October 29, 2005
Pioneering stuff - Corvo, Azores, October 2005
I feel like I'm fast becoming a mouthpiece for other people's birding achievements, and what's to follow certainly serves to enhance the trend of talking about American species occuring in the Western Palearctic. For those who haven't stumbled across the story yet, this is the bare bones as I know it...
One enterprising and pioneering British birder, a guy called Peter Alfrey, has been birding on Corvo in the Azores for the past week or two. The numbers and range of species he's found are mind-boggling... In 10 days between the 19th and the 28th October he'd seen at least 55 American migrants involving 16 species. As if that weren't bad enough, these include such mouthwatering species as White-eyed, Red-eyed and Philadelphia Vireos; Black-throated Blue and Hooded Warblers; Rose-breasted Grosbeak; Yellow-billed Cuckoo; Bobolink; White-crowned Sparrow; Indigo Bunting (including 5 at once in one bush!); Scarlet Tanager; Buff-bellied Pipit; and a flock of 27 Chimney Swifts!! Also, bizarrely, an Arctic Redpoll - and a hornemanni rather than a scrotty exilipes. Most of the species seen have apparently been photographed, so I'll be providing a link to them as soon as they go online.
Peter Alfrey is still on Corvo, trapped (oh the hardship!) by a series of violent depressions sweeping in off the Atlantic. There should be more species to come... This is truly pioneering stuff, and makes the likes of Cornish birders moving to live on Shetland, or Scottish birders spending a few weeks on Barra all seem terribly tame by comparison. This guy deserves everything he's getting; I bet there's another first to be found there yet.
Meanwhile, back in reality - JL found a nice flock of Snow Buntings in my lower park yesterday - still present this morning. Winter's coming! Am keeping my fingers firmly crossed for a Chimney Swift over the loch in the next week...
Follow the Weather Starling for a forecast, or see Shetland live on the NAFC webcam… 
Today's North Atlantic chart
An Icelandic Birding Diary (Iceland, funnily enough)
Nature in Shetland website - all the up-to-date bird, insect, cetacean etc news for Shetland, plus photos... indispensable.
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Come back soon!
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