Village day

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

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!

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 :(

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!

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

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

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