale underparts of it! This was just what we both needed, some real action! After watching it for a while it cloned itself and there was two of them. Both turned out to be Barn Swallows, adult ones. But which subspecies!? To be honest I didn't know what to look for at all on an adult bird apart from the colouration of the underparts. Got some lousy pictures of one of them before they disappeared behind a ridge, comments are very, very welcome!

Adult Barn Swallow

We went back to the guesthouse and recharged ourselves with orange juice, coffee, cookies and fruit before going out birding again. We also had a look in the American and European books we brought and judging from the plates in those it seems as and adult American apart from the rufous underparts should have a bigger throat patch and a thinner breastband between the throatpatch and the white body than the European. Am I right? Unfortunately the pictures are too poor for this to be visible. Judging from the underparts it looks like a European one I think (both birds looked very similar, being adults with pale underparts), or can an adult American be this pale underneath? Comments are VERY welcome!

After the break Simon took a walk in the village (which gave a Whimbrel) and got a haircut while I walked up the road again to the Swallow hotspot arond the farmers' little houses along the road. As I got up there hell broke loose. The rain was massive! And of course no cars were passing by so I just had to walk back in the rain. After a while I got a lift back but by then I was already soaked and cold.

In the evening we head an absolutely delicious chicken dinner at the airport restaurant. Normally the food is something fried (meat or fish) served with rice and french fries and then spiced up with some extra salt and ketchup. You do get a bit tired of that rather quick. Tonight we hit the jackpot though, especially since it was the dish of the day, meaning that we had to wait about one minute to get our food. Excellent!

If weather allows us we'll go up to the crater tomorrow to have a look in there. Hopefully at least some new ducks and waders have turned up since my last visit there (11 days and an American weather system ago!), and maybe a yank passerine has got stuck down there? Both Yellow-rumped Warbler and Scarlet Tanager have been recorded down there in the past...

Birds

Grey Heron 1 1cy, Great Black-backed Gull 1 1cy, Barn Swallow 2 adults (ssp?)

Full Metal Ribeira

2009-09-30T23:08:00.005Z

We can't find it! The new bird that is. We're working really hard out there but it just isn't paying off! Me and Simon did, once again, Cantinho and Cancelas real hard today. Inside, outside, everywhere! The American Redstart is still there and easy to see in the same spot, but nothing else. Continued to da Ponte where we did the lower parts for two hours or so late afternoon before heading back towards the village since it began to rain. That place da Ponte is really hot and I think we're going back there tomorrow to do a full morning hit. There's gotta be something in there as well! Did some of the higher fields on the way back. A few Turnstones and a Wheatear were around, the latter probably the same bird as Pedro saw a few days ago? In the village we had a quick cup of coffee at the restaurant and then checked the airfield and beaches before heading home during a massive rain shower. Saw the usual Turnstones and Common Terns and the Bar-tailed Godwit is still around. Smart as I am I forgot my bag at the beach and got an extra 2 km walk in the evening. Nice one!

Lava rocks outside the shore south of the airport.

September is officially over in a few hours. This first part of the trip was the big experiment part. Unfortunately I didn't have the winds with me. If I'd had that I probably would have seen more Yanks. A small low pressure system moving east a bit north of the Azores on the 17th-18th coincided well with the appearence of a Spotted Sandpiper in the beach on the 18th. And the system that moved through straight on us during the last days apparently brought at least an American Redstart and a Bobolink (and hopefully more!). The birds appeared to move in front of the system as they both appeared before the low pressure hit the islands.

Conclusion? September is well worth a go out here! But as always it's a big game with the winds. If you get the right ones, the birds will come, probably including a pretty different setup of species compared to what you get in late October, American Redstart for example. I was pretty unlucky during my two September weeks out here. Most of the time winds were easterly due to a massive high pressure that parked over the Azores. But when the good winds finally came, so did the American Redstart! Hopefully more people will try this the coming years and hopefully they will get better winds than I did. There is a massive migration on the other side of the Atlantic during September as well so give this a try will ya!

Tomorrow it's October and now we know what can happen - ANYTHING!

Birds

Grey Heron 1 juvenile, Bar-tailed Godwit 1 adult female, Northern Wheatear 1, American Redstart 1 (juvenile?) female

Hard days work in rain!

2009-09-29T22:53:00.002Z

I take back that Simon's a robot. He is very, very human! We did a good try up in Cantinho and Cancelas today, a nine hour hit but only found the American Redstart inbetween the rain showers. That bird's really active, never sitting still and calling a lot so quite easy to see actually. After doing a few more places up there we got a lift down to the village with Pedro, the very nice local guy who knows some birds. Down in the village we did the lower fields are for two hours or so, but without finding anything. New day tomorrow, we have to find a new bird now!

A bit better today...

