Today was extremely blustery, and a check of Lighthouse Valley by the last birder on Corvo this year, Lee Gregory, revealed nothing though fog shrouded there and all of the ribeiras. Therefore, with a strong southerly/southwesterly a seawatch from the windmills produced the goods - a (presumed) Fea's Petrel flew east between 2.50pm and 3.02pm coming as near as 300 yards at its closest.
So with the flight out tomorrow, that closes the season for 2013 so who will those two Glossy Ibises on the airfield, that were still about today, have for company from now on? And, unfortunately, the question of how long will they last also comes to mind...
It has been another eventful season on 'the rock' this year, and although the general consensus being that it has been tough graft this year with a fair amount of fog (certainly in the final 10 days of the month), the same faces will be back once again and doing it all over next autumn. The last one on Corvo has closed the lights for autumn 2013.
Thursday, 31 October 2013
Wednesday, 30 October 2013
The autumn's third Black-and-white Warbler
The weather was fine again today, and the five remaining birders headed off into Ribeira da Ponte, Lapa and Poco d'Agua. It was the turn of the Finns today, when Ilkka Sahi managed to find the autumn's third Black-and-white Warbler. A statistic that continues to illustrate what a magnet the island is for American landbirds.
Otherwise, it was just long staying birds that were seen. The White-crowned Sparrow was relocated late on in the day a couple of hundred metres from where it was last seen on Sunday, while a couple of Glossy Ibises and Ruff remained on the runway. With northerly winds and fog forecast for Friday (the worst direction as it is a cross wind), and with the potential for disruption, four birders left the island today and so only one birder remains to finish the Corvo 2013 season off.
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| Black-and-white Warbler, Ribeira da Ponte (Richard Bonser) |
Tuesday, 29 October 2013
American Bittern at Fojo
The fog had rolled in again this morning but the remaining birders headed out of the village and into the ribeiras. Cantinho was checked, as was Fojo, and it was the Brits that scored with today's highlight - an American Bittern. Richard Bonser located the bird flying down the valley, and then Lee Gregory quickly located it in a tree where it remained for half an hour or so.
Two Glossy Ibis were still on the airstrip, as well as a juvenile Ruff and 2 White-rumped Sandpipers. The only passerine of any note today was a juvenile Greenland Wheatear by the windmills.
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| American Bittern, Fojo (Richard Bonser) |
Monday, 28 October 2013
Least Sandpiper new in and Black-throated Green Warbler still
The fog finally cleared today after a weekend full of the stuff, which hampered birding. With such a nice day, the caldeirao was checked for the first time in ages by three Finnish birders and they found a Least Sandpiper along with five White-rumped Sandpipers and two Barnacle Geese still. There was a flock of 10 Snow Buntings at the top of the road to the caldeirao, but the general birding continues to be tough going despite the sunshine.
There was an exodus of five birders today, with two new Brits coming in to enjoy the last few days of the 2013 Corvo birding season. After some searching, the Black-throated Green Warbler was found to be still in Pico albeit remaining elusively. Three Glossy Ibises remain on the airfield and complete the day's lineup.
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| Least Sandpiper in the caldeirao (copyright Janne Aalto) |
Sunday, 27 October 2013
Monthly report (27 sept - 27 Oct)
Not much to report over the last days. Fog was extremely thick all over the island - to an extent not experienced before by any of us - making birding rather hopeless since Friday. And as a matter of fact, no new discoveries have been made since the Black-throated Green warbler. This latter individual was nevertheless successfully twitched in the fog by 3 Norwegian birders who crossed by boat from Flores on Friday. Other notheworthy sightings for this week-end include an Indigo bunting lingering in the Middle Fields and the White-crowned sparrow above Vila Nova do Corvo still briefly seen yesterday.
On a more personal note, I've been birding on Corvo for a month but I will depart tomorrow, together with 4 other birders. Two new birders are scheduled to arrive for a few days, so next week will see the last opportunity for a few new findings on the Rock this year.
As of today, the total number of American landbirds discovered on Corvo this autumn (27 Sept - 27 Oct) include 43 individuals within 22 species. In addition, 9 non landbird species (waders and raptors) were also reported.
Detailed list is as follows:
Black duck (1)
Rough-legged hawk (1)
Tundra Peregrine falcon (1)
Semipalmated plover (1)
Lesser yellowlegs (1)
Spotted sandpiper (1)
Buff-breasted sandpiper (1)
White-rumped sandpiper (3+)
Wilson's snipe (2+)
Mourning dove (1)
Philadelphia vireo (2)
Red-eyed vireo (6+)
Cliff swallow (2)
Tree swallow (1)
Gray-cheeked thrush (1)
American robin (1)
American Buff-bellied pipit (2)
Cedar waxwing (1)
Northern parula (3)
Black-throated Blue warbler (2)
Black-throated Green warbler (1)
Yellow-throated warbler (1)
Black-and-white warbler (2)
American redstart (1)
Common yellowthroat (3)
Scarlet tanager (1)
Rose-breasted grosbeak (3)
Indigo bunting (4)
White-crowned sparrow (1)
White-throated sparrow (1)
Bobolink (3)
No doubts this is an astonishing result, which again boosts Corvo at an indisputable no. 1 position for Nearctic species - in particular landbirds - in the Western Palearctic.
On a more personal note, I've been birding on Corvo for a month but I will depart tomorrow, together with 4 other birders. Two new birders are scheduled to arrive for a few days, so next week will see the last opportunity for a few new findings on the Rock this year.
