The end of the Purple Patch ?

After a period of almost constant westerlies for the last week or so the winds finally swung round to the dreaded east today. New American birds were still being discovered yesterday and also a few today but there were signs of a game change today with the arrival of European migrants- a Garden Warbler, Willow Warbler, European Stonechat and Barn Swallow. The forecast consists of a high pressure becoming firmly established for the coming week which could mark the end of the recent incredible purple patch? However there is a westerly airflow into the Atlantic to the north of us which could mean birds are still being displaced into the Atlantic and could still find their way to this mid-Atlantic refuge. Time will tell.

Nonetheless the megas were still arriving yesterday with the fifth Lincoln's Sparrow for the Western Palearctic and also new yanks including a Common Yellowthroat and a Myrtle Warbler. Myrtle Warbler is a surprising rarity on Corvo and yesterday's bird was the first since 2012.

The Blue Grosbeak was still present yesterday as were the Wood Thrush, Bay-breasted Warbler, White-throated Sparrow and Philadelphia Vireo.

Today was a quieter affair with the only new american birds being a new Common Yellowthroat and probably a new Northern Parula. The Blue Grosbeak was not seen today.

Birders arriving today managed to score the Bay-breasted Warbler, Wood Thrush and Yellow-throated Vireo which luckily stayed put.

For the full daily log see the Corvo Birders Facebook Page HERE

 Lincoln's Sparrow, Village (Vincent Legrand)

 Northern Parula (Vincent Legrand)

 Garden Warbler (Vincent Legrand)

Indigo Buntings (Vincent Legrand) 

 Red-eyed Vireos, Poco D'Agua (Peter Alfrey) 

 Yellow-billed Cuckoo, Village (Peter Alfrey) 

Corvo Birders 2018 (Peter Stronach) . Nearly 90 birders on the island this year. A record year. 

Blue Grosbeak and a flock of American Passerines!

The last two days have continued along the same theme - carnage. Yesterday in one single wooded valley (Pico/Da Ponte) there were 14 american landbirds of 10 species including 1 Yellow-throated Vireo, 1 Philadelphia Vireo, 3 Red-eyed Vireo,1 Wood Thrush,1 Swainson's Thrush, 1 Grey-cheeked Thrush, 1 Ovenbird, 3 Black-throated Green Warbler, 2 American Redstart and 1 Bay-breasted Warbler.Across the rest of the island there was an additional 11 American species including Northern Parula, Scarlet Tanager, 2 Indigo Buntings and Baltimore Oriole.

 However the rarest bird of yesterday was Lesser Whitethroat- a first for the Azores. This species which migrates south east across the Palearctic to East Africa is a national rarity in Iberia. This is presumably the furthest west this species has ever ventured. 

Today (17th) things got even better with a Blue Grosbeak- a first for the Western Palearctic found by Peter Stronach, Bob Swann, Ernie Davis and Marcin Solowiej. A species that was indeed on many twitchers radar for Corvo (unlike the Western Kingbird on Flores which was totally off anyone's radar as a WP candidate) but nonetheless still very exciting to finally fall. Other new birds included a Yellow-billed Cuckoo and up to 6 Indigo Buntings and 7 Red-eyed Vireos now. 

Blue Grosbeak (Vincent Legrand), Poco d'Agua

Yellow-throated Vireo (Vincent Legrand) Da Ponte 

Wood Thrush (Vincent Legrand) Da Ponte

Bay-breasted Warbler (Peter Alfrey) Da Ponte 

Red-eyed Vireo (Gerbrand Micheilsen), Lighthouse Valley 

For full daily logs of birds see Corvo Birders Facebook HERE

Western Kingbird on Flores etc

It's been an incredible few days in the wake of Storm Callum with the hands down highlight being the first Western Kingbird for the Western Palearctic on the neighbouring island of Flores found on 13th by Thijs Valkenberg from the car! Most Corvo birders have spent the last three days trying to bridge the 12 mile stretch of drink between Corvo and Flores- unsuccessfully due to stormy seas. Seven Corvo birders finally made it off island today by plane but there has been no sign of the bird since early yesterday morning. Only five people have seen the bird with two birders on Flores even failing to see it. Whether you are a WP twitcher on the European mainland over 1000 miles away or 12 miles away on Corvo or even on the same ruddy island for some- it seems this bird has proved to give nearly everyone the slip. If it's never seen again it will be an instant alluring WP legend. 

 Western Kingbird (Thijs Valkenberg) 

The Kingbird was indeed the monarch of a significant arrival of yanks from the 13th to 15th with highlights on Corvo including White-throated Sparrow, a Dickcissel, a new American Redstart, a new Baltimore Oriole, Black-throated Green Warbler, Northern Parula, Swainson's Thrush, Scarlet Tanager, three Red-eyed Vireo, Rose-breasted Grosbeak, two Indigo Buntings and Grey-cheeked Thrush. The Wilson's Warbler was also still present today (15th) to the delight of birders arriving on the Monday flight.  