Birds

American Redstart 1 (juvenile?) female, Grey Heron 1 juvenile

A second for Corvo + American Red still in

2009-09-29T00:07:00.004Z

Weather today was horrible, just f*ckin terrible! The first five-six hours of birding it was raining most of the time - heavy! I saw the American Redstart again but pretty soon gave up and headed back since I was soaked and activity was lousy. About halfway back the raining sopped and it was sunny! Ten minutes later I met Mani and Simon coming in the pickup, but Peter never came out due to airplane problems. Went tosaz Cancelas and found the Redstart for Simon within an hour or two - great start for him!

Blurry American Redstart

Cancelas after it rained... I usually walk here!

Simon's a nice guy and I'm pretty sure he's a robot, cause the speed he's got in his legs (despite only eating an apple during the whole day!) is just crazy! Got back pretty late and couldn't find a place to eat to begin. The place at the windmill/airport was having a big event for Mani's party since he's running for mayor on Corvo again. But we got let in a back door and got food pretty soon, and didn't have to pay for it since Mani's party was paying! Great! Went in to the pub for a quick coffee and when we were gonna leave they refused to take our money - everything was free here as well! So we got stuck a few hours drinking beer... and Simon is actually still there having beers since he seems to know half the people in the village! Anyway, tomorrow we're going up there again to do some seriouse damage in the ribeiras. More birds are here for sure since winds have been really good, now we just gotta find them!

Oh yeah, the second for Corvo was a female-type Pintail that flew over our heads when we were walking in the fields on the eastern side. Probably an American vagrant since they're common in The States as well.

Birds
American Redstart 1 (juvenile?) female, Pintali 1 female-type, Quail 1, Grey Heron 1 juvenile

Got another one!

2009-09-27T21:20:00.002Z

Took up birding today where I quit yesterday at Ribeira do Poço de Agua. Weather was good for birding with thin clouds keeping the sun away. Only 30 seconds after Mani dropped me off I saw something yellow sitting in the top of a hedge - Bobolink! Got great views of the bird for a few minutes before a Chaffinch chased it away. This is only about 300 metres from where I had a possible Bobolink a few days ago so maybe it's been around for a few days?

These creatures are real beauties!

The next ten hours I didn't see shit despite birding Ribeira da Poço de Agua, upper parts of Fojo, a part of Pico, a part of Ribeira da Ponte and whole Ribeira da Lapa. But more birds are out there for sure! Tomorrow Simon Buckell and Peter Alfrey will arrive to the island and help me find them.

Birds

Bobolink 1

American Redstart!

2009-09-26T22:04:00.008Z

Okay, pretty much to write about today, but I'll try to keep it short. Had decided to go to the Caldeira this morning since weather was going to be good and I hadn't been there for a while (and probably wouldn't go there for a few days from today since winds are looking promising for new landbirds to arrive). But it was looking very foggy up there when it became light so I went for plan B instead - the lighthouse. But when we got up there the fog was lying really low, covereing pretty much all ov the medium road to, so Mani took me down the lower road and dropped me off at Ribeira do Cantinho instead since there wasn't any fog down there. Birded Cantinho and Cancelas for a few hours without seeing anything special. Took my scope and bag and walked back from Cantinho to Cancelas (or Ribeira da Tebaiba that the lower part of it is called). There I dropped of my stuff and started to walk, but soon realized how stupid it would be not to bring the bag (with my camera in it) so I grabbed the bag and walked up to the hotspot maybe 200 m up in the ribeira from the road. After watching some Chaffinches and Blackcaps I started pisching as usual to get the rest of the birds out in the open. Soon a "Blackcap" flew over me, or was it a Blackcap...? Something didn't feel right so I lifted my bins and tried to find the bird. Soon got onto a rather round, plain grey head sticking out of the leaves. What's this!? My pulse was rising as I also noted some yellow on the flank. Seconds later the bird turned and showed its tail - BONER! AMERICAN REDSTART! Continued pisching and kept my eyes on the bird as I dug out my camera from my backpack. The bird moved into somewhat more open space and called a few times. After some fast adjustments of the settings I managed to get a few documentation shots of the bird. Unfortunately it soon flew back into the dense canopy and despite spending more than an hour on the site waiting, pisching and taping I couldn't find it again. A minute was all I got. Really hope I see it again!

Female American Redstart. Juvenile I guess?

The bird admiring its beautiful tail!

I moved on towards Fojo very inspired to find new stuff. Birded intensely until 16:30 when the rain and wind was getting a little bit to rough for me, so I started walking back towards the village. Soon got picked up by a nice farmer who actually knew some birds! And English! He told me he had seen a Wheatear in the Caldeira yesterday, a Ringed Plover in a field high up on the slopes a week ago and some Great Shearwaters from the ferry to Flores a few days ago. Got dropped of near the guesthouse and decided to the the usual tour around the airfiled before I quit for the day. The Bar-tailed Godwit was however the only bird of interest.

A rainy landscape...

