I'm off to Bulgaria tomorrow for a week on the project there, mainly to complete the wildlife pond but also to do a bit of autumn birding too.
It's been a busy week back at home, had two days in London quoting and then lots of paperwork to catch up with too and also made a bit of progress in the garden (looking forward to this winter's planting project here).
Managed to get out birding yesterday and a proper session today, starting off at Church Norton and then checking out the first several area before doing the spit. 81 species in nearly 5 hours, Ebird list HERE. Highlights included finally catching up with one of the local Spoonbills, four Firecrests, a fall of about 14 Stonechats, Marsh Harrier, Peregrine, the autumn's first flock of Golden Plover (50+), winter wader and duck numbers building and some nice vis mig (mostly moving east) including totals today of 36 Brent Goose (west), 200 Woodpigeon (south- it has begun), 27 Skylark, 150 Barn Swallow, 2 House Martin, 24 White/Pied Wagtail, 35 Meadow Pipit, 1 Rock Pipit, 13 Chaffinch, 2 Brambling, 65 Linnet, 62 Siskin and 12 Reed Bunting.
Last night was cold but there were some milder nights in the week with up to 24 species of moth.
Shame I couldn't stay on Corvo longer as a Warbling Vireo was found on Wednesday- only the 2nd for the WP. The Little Blue Heron is also reliable on Terceira again. Might just have to re-visit later in the month.
I only had the morning today before the plane arrived for the 1pm flight back to Sao Miguel so I concentrated on the coast and got some good views of the Semipalmated Sandpiper.
Elsewhere on the island today a new Indigo Bunting, Philadelphia Vireo and Northern Parula were found and a briefly seen large Kingfisher was presumably a Belted. There was a new White-rumped Sandpiper on Corvo and on neighbouring Flores a Yellow-billed Cuckoo was found so new birds keep coming in. The run of westerlies continues well into next week with a new Hurricance, Hurricane Kirk affecting the region.
I arrived on Sao Miguel at about 3pm to overnight for the early morning flight to Lisbon. I birded Ponta Delgada harbour but didn't see much, just 75 Common Tern, 1 Whimbrel, 3 Sanderling and 15 Turnstone were the only birds of note.
So that's it for 2024 and my 20th Anniversary visit. Didn't do too bad found Trindade Petrel, a Red-eyed Vireo and Semipalmated Plover (presumed) and saw Bay-breasted Warbler, Bobolink, Semipalmated Sandpiper, Pectoral Sandpiper, Lesser Yellowlegs, Glossy Ibises, Arctic and Great Skua, Northern Gannet, Grey Plover and also glimpsed and heard Northern Parula and Common Yellowthroat so not bad at all for a week visit and a 'weather twitch' but not as good as I had hoped and my first visit to the Azores ever with no WP or even Azores tick. I'm leaving the option open of possibly doing another weather twitch in late October if conditions look good as it would be nice to get something big for the 20th anniversary- will see.
For all the news from today and for the rest of this autumn see CORVO BIRDERS FACEBOOK
Presuming the plane comes tomorrow (it's been cancelled today due the weather) today was my last day on here for this year so I made the most of it. The day started with a downburst (similar to a Tornado) in the village which ripped off the roof of Noel's house, caused a landslide , flooded the medical centre and sent the garden furntiure of our guesthouse (Vera's) flying to the church. A rare event on Corvo that made it on the Azores news. Fortunately there were no injuries.
Once the downburst had passed I started off walking round the coast and lower fields and had the Glossy Ibis that's been around and then I got the car again and took Laura and Freider up to Fojo and then headed to the Lighthouse Valley.
The Bay-breasted Warbler was pretty elusive in the junipers but eventually showed well and at one point it was in reaching distance to me as I had to get into the bush it was in to hide from the rain. After the rain I walked up the valley and then headed over to de Ponte where I heard a wood warbling calling where the Parula had been a couple of days ago so presumably the same bird.
I then played uber driver and picked up Thomas, the german group and Ilkka the elder and we all came back to the village for the evening where I found a presumed Semipalmated Plover which flew off before I could clinch the lores (but seemed to have an eye-ring and red at the base of the lower mandible) and I glimpsed the Semipalmated Sandpiper that had been touring the island today with the Grey Plover above the Black Beach pool.
The storm driven birds continue to arrive on the island and there was quite an arrival today of 2 Bay-breasted Warblers, 2 Baltimore Orioles, 1 Yellowthroat (all found by Paul and Adrian in a small area between Lighthouse Valley and the Whalewatching point) and a Black-and-White Warbler (found by Max in Fojo) that joined the Northern Parula, Bobolink and Red-eyed Vireos that were found before.
Meanwhile off shore there were no Trindade Petrel sightings today but there was a Deserta's/Zino's Petrel and Sooty Shearwater.
I resisted the urge to twitch too much (fortunately 20 years on here means I don't 'need' a lot of american species) and spent four hours in Fojo, partly looking for the Black-and-White but also checking the woods and then spent the afternoon checking the fields in the vicintiy of the Whalewatching point and finished up checking the Lower and Middle Fields. I basically saw bugger all expect a glimpse of the Yellowthroat, the Glossy Ibis and the Bobolink was showing well in the middle fields. Unfortunately due to the heavy rain today my camera got wet and steamed up so I even messed up the only photo opportunity of the day too.
So a little kick for Corvo and a kick in the guts for me. My last full day tomorrow and last chance to get a WP tick or even an Azores tick. Will be the first time I've visited without an Azores or WP tick so the pressure is on.
As usual all the news and photos of rarities from Corvo on the Corvo Birders Facebook Page HERE
Hurricane Isaac has now moved north of us and we are now caught up in a complex of North Atlantic low and high pressure 'eddies' but there is still a bridge of westerlies between us and the US. However things get a bit more messy from here in and the bridge begins to break up but Isaac did bring a few bits in which were found today incuding a Northern Parula, a Bobolink and a Pectoral Sandpiper. (in addition to the Red-eyed Vireo and Lesser Yellowlegs and the Trindade Petrels earlier in the storm). Both the pale and dark morph Trindade Petrels were seen again and there was also a Great Skua, a few Manx and a juvenile Northern Gannet. Also a Glossy Ibis came in-off and the Grey Plover was still on Black Beach. My list from today HERE - I didn't see the Parula or the Trindades today.
Overall it's been okay (not the sensation we were hoping for) and the Trindade Petrels (including the one on Flores) are the 14th to 16th records for the Azores and 18th to 20th for the Western Palearctic - so pretty mega for the WP. There are also presumably birds on here still waiting to be found so there could be more discoveries in the next few days especially considering that the westerlies from the US keep up for a day or two more still.
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