Additionally on Flores there has been Yellow-billed Cuckoo, Northern Waterthrush and Scarlet Tanager. 

White-throated Sparrow (Pawel Kolodziejczyk)

For full log of daily birds see Corvo Birders Facebook Page HERE

First landfall of Nearctic landbirds on Corvo

On the one side, it's about Floridians trying to deal over the week with "Michael", a Cat 4 Hurricane hitting shore on the Eastern American seaboard - wind speed approaching 200 km/h. On the other side (Corvo/WP//EU side), however, "Michael" is not such a bad guy because it drags behind him a system of sustained westerlies that had the potential to blow across the ocean a first wave of Nearctic landbirds...And so it did!

The Corvo 2018 autumn has indeed been triggered in style over the last days with an impressive cast of goodies scored: no less than 8 Nearctic landbird individuals have been reported since the 10th, including three American Redstarts scattered on the island, the first two Red-eyed Vireos of the year in Lapa and Cantinho, an Indigo Bunting at the Lighthouse Valley and a Baltimore Oriole in the Lower Fields! The pinnacle of the week came late in the afternoon of yesterday with the discovery of Corvo's 65th Nearctic land bird species, a stunning female Wilson's Warbler in the Middle Fields - a true mega for the records, being not only a first for Azores but also the 4th WP record (1st female).

With an estimated 30+ birders now present on the island and with the wind calming down, more discoveries should be expected over the week-end so stay tuned!

Cat 4 Hurricane "Michael" hits Florida, 10 October 2018 (David Monticelli)

American Redstart (1st w male), Middle Fields, 11 October 2018 (Vincent Legrand)

Wilson's Warbler (female), 12 October 2018 (Vincent Legrand)

Nearctic species seen from 8-12 October:
Blue-winged Teal: 1 (8/10)
Pectoral Sandpiper : 1 (8/10)
Spotted Sandpiper: 1 on southern shore (8-10/10)
White-rumped Sandpiper: 1 (9/10)
Red-eyed Vireo: 2, one 1 at Lapa and one at Ribeira do Cantinho (10 & 11/10, respectively)
American Redstart: 3, one at Lighthouse Valley, one at Middle fields, one at Fojo (10, 11 & 12/10, respectively)
Wilson's Warbler: 1 at Middle Fields (12/10)
Baltimore Oriole: 1 in Lower Fields (Cape Verdian Farm) (11/10)
Indigo Bunting: 1 at Lighthouse Valley (12/10)

The Azores Rare and Scarce Bird Report 2015

The 2015 report will be available on Corvo next week. If you would like to order a copy by post please email littleoakgroup@btinternet.com 

Prologue to the 2018 season…

Over the last few days, the Whatsapp group “Azores Bird News” has gone live again with news being more and more regularly reported from multiple islands as birders from all over the Western Palearctic are progressively colonising the archipelago. For the fourth year, this blog will focus on the spectacular island of Corvo, from where we will report bird news on a fairly regular basis throughout October.

Some of the usual stalwarts (Daniel, Mika, Vincent, etc) touched ground on Corvo a few days ago to find out low Nearctic activity on the island with only a few individuals reported over the last days. Not much to worry about as historical records have shown that, with the exception of a few particular years, the season usually starts at a slow pace and goes crescendo with a peak usually towards mid-month.  Not totally unrelated to this is the pattern of birder’s attendance on the island that also usually peaks from 10-25 October, providing around that period the most exhaustive coverage. 

This year, an estimated 90+ birders are scheduled to visit this tiny island during the course of the month, a quite promising tally that is somewhat unprecedented. Thus the only limiting factor to finding great birds here will be weather! At the moment, the charts are not very encouraging for the next day or two but by mid-week, the wind will start blowing from the west with stormy conditions predicted for Thursday. Having experienced Corvo over the last 13 years, my own bet here is that the first decent American land birds will have been found by the end of next week. Time will tell…

Nearctic species seen from mid-September onwards:

White-rumped Sandpiper: 2 at Caldeira & 2 at Camping site (12 & 16/09)

Buff-breasted Sandpiper: 2 at Reservoir (13/09)

Pectoral Sandpiper: 1 at Caldeira (4/10)

Spotted Sandpiper: 1 on shore west of Doctor’s house (5/10)

Northern Harrier: 1 at Caldeira (4/10)

Buff-breasted Sandpipers, Grassland around Reservoir, 13 September 2018 (Tim Collins)

The 2017 autumn on Corvo: a brief summary

The 2017 hurricane season in the Northern Atlantic was already considered by meteorologists as more intense than normal by mid September with 13 storms recorded, of which 4 were major hurricanes listed as Category 3 (on a scale of 5). By then, scientists at the US National Hurricane Centre were tweeting messages like “Never seen anything like this in the modern record”…with some of these tweets being reprinted in the New York Times! Six weeks later and after another 7 hurricanes have gone through the southeast US seaboard, the Caribbean region and the north Atlantic, 2017 is about to enter the selective club of “10 busiest years in terms of hurricane activity and number of storms recorded”.