Weather is looking really interesting for the coming days with a nice lowpressure coming in from The States, hopefully bringing some good birds out here!

Sunday

Monday

Tuesday

And some high altitude jet streams:

I got a comment on the duck I saw yesterday that it might actually be a Redhead due to the head shape and wing pattern. The identification as a Common Pochard was based on the head shape and bill pattern which I think feels very much like a Common Pochard. Maybe the picture I posted yesterday gave a somewhat more Redheadish profile? I don't have any experience of Redhead at all though. Hopefully the bird ended up in the Caldeira yesterday so I can have better views of it some day. Here are some more pictures of the bird, comments are very welcome!

Birds

AMERICAN REDSTART 1 (juvenile?) female, Bar-tailed Godwit 1 adult female, Grey Heron 1 juvenile

New species for Corvo again!

2009-09-25T21:24:00.004Z

Decided to bird around the village today, which turned out to be a wise decision. Rather strong winds from the east were blowing so I decided to try a little seawatching. Went up the small lighthouse next to the airport and sat down behind it. Loads of Cory's were moving in the wind and within a minute I had spotted my first Great Shearwater for the day. An hour and 15 minutes later I had counted 24 of them and since all shearwaters were flying further out I left and checked the shoreline instead. Not much to see at all, only saw the Bar-tailed Godwit, a Sanderling and five Turnstones. I wonder where the Turnstones are some days! Here are about 30 around so they must be hiding somewhere else.

Cory's Shearwater

After checking the beach I went up to the rubbish dump to have a look at the gulls and it was actually quite nice up there today. Something like 50-100 gulls were around and easy to check. Found three Lesser Black-backed and two Greater Black-backed Gulls among the Yellow-legged. Ring-billed Gull in a month or two? When I was on my way to check around the village for landbirds I suddenly saw a big grey wall coming towards me from Flores - RAIN! Quickly packed my bag and walked back to the guesthouse. Got a little wet but not very much. The rain then continued for four hours so I had time to have lunch, take a nap and hang around the Internet for a while.

Adult Lesser Black-backed Gull

2cy Lesser Black-backed Gull (I think)

Juvenile brownie and Great Black-backed Gull

2cy Great Black-backed Gull

When the rain stopped I decided to have an early evening walk around the airfield. Took a short scan over the sea from behind the lighthouse again and loads of Cory's were moving since the wind had increased. When I lifted my eye from my scope I saw something coming flying towards me from west - A DUCK!!! Every duck out here is a good duck and this was the first time I saw one outside the crater. As the bird was going to fly by me at sea I had to make a fast decision - scope or camera? Within half a second or so I had started to change the settings on the camera and soon I was taking poor pictures of the bird in flight. Through the camera I could see it was a male Pochard type, interesting! When the bird flew out of camera range I grabbed my scope and couldn't see anything that suggested it wasn't a Pochard. When checking the pictures afterwards I could confirm the identification. This was the first record for Corvo and the first record since 2005 on the Azores, so quite a good bird!

Male Common Pochard

New Corvo-tick!

2009-09-24T20:37:00.002Z

Today started with a 2cy Great Black-backed Gull at the rubbish dump, saw it from the guesthouse while waiting for Manuel. Spent 7 hours up on the east side birding Ribeira do Poco de Agua, Fojo and the ribeira between Pico and Poco de Agua, don't know its name. Had a little moment of excitement early afternoon as I saw a medium sized finch flying north. Light conditions were lousy and the bird was rather distant but it appeared to have an overall rather brown-yellowish colour and contrasting head pattern. Bobolink was what popped into my mind when I saw it. Unfortunately the bird flew far north so I'll just have to forget that one. Great to have a little moment of excitement though!

Me working in Fojo

Weather was hot today again, due to high pressures that have parked over the Atlantic down here. Some light rain fell during the day and even a few more intense showers. Manuel took some tourists to the Caldeira and from the road he saw the Great Egret in the Caldeira, or as he said it "I saw the big white one with the long neck". The bird appeared first on the island in October last year if I haven't mentioned that before.

After a brief stop at the guesthouse changing clothes I did the beach and airfield as usual. One of the first birds I found was a new Corvo species for me, a juvenile Red Knot. Apart from that the Spotted Sand was still at the beach and the Bar-tailed Godwit on the airfield. Due to a pretty heavy shower I had to shelter in the pubilc toilets down at the beach for 15 minutes or so. Had pretty good view over the ocean from there but couldn't find anything but Cory's, Yellow-legged Gulls, Common Terns and a bunch of dolphins. I've seen dolphins three or four times out here so far, but don't know what species they are yet.

Juvenile Red Knot

Birds

Spotted Sandpiper 1 1cy, Bar-tailed Godwit 1 adult female, Red Knot 1 1cy, Great Black-backed Gull 1 2cy

Full Metal Birding again!

