Corvo season in full swing!

After yesterday's excitement, it was no surprise that further discoveries were made today - particularly as the number of birders on the island increased with around ten new arrivals taking us in to the forties.

We didn't have to wait long for the first find of the day: a Red-eyed Vireo in the north section ('arm') of Poco de Agua within the first hour of light and this was soon followed by Gary Fennemore finding a first-winter female Rose-breasted Grosbeak in the lower part of Ribeira da Lapa - identifiable from images as a different bird to yesterday's, which was also still present. Another Red-eyed Vireo was found in the upper parts of Lapa and news was received that the Scarlet Tanager was also still in the Tennessee Valley.

Red-eyed Vireo in Ribeira da Lapa (Josh Jones)

During the late afternoon Michael Fricke discovered a Bobolink in the Lower Fields; although mobile this bird showed well to most and will no doubt perform better in the coming days. An Indigo Bunting was also noted in the village.

Birds:

American Golden Plover 1 flying around above the reservoir
Spotted Sandpiper 1 still on shore at west end of airstrip
White-rumped Sandpiper first-winter still at old harbour
Little Stint first-winter still at old harbour
Red-eyed Vireo 2 (Ribeira da Lapa and Poco de Agua)
Willow Warbler 1 still in Tennessee Valley
Rose-breasted Grosbeak 2 first-winter females (Ribeira da Lapa & above Tennessee Valley)
Scarlet Tanager first-winter male still in Tennessee Valley
Lapland Bunting 1 on reservoir slopes
Indigo Bunting 1 in the village
Bobolink 1 in Lower Fields

Arrivals from the west!

Corvo is a place that never ceases to amaze. So often rare birds are found here in the most surprising conditions - take for example the Caspian Plover which turned up during a westerly gale in October 2012, or the Paddyfield Warbler several years previous to that.

What we hadn't bargained for today was a healthy arrival of Nearctic birds on the island. Sure, Scarlet Tanager and Bobolink were found on Flores yesterday but the weather has been far from classic for American species and so no one really expected anything new - and certainly not a multiple arrival.

Seemingly against the odds, Corvo delivered in style as we were treated to five species new for the year. This all began when Josh Jones located a first-winter female Rose-breasted Grosbeak in junipers high above the Tennessee Valley. Within minutes an Indigo Bunting had also made a brief appearance there and then, an hour or so later, Josh scored the hat trick with a beautiful first-winter male Scarlet Tanager in the valley itself.

Rose-breasted Grosbeak and Scarlet Tanager, both taken shortly after discovery (Josh Jones)

The tanager was well twitched throughout the afternoon and a tick for several people including Petri Kuhno (his 700th WP species) and Seppo Haavisto. Just to put the icing on the cake, Bosse Carlsson found the first Red-eyed Vireo of the autumn in tamarisks just south of the west end of the airfield and a Lesser Yellowlegs was seen flying around the village on several occasions.

Negative news today included the sad discovery of the Spoonbill dead on the beach at the west end of the airstrip. There was also no sign of the Snowy Owl in the Lighthouse Valley area despite an extensive search (4+ hours) by several observers.


Birds:

Lesser Yellowlegs juvenile at Vila Nova
White-rumped Sandpiper 1st-winter still at old harbour
Little Stint 1st-winter still at old harbour
Collared Dove 3 still around Calcada Fields
Willow Warbler 1 in Tennessee Valley
Red-eyed Vireo 1 at west end of Lower Fields
Rose-breasted Grosbeak 1st-winter female above Tennessee Valley
Indigo Bunting 1 above Tennessee Valley

Scarlet Tanager 1st-winter male in Tennessee Valley

Yellow Wagtail the best on offer...

A complete contrast in weather conditions today saw the island bathed in beautiful sunshine. Most birders were able to work on their suntans and unsurprisingly, the wait for a new American landbird goes on. Best find today was a first-winter Yellow Wagtail in fields above the power station, although a Spotted Sandpiper was also a new find on the large rock pool at the west end of the airfield and the Collared Doves have increased to three!

Yellow Wagtail by Josh Jones

At least twelve new birders joined us today, with this increase compensated by the departure of at least five to twitch the Willet on Sao Miguel! We will be welcoming them - and several others - back to the island on Friday.


Birds:

Spoonbill 1 still showing well at the campsite!
Spotted Sandpiper 1
Little Stint 1st-winter still at the old harbour
White-rumped Sandpiper 2 (Vila Nova & reservoir)
Collared Dove 3 around the high fields
Yellow Wagtail 1st-winter above the power station
Buff-bellied Pipit 1 still at the reservoir
Wheatear 3 around the reservoir

Snowy still but little more to report

A good word to describe today would be "tough". The weather was poor with a brisk westerly wind, low cloud, fog and occasional rain making conditions difficult for birding around the island. The main news concerns the continued presence of the female Snowy Owl still in the valley just south of the Lighthouse Valley, though she can be very mobile and was last seen north of the lighthouse.

