Dwarf Bittern!

A reasonable wake up and breakfast, cooked by the boys, and we were ready for the drive to the Barranco de Cabras to look for the Bittern. We found the wispy trees, parked up and started to walk out across the desert. Reaching the edge we peered over and could see Black-winged Stilts, etc. In the water. We walked along the top to the upper dam, worked our way down, walked across the dam and settled down on the rocks opposite the ‘favourite’ tamarisk. Birds - there were several birds to look at including Fuerteventura chat, Berthelot’s pipit, Black-winged stilts, little ringed plover. A buzzard took off from the rocks. 

After about 2 hours Stephen was walking along the edge of the water when the Bittern flew along the face of the rocks and landed on a ledge. David and Sean were looking for Spectacle warblers just upstream so we shouted and they arrived back rapidly to enjoy the Bittern foraging around among the rocks and greenery. It slowly made its way down to the waters edge and then walked along, searching in and around the shrubs. It eventually made its way towards the dam and then flew up into the bushes just above the dam. We decided to leave just as a young man came down the scree. We explained where the bird was and as Steve started to climb back up the other side, it lifted up and flew back along to some rocks and then made it's way down to the water. The young man was really taken and shook all our hands, punching the air. 

On the way up the steep side of the barranco I found a lizard. In the excitement, David missed his footing and executed an interesting forward roll landing up on his back pinned down by his camera strap. He extracted himself and limped up the hillside with a bruised foot.

We decided to drive up to Tandaya to look for Houbara bustards and other desert birds. We got to Tandaya and worked our way round to a track that looked in the right area. We drove slowly along seeing nothing, except for a flock of Trumpeter finch. We stopped as we got to La Oliva and found a 'normal' Stonechat then drove on towards El Cortillo where we took a track that headed south again. There was quite a bit of activity from surfers along the first part of the track but it got quieter. We stopped at a point to scan and Sean found a Houbara walking through the bushes. It was a bit distant and the views through the windscreen weren't great so we took a chance and moved further up the track. Finding it again proved difficult so we headed down a cross track where the bustard appeared much closer, heading across the track in front of us and then foraged around among the bushes before stopping to preen. The light wasn't good for photographs but it did give great views.

We carried on down the track finding another Bustard which crossed the track and walked down past the car. As it was so late in the day the light was awful but it gave good views again.

We worked our way back to Tandaya with a short diversion down a barranco before making our way back to the accommodation. We went back to Bennie’s for a lovely meal of Garlic prawns, steak and chips and a glass of red wine. 

Short twitch to Fuerteventura.

January 15th-17th

Having thought about a short trip to Fuerteventura for the Dwarf Bittern we eventually managed to organise a flight out of Gatwick at 1.40 on Monday, returning Wednesday, giving us roughly 2 days to twitch and explore the island.
The trip started out in pouring rain and deteriorated when I realised I didn’t have my phone. As I had all the boarding passes and the car ticket on it, this was a bit of a blow. Some complicated phone calls and diversions and it was found in the grass back at home. A dash by Mick to meet up in Sissinghurst and we were on our way.
The next complication occurred when all the lights on the dashboard went out, although the wipers and lights continued to work. A frightening hiccup brought the lights back but put the car into limp mode. At a nice steady 40 mph we made it to the car park area and onto the shuttle bus to north terminal. Wait and see what happens when we come back.
The passage through security was fairly rapid and hassle free with just Sean’s bag being checked for firearms residue and we even had time for a hotdog and tea before the slog to gate 570 and our flight to Fuerteventura which was reported as being 3 and half hours as we had quite a strong tail wind.
Clearing security was reasonably quick and we were soon looking for the Sixt car hire access to which turned out to be from the outside. The advantage of having just hand luggage was that we were there before most other people so we were sorted and out quite quickly. We drove to our accommodation and eventually met up with out contact who showed us to our apartment, which was pretty good for the money, although we had to make our own beds and find the towels. We walked down the road looking for somewhere to eat, first looking in the pizzeria, then the hotel restaurant before finding Bennie’s where we had bread and garlic mayonnaise, sizzling garlic prawns and Sea Bass. We called into a small supermercardo on the way back for provisions for tomorrow, walked back and turned in 

Conference Birding day 8 - Monday

As the weather was still wet and windy we were a little slow to get up, packed and out. From the balcony we could see a stream of Scoters and Royal Tens passing close to the beach. We drove out to see if there was any sign of the Wild Turkeys with no luck but there were some Eastern Meadowlarks to look at. The rain had created a small pond in the field with a Mallard duck flock also holding a Black Duck. 

There were still lots of American Robins and Yellow-rumped Warblers moving through as we returned to the coast and looked out from the end of the beach road. The wind was quite fierce blowing sand about but a timely call from Gerard Phillips had us sheltering among the bushes. Hundreds of Scoter passed by with a few Red-throated Divers, an Arctic Skua (or Parasitic Jaeger for locals), 4 Gadwall, Bonaparte’s Gulls and some Royal Terns.