2009-09-23T21:19:00.003Z

After resting yesterday afternoon I had new energy to work some wooded places today again. Weather was more Azorish today with clouds and light rain the first half of the day. This made temperature stay pretty low which in turn made birding much more enjoyable! Worked hard in Ribeira da Ponte and Pico until late afternoon. Loads of birds were active all the time, totally unlike the previous hot days. But the best bird I saw up there was one of the Grey Herons from Caldeirão that was out sightseeing.

This is what a juvenile atlantis looks like, a real piece of chocolate pudding!

Checked the harbour, airfield and beach area during early evening. The Bar-tailed Godwit was still around but apart from that the most interesting was the usual Turnstones and Common Terns.

Mani (Manuel, my host) down at the beach, probably checking for girls?

Ola Elleström asked me which the common birds here are. Sorry for not telling earlier! Here are the breeding species of the island as far as I know:

Cory's Shearwater (very common, see and hear loads of them every day)
Manx Shearwater (probably rare, found one dead so far)
Little Shearwater (probably rare, not seen yet)
Bulwer's Petrel (probably rare, not seen yet)
Band-rumped Storm-petrel (probably rare, not seen yet)
Quail (pretty common I think but have stopped singing now, heard a few the first days)
Common Snipe (scarce in Caldeirão, see 5-10 on every visit there)
Woodcock (scarce, see about 1 daily)
Yellow-legged Gull (common, see about 100 daily)
Common Tern (common, see about 30 daily)
Roseate Tern (rare, not seen yet,guess they've departed south for winter)
Feral Pigeon (unfortunately common, see about 100 daily)
Wood Pigeon (pretty scarce, see 5-10 daily)
Grey Wagtail (common, se 10's daily)
Blackbird (common, see about 100 daily)
Blackcap (very common, see about 100 daily)
Starling (very common, see about 100 daily)
House Sparrow (common in the village where you see 100's)
Chaffinch (very common, see 100's daily)
Atlantic Canary (very common, see 100's daily)
Goldfinch (scarce, see about 1 daily)

Apart from these I also see a few Ruddy Turnstones every time I go to check the beach area, not sure whether they breed or not though. I also know Northern Wheatear has bred at least once. On a normal day of 8 hours birding in the ribeiras I see about 10-12 species, similar to Falsterbo or Ottenby!

Birds

Grey Heron 1 juvenile, Bar-tailed Godwit 1 adult female

Calm day

2009-09-22T19:56:00.002Z

Got a somewhat odd lift up today, sitting back on a 4-wheel motorcycle with my tripod over my shoulder. Wish someone had taken a picture of it! Did the lower parts of Cantinho, Cancelas and some of Fojo today before I went back pretty early in the afternoon, as usul without finding anything. The low pressures are moving to far north over the Atlantic, PLEASE give me a direct hit down here!

What's cookin' good lookin'?

Feeling pretty thick in nose and throat and overall very tired I had a two hour powernap in the afternoon and skipped evening birding. Is that what happens when you bird hard for 17 days in a row? Anyway, new day tomorrow!

Birds

NADA!

Shitty day!

2009-09-21T21:44:00.003Z

Broken Coolpix, broken memory card for my 50D, broken trousers, soar feat, closed store and absolutely no American birds at all. That's pretty much what today's been about.

Once again a day with good, boring, to hot weather. Manuel drove me to the end of the "middle" road today. I walked out to the lighthouse to check it out. Not very much to see, one of the smallest lighthoueses I've ever seen. Birded the nearby area and a few small ribeiras as I slowly was moving back towards the village. Birded the upper parts of Cantinho and Cancelas for quite a few hours but found nada. It's really hard work up there these days, the heat and humidity makes you sweat like crazy when walking up and down in the rough terrain. Up there my camera once again (has happened twice before) got fucked up and said the memory card was corrupt so I couldn't use it for the rest of the day. Gonna send an email to the boys who sold it to me and get them to send a new card out here!

The small lighthouse in the northeast part of the island. Note that earth is round (for those of you who missed that!).

Had a little bit of luck though and got a ride back down to the village. Very much needed since my feet were hearting a lot. When I got down there I went to the shop that of course had closed for the day. Made a short visit to the beach and airfield but nothing of interest today. When I got back to the guesthouse I discovered that my trousers were broken, I had ripped up a big hole and showed half my ass all day. Borrowed neadle and thread from Manuels wife and got them back in decent shape after an hour or so.

Had an ok dinner at one of the restaurants and when I got home I discovered that the zoom button on my coolpix had died. Maybe not very surprising since the camera is soon seven years old, but still very annoying and very bad timing!

Jan Kåre left the island today for a few days on Sao Miguel before he goes back to Norway. So now I'm the only birder in the island which of course is a big responsibility. Gonna try the lower parts of Cantinho, Cancelas and Fojo tomorrow I think! If I get up there... Manuel is on Faial today and tomorrow so I hope I'll be able to catch a ride with one of the farmers tomorrow morning. Ciao!

