Some Bird Sightings : Azores 1st – 12th July 2013
Whilst we knew that the Azores is not a great place to for birding unless it is the migration season, we did manage to see a couple of birds apart from the ubiquitous Chaffinch, Blackbird and Spanish Sparrow. On our return from a boat trip we had taken from Horta Faial to the island of Pico we came across first a few, then many, then hundreds of Cory’s Shearwaters. As we sailed by them we got fantastic views of them gliding just off the surface of the sea with the waves lifting them up and their wing tips very nearly touching the surface of the sea as they raced by.
The second highlight was on land on Sao Miguel where from one sightseeing point we looked up to see sixteen or more Azorean Buzzards (Buteo buteo rothschildi) all wheeling directly above us, high up in the sky.
Apart from these two occasions it was all the aforementioned woodland birds plus some Greenfinches and Goldfinches. We were a bit disappointed to not see Goldcrests and we were in entirely the wrong part of the island to see the rare Azores Bullfinch (Pyrrhula murina) which is restricted to the eastern end of the island which is much less occupied.
Be that as it may we were still happy to get two “life ticks” and to get really close views of the masses of Shearwaters.