Just returned from the beautiful Azores, spent two weeks on the largest island Sao Miguel, staying in a fantastic hotel on the rural fringes of the capital Ponta Delgada. Our main reason for visiting was to watch cetaceans and we werent disappointed! We had 4 trips out to sea on an inflatable rib (exciting ride in choppy seas!!), the last trip we had the cameras had to stay packed away as we had 5 metre swells and got very wet!!!
Sperm Whales - one our first sea outing distant views of adults then a young sperm whale appeared by the side of our boat, and hung around for ten mins, going under the boat several times then popping up at the sides to look at us! Fantastic!
Humpback Whale - the first migratory Humpback recorded in that area for 3 years!
Fin Whale - what a monster!! The second largest animal on the planet. 22 metres!
Pilot Whales - we were lucky to find an area of flat calm water which held c30 Pilot Whales resting. The skipper switched of the engine of the boat and we floated amongst them, the only sound was their blowing - surreal and magical experience!
Rissos Dolphins - spent a good 20 minutes surrrounded by these, beautiful creatures.
Common Dolphins - a small pod gave great views
Bottle Nosed Dolphins - the stars of the show. Had them on all 4 trips, beside our boat for ages, bow riding, leaping, tail splashing - so playful and a pure delight. Some had babies and they gave so much pleasure
We also had 2 Loggerhead Turtles nearby.
The birdlife in the Azores is very limited to a small number of species, some endemic. We understand they get quite a lot of American migrants earlier and later in the year.
Highlights were:
Azores Bullfinch (Priolo) - this was of course the target species, being a critically endangered bird, we were lucky enough to find 14 over the two weeks. Not bad considering there are only estimated to be around 150-200 breeding pairs left. All are in the area of Serra de Tronquiera area in the east of Sao Miguel. Cracking birds.
Buzzard (endemic Buteo Buteo Rothschildi) - these were everywhere from inland to the coast.
Grey Wagtail(endemic) - these too were very common and could be seen in any habitat.
Black Winged Stilt - one seen twice on Lagoa de Fogo (lake), very unconfiding but we managed some great pics by hiding in vegetation and waiting!!
Blackcaps (endemic) - one of the most common birds and the ones that greeted us every morning with their song - one tree in the hotel grounds had c40 birds in it constantly!
Also other endemics included Goldcrest, Blackbird and Wood Pigeon.
Atlantic Canary - very common but unconfiding birds!
Common Terns - very common
Roseate Terns - just a few
Little Egret - seen on a few occasions
Chaffinch (endemic) - very pretty little birds and could be hand fed at Furnas Lake
Corys Shearwater - stunning birds seen on every boat trip out to sea.
We also had a fly over of half a dozen Parakeet species.
Long Eared Owls - our star bird. We had 4 of them residing in our hotel grounds. We heard them on a night and had views of them via the street lights, however on the last morning of our trip we had a couple of hours finding them roosting and were rewarded with fantastic views - gorgeous!
Also fascinating creatures were the Marsh Frogs, very vocal and we were treated to Frog Chorus' wherever we went. The could be found anywhere near water, even in cattle troughs and in the remote areas. A very endearing bunch!
A great trip in all, weather terrible for first few days then it improved. Due to our location we hired a car for the trip which was a necessity to get out and about to see the birds and the awesome scenery.Our poor little Nissan Micra got some stick! Lots of the roads to the forests and mountains are nothing more than dirt tracks! Driving is not easy there at all, Mick did very well!! The roads elsewhere are narrow, cobbled, one way systems with no signposting which made us get lost quite a lot. We couldnt snorkel or swim in the sea as we usually would as hundreds of jellyfish including Portuguese Man O' War were everywhere.
A fun trip but costly as everything very expensive!
Havent begun to sort through the photos yet but will get them on the blog later in the week
Mandy & Mick
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