Corn Crake!

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

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!

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

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!

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!

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!

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