So here we are on the Azores, on the main island São Miguel (obviously to the people who live on the other eight islands of this well spread archipelago that may be a contentious description).
We are bumbling around looking for rare birds – although very soon it becomes self-evident we should concentrate on looking for any birds at all. The most exciting thing of the afternoon is a discussion of whether a particular duck is a Ring-necked Duck (Aythya collaris), a Tufted Duck (Aythya fuligula) or a hybrid of the two, This discussion is taking place leaning on the wall of a small pond on a farm that our guide, Gerby, knows from previous trips.
It all seem to hang on the extent of bill colouring, the shape of the head, and some finer plumage details. There were two duck in question – a female (definitely a Ring-necked Duck) and a male (who knows).
Given that both birds were about 150 meters away and it was almost impossible to get a decent scope view because of the wall – did I mention it was taller than Jan – I thought I would give you the impression of what we were seeing. And therefore how fairly pointless the debate was.
As you can see – very easy to sort out.
Much easier was our first actual rarity of the trip. But more of that later.
