Onto Corvo

A quick hour at Cabo added a few more White-rumps and a Pintail but the rest was yesterday's offerings reheated. We then flew out to Corvo (via Faial), on landing we were met by a TV crew, Manuel and bad news on the Yellow-throated Vireo front (no sign despite a search). Spending an afternoon crawling all over Cancales didn't help,... arse.


Another arse, the first in a new series - 'which WP rare's arse is this?'

The Terceira roundabout

Did a spin around Cabo, Cabrito, Angra, the harbour and Praia Pools. The quarry was the poorest I have seen it, only 2 Semi-palmated Plovers, 2 Semi-palmated Sands and 1 White-rumped Sand kept the stars and stripes flying. A Lesser Yellowlegs at Cabrito (presently drained) and an American Great White Egret at Praia kept the interest going but Angra could only chip in with a Peregrine and the harbour was devoid of the long-staying Laughing Gull.

The rarest bird in the Western Palearctic

First stop Serra da Tronqueira and the remnants of the Azorean native flora plus its famous inhabitant the Priolo. The bullfinches are pretty easy to locate, their calls (more-or-less identical to our birds') are regularly heard whilst peering into the undergrowth. Seeing the buggers is a wee bit more difficult, and seeing them well is bordering on flipping hard work. I had one prolonged flight view and one or two glimpses and, much to the chagrin of the Monsieur Crochet, ticked and ran. Also had Weasel at this site, who released those on the island?!

Next stop was the wilds of Terra Nostra Parque and its equally wild Wood Duck. This bird, considered tickable by all manner of muppets, was being fed by nippers out for a Sunday stroll and parading round in a mixed flock including such well-proven 'carrier species' as Bahama Pintail, Mandarin and Mute Swan. F*ck knows why anyone would put this plastic shite on their list but they do.



After a quickish lunch of cozido, we headed to Lagoa das Furnas and, between the fumaroles, model speed boats and Tai Chi types, we turned up 1 Blue-winged Teal, 5 Ring-necked Duck, another teal sp. (strong head pattern but bi-coloured greater-covert tips, so who knows?), 1 Ruddy Shelduck (every bit as wild as the Wood Duck), 6 Common Tern and an Osprey.

Pixie gen

Landed post-lunch and headed to the western end of Sao Miguel and the last known site of one of this year's Yellow-throated Vireos - 'Phyllo woods'. Unfortunately, despite being enchanted, and quite possibly rammed with pixies at the right time of year, the woods were lacking in American passerines. At the nearby Lagoa Azul and Sete Citadades we managed to cobble together a 1st-winter male Ring-necked Duck, 1 teal sp., 1 Pintail, 1 Little Egret and 14 Coot. Not the most inspiring of starts...

Cheek pouches

Both the above spent a fair bit of their formative years held captive by strangers in a strange land, without any hope of escape. But only one of them talks about it every time he opens his mouth.

PS. Also, and I just noticed this, only one of the above does strange things to his eyebrows.

Back in the real world

I'm sure we'll can look forward to another week of world leaders, economists, financial journalists and bankers pissing themselves over the state of the markets/banks. All the while gloriously missing the point... click here, have a read and then email the link to Robert Peston, or your MP, or some other twat revelling/wallowing in the 'credit crunch' and ask them to "wake the [enter expletive here] up and smell the roses."

[Edit - for more on how the 'nature crunch' makes the 'credit crunch' look like a dribble of piss click here]

Double aaaargh!

A bit of a mixed morning started with a Bar-headed Goose flying west with the Canadas. Then a pretty steady movement of common migrants (mainly west) along the coast maintained the interest; the bulk consisted of Skylark, Pied Wag, Mipit, Chaffinch, Greenfinch, and Siskin plus the odd Song Thrush, Redpoll and one Bullfinch. On the deck Wheatear, Stonechat, Treecreeper and Coal Tit were the only semi-notables. Unfortunately, the bird(s) of the day were a couple of silent larks, going west, probably Woodlark, I only had a glimpse as they flew low along the opposite side of a line of hawthorn/blackthorn; despite legging it along the path, to try and get a view, I gained nothing but a slight muscle pull (and that, ladles and gentlespoons, is how to duff up a patch and county tick),... bugger!

Then came the news from Corvo; regular text updates including Hooded Warbler, Yellow-throated Vireo, Yellow-bellied Sapsucker and two Red-eyed Vireos did little more than bring the words dejected, depression, despondency, doleful, dysphoria, doldrums, downhearted and dumps to mind, but I was so pissed off I couldn't even be bothered to fashion them into a sentence.

Scoop

This week saw a flurry of yanks reach our shores, a dose of ReVs were accompanied by Blackpoll Warbler, Grey-cheeked Thrush and, highlight of highlights, Alder Flycatcher. Ireland waded in with Scarlet Tanager, all very exciting I'm sure you'll agree, but it has taken Gwent to really grab the headlines with today's posting on the GOS sightings page of the following monumental October story (to be read out loud in your best [and, therefore, most annoying] Robert Peston drawl),...

"LOST [PET] RAVEN FROM CANTREF AREA BRECON ROAD (THURSDAY PM) MAY ANSWER TO NAME OF JOE"

Eat your heart out Nanjizal.

Diversion

This is a public information announcement for all those readers from Spain, France, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Germany and the Netherlands who have followed the link on Netfugl over the last day or two and arrived here expecting a picture of a Common Nighthawk - try clicking here. Alternatively, see below.



This bird was the one Peter and I bumped into last year on Corvo. Given the way this autumn is shaping up, I'm thinking the Azores might not be the worst place to be right now.

How do people continually think up titles?

There appears to have been a bit of doom and gloom around lately. The Gwentish double whammy of putrid weather and limited ornithological fare seems to have coalesced with the recent economic down turn to sour the mood. So, in an effort to spread cheer to the birding masses, I thought I'd trawl this year's notebook and pick out the goodies, for they are easily forgotten amongst the avalanche of shite.

So far 2008 has provided yours truly with six (count 'em) county ticks, in rough chronological order: Caspian Gull, Black-winged Stilt, Broad-billed Sandpiper, Temminck's Stint, Long-tailed Skua and Wryneck. I have also had a couple or three in the way of decent patch ticks, including Red Kite, Pale-bellied Brent Goose and Nuthatch. What with a Spoonbill and a smattering of Ospreys, Med Gulls, Marsh Harriers, etc., it is all adding up to an OK year (certainly nothing that, given another rare or two and the opportunity to repeatedly punch a 'city banker' in the face, couldn't turn into a very nice twelve months thank you). Even the fact that the Yellow-browed Warbler decided to turn up at Llanwern doesn't dampen things unduly.

PS. Please note I am choosing to avoid mention of Great Grey Shrike, Great White Egret, Cattle Egret, Ferruginous Duck and Slavonian Grebe, all of which would have been new for my Gwentcestershire listette.
PPS. Yes nurse, I think upping my prescription has done the trick, thank you.