Corvo 2024, Days One and Two, Mega Double-dip

After arrving at 1am for an overnight on Sao Miguel on Thursday night I was then up at 530am to get the new direct flight to Corvo so I was on Corvo by 830am, in time for breakfast and for a full day in the field. In the 20 years I've been coming here that's the fastest I've been able to get to the island- basically I can leave Gatwick at lunchtime and be on Corvo for breakfast. 

My new strategy is now to 'twitch' Corvo both in terms of birds and weather rather than pre-book the usual one or two week trip. This targeted approach is aimed at maximising chances and minimising time (as I'm no longer the free and single man I was when I started doing this)  and it worked perfectly last year. 

There was a Red-footed Booby last weekend and an Alder Flycatcher had been present all week and the weather forecast for the next week looks promising too so with two WP lifers and a good forecast  I scrambled the plan into action.

However so far so bad. I spent most of yesterday at Lapa dipping the Alder Flycatcher and today I dedicated to seawatching and saw very little, certainly not the Booby and worst still birders on Flores also spent today seawatching and had 2 Deserta's Petrel, a probable South Polar Skua, a Great Blue Heron in-off and yesterday evening they had a pale morph Trindade Petrel too. 

Meanwhile in the UK a Pale-legged Leaf Warbler has turned up at Bempton and my other Corvo chums who arrive next week have twitched that so all in all the last two days have not gone to plan.

However it's always great to be on Corvo, the atmosphere and the scenery and catching up with friends and meeting new birders is wonderful and I still have one gamble in the game- the weather still looks good to bring in some new american birds so my fingers are still crossed. I've got the whole of next week on here so will see what it brings. 

There were four or five Glossy Ibis flying around the fields near Lapa yesterday

Seawatching today included about 500 Cory's Shearwater (above), 4-5 Manx Shearwater and 36 Common Tern (below)

You know it's quiet on Corvo when you start photographing the local birds (Ebird list from today HERE). The recently split Azores Chaffinch (above), and the local endemic race of Grey Wagtail (below) and Atlantic Canary (a juvenile, below that) 

Long-tailed Blue. Seems to be quite a few of these flying around the fields. Also good numbers of Clouded Yellows and Large Whites around. I didn't have room for the moth trap this time but seems plenty of day flying moths around including Wedglings, Chevron snouts, White-specks, Rusty-dot Pearls and some Ephestia sp. 

Also a Convolvulus Hawkmoth caterpillar crossing the road 

View over Corvo village, built on a lava flow (Lava Delta) that spilled over the cliff and into the sea

There's a bit of interesting weather going on with a deep low passing north of us today, Hurricane Isaac (Holly said a hurricane named after our two year old is going to cause carnage) is moving across the Atlantic and over the next few days Isaac merges with another area of low pressure that draws a westerly airflow across the Atlantic from the US (below). Quite an usual weather pattern, not a classic 'yank fall' scenario but could be interesting - we will see if my gamble pays off.