Birds
Lesser black-backed gull 1 adult

Nice day in the crater

2009-09-20T21:54:00.007Z

Good weather met us as we woke up today, which is necessary if you're going to the crater lakes. Up there the crater was filled with beautiful fog that soon disappeared after the sun came up. The best bird in the crater was a juvenile Least Sandpiper. Other waders were two Pecs, three White-rumps and the usual Common Snipes. The Great Egret was of course also there.

Jan Kåre Ness viewing the crater.

Waders paradise!

American Great Egret in flight

White-rumped Sandpiper

Juvenile Pec

Juvenile Least Sand

The two Ring-necked Ducks where still there and we also got a little better views of the Mallard flock today. There were 28 birds in total of which two look like Black Duck hybrids. Also checked out a corpse I scoped out on my last visit and it turned out to be a Manx Shearwater, possibly a breeding species on the island?

Black Duck hybrid

Very dead Manx Shearwater

We climbed the slope west of the lakes to see what was on the other side of the edge. Not much! Just very steep cliffs pretty much. On the way back I checked Ribeira da Lapa (or similar), the one closest to the village. Pretty nice one, easy to check.

Semi-interesting winds are moving over the Atlantic today and tomorrow. North of the Azores as usual but maybe it will bring one or two new birds.

Birds

American Great Egret 1, Ring-necked Duck 2, Mallard 26, Mallard x American Black Duck 2, Least Sandpiper 1 1cy, Pectoral Sandpiper 2 1cy, White-rumped Sandpiper 3, Common Snipe 5, Manx Shearwater 1 dead

Another day on the east side

2009-09-19T22:21:00.004Z

This morning the weather was better then yesterday, so I went up to the valleys on the east side again. Birded Ribeira da Poso de Agua and the upper parts of Fojo until the heat got to strong early afternoon. Then I needed to go someplace cooler and decided to give Ribeira da Ponte another try. That Ribeira is quite deep and thereby shaded and rather cool. Rare birds however were absent there as well. After eight hours of birding I lifted back with one of the farmers that happened to pass by as usual and had a short siesta at the guesthouse. It's amazing how helpful and kind people are out here. So far I've only been denied lift/ignored once - compare that to hitching in the rest of Europe!

One of the forrested areas on the east side

Inside Ribeira da Ponte

When I'd had my much needed siesta I went out again, this time to check the beach and the airfield. More Common Terns (50) and Turnstones (25) than the previous days was nice and yesterdays Spotted Sand and Bar-tailed Godwit were still around, as were a Whimbrel and two Sanderlings.

Love is in the air... Clouded Yellows

Adult Common Tern

The Spotted Sandpiper in flight

Moray eel for Larsa

Jan Kåre spent today on Flores driving around and checking the good areas, unfortunately without finding anything rare. Tomorrow is his last full day on Corvo and we'll go up to the Caldeira if the weather allows us. Hope some new waders have arrived!

Birds

Spotted Sandpiper 1 1cy, Bar-tailed Godwit 1 ad female, Whimbrel 1, Ruddy Turnstone 25, Sanderling 2, Woodcock 2, Common Tern
50, Goldfinch 1

New species for Corvo!

2009-09-18T21:44:00.006Z

Hôla! Me and Jan Kåre just got back from the restaurant where we ate the fish dish Bacalau, which turned out to be exactly the same as Norwegian dry fish, a dish served in Norway according to Jan Kåre. It was rather dry and very salt, but still tasty!

The birding day today began a bit different than usual. Since the oldest man on the island (96 years!) had died, Manuel had to go to his funeral this morning and couldn't act driver. Therefore I hitched up to the end of the middle road (via the nice drivers eight cows that we fed first). Down in the village the weather was pretty good with clouds hanging pretty low so Jan Kåre stayed down here. And when I got up on somewhat higher altitude it was REALLY foggy! It was so dense it was even raining a little - welcome to the Azores! If it had stayed that way it would have been ok, but when we reached the end of the road the skies opened and it rained. A lot! We sat in the car doing our best to have a conservation, me speaking English and he Portugese. But after half an hour my driver got enough and we drove back into the village, where it still was dry. So I decided to bird the village today instead, just like Jan Kåre. When I got down to the harbour I heard a distant, familiar call from the sky and soon found a godwit flying high up in the sky. Saw it good though and soon identified it as a Bar-tailed Godwit - a new species for Corvo!

Adult female Bar-tailed Godwit

When I got up to the little lighthouse Jan Kåre joined me and we did a short seawatch together which resulted in two Great Shearwaters among all the Cory's, a lifer for Jan Kåre! Continued to the airstrip where the Bar-tailed Godwit, an adult female, was walking around eating. When we had rounded the airstrip and got to the small beach I heard a distant Common/Spotted Sandpiper and soon saw the bird flying away. It landed on some lava rocks further away and when we got closer we saw it was a nice juvenile Spotted Sandpiper. The winds did bring something! When we turned around after watching the Sandpiper a juvenile Great Black-backed Gull was standing behind us, a rather scarce bird on the Azores.

