What!?

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!

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

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!?

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!

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

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

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