Saturday 13 November 2021

Corvo 2021 Round Up

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

Fig 1. Corvo 2021 Nearctic Vagrant Summary (David Monticelli) 

Fig 2. Extract from Dutch Birding paper, Nearctic Vagrants on Corvo, Azores, 2005-2017 HERE



Male Prothonotary Warbler (Vincent Legrand)
Male Black-throated Blue Warbler (Vincent Legrand) 
The Loural Valley (site of this year's Prothonotary Warbler) 
Monarch and Painted Lady (Vincent Legrand) 


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