Azores: Day 11

I've spent much of today relaxing, trying to ease the pain of the blisters on my feet. So, all of the morning and much of the afternoon/evening was spent at the windmill seawatching - perhaps also because visiting birders from Flores saw both Fea's-type and Trindade Petrels from the ferry crossing yesterday!

The morning session was excellent, with superb views of a Madeiran Storm-petrel (a really fresh bird, whatever that means as to more specific identification) and a couple of Sooty Shearwaters amongst hundreds of Great and Cory's Shearwaters. The evening was less spectacular, with no gadly petrels seen.

The afternoon was broken up by a quick search for the Yellow Warblers in the tamarisks (no luck), as well as crippling views of a newly-arrived juvenile White-rumped Sandpiper that Morten picked up coming in over the airfield. The bird proceeded to show really, really well down at the beach:







Apparently a Dickcissel on Flores today. Who knows what is going on right now.


Birds
White-rumped Sandpiper: juvenile on the beach
Madeiran Storm-petrel: one past the windmills
Sooty Shearwater: two past the windmills
Great Shearwater: maybe four-figure numbers offshore today