Crakes, Dowitchers and Monarchs

These days it's either local stuff, foreign birding, lifers (when they increasingly rarely turn up) or sometimes just birds I want to go and see. And this weekend, it was one of those weekends where on Friday night there were choices. And so it was that just after dawn on Saturday, having picked John A up after his 50th (well done John!), I was in the hide at Rainham just after the crake had showed.

No bother I thought, having just missed it by a few minutes it was likely to come out of the reeds again. But it didn't, albeit for a couple of seconds, and so mid morning decisions had to be made and I kept with the initial plan of teaming up with the Wanstead boys (Jono L, Tim H and Nick C) and heading to Dorset... so fast forward to today, Sunday. Original plan was to dawn it again but my body couldn't do it, and I eventually woke up at 10am - wanting a lie in ready for the first Irish assault next weekend. Anyway, cutting to the chase, I lucked out and on arrival at 12.30pm the juvenile Baillon's Crake was showing as well as it would given the distance of the hide from the reeds. Result.

Juvenile Baillon's Crake at Rainham 9th Sept 2012 - no prizes, but note the white spotting on the coverts. Reeds conveniently positioned to obscure much of the bird, including its short primary projection.

Ok, so now back to yesterday and Dorset was nice; indeed nice to be beside the seaside and Weymouth beach was packed. The drive down was grim though, and we diverted via the A303 as some twattery had gone on down the M3/M27. Lodmoor RSPB was packed full of birds - full of my favourites too, Med Gulls, with at least 15 of them. And hiding in the juncus clumps was the juvenile Short-billed Dowitcher, the third for Britain and Ireland (remarkably I'd seen the previous two too). It wasn't great for photos due to the haze, but as well as the often quoted tiger striped tertials (which were marked into the feather centres), prominent supercilium bordered by a dark lateral crown stripe, buff breast etc I wanted to check out Pekka Sarvela's bill base angle identification feature in the field (click here for the paper) on an obvious bird. It worked and it seemed to work on these from a month ago too. Lots of ringed birds observed at Lodmoor as well - all sent to the ringing coordinators and think they include 3 French/Belgian Med Gulls, a Dutch Black-headed Gull, a Scottish Sandwich Tern and an Abbotsbury Mute Swan. Interesting stuff, except the swan.

Monarch butterfly, Portland, Dorset 8th Sept 2012

Nearby on Portland there was a Monarch butterfly. These big boys - truly impressive butterflies - used to be the harbinger of yank landbird arrivals back in the day, and I remember being pretty excited when I saw my first one on Scilly 15 or so years ago. This was my first on the British mainland, and you don't hear of the numbers that used to turn up on Scilly either. Not sure why, but talking to Chris L at Rainham today who's straight off a 5 year stretch on the islands he was saying that the October crowds these days are full of chumps, with less and less capable birders there to find the rares. Though they'd surely be capable of not missing a big orange butterfly coming at them, presumably.

Thanks to all for a highly enjoyable, relaxed and refined day out. Always nice to get out of the smoke and see some birds in good company. Rounded off with a decent fish and chips on the way home.

The best site for American waders in the WP - Cabo da Praia

Cabo da Praia will be getting a lot of air time over the next month, that's for sure. It always does in September and October when those low pressure systems roll in. I was only on Terceira 4 days the week just gone and I ended up going there on 10 occasions. Located at the east end of Terceira, the easternmost of the central Azorean islands, you wouldn't naturally think it's the best (western) geographically but it you're looking for wader habitat on the Azores, save for a few rocky shores, runways, muddy fields and caldeiras, then Cabo da Praia is the best option by a way. Admittedly it is slap bang in the middle of the Atlantic so that does help a bit! The only other real wader sites, Lajes do Pico and Faja dos Cubres, are phenomenally underwatched. 

Cabo da Praia, November 2008

Unfortunately, a lot of development has taken place next to the quarry in recent years but this seems to have stopped and the southern area of the quarry has remained unchanged for the last 5 years. And waders still seem to love this site. It's an interesting place as it affected by tides but not directly tidal - located just metres from (and below) the sea, and protected by an embankment, groundwater seepage ensures that water levels fluctuate with the tides. So, amongst the three regular species - Kentish Plover, Turnstone and Sanderling - you should be able to find the odd stray bird.