Snowy Owl (photo by Kris de Rouck)

A Common Kestrel over the village late afternoon was not quite the exciting arrival we had in mind, but at least it was something new. One of the Collared Doves was also seen near Lapa.

Seawatching produced a few birds including Great Shearwaters, juvenile Pomarine Skua, a couple of Oceanodroma storm-petrels (either Leach's or one of the Band-rumped species) and a superb Sooty Shearwater that lingered just off the windmills for a several minutes in the evening.

The wait for a new American landbird goes on - and looking at the forecast, it is unlikely to be before next week.

Birds:

Teal sp 1 at reservoir
Great Shearwater 8+
Sooty Shearwater 1
Manx Shearwater 1
Storm-petrel sp 2
Pomarine Skua juvenile past the windmills early afternoon
Kestrel 1
White-rumped Sandpiper 1st-winter at old harbour
Little Stint 1st-winter at old harbour
Snowy Owl female still

Collared Dove 2 still

Wheatear 2 at reservoir

Slow going on the Western Front

The twelve birders already on Corvo were joined by a further ten today, meaning we now have a respectable 22 observers on the island - this number is set to rise further on both Wednesday and Friday as birders continue to arrive from across Europe.

Unfortunately the rise in number did not equate to any new birds from the New World, with the best discovery a grey first-winter Little Stint at the old harbour in the village which initially suggested something more exciting to the discoverer Josh Jones. However, a confiding bird meant good views soon followed and any thoughts of Semipalmated or even Western were very quickly dispelled:

Little Stint by Josh Jones (joshrjones.blogspot.com)

The cloud was particularly low today with visibility extremely poor from the Miradouro upwards - all of the valleys were foggy and the plane was only able to land at the second attempt. As such the Snowy Owl was not seen and very little else was noted. We have a westerly wind with us but synoptic charts suggest that this originates from nowhere near America, so we're not expecting a major arrival of birds any time soon.

Other main sightings today include the Spoonbill looking pretty unhappy with life on the shore at the west end of the airstrip, a first-winter White-rumped Sandpiper around the airfield and old harbour and a few Sanderlings.

First wave of American vagrants on the island...

The group of 10+ birders present on Corvo since Thursday has now covered some serious ground over the last days, and, as of tonight, their efforts have produced some interesting results. First of all, the season for American landbirds was officially launched yesterday with the discovery of 3 American Buff-bellied Pipits at the Reservoir. And just as this was not enough, two more individuals were discovered today with no less than 5 different Buff-bellied Pipits counted in the same area. An impressive finding as this probably represents the largest group of this nearctic species ever recorded in the WP! And there was more on offer on Corvo today with 2 Cliff Swallows reported at the Miradouro from above Vila Nova do Corvo.

Thus overall, a very encouraging starting for the 2014 season on the Rock with 7 american landbirds found in 3 days. More birders will arrive on Monday and, no doubt, more findings will be reported in the next days...

American Buff-bellied Pipit, Grassland area around the Reservoir, 03 October 2014 (copyright: photo courtesy of Daniele Occhiato)

We are back...

These are exciting days! Fall migration  - say from mid August to end October - is such a fascinating and exciting period for most birders: it is not only the best period to visit your nearby ringing/counting station but also the best timing to strike a ‘good’ bird on your local patch. For most extreme birders - listers and twitchers - fall migration is also undoubtedly synonym with staying up to date with the latest bird news which means you can’t stay far away from technology!

And so was I this morning: sitting behind my desk at work, poking slowly through bird news forums from Portugal and various European countries to quickly find out that: the first Red-eyed Vireos of the autumn have now reach Europe with single birds discovered in Iceland and Shetland. In addition, an Ovenbird was found in Ireland this week-end and a Common Yellowthroat was in Southern Spain earlier last week, meaning that American landbirds are now starting to appear on the old continent…

So what about Corvo? What about this twitcher’s paradise where last October, no less than 22 different American landbird species were found? Is there any yankees there at the moment?

My personal feeling is that yes..it is very likely that at least a few american stragglers have already made their way to the island but unfortunately (and as far as I know) no serious birder has yet landed on the island. In fact, the 2014 season on Corvo is due to start on the 1^st of October with the arrival of the first birders: Tommy Frandsen, Ingvar Torsson, Daniele Occhiato, Lars Mortensen, and probably a few others. They are the lucky ones who will first start pacing along every wooded valley in search of what could be ‘the best finding of their life’! And no doubt, they will be joined pretty soon by more birders as the month passes, thereby increasing the chances of finding the biggy!

Thus, for those who are interested to find out about the exciting discoveries and adventures on Corvo this autumn, myself and a few other contributors are undertaking again the task of reporting bird facts on a daily basis (at least from 6^th October onwards) throughout October. So, stay tuned..it is almost show time!!!

Yellow-throated Warbler: the "star bird" of the past autumn, a first for the WP found on 16 October 2013 by Josh Jones