Predictably, this had some important implications for the rarity-hunting season on Corvo that clearly stands out as the most productive season since 2005 in terms of total number of birds discovered, and certainly also as one of the best season in terms of quality and rarity of the records made.

In fact, the data/observations compiled for the period 23 September to 31 October 2017 yields self-explanatory figures:

Nearctic landbird species recorded on Corvo from 23 Sept to 31 Oct 2017 (no. of individuals involved):

Rough-legged Hawk (2)

Belted Kingfisher (1)

Yellow-billed Cuckoo (6)

American Buff-bellied Pipit (1)

Cedar Waxwing (1)

Grey-cheeked Thrush (3)

Swainson's Thrush (1)

American Robin (1)

Yellow-throated Vireo (1)

Philadelphia Vireo (3)

Red-eyed Vireo (24)

Tennessee Warbler (1)

Black-and-white Warbler (5)

Black-throated Blue Warbler (1)

Black-throated Green Warbler (3)

Blackburnian Warbler (1)

Magnolia Warbler (2)

Northern Waterthrush (6)

Bay-breasted Warbler (1)

Blackpoll Warbler (8)

Ovenbird (5)

Common Yellowthroat (4)

Hooded Warbler (2)

Canada Warbler (1)

Scarlet Tanager (4)

Rose-breasted Grosbeak (4)

Indigo Bunting (3)

Dickcissel (1)

Bobolink (1)

Nearctic non-landbird (waterbirds) species recorded on Corvo from 23 Sept to 31 Oct 2017 (no. of individuals involved):

Surf Scoter (2)

American Wigeon (4)

American Black Duck/incl. hybrids (6)

Blue-winged Teal (6)

Green-winged Teal (3)

Ring-necked Duck (4)

American Great Egret (1)

Semipalmated Plover (1)

American Golden Plover (2)

Semipalmated Sandpiper (3)

White-rumped Sandpiper (11)

Pectoral Sandpiper (2)

Wilson's Snipe (2)

Upland Sandpiper (1)

Lesser Yellowlegs (3)
Greater Yellowlegs (1)

Solitary Sandpiper (1)

Spotted Sandpiper (4)

Bonaparte’s Gull (1)

In about 40 days American landbird rarities discovered fall short of a hundred individuals (97 more precisely) divided among 29 different species, an unprecedented haul in Corvo’s history. In fact, only two previous years approach these annual totals, 2012 with 26 landbird species and 2015 with 27. In addition, no less than 18 waterbird species were reported on Corvo this autumn, which brings up the annual numbers at an astounding 155 individuals within…48 different species!

Notwithstanding this impressive total, every day is considered as a new dawn on Corvo and, depending on the prevailing weather conditions and number of birders present, more or less discoveries were made. And the day among all that no one would have wanted to miss was Friday October 20 when it was literally “raining birds all over the place” with 14 Nearctic landbird species on the charts on that evening.

Also extremely enjoyable this autumn for the 70+ birders or so who visited Corvo was the wealth of American Wood-warblers reported with no less than 13 species found – so far the highest peak was in 2012 with ‘only’ 11 species.

Evidently, quality was also au rendez-vous this autumn with major WP records made: Bay-breasted Warbler (2^nd for WP), Blackburnian warbler (5^th WP), Canada warbler (5^th WP), Hooded Warbler (5^th & 6^th WP), Dickcissel (6^th WP), Magnolia Warbler (7^th & 8^th WP), Yellow-throated Vireo (7^th WP) and the duo Black-throated Green (8^th, 9^th & 10^th WP) and Black-throated Blue (9^th WP) Warblers. Locally three 1^st records for Corvo (Surf Scoter, Bonaparte’s Gull & Belted Kingfisher) and two 1^st records for the Azores (Blackburnian & Bay-breasted Warblers) were bagged. 

So overall, a real big year for The Rock, which more than ever stands out as the best destination in the entire Western Palearctic for Nearctic rarities! 

See you next autumn for more reporting news…

David & Peter.

One of 8 Blackpolls seen this year on Corvo - This one at Ribeira de Lapa, 28 October 2017 (Peter Stronach)

The fourth American Robin for Corvo since 2005, Caldeira, 26 October 2017 (Peter Stronach)