As of today, the total number of American landbirds discovered on Corvo this autumn (27 Sept - 27 Oct) include 43 individuals within 22 species. In addition, 9 non landbird species (waders and raptors) were also reported.
Detailed list is as follows:
Black duck (1)
Rough-legged hawk (1)
Tundra Peregrine falcon (1)
Semipalmated plover (1)
Lesser yellowlegs (1)
Spotted sandpiper (1)
Buff-breasted sandpiper (1)
White-rumped sandpiper (3+)
Wilson's snipe (2+)
Mourning dove (1)
Philadelphia vireo (2)
Red-eyed vireo (6+)
Cliff swallow (2)
Tree swallow (1)
Gray-cheeked thrush (1)
American robin (1)
American Buff-bellied pipit (2)
Cedar waxwing (1)
Northern parula (3)
Black-throated Blue warbler (2)
Black-throated Green warbler (1)
Yellow-throated warbler (1)
Black-and-white warbler (2)
American redstart (1)
Common yellowthroat (3)
Scarlet tanager (1)
Rose-breasted grosbeak (3)
Indigo bunting (4)
White-crowned sparrow (1)
White-throated sparrow (1)
Bobolink (3)
No doubts this is an astonishing result, which again boosts Corvo at an indisputable no. 1 position for Nearctic species - in particular landbirds - in the Western Palearctic.
Thursday, 24 October 2013
Black-throated Green warbler!
There is little doubts that this day was another very interesting one for the 13+ birders remaining on Corvo. The favourable weather system - the wind had been blowing strongly from West since a few days - added to the recent news of several nearctic megas found elsewhere in the Azores and WP had triggered a 'positive fighting spirit' in the group to try covering as much ground as possible on the island for the last week or so of the season. A strategy that paid off twice today.
The first strike came around 1pm when the Polish team reported a Mourning dove from the fields between the Power station and Lapa. Just a few birders had not seen the previous individual found earlier in the season, so this new discovery only attracted a few of us on the spot.
The second strike - the one that got us all excited - came around 2.30pm when Mika Bruun connected on the Southern slope of Pico with a gorgeous first winter Black-throated Green warbler, not less than the 7th species of American wood-warbler for the year! The news was quickly released to his nearby friend Petri Kunho who managed to relay the info by walkie-talkie and sms to a few other birders. Shortly after, the entire group was aware of the new discovery and, thanks to our landlord Manuel Rita, most of us were quickly car-dropped at the entrance of Pico. Upon arrival on the spot, Mika had lost the bird since a few minutes but it was soon relocated flying above our heads in the dense tree canopy. And the rest is history: within half an hour almost everyone had managed to enjoy decent, albeit brief, views of this restless beauty, while the rest of the afternoon was spent trying to obtain good photographic documents - something everyone failed on except..Mika!
On paper, Black-throated Green is an impressive finding - only the 6th or 7th record for the Western Palearctic, of which four belong to Corvo (One in 2008, 2 in 2009 and one in 2013).
The first strike came around 1pm when the Polish team reported a Mourning dove from the fields between the Power station and Lapa. Just a few birders had not seen the previous individual found earlier in the season, so this new discovery only attracted a few of us on the spot.
The second strike - the one that got us all excited - came around 2.30pm when Mika Bruun connected on the Southern slope of Pico with a gorgeous first winter Black-throated Green warbler, not less than the 7th species of American wood-warbler for the year! The news was quickly released to his nearby friend Petri Kunho who managed to relay the info by walkie-talkie and sms to a few other birders. Shortly after, the entire group was aware of the new discovery and, thanks to our landlord Manuel Rita, most of us were quickly car-dropped at the entrance of Pico. Upon arrival on the spot, Mika had lost the bird since a few minutes but it was soon relocated flying above our heads in the dense tree canopy. And the rest is history: within half an hour almost everyone had managed to enjoy decent, albeit brief, views of this restless beauty, while the rest of the afternoon was spent trying to obtain good photographic documents - something everyone failed on except..Mika!
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| Black-throated Green warbler (1st winter), 25 October 2013, Pico, Corvo (Photo courtesy of M. Bruun) |
Wednesday, 23 October 2013
No Cape May warbler on the Rock today!
The last days were very quiet on Corvo with a very slim combined log for Tuesday and today: the Rough-legged hawk (dark morph) was still lingering at the Caldeira, and both Indigo bunting (1st winter female) and White-crowned sparrow (one adult) were still present in the Middle Fields. A Red-eyed vireo (Fojo) and a Rose-breasted grosbeak (Vila Nova do Corvo) were also seen yesterday but not re-found today.
Thus, without much to report from the field, the highlights came over the wire when we learnt of the amazing discovery of a Ruby-crowned kinglet on Flores yesterday by a Finnish group of 3 birders (3rd WP record) and with today's news of a Cape May warbler found on Shetland (2nd for WP)! These are very encouraging signs perhaps suggesting that the season is not yet over for us with hopefully a few more discoveries to come in the next days...
Thus, without much to report from the field, the highlights came over the wire when we learnt of the amazing discovery of a Ruby-crowned kinglet on Flores yesterday by a Finnish group of 3 birders (3rd WP record) and with today's news of a Cape May warbler found on Shetland (2nd for WP)! These are very encouraging signs perhaps suggesting that the season is not yet over for us with hopefully a few more discoveries to come in the next days...
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| White-crowned sparrow (adult), 22 October 2013, Middle Fields, Corvo |
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