North side LBB |
The most productive birding of the day was internet based, when in the early hours of this morning my old mate and one of the WP's finest photographers Vincent Legrand passed on a link of a Red-footed Falcon from the Azores... needless to say, he's no fool and a quick look revealed that it was an Amur Falcon (photos here, here and here)! Now those islands get a fair few vagrants, but this has to rank up there with the best.
And I almost went up for the Cley 'peep', but thought better of it after another tiring week and going to bed late. Although I've therefore not seen the bird, I actually thought it was a Semi-p until the 'Thursday shots' revealed some retained rather rufous-fringed feathers that made me reconsider. A really interesting bird. Here's one I found earlier... in September 2009 on the Azores.
At all times, it felt slick and streamline, and this bird fitted that classic 'miniature Dunlin' phrase that's often associated with Western Sandpiper. Obviously so much earlier in the season, you can't really compare much plumage wise. On the same trip, I bumped into this rather rufous-looking, long-billed Semipalmated Sandpiper (presumably an eastern female?).
Semipalmated Sandpiper, Corvo, early Sept 2009 |
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