Full Metal Birding again!

After resting yesterday afternoon I had new energy to work some wooded places today again. Weather was more Azorish today with clouds and light rain the first half of the day. This made temperature stay pretty low which in turn made birding much more enjoyable! Worked hard in Ribeira da Ponte and Pico until late afternoon. Loads of birds were active all the time, totally unlike the previous hot days. But the best bird I saw up there was one of the Grey Herons from Caldeirão that was out sightseeing.

This is what a juvenile atlantis looks like, a real piece of chocolate pudding!

Checked the harbour, airfield and beach area during early evening. The Bar-tailed Godwit was still around but apart from that the most interesting was the usual Turnstones and Common Terns.

Mani (Manuel, my host) down at the beach, probably checking for girls?

Ola Elleström asked me which the common birds here are. Sorry for not telling earlier! Here are the breeding species of the island as far as I know:

• Cory's Shearwater (very common, see and hear loads of them every day)
• Manx Shearwater (probably rare, found one dead so far)
• Little Shearwater (probably rare, not seen yet)
• Bulwer's Petrel (probably rare, not seen yet)
• Band-rumped Storm-petrel (probably rare, not seen yet)
• Quail (pretty common I think but have stopped singing now, heard a few the first days)
• Common Snipe (scarce in Caldeirão, see 5-10 on every visit there)
• Woodcock (scarce, see about 1 daily)
• Yellow-legged Gull (common, see about 100 daily)
• Common Tern (common, see about 30 daily)
• Roseate Tern (rare, not seen yet,guess they've departed south for winter)
• Feral Pigeon (unfortunately common, see about 100 daily)
• Wood Pigeon (pretty scarce, see 5-10 daily)
• Grey Wagtail (common, se 10's daily)
• Blackbird (common, see about 100 daily)
• Blackcap (very common, see about 100 daily)
• Starling (very common, see about 100 daily)
• House Sparrow (common in the village where you see 100's)
• Chaffinch (very common, see 100's daily)
• Atlantic Canary (very common, see 100's daily)
• Goldfinch (scarce, see about 1 daily)

Apart from these I also see a few Ruddy Turnstones every time I go to check the beach area, not sure whether they breed or not though. I also know Northern Wheatear has bred at least once. On a normal day of 8 hours birding in the ribeiras I see about 10-12 species, similar to Falsterbo or Ottenby!

Birds

Grey Heron 1 juvenile, Bar-tailed Godwit 1 adult female