A day on Terceira allowed may to bird the famous Cabo de Praia Pools for the first time in my life. It's hard to get over the amazing ability of these small pools to attract Yanks but present whilst I was there were.....
Western Sand, Semi-P Sand, Bairds, 4 White-rumps, 4 Pecs, 2 Lesser legs and a Semi-P Plover. Ducks were just the 4 Blue-winged Teals and a Green-winged.
Paul de Priai added 3 Ring-necked Ducks, Belted Kingfisher and this long-staying Great Blue Heron...
Onto Corvo for 11 nights, my longest stay to date.
Having banked on 3 ticks, the return of five was certainly a bonus. Moreover, the quality was amazing!
Northern Waterthrush, Lincoln's Sparrow and Scarlet Tanager fell on my first full day, which also included Red-eyed Vireo, Indigo Bunting, American Goldie and Buff-breasted Sand.
The Sparrow was a first for the WPal! At first it was thought to be a Song Sparrow but it soon became apparent it was an even rarer cousin. what a find by Hugues!
The rest of the week was real enjoyable birding, with many good birds, including a Wilson's Snipe. Whilst this was a quality tick it was more or less expected, unlike the next star which led me a real runaround!
A woodpecker heard calling from Da Pont proved to be a Northern Flicker!! Effectively another 1st WP record as the only other (Danish) bird is under review. This proved to be one of those birds that took me days to see, whilst others seemed to fall over it at every turn of a corner. Eventually, with one day to spare, it flew across Fojo for me and equally quickly, disappeared back into the dense Cypress trees. What a relief and what a tick!
A quick look in Ponta Delgada harbour nailed this american Black Tern (surely an armchair tick for the future) and rounded off a brilliant trip..... bring on next October!
