Last year Summer this year...

On 26th October 2006 I co-found a Summer Tanager on Corvo, today I managed to stumble across a Scarlet, only two people can claim to have found both in the WP and I'm one of them,... nice. The magic moment went a bit like this:

Bird: pwee, pwee (high-pitched and rather irate due to presence of annoyed Blackcap whose figs the tanager is trying to scoff).
Me (turning to my right and seeing a tanager): Jesus titty-f**king Christ!
Bird: (flies to next fig 'orchard').
Me (on radio): Tanager! I've got a Summer Tanager! (SIC!)
Bird: (starts tucking into a fig whilst harrassed by Blackcap, see pic below).
Me: No, tanager sp., shit! (much ensuing panic as Pete arrives, photos are grabbed and various garbled directions are sent in at least three languages to get everyone else to the site).

As the adrenaline subsided, we realised it was, as belatedly suspected, a Scarlet (luckily well before any other f***er had seen it and re-identified it).

Other highlights are another view of the Tree Swallow, three Yellow-billed Cuckoos (including two sat beside one another) and a Spoonbill (Azores tick, yay!).


Hello, there are at least six of me on the Azores at the mo.