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

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 :(

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!

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

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

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

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

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