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ZEISS DTI thermal imaging cameras. For more discoveries at night, and during the day.

2017 Western Palearctic Big Year (3 Viewers)

Greater Yellowlegs on Corvo yesterday so hopefully something for today?

Long-tailed Shrike in Belgium still so maybe something else for the Azores vs Europe strategy comparison when they finish there?

All the best
 
They admit to making some stupid decisions through the week, so they are very lucky this didn't bite them more in the ass.
Sometimes I really wonder what's going on in their heads when they'd rather stay at the Yellowthroat site than going for a Giga like Blackburnian...
 
Well, I think that after 10 months’ birding and travelling my brain would be seriously scrambled, not to mention the physical toll!
As their goal is to see as many species as possible, one humble(!) Yellowthroat is worth the same as the ‘giga’ Blackburnian:t:
 
Paul Chapman said:
Long-tailed Shrike in Belgium still so maybe something else for the Azores vs Europe strategy comparison when they finish there?

All the best
Click to expand...

The more Eastern stuff that turns up this year is surely helping the case for the recent Mugimaki?

No ulterior motive, didn't see the UK bird.


A
 
Maffong said:
They admit to making some stupid decisions through the week, so they are very lucky this didn't bite them more in the ass.
Sometimes I really wonder what's going on in their heads when they'd rather stay at the Yellowthroat site than going for a Giga like Blackburnian...
Click to expand...

I guess after missing everything running around like crazy previous day (or days even) they were desperate to get something added the list.
Looks like twitching Corvo can be pure madness at times and almost impossible to predict the outcome of twitch - and this year it even looks like there is higher chance of dipping than twitching the bird (or maybe it is like that every year?). So I find it difficult to blame them for their decisions in such difficult circumstances.
 
They've had enough vacation during this year, e.g. three weeks ago and currently don't have to travel much.
And while another Yellowthroat could soon appear this seems much less likely for the Blackburnian...
 
Richard Prior said:
Well, I think that after 10 months’ birding and travelling my brain would be seriously scrambled, not to mention the physical toll!
As their goal is to see as many species as possible, one humble(!) Yellowthroat is worth the same as the ‘giga’ Blackburnian:t:
Click to expand...

Not when he odds of the Yellowthroat reappearing and even staying through the Winter (like last year) and incredibly higher.
 
I wonder what is habitat like in Corvo, with so many birds disappearing never to be found.

Incredible is: with discoveries on Corvo, several 10s of Nearctic passerines look like annual vagrants to the WP!

No wonder they slowed down a bit. Klacke had an accident, they are sustaining this effort for the year now, and group dynamic between 3 people de facto stuck with each other in high-stress conditions is difficult to keep. I think they are doing great given the conditions! I wish them luck.
 
jurek said:
I wonder what is habitat like in Corvo, with so many birds disappearing never to be found.
Click to expand...
Take a look round on google earth; there's also a few photospheres. Mostly treeless fields & grazing land, but some patches of woodland, scrub, and dense hedges, mainly on the east and south sides. And a rather nice-looking caldera. The west side is a rugged cliff, looks to have a bit of low scrub on it, but will be inaccessible except to experienced mountaineers; ditto the north side.
 
To everyone thinking or suggesting they should leave Corvo to twitch whatever birds there are in Europe,

Keep in mind how many birds they have missed for not being at Corvo at the right time:
- Belted Kingfisher
- Upland Sandpiper
- Black-throated Green Warbler
- Black-throated Blue Warbler
- Solitary Sandpiper
- Yellow-billed Cuckoo
- Rose-breasted Grosbeak
- Scarlet Tanager
- Canada Warbler
- Black-and-white Warblers
- Magnolia Warbler

Also, available in the Azores, they have:
- American Coot
- Wilson's Snipe

Now.. tell me. What birds have they seen in the mean time that have justified losing 11-13 mega rarities? American Golden Plover? Dotterel? Least Sandpiper? Plastic Dutch Geese?

What birds does the whole of Europe have to offer that justify risking a fall at Corvo with one-day birds that will not be possible to recover? The key about birding Corvo is persistence, good tactics and cohesion as a team. Leaving for 3 or 4 days to twitch a Shrike or some skulker somewhere is mad and makes no sense.

That's my two cents anyway.B :)
 
Pedro

The fallacy in what you have written is that they saw nothing between 22nd September and 4th October which is when they would have seen those birds on Corvo. They would have seen birds in Europe during that period if they had been twitching.

It will be an interesting comparison to do Europe against Azores 4th to 26th October in due course but surely Corvo will come out on top.

Dickcissel today.

All the best
 
Plus (from what we read on the birdingcorvo blog) even if they'd been on Corvo during that period they might well have dipped on some of the birds Pedro lists, it sounds really tough birding out there!!
 
Richard Prior said:
Plus (from what we read on the birdingcorvo blog) even if they'd been on Corvo during that period they might well have dipped on some of the birds Pedro lists, it sounds really tough birding out there!!
Click to expand...

Good point, but on the other hand, they would very probably have found something else themselves. If I understand correctly, there were few birders on Corvo when the first fall of Nearctic passerines occurred, so who knows what was missed.

Seems to me that if it is that hard to twitch on Corvo, you might as well just patch bird and find your own stuff. Surely a lot more rewarding than tearing around serial dipping!
 
Their proposed itinerary sees them out there until Oct 26, let’s hope their energy levels hold up (and that the winds blow in the right direction!).
 
I actually tried to compare such a comparison between Corvo and mainland europe, but soon noticed that twitching through europe would have been such a pain in the ass and they have shown before that they don't like it at all. Thus I concluded that Corvo was definitely the better choice, but they should've tried to go earlier.

And BTW they got 11 ticks on Corvo so far ;) Almost all of them true MEGAs
 
Paul Chapman said:
Pedro
The fallacy in what you have written is that they saw nothing between 22nd September and 4th October which is when they would have seen those birds on Corvo. They would have seen birds in Europe during that period if they had been twitching.
Click to expand...
You are right, but I was mostly doing a theoretical exercise. What they did or did not attempt is not relevant for it, I was just saying that, during that time, they wouldn't have missed out on anything in mainland Europe that would justify missing all these (and more) species on Corvo. I was baffled that they took so long to get there.
But honestly I was even more baffled at how overall birders got to Corvo so late considering the yanks turning up in Europe because of the early hurricane season.
DMW said:
If I understand correctly, there were few birders on Corvo when the first fall of Nearctic passerines occurred, so who knows what was missed.
Click to expand...

Yeah, exactly.

Richard Prior said:
Plus (from what we read on the birdingcorvo blog) even if they'd been on Corvo during that period they might well have dipped on some of the birds Pedro lists, it sounds really tough birding out there!!
Click to expand...
Some yes. But at least half would have been easily gettable (more than one bird in some, others stayed for a few days, etc), and that would've have justified the potential European losses. And, keep in mind, even if they had been twitching in mainland Europe at the time, the potential to dip those would've been much greater than compared to being on the actual island.

Maffong said:
I actually tried to compare such a comparison between Corvo and mainland europe, but soon noticed that twitching through europe would have been such a pain in the ass and they have shown before that they don't like it at all. Thus I concluded that Corvo was definitely the better choice, but they should've tried to go earlier.
Click to expand...
This sums it up.
Birding Corvo for yank migrants > Twitching mainland Europe and the hellish (read incredibly time consuming and costly) British isles.
 

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