The last of the autumn birders have now left the island since Ferran Lopez Sanz and Mireia Martos departed on 9th November (following a couple of days delay due to flight cancellations and unfavourable weather). The early November coverage was rewarded with up to 3 Great Blue Herons (hunting mice in the village fields), a Myrtle Warbler and a first-winter Killdeer at the airport.
These late autumn birds brought the total number of Nearctic vagrants for Corvo 2021 to 74 individuals of 38 species (22 landbirds and 16 waterbirds) (fig1) . This is an above average year for the island compared to the latest analysis up to 2017 (see fig 2) with some top quality too with the Western Palearctic's first Warbling Vireo, second Prothonotary Warbler (a stunning male to boot), sixth Chestnut-sided Warbler and seventh Cape May Warbler.
So on that note, another great year on Corvo has passed (it's like the Beatles, just keeps being epic) and credit to all the birders that made it another great success. To read how it all began, Birdguides recently re-released the original discovery story from 2005 HERE and for previous papers and articles on Corvo and rare bird reports from the Azores see HERE .
Looking forward to it all happening again next autumn! Please join the Corvo Birders Facebook Community for more information and instant news etc HERE,
Final week Daily Log: (by Ferran and Mireia)
9th November 2 Great Blue Heron, Semipalmated Sandpiper, White-rumped Sandpiper
7th November Northern Parula still in Lighthouse Valley, 3 Great Blue Heron still feeding in village fields, American Coot, 4 Ring-necked Duck, White-rumped Sandpiper
6th November First-winter Killdeer at airport, 3 Great Blue Heron, 1 Great Egret
5th November Myrtle Warbler and Northern Parula in Lighthouse Valley, 2 Ring-necked Duck, 1 Peregrine, Great Blue Heron
4th November 2 Great Blue Heron
3rd November 3 Great Blue Heron in area around airport
2nd November 2 Great Blue Heron
1st November Great Blue Heron, Great Egret
