Maybe tomorrow

Slow going again today. Did the lighthouse, Cantinho and Lapa, plus a few fields,... nothing.

Remember this? Well,...

Vincent in the eye of an almost ready to go Cory's Shearwater nestling. 

A day off

Only got out in the field for a few hours today. A quick potter in the village fields, paid this fella a visit and saw a dose of Common Dolphins.

Still looking

 Fojo on a good day. Neck ache much?

This valley has played host to Northern Flicker, Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, Wood Thrush, Black-throated Green Warbler, Canada Warbler, Ovenbird,... And today? Nothing I could lay eyes on. 

YELLOW-THROATED WARBLER

Another day to go down in Corvo lore,...

A ropey photograph of a stonking bird. Yellow-throated Warbler, Corvo, a first for the Western Palearctic find for Mr. Josh Jones. Unexpected and gorgeous.

Hel-lo! A slightly surprising first for the Azores on the slopes of the caldera.

On the way back to the village I spent 20 minutes hunkered behind a wall with the 'power station ibis'. We're pals now; me and the ibis, we see eye-to-eye on things, e.g. we both quite like the rain but thought this afternoon's downpour was taking the piss.

Why did the ibis cross the road?

Wooded valley, open valley, hilltop, fields, another wooded valley, more fields and village. Naff all found, Black-throated Blue Warbler as briefly as hell, bit of a run-around for a no-show American Robin, and a Mourning Dove to end on. Another day on the rock done and done.

Two of the original five are now, unfortunately, ex-Glossy Ibises. But this one is still going strong,... and surprisingly adept at crossing the road and avoiding traffic.

The Mourning Dove. A goat carcass was being butchered just behind us as we were watching this. 

Big and floppy

Spent all morning in Fojo and a fair part of the afternoon in Agua, didn't find squat in the way of yankee passerines. In fact, due to the fact that I shunned Black-throated Blue Warbler, Philadelphia Vireo and Common Yellowthroat, etc., I havent seen anything small and American all day. Did get an Azores tick in the form of a big floppy raptor though,...

Juvenile dark morph Rough-legged Hawk in absolutely god-awful light. 

Drowning a cold

All the English breakfast has gone, down to green and chamomile. Tea crisis looming.

Most of my day consisted of the above and peering out (from the window of a 4x4 then the balcony of the guesthouse) at the Keystone coppery that was the Mourning Dove twitch. All very entertaining and, in the end, everyone who wanted to see it saw it, so that was nice too.

Cedar not cidre

You won't be surprised to know there are better pictures of this, seek and you will find.

Bit of an arrival today with Cedar Waxwing, three Bobolink, Common Yellowthroat and Red-eyed Vireo new in around the village.  The Cedar Waxwing showed down to doughnut distance on at least a couple of occasions so it might be worth checking out Vincent's site at www.vincentlegrand.com just as soon as he gets round to uploading his shots.  Hopefully, something more exciting has piled into the valleys and will come out to play over the next day or two.

"We're all mad here. I'm mad. You're mad."

And one for Peter. Azorean Fairy-nipple?

Bird of the corn

Today a juv/1st-winter male Rose-breasted Grosbeak and I stared at each other,... for quite some time. Got a bit awkward actually. Made my excuses and left.

Today the new bird was Indigo Bunting.  Hmmm, it's just all a little bit, ever so slightly, 'haven't-we-seen-all-these-species-before'.  Better get out there and find something different then hadn't we.

Nice Philly

Fogo was in a strangely, borderline worryingly, giving mood today. Just a few man hours in her verdant womb produced an unseen American wood warbler, Philadelphia Vireo and Red-eyed Vireo all within about 100 metres of each other. What is she planning for us? WHAT IS SHE PLANNING?

After several prolonged episodes of dipping on this very rock, I finally have Philadelphia Vireo tucked away on the WP list. Well done me,... and it.