That's more like it ...

Today I started up at the reservoir again, hoping for better light and better pics of the pipit. Neither came - in fact it seems the pipit has gone. After I meandered down the seismic station valley on the west side of the island - a sure fire spot for newly-arrived Yanks, but nothing doing today.

After traversing back around the reservoir hill, I decided to cut across to the white obelisk on the hill to the south and then drop in to the so-called 'Tennessee Valley', named as such because the main man Pierre-andré found a Tennessee Warbler there in 2011. There's a great patch of junipers on the steep slopes here but they're very hard to access due to brambles, difficult terrain etc. As I worked my way down the wind dropped, the sun came out and it became very birdy - Chaffinches, Canaries and Blackcaps all around, and very showy.

Climbing over a wall, I said aloud [talking to oneself is the norm here]: "I'm going to find something here". Honestly, no more than a few seconds later, I put my bins up to scan a flock of Chaffinches sat on a juniper and there among them was a bigger bird with a stripy head and dock off bill - bloody Rose-breasted Grosbeak!

It soon flew but better views quickly followed, made only better by an interesting passerine that flew by with a high-pitched tick. Landing on a hydrangea for a couple of seconds, I was utterly ecstatic to see it was an Indigo Bunting before it dropped in to cover! How is this happening when the forecast has been so uninspiring?! As it turned out the bunting made a very quick exit - I only saw it once again in flight as it zoomed off up the valley. I had some decent views of the grosbeak over the next half hour but it quickly went more elusive - only Bosse saw it before the wind got up again and it vanished.

Thrilled with that I headed off down in to the valley itself where Daniele O, Marcin from Poland and Gary F were making their way up for the grozzer. I stopped for a roll (ham and cheese of course) before continuing. It was shortly after the roll that a Willow Warbler began calling to my right. Willow Warbler is a good bird here and this was the first of the autumn, so naturally I turned to look for it. What I hadn't bargained for was a yellow and black bird staring back at me with a beady black eye no more than ten metres away. Fuck about! It's a Scarlet Tanager! I was straight on the radio and Daniele, Marcin and Gary were quickly by my side, securing some great shots to document the beast.

The tanager turned out to be the most confiding bird of the afternoon and was twitched by most of the birders on the island - I believe it was still showing well at times late afternoon. Also this afternoon Bosse found a Red-eyed Vireo in tamarisks at the west end of the airstrip (a classic spot for newly-arrived birds) and a Lesser Yellowlegs was frantically flying around the village looking for somewhere to land - a nice discovery for Hugues.

So it seems, for reasons I can't quite fathom, we've had a nice arrival of Nearctic birds today. Long may it continue!

Good Corvo times...

Had a really good day today. After toiling around Cantinho and Fojo in the morning and not seeing a lot (no sound of the wood-warbler heard yesterday), I ambled down to the picnic area and had decent views of the Rose-breasted Grosbeak there. By this point, it was mid-afternoon and I joined a team heading to the Lighthouse Valley, including newly-arrived Julien Mazenauer. The Black-and-white Warbler was on show in its usual spot and allowed for some photographs to be taken:

Then it was back to Fojo, where we received word that the Rose-breasted Grosbeak was returning to a large piece of fallen corn to feed. It took about 45 minutes to show and, in the meantime, a mobile Indigo Bunting was seen and heard zipping around, and a couple of showers ensured we were soaked. That said, it was well worth the wait when the grosbeak finally showed. A completely fearless bird, it came down to the corn at a distance of five metres and afforded us some astounding views:

Birds still arriving

 It's been a pretty decent couple of days, although don't let the long lists of birds fool you - finding and seeing birds out here is just as hard (and exhausting!) as ever.

Yesterday was a day devoted to the valleys. We started in Fojo where I flushed the Wood Thrush from its usual spot 'behind the wall', although views were again brief and poor - frustrating! Waded down to the bottom of Fojo for the following hour or so seeing nothing. Pierre and I subsequently worked both Cantinho and Cancelas - again nothing save a (the) Barn Swallow flying north over Cantinho towards Lighthouse Valley.

It was turning in to a quiet day as I ambled my way through the upper fields during the evening, but the radio then crackled in to life announcing a wood-warbler - probably a Tennessee - in the middle fields! I headed down but missed the little critter, although as we were charging around the fields Pete re-found the Rose-breasted Grosbeak, which suddenly appeared in the tamarisks! Flying to a more distant patch of tamarisks, it revealed a bright red underwing (= male), and proceeded to give excellent views - a real bonus; thought it had done one! Long and short, there was no further sign of the Tennessee, which it was confirmed as thanks to more excellent shots from Vincent.

This morning started in Fojo yet again, although there was no sign of the Wood Thrush early doors and, while ambling down through the north slope of the wood, David's dulcet tones calmly relayed news of a Dickcissel in the middle fields, which he had just found. Mass panic once more as people ran, scrambled or simply fell out of Fojo in the bid to reach the nearest road. Half an hour later, we were all watching the bird - a first-winter male (quite a lot of yellow in the head pattern and breast) as it scrotted around with House Sparrows and regularly gave a high-pitched 'spink' from exposed
perches. Nice - much nicer than I had anticipated!

Other bits today included a brief view of the grosbeak again in flight and, this evening, excellent views of the Tennessee Warbler which was relocated in the middle fields by Eric. Although mobile, it was much better behaved than last year's bird but was silent. In other news, Pierre found a Philadelphia Vireo in da Ponte (seen, then gone again within minutes), while I walked all over the mountain and through lots of fields yet still failed to find a landbird of any kind. Nevertheless, a really showy juvenile White-rump was on the reservoir road as was a Semipalmated Plover, eating worms from a small wet patch by the side of the concrete - ridiculous! Also had a further four Semi-pees flying around the village and two Indigo Buntings in Lapa - they've been there for a few days now.

Juv White-rump on a hill.

Semipee in typical habitat (road).

Juvenile Cory's showing well by its nest in Lapa.

I wonder what tomorrow will bring. The wind is still in the west, and it's raining. Tomorrow promises calmer weather - maybe a good finding day...