Around 9.45 we moved on to Avalon Seawatching station.  We followed the directions but there were no obvious places to stand, looking along the coast there appeared to be a hut further along so we tried the next road and this was the right place. We stood with Carolyn and David, who are the seasonal Naturalist and Seawatch counter for CMBO, for a while before moving onto the stone jetty to get closer to the many Scoter moving. As we climbed up, there were 3 Purple Sandpipers foraging on the seaward side, giving great views. Even from the jetty the ducks were quite distant as the wind wasn’t right to bring them close but the spectacle of lines and lines of birds moving rapidly south was quite something. In the flocks we had 3 white-winged Scoter and 2 lots of Buffleheads and an Arctic Skua flew by. There were several flocks of Double-crested Cormorants moving through, some over our heads. The wind and blown sand were a nuisance but it was warm and fairly sheltered by the hut.

At midday we had to leave to head back to JFK airport for our homeward flight so we said our goodbyes, did a quick re pack of our cases and set off. We stopped for lunch at a service area, checked out a stop on the bay before arriving at JFK with time to catch the Skytrain, check in and catch our flight.

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Conference Birding day 7 - Sunday 29th

We got up early, made our way down for a cup of tea and then headed out to a field where we had been told it was possible to see wild Turkeys. We met up with Paul who had given us the tip and spent the next hour scanning around the field. Unfortunately no turkeys came out but there were plenty of Yellow-rumped Warblers and Red-winged Blackbirds moving through. Just before we left for breakfast and the conference a couple of Meadowlarks flew in giving reasonable views. Most of the rest of the day was wet and rainy and the bits of free time were spent making contacts and links. 

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Conference Birding day 6 - Saturday

This morning we decided to explore Coral Avenue. There was a wooden platform  built over the dunes and the views were over the sea as well as inland over the trees. There was a constant movement of Yellow-rumped Warblers flitting through the trees. Out to sea some long lines of Scoter flew south and flocks of American Robin and Red-winged Blackbirds with some Grackles pulsed across the sky over the bushes. 3 Eastern meadowlarks flew round the watch point and a couple of Flickers and several Sharp-shinned hawks flew through giving good views. As we left we noticed a couple of ladies photographing Monarchs. As we looked there was a tree which had hundreds of Monarchs roosting and warming up in the sunshine. Every now and then one launched itself into the sky and fluttered off along the line of trees. 

We returned in time for breakfast and then ate it as the conference got going. Lunch was a choice of sandwiches and fruit all in a box. 

We decided to go to the Meadows where there were supposed to be a couple of rails. we parked up, took our lunch and walked along to the bridge area. There were a pair of Mute Swans  and some ducks but no sign of the rails. We ate lunch and suddenly a Sora Rail came out of the reeds feeding as it went. It was difficult to see but then another one appeared a little further right which was much easier to see, though difficult to photograph as it was in the shade. While we were watching the rail a Muskrat swam along the river edge on the other side of the bridge but wasn't very close.

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Conference Birding day 4 - Thursday - Day around Cape May

We made an early start and headed to Higbee for the migration watch. We parked the car and as we got out we could see small birds flying through in amazing numbers. The watch point is on top of a mud wall up a steep bank. There is also a wooden tower on the other side of the road. We struggled up and stood on the top watching small passerines, mainly Yellow-rumped Warblers, whizzing through by the hundreds. 

It was a bit windy on top of the wall so we carefully made our way down again and had a look round. We walked to the end of the track where there was a Brown Creeper in the bushes and more Yellow-rumped Warblers. 

As the numbers slowed down a bit we drove to Reas Farm, which was followed by a visit to the Hawk watch. This is an amazing site near the old lighthouse where there is a large wooden boardwalk/viewing platform, staffed by counters from Cape May Bird Observatory. We spent some time looking out for migrants and saw among the Blackbirds and Yellow-rumped Warblers, a Bobwhite that lives in the bushes and an Osprey, which seemed to be buzzed by a gull. We also had a Northern Marsh Harrier in the distance.

We decided to visit Stone harbour in the afternoon. We followed the directions but found the road closed towards the end so we parked in a bay and walked along the coast towards the tip. There were lots of waders, including Oystercatchers, Purple Sandpipers, Gulls, Terns and some interesting bits of flotsom on the sand.

 We drove back a different way and found ourselves on a narrow, toll bridge but we managed to sort out some dollars and got back to the hotel in time for the welcome drinks and nibbles. 

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Conference Birding day 3- Wednesday - drive to Cape May

We got up around sunrise and went for a short walk before breakfast. There was a small wooded area  at the end of the road close to the railway line. A Carolina Wren was singing away and eventually we managed to see it sitting on a branch in the undergrowth. A woodpecker flicked around a tall tree which turned out to be a Downy Woodpecker and David had a Eastern Wood Pewee which I missed.  Several sparrows were hopping around the dumpsters, mostly House sparrows but a few White-throated sparrows joined in and our first Fish Crow flew over, calling, making the identification easier.

Breakfast was self-service with a choice of bread rolls or bagels and jam with tea or coffee. We packed up, said goodbye and set off.

 We planned to drive down the barrier islands as far as Barnegat before turning back and heading to Cape May.  We went to look for the Lake of the Lilies but found Twilight Lake where we had a Song Sparrow really singing his heart out. A Kingfisher flew across the lake and a Mockingbird sat up on a tree giving great views.

a dog walker came across to chat and told us about some whale sightings in recent days just off the coast so we thought we would give it a go and drove to the nearest parking area by the beach. There were some surfers off shore and a photographer who specialised in surfing pictures who chatted to us and confirmed whale sightings, although there were none today but we did see some dolphins.