Juvenile Spotted Sandpiper

Juvenile Great Black-backed Gull

The following six hours or so the birding was pretty quiet with a Goldfinch and an adult Lesser Black-backed Gull as highlights while I was checking fields, gardens, fig trees etc. I ended the day with an hours seawatching which gave another four Great Shearwaters among the Cory's gathering for the evening in big flocks offshore. Tomorrow the weather will hopefully be a bit better (it's clear outside now) so I can continue checking the valleys while Jan Kåre is on his day trip to Flores. Cheers!

Birds

Spotted Sandpiper 1 1cy, Bar-tailed Godwit 1 ad female, Ruddy Turnstone 6, Sanderling 2, Great Black-backed Gull 1 1cy, Lesser Black-backed Gull 1 adult, Goldfinch 1

Corn Crake!

2009-09-17T21:58:00.004Z

Once again beautiful weather as it became light outside. Spent the whole day at Ribeira da Ponte and Pico, birding all possible places I could find. Quite early I flushed a Corn Crake in a field on the eastern slopes of Pico. Really fun since it was the first time I saw this species outside Sweden and not during breeding season. This was the fourth record for Corvo, all three previous were in October 2007. Apart from that the most excitingbirds I found was Woodcock 2, Quail 2 and Goldfinch 2.

Flores seen from Corvo.

Corn Crake

During late afternoon it became more cloudy and somewhat more windy. The winds seem to be somewhat better now then they have been the last few days. A new low pressure has moved east from Newfoundland, but as usual seem to pass north of the Azores. Better than easterly winds though and maybe it will bring something!

Jan Kåre cancelled his boat trip to Flores and did the Caldeira once again. No Citrine Wagtail today but American Great Egret 1, White-rumped Sandpiper 5 (at least), Pectoral Sandpiper 2 1cy, Least Sandpiper 1 1cy and Lapland Bunting 1.

Convolvulus Hawk-moth (åkervindesvärmare)

Birds

Corn Crake 1, Quail 2, Woodcock 2, Sanderling 1, Goldfinch 2

Quiet day

2009-09-16T22:06:00.003Z

Today the hard work with checking the ribeiras on the eastern side of the island began. We checked Cantinho, Cancelas and did a few places in Fojo as well. No interesting birds though. The weather here is amazing with temperatures just below 25 degrees in the shadow during the day and the sun shining from an almost clear blue sky. This of course sucks if you want to find passerines, but we do our very best! Pretty tired we hitched back to the village late afternoon and had a brief siesta before we checked the beach areas around the airfield. The Ringed Plover from yesterday was still there as well as the usual Common Terns, Ruddy Turnstones and two Sanderlings. We just had a wonderful chicken dinner at the small Snack Bar close to the Guest House - without doubt the best restaurant on Corvo!

Ohoy me hardies!

An atlantis on a lava rock, probably a 4th cy bird.

Tomorrow Jan Kåre is going to Flores for the day while I'll continue checking the valleys on the east side.

Birds

Common Ringed Plover 1 1st cy, Ruddy Turnstone 4, Sanderling 2

Corvo!

2009-09-15T21:10:00.006Z

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

Terceira

2009-09-14T22:20:00.008Z

I'm tired so I won't write very much about Terceira, sorry! To sum things up I've seen WILLET, Western Sandpiper, American Black Tern, Semipalmated Plovers (4), Semipalmated Sandpipers (2), Spotted Sandpiper, White-rumped Sandpipers (2), Pectoral Sandpipers (3), Great Shearwater, Roseate Tern and some other more common stuff. Here are som pics!

Juvenile Pec

Juvenile Semi P

Juvenile Western Sand

Western Sand and Semi P - quite different!

White-rumped Sand - age?

Juvenile American Black Tern (ssp surinamensis). Note more greyish than white underwings and grey-smudged flanks.

Same fellow as above. Note grey crown, not black. The tail should be darker and contrasting to the rump in a typical surinamensis, but I guess this is OK? Comments on this bird are more than welcome!

Common (top) and Spotted (bottom) Sandpipers in flight. Note the very different wingbars!

Juvenile Spotted Sandpiper. Note short tail-projection, yellowish legs and barred lesser and median coverts (but not greater).

Adult Semipalmated Plover. Note for example yellow eye-ring, thin yellow diffuse eyebrow and white extending above gape.

A somewhat strange gull, really pale among all the dark atlantis (and a few graellsii). Not very wide tail-bar in flight, but the tail didn't feel fully complete - moult? Suggestions please Dr Gullhead!

Frustrating birding in Spain!

