On the rock again

I've now finished my second day on the rock. You'll read this and think it has all been plain sailing, but believe me, it has been a real struggle. After nailing our 'last supper' on Sao Miguel on Sunday night, we (Lee G and I) arrived early afternoon yesterday and headed straight up to Pico (via the dwindling flock of Glossy Ibises that are now down to three - at least two of the original six have been found dead) where a Black-throated Green Warbler had been seen on Saturday (and heard on Sunday). With the weather excellent - little wind and the sun shining - we thought we had a decent chance. However, an hour ticked by and the daunting ribeira was deadly silent. Then another hour and with just the odd Blackcap and Canary to show, and not even a call to show for, Lee struck gold by finding it feeding unobtrusively in the canopy. This fourth for the Azores, a first-winter, was pretty mind blowing with a nice double wing bar, streaked flanks and a deep yellow cheeks. Once again, I wasn't going to leave Corvo without a new WP bird...


American Bittern, Fojo, Corvo 29th October 2013

Today, Tuesday, dawned cloudy with a moderate westerly breeze. After a token check of middle fields and around the airport - where there were still a couple of Glossy Ibises looking pissed off with life, and a load of newly released Cory's Shearwaters (locals collect young that are fresh out of the nest, get dazzled by street lights and end up in the village) - we headed up to the ribeiras. Lee and I did Cantinho, while the Finns took on the upper part of Fojo - both of us leaving empty handed. Between Cancelas and Fojo, while in a field watching a load of birds around a fruiting tree, I noticed a large bird coming quickly through the valley - it was obviously an American Bittern, and so I yelled to Lee who was close by and told him that it had landed out of sight in the lower bit of Fojo. The Finns were informed, and they did a professional job of getting on site quickly, just as Lee located it in a tree. Here it remained, rather skittishly before a band of fog and a brisk breeze forced it down into cover never to be seen again.

Glossy Ibis at the airfield, Corvo - one of an initial flock of six that was down to two today; two birds have been found dead on Corvo during October.

With torrential rain, and poor visibility, late afternoon was spent back in the village where a couple of White-rumped Sandpipers were on the airfield and a Wheatear was by the windmill. With just five of us birding here, there must be a lot more out there but weather conditions really weren't conducive for finding stuff so we'll take the bittern from what was essentially a wash out.