Darryl and his Canadian friend!

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

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!

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

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

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?

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!

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