2009-09-14T21:36:00.006Z

Hi guys! Now I'm sitting on La Palma airport on Mallorca again, waiting for my flight to Lisbon and from there to Terceira later this afternoon. Had a few days hard birding in southern Spain...

Vulture food

Griffon Vulture

7th September
Left Sevilla around midnight between 6th and 7th and immediately drove the 2½ hours to Bolonia, once again accompanied by a nice DJ on the radio. Totally exhausted I managed to sleep until 10:00 after finding the utlimate sleeping position in my little Seat Ibiza. During the drive and night very strong easterly winds were blowing, and they would continue... for my three days it was practicly blowing something like 8-12 m/s all the time, except in the mountains where it was even worse. This of course made birding a little bit harder then I had expected. Started by checking the cave at nearby Sierra de la Plata but in vain. Observers on the site told me that only Little Swifts could be seen, while another observer I met told me that also White-rumped use the cave to sleep in. Continued to the Ojen Valley where I spent pretty much the rest of the day searching for Griffon Vultures, but had a hard time finding any on decent distances. Found some on a crag though and with them an interesting looking practicly all dark bird. Of course it didn't move at all during the hour I watched it - crap! :( Had a nice adult Bonelli's Eagle there though. Ended the day at a Griffon roost in Sierra de la Plata after a birder told med he'd seen a subadult Rüppell's Griffon there a few days ago. Around 50 Griffons came to the roost and gave wonderful views, but no Rüppell's...

Roosting Griffon Vultures

8th September
Checked the cave again early morning and had two Little Swifts leaving at dawn from the sole breeding site in Europe for this species! After that continued to the El Algarrobo watchpoint west of Algeceiras where there was absolute massive raptor migration! In a few hours I must have seen almost a thousand Booted Eagles, several hundred Short-toed Eagles and scattered pieces of Honey Buzzards, Black Kites, Griffons, Marsh Harriers, both Kestrel Species, Sparrowhawks, Marsh Harriers, a Peregrine and an odd looking Griffon of some kind at rather close range! Characters pointing towards a subadult Rüppell's but the bird disappeared after only a few seconds never more to be seen. Crap again! Left the place after a few hours and went into the Ojen Valley again continuing my Rüppell's quest. Found a place with good movement of Griffons over the valley. Again saw two different possible Rüppell's but views weren't the best so I had to leave them unid'd. Frustration was growing inside me! Why couldn't I just get good views of a certain Rüppell's!? After this tried the agricultural plains at La Janda, but it was pretty quiet. A melanistic Montague's Harrier among good numbers of harriers was really nice though and a bird I had wanted to see for quite some time! Spent the evening in Sierra de la Plata, first at the Griffon roost and then at the cave again and had a lone Little Swift entering the cave at dusk, but again no Rüppell's Vulture or White-rumped Swift... Later that evening I ate at the Dogville Restaurant in Bolonia, and after seeing the waitress there I understood why Ola Elleström thought one of the highlights of Birdfare this year was the Andalucian girls. She was NAJS!

A bunch of turtle doves.

Montague's Harrier

Booted Eagle

9th September
Slept until 8:30 due to a minor disturbance during the night. I had obviously parked my car in a natural reserve and was forced to move by some guards, which cost me one or two hours of sleep... Visited El Algarrobo again and the first thing I saw when I came there was about a hundred Griffons jumping around on the ground about two kilometers away, probably feeding on a carcass. After a minute or so I picked out a small, dark Griffon with apparently plain dark upperwings among them and alerted nearby birders. A second later the bird jumped into the densest part of the flock and went out of sight. Moments later a cow ran across the flock and all Griffons went into the air. Panic! Where's my small dark Griffon!? Took me about five minutes to find it in the air, soaring far away in bad light. Still apparently smaller than the Griffons and lacking their striking contrast on the upperwing. The bird was coming closer and my pulse was going up a bit. It was actually gliding right at us when it... disappeared into a low cloud never more to be seen. ")/¤"%&"!(!"=?!!!! Now I was REALLY frustrated! This was just not my species apparently! A bit irritated I stayed on site for a while, once again enjoying good migration of mainly Booted and Short-toed Eagles. Took a short drive in the Jara Valley and in the Ojen Valley again in the afternoon, but without finding any concentrations of Griffons. Decided to try the watchpoint north of the ornithological centre at La Pena in the afternoon since there was also a feeding station for vultures next to the watchpoint. However, there was no fresh meet at the feeding point. Not many raptors were moving but suddenly about 40 Griffons came from the cliffs right towards me! They had spotted a carcass in the slope behind me and came in allowing really good views in flight. Once again, no Rüppell's... During late afternoon some good flocks of Black Kite were moving by and also a nice group of 17 Black Storks, while a local Peregrine was hunting over the nearby ridge. Suddenly I spotted a close all dark brown Griffon with a really striking white bar over the forewing, completely different to any other Griffon I'd seen. Or was it just light that made the bird dark? A second later it was joined by a Griffon and I could make good direct comparison between the two of them. This bird was the real shit!Apart from the underside coloration and the wing pattern, the size was really striking in this individual. A mini-me of Griffons! The birds soon glided north east and began soaring a kilometer or two away. The Rüppell's showed a practicly all dark upperwings while the other Griffons all showed contrasting upper wings in the good light. Even at that distance the smaller size was really easy to see compared to the other Griffons. YES! I felt I really earned this! Being happy of course, I decided to give the cave another try at dusk. Once again a lone Little Swift came to roost, but nothing else. After that drove to Sevilla where I spent a short night in the car before checking in to my flight and here I am now, waiting to go to the Azores.