Semipalmated Plover Cabo da Praia November 2008

Semipalmated Plover Cabo da Praia May 2011

Semipalmated Plover is regular at the moment too, thanks to a longstaying bird that has been present for the last few years.

three of a flock of nine 1st-winter White-rumped Sandpipers at the quarry in November 2008

1st-summer Long-billed Dowitcher that overwintered at Cabo da Praia, April 2010

two juvenile Pectoral Sandpipers in October 2010

juvenile Western Sandpiper in September 2009

juvenile Spotted Sandpiper in September 2009

1st-winter Lesser Yellowlegs in October 2010

 

One of two Hudsonian Whimbrels in August 2012

Also the odd non-wader can frequent the quarry too: -

White-winged Black Tern in May 2011

Three of a record flock of nineteen Blue-winged Teals in October 2009

 

Azorean Gulls

Pretty topical post as, while here on the Azores, there has been a couple of reports of Azorean Yellow-legged Gulls from Ireland. And to me these two birds - a near-adult and especially a 2nd-summer/3rd-winter - look like as good as you're going to get.

Here's a photo of a similar looking 3cy bird taken today at Praia da Vitoria, Terceira - note the similarity in primary moult, solid brown greater-coverts and secondaries and all black tail. This bird, and the Irish bird, are both swarthy looking beasts with this image created by the paling iris set against dense head streaking. This bird has slightly more advanced bare part (bill) colouration, but that's about it.

Near adult/adult Azorean Gulls are all hooded by now, just like the Irish bird. The head streaking is always fine and densely packed and is rarely blotchy like you get in LBBGs. It seems that near-adult Azorean Gulls (so 4cy+) retain darker markings in their greater-coverts to later ages compared to other YLG taxa. Here are a few shots from today, of various individuals - compare with the Irish near-adult: -

 

Little change at the quarry

It's been a pretty unpleasant day weather wise here, though surprisingly for the Azores little in the way of wind. Three well spaced trips to Cabo da Praia today revealed no fresh in waders, but a good opportunity to soak up what is already there with today's haul including the Terek Sand still, adult White-rumped Sand, 3 (adult and 2 juv) Pecs, adult Semipalmated Plover, 2 Hudsonian Whimbrels, 2 Curlew Sands, 2 Ruff, 2 Knot, 4 juvenile Black-tailed Godwits amongst the KPs, Turnstone and Sanderling.

Terek Sandpiper Cabo da Praia, 29th August 2012

Hudsonian Whimbrel Cabo da Praia, 29th August 2012

like chalk and cheese - Hudsonian Whimbrel (right)

adult Pectoral Sandpiper Cabo da Praia, 29th August 2012

Also had a look around the island - plenty of gulls in the middle area around Ginjal/Junco and Cabrito but weather pretty poor. Lots of Roseate and Common Terns lingering about, and a seawatch off Lajes produced 20+ Great Shears - which were a nice touch as they headed purposefully east - and a single Manx Shearwater. Best find of the day? Os Moinhos, potentially the best restaurant on Terceira according to research and it lived up to its billing. Sorry to say it, but it was better than O Pescador...

Cabo da Praia strikes again

I've been on the Azores since Saturday, but there's one place like no other that just has you coming back for more at this time of the year. And so it was, after my flight from Flores this morning, as soon as I landed on Terceira I wanted to get to 'the quarry' at Cabo da Praia.There's always a sense of anticipation as you just know there's rare to score in there. One of the most exciting places in the WP. And today was no exception, with the first Terek Sandpiper for the Azores completely shocking me, as I located it roosting in with the Sanderling flock! A vagrant in the true sense of the word, lost in the Atlantic.

adult Terek Sandpiper Cabo da Praia, Terceira 28 August 2012

east meets west...

What with a Lesser and Greater Yellowlegs on Sao Miguel today, it was inevitable there'd be the odd yank and indeed there was - 4 Pec Sands were fresh in, with three of them coming in, circling and feeding up. An adult White-rumped Sandpiper too, joining the regular Hudsonian Whimbrel and Semipalmated Plover.

Bonaparte's Sanpiper - the one from the west with the white rump

Hudsonian Whimbrel

So that was today. Apart from swimming under waterfalls and enjoying the piscinas naturales at Faja Grande in the (too) nice weather, and wishing it was a month or so on, I did squeeze in some birding on Flores. Covered all the sites, did a bit of scouting for sites later on in the autumn. Also came up with a Pied-billed Grebe at Lagoa Branca, a Spotted Sandpiper at Lagoa Lomba and at least one decent Black Duck, a drake, at Lagoa Branca so all was not lost. No Eastern Kingbird, Louisiana Waterthrush or Swallow-tailed Kite this time though...

And of course, a post wouldn't be complete without the mention of gulls. Rest assured plenty of shots of Azorean Yellow-legged Gulls taken. Also the Azores is one of the best places to look at Roseate Terns so good to see (and photograph) a lot of juveniles on this trip.