Egyptian Vulture

Audouin's Gull and his amigo

Red-legged Partridges

Apart from the wind and the difficulties I had seeing Rüppell's Vulture, Spain was a really nice country to bird in. It was my first visit here and I will for sure be back, probably in spring next time when things aren't so hot, dry, dusty and windy.

Windmills were EVERYWHERE in Andalucia, about 100 only in this image. Will it look like this in Sweden soon?

Mallorca cleaned up!

2009-09-14T20:48:00.003Z

Hôla! Arrived to the island yesterday evening and had to stand in line for almost two hours to get my pre-booked car. While standing in line I was fortunate enough to see the Swedish MEGA artist Basshunter walking by! After I got my car I somehow got lost in the middle of Palma before I found the road to Alcudia. Don't ask me how I could miss it... Anyway, there was a really funky DJ on the radio and we had quite a good time together before I finally reached the lighthouse on the Fermentor peninsula where I slept in my car. After a rough nights sleep the first thing I saw through the car window when I opened my eyes in the morning was an Eleonora's Falcon - great start! Too bad I couldn't see the details on it as my eyes were still more or less glued together... When I got out of the car I was entertained by about ten or so nice Eleonora's during the morning, now and then harassed by a Peregrine.

Eleonora's Falcon

Fermentor Peninsula

After that I continued to a spot for Balearic Warbler a few kilometers in on the peninsula. On my way to the spot I got aquainted with the local forms of Spotted Flycatcher and Common Crossbill. On the Warbler site I easily found 7-8 Balearic Warblers in an hour or so and they gave good views, but unfortunately the weren't very photogenic! An odd thing in the dry pine areas were quite a few Yellow Wagtails, which all sounded like flava/thunbergii (i.e. not iberiae).

Balearic Warbler habitat

Balearic Warbler

Early afternoon was spent in the Boquer Valley where another 3-4 Balearic Warblers were found easily. Apart from that there was most sun in the valley and I had to take a break at a local bar. Before heading towards the airport I visited the bridge between Port D'Alcudia and Sa Pobla where I saw one or two Moustasched Warblers, unfortunately accompanied by a Purple Swamphen. Now I'm at the airport awaiting my plane to Sevilla. Adios!

Up, up and away!

2009-09-03T13:07:00.000Z

In two days I'll leave for what will hopefully be the trip of my life. I'll start with Mallorca and southern Spain for a few days to look for Balearic Warbler, Rüppell's Vulture, Lesser Flamingo and some other local specials which I haven't seen yet. After that I'm off to the Azores where I'll spend the rest of the time during my trip.

Full itinerary:

5th-6th Septemeber MALLORCA (SPAIN)

6th-10th September SOUTHERN SPAIN

10th-14th September TERCEIRA (AZORES)

14th September - 16th November CORVO (AZORES)

16th-18th November SAO MIGUEL (AZORES)

18th-20th November TERCEIRA (AZORES)

So, why does one go to the Azores for more than two months, and choose to spend almost all that time on Corvo? Well... I began travelling and twitching in the Western Palearctic in 2006 and soon read about Peter Alfreys amazing time on Corvo during those magic weeks in 2005 (read about it HERE). Since then I've wanted to visit the islands and last autumn I eventually did together with Richard Ek. We decided to visit somewhat earlier than most people do, and spent four days on Corvo around 10th October. During those four days together with three British gentlemen we managed to find Hooded Warbler, Yellow-throated Vireo, Northern Parula, Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, Red-eyed Vireo (2), Hermit Thrush, Blackpoll Warbler and Common Nighthawk as well as some rare ducks and waders. I was of course immediately in love with the island! Our trip report (in Swedish) with lots of pictures can be found HERE. The fact that we hit the jackpot despite visiting Corvo earlier in the autumn than most birders do made me wanna try it even earlier. There has to be Nearctic landbirds there in September as well! And that's why I'm gonna be there from 14th September and 62 days onwards. Let's hope I'll see at least one or two decent birds...

I probably won't be able to update the blog until I've reached Corvo. But once settled out there I hope to update it every evening!

Cheers,
Olof