Houbaras and more on Lanzarote

Flying out on a Friday and coming back on a Monday, Lee G and I had a couple of lazy days birding in the sun on Lanzarote. Birding is pretty straightforward, when you find the birds... as usual for the Canaries, it's about the quality and specialities.

We'd been tipped off about a site near Guatiza where Houbaras had become habituated to man, coming to goat pens, feeding on trackside vegetation and showing down to yards. We made a couple of visits to this site where, along with 4 Houbaras, that were so easy to see it was unbelievable, species such as Trumpeter Finch, Berthelot's Pipit, Lesser Short-toed Lark and Hoopoe were also seen, making the most of the free food and drink.

We were also keen to see some Yellow-legged Gulls (yawn I hear you say - you thought this was going to be about Houbaras didn't you?) but amongst the flock at Playa de los Pocillos, Puerto del Carmen, one of the first birds we found was this 1st-summer (moulting to 2nd-winter) Ring-billed Gull: -

Ring-billed Gull Playa de los Pocillos, Puerto del Carmen 17th August 2012

I don't see too many Ring-billed Gulls in August so you can see it's in active wing moult with much of the inner primaries new, P9 regrowing and note old P10 which will be replaced to complete the set. Its secondaries are in a bad way, and you can just note on the inner secondaries the old dark bases that are pretty much worn down. The bill was an odd colour, going from pink to yellow which equated to orange, with slight paling at the tip to create the first signs of a 'ring' coming through. This bird was present on both Friday 17th and Monday 20th, while on this last date it was joined by an altogether fresher vagrant - a beautiful juvenile Audouin's Gull, bearing a Spanish ring: -

juvenile Audouin's Gull white ringed 'BPUY'

Audouin's Gull Playa de los Pocillos, Puerto del Carmen 20th August 2012

Other birds noted during our stay included Eleonora's Falcon (hunting over cliffs north of Orzola), African Blue Tit (in the valley at Tabayesco), a few Cattle Egrets and the odd Stone Curlew here and there.

It was also a pleasure to have some decent food and company on our last night, courtesy of the Spanish birders. They really chose a good spread of tapas for us in a traditional restaurant in Orzola - squid, octobus, limpets all done brilliantly and finished off with a massive tuna steak for 6 euros. And as an added bonus, not a single 'Brit abroad' in site which seems to be the case if you head inland or away from the resorts.

Everyone loves a Hoopoe!

Black-bellied Storm-petrel at the Banco de la Concepcion!

Well, late last night I got back from Lanzarote. Two days at sea, which was enjoyable in decent seas, went bang just before 1.40pm on Saturday 18th August when Oscar - one of the Madrid birders - picked up this little (well actually pretty large) beauty 60 or so miles northeast of Lanzarote at the Banco de la Concepcion: -

As you'd imagine, the relaxed and pretty chilled out boat atmosphere changed straight away and I for one was shouting out the usual offensive expletives as I straight away locked onto it. It surfed the slick for a good few minutes, probably 10 or so in total on and off, and the 1st-summer Long-tailed Skua that was present had to step over to the sideshow of course.

The last shot shows the upperparts warm brown, despite the harsh light. This individual hasn't got the most complete breast band for a BBSP, but from the extensive area of dark on the lower belly it obviously extends up towards the dark chest demarcation, culminating before it with perhaps a hint of dark feathers extending towards the breast. Interestingly Flood and Fisher state that populations on some New Zealand sub-Antarctic islands show broken/incomplete belly lines and some birds show an absence of the mid belly line too. Some nice reading here and some pics on variation here. Also, foot projection in the first link states that White-bellieds show no or little foot projection while Black-bellieds show an obvious foot projection beyond the tail. However, this seems to be conflicting with what Steve Howell notes in Dutch Birding, and says essentially there is a lot of overlap in tail projection so this isn't necessarily a useful feature.

This is the fourth fregatta in the WP, and the third Black-bellied SP following previous records from Madeira in August 2011 and Lanzarote in September 2011 (as well as the Severn Beach fregatta in November 2009). So I imagine this won't be the last given the recent upsurge.

You also get nice views of other petrels too: -

White-faced Storm-petrel - pretty much guaranteed at the Banco de la Concepcion

Wilson's Storm-petrel - nice fresh birds seen with newly moulted primaries

Madeiran Storm-petrel - the commonest storm-petrel of the trip. This is an adult warm season breeder due to the worn primaries that will be replaced shortly. Many birds were in active primary moult as you'd expect.

Bulwer's Petrel - common, though not too bothered about coming into chum slicks and generally seen just cruising about the boat

In the words of an eminent French ornithologist 'next time you have something to say about the number of times lightning strikes... please just shut the f*ck up'. So perhaps this September or next year, the BBSP lightning